Pain & Gain
Is it wrong for me to look at Michael Bay’s outrageous new film, “Pain & Gain,” as his “GoodFellas?” Not in artistic merit, to be sure, but Bay’s story of drugs, violence, and crime as a way to achieving the American Dream is right out of Martin Scorsese’s world, as is the long fall these bodybuilders-turn-criminals have when fate catches up with them.
This is a film that Michael Bay has been wanting to make for over a decade, and the financial windfall from his “Transformers” trilogy is what convinced Paramount to give him the $26 million he required to make it. Even more remarkable than the price tag, however, is the fact that the film is based on a true story, written up in a series of articles by Pete Collins, and adapted into a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (who wrote “Captain America: The First Avenger”).
As anyone who saw the trailer knows, the film stars Mark Wahlberg (who will be reuniting with Bay on “Transformers 4”) as Danny Lugo, a Miami Beach bodybuilder and personal trainer who, in his words, “believes in fitness.” His entire worldview is based around the idea of pushing oneself all the way to the limits, and his imparts this philosophy, along with self-help cliches, on his clients. One of those clients is a millionaire, Victor Kershaw (Tony Shaloub, whose character is the biggest douchebag in a film filled with them), who hardly appreciates all that he has…at least, that’s how it seems to Daniel. One day, Danny has an idea to take everything Victor has for himself, and he recruits two other bodybuilders– his friend Adrian (Anthony Mackie), and a recent parole, Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) –to help kidnap Victor, and force him to sign over everything he has. Does it go without saying that this plan fails miserable?
One of the greatest assets this film has going for it is a rather insane storytelling style. Visually, that’s not surprising for a Bay film, as he has always pushed the envelope in visual logic, and he goes further here than he ever has before. Narratively, it’s just as illogical, with different characters presenting their points-of-view and perspective through voiceover. This assault of images and aural information is par for the course for a Bay film, but here, it’s kind of hypnotic, and makes it hard to really hate the movie as a whole, regardless of how much we may want to.
The performances help out with not hating the film, as well. Now, it’s important not to mistake me liking the performances as liking the characters, because believe me, I don’t like these characters. All of them, including the people we should be rooting for, are pretty awful human beings. But they are absurdly fun to watch, especially “The Rock” Johnson as Paul Doyle. A former coke-head and criminal, Doyle turned to Christ in prison, and is resolved to do right, even though he, reluctantly, agrees to help Daniel. That tension results in some of the most ridiculously funny moments of the film, as well as Johnson’s finest two hours, on-screen. The rest of the actors, including Rebel Wilson as Adrian’s girlfriend, Rob Corddry as Daniel’s boss, and Ed Harris as a retired detective Victor hires after he escapes the crew, all turn in good, fun work, but Johnson’s work helps turn “Pain & Gain” from being a tonal, and narrative, mess (like “Armaggedon”) into something more fascinating. As a story, it’s pretty ugly business, and God knows it’s not nearly as fun as movies like “The Rock” or “Transformers,” but it’s an intriguing change-of-pace for a director whose made it pretty clear that he doesn’t really give a shit how we feel about him, and that attitude is all over his newest film.
