Film Review: Pain & Gain
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When I first saw the trailer for Pain & Gain I had nothing good to say about it and thoughtif it wasn't for Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and Mark Wahlberg starring in it the film would be a direct-to-DVD. However, the more I saw the trailer the more I thought maybe I should give the film a chance and not judge it by it's trailer. So, having that in mind I went to see Pain & Gain and did it impress me and think Michael Bay is finally a talented director? Absolutely not!
The story follows three body builders who decide to torture a millionaire named Victor Kershaw after believing he is a crook. Actually, why am I telling you this? You shouldn't be interested about this atrocious film!
When you make a film based on a true story you must try to make it believable to the audience. Argo and The Impossible may have altered the events taken place in the story slightly, however you still felt as though the story that they were telling was true. Pain & Gain does not do this. The story that Bay is portraying here may be true but the way he films it makes you feel as though it isn't. Halfway through the film it reminds you that what you are viewing is still true and for me that felt as though Bay and co knew themselves that what they were filming wasn't believable.
Bay is one of those directors who can't create three dimensional characters and instead has archetypes/stereotypes. He does this again with this film and each and every character is that unrealistic you can't believe for one second that they are non-fictional.
Besides Rebel Wilson every woman that's included in this film are there to do one thing and that's show how big their breasts are. That's the only thing I can remember about these female characters because that's the only thing Bay has given to them. It's exactly the same thing he did in the Transformers films with Megan Fox and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
The film is highly insulting to those who went through tragic events during this period. It presents these events in such a comical way it's as though they want the audience to poke fun and laugh at them instead of dong the obvious and feel sympathy for them.
I've unfortunately watched many Michael Bay films and if there's one thing he can't do apart from being a good film director it's comedy. You may argue that Bad Boys is a funny film but I believe the comedy was brought to life by the chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, not by the director. Pain & Gain bounces back and forth from being a black comedy to a spoof comedy. It's as though throughout the shoot they kept changing their minds on what type of comedy it is. The jokes were poor and at times felt forced.
I have nothing else to add about this film except to say Pain & Gain is a horrible, vile and ludicrous film that should be avoided at all costs. It is made by a director who doesn't have an understanding on how to portray a true story, let alone how to actually direct a film. The man who once directed fairly decent films such as The Rock and Bad Boys has long gone. If there is a worser film yet to come this year then oh boy am I in for a treat...
