Michael Bay, the director of the 'Transformers' movies directed this: A comedy/action movie based on a true story of which in the 90's three guys decided to kidnap and torture a rich guy until all of his assets were sent over them in a month's time. That is a very stupid decision because the families of the victims (yes, there was more than one victim) are still alive to see this comedy based on something horrible that happened to a family member. If this wasn't just a movie review I'd add that in to hurt the rating, but sadly, I'm reviewing this movie as a movie. 'Pain & Gain' was enjoyable and pretty good. I'm reviewing it on that basis.
This movie looked like mostly a comedy in the trailers, but it's not really that funny, other than a few funny parts. I didn't even know if it tried to be funny very much, because most of the time it wasn't. In the trailers it also tried to make itself look like a heist movie, and it really wasn't a heist movie. Yes, they do kidnap a guy, but it's not a heist. I just wanted to clear that up.
This movie, yet enjoyable, was boring in some parts. It had to pick up at some points. This movie also didn't really have a strait forward story line, either. It wasn't very focused and the pacing changed many times. There aren't very clear main characters, there's just all the characters and it seems to be everybody's movie. That part of this movie annoyed me. Some things happened that got intense and did clearly show the main characters, but most of the movie does not. About the pacing being off, in about half an hour of the movie covers a month, but then an hour of this movie will cover in hour. It just goes all over the place. The writing and the directing was very strange in that sense. I had no idea if it was poor directing, or if Michael Bay thought it needed to go that way.
The acting in this movie was good, because two of the main characters are played by Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, which are good actors. The other guy, Anthony Mackie, did a good job, too. That made the movie enjoyable. I'm not saying they nailed their parts, but they did well. As the movie goes on, it gets better, despite the boring parts. There's some action and some intensity near the middle. There's not that much intensity until the end, though. The end had action and intensity and you see the characters break. That's another good thing, there's some good character buildup, but it's done almost all by monologue, which is a bad thing. Anyway, it was the end that made this movie get a positive rating. I really liked that part. There was also some buildup to the characters breaking that didn't give it away, or not get the message to us. That part of 'Pain & Gain' was nearly perfect.
So, I liked the movie even though it had some directing problems and it was kind of slow. It was enjoyable, (mostly because of the end) fun, and a good time. The end and some parts near the end were done well. This 7/10 means that the movie was good and I liked it.
This movie looked like mostly a comedy in the trailers, but it's not really that funny, other than a few funny parts. I didn't even know if it tried to be funny very much, because most of the time it wasn't. In the trailers it also tried to make itself look like a heist movie, and it really wasn't a heist movie. Yes, they do kidnap a guy, but it's not a heist. I just wanted to clear that up.
This movie, yet enjoyable, was boring in some parts. It had to pick up at some points. This movie also didn't really have a strait forward story line, either. It wasn't very focused and the pacing changed many times. There aren't very clear main characters, there's just all the characters and it seems to be everybody's movie. That part of this movie annoyed me. Some things happened that got intense and did clearly show the main characters, but most of the movie does not. About the pacing being off, in about half an hour of the movie covers a month, but then an hour of this movie will cover in hour. It just goes all over the place. The writing and the directing was very strange in that sense. I had no idea if it was poor directing, or if Michael Bay thought it needed to go that way.
The acting in this movie was good, because two of the main characters are played by Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, which are good actors. The other guy, Anthony Mackie, did a good job, too. That made the movie enjoyable. I'm not saying they nailed their parts, but they did well. As the movie goes on, it gets better, despite the boring parts. There's some action and some intensity near the middle. There's not that much intensity until the end, though. The end had action and intensity and you see the characters break. That's another good thing, there's some good character buildup, but it's done almost all by monologue, which is a bad thing. Anyway, it was the end that made this movie get a positive rating. I really liked that part. There was also some buildup to the characters breaking that didn't give it away, or not get the message to us. That part of 'Pain & Gain' was nearly perfect.
So, I liked the movie even though it had some directing problems and it was kind of slow. It was enjoyable, (mostly because of the end) fun, and a good time. The end and some parts near the end were done well. This 7/10 means that the movie was good and I liked it.