Sabotage (2014) User Reviews

More story, less action. That is OK!

[demnarchangel · 7/10 · 12 July 2014]

The movie is not bad at all, not sure why everyone says it is. Especially when the review just says it is bad and gives no explanation other than implying there is no plot.

Most of the Arnie movies are not that great, I love them still, this one has a bit more of a story that it is following, with less action. That is probably why every1 is down on it I suppose, it is different.

There are a couple things going on with the main character, he is trying to get to the bottom of them both. It all unfolds nicely, but it is a bit slower than what most Arnie fans are used to. To me, that is fine.

I do not understand why anyone thinks there is no story, there is more story than action. Could of used more time with the characters, probably was part of what was cut from the original 3 hour run time, but it is still a fine movie. Meaning there are much worse Arnie movies that were more successful. This is like a better version of Eraser, which I thought was only OK back then. Give it a shot, take it as it is without some type of expectations, you will not be disappointed. Unless you are not an Arnie or cop violence fan. If that is the case, then why are you reading this?

Schwarzenegger delivers a rare dark performance in this extremely violent but ponderous cop thriller.

[caseymoviemania · 5/10 · 3 April 2014]

From TRAINING DAY (2001), DARK BLUE (2002), HARSH TIMES (2005), STREET KINGS (2008) and END OF WATCH (2012) at which he either writes, directs or doing both duties, David Ayer has crafted quite a career for himself as the go-to guy when comes to movie that explores the dark side of a law enforcement. This year is no different as Ayer explores the same territory again with SABOTAGE. But what's really interesting about his latest effort is his first-time collaboration with the former '80s and '90s king of big action icon Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the kind of role unlike anything fans have seen him before... well, at least not since 1984's THE TERMINATOR or to certain extent, 1997's BATMAN AND ROBIN.

WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Following a successful drug raid to steal US$10 million from the cartel's money, John "Breacher" Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and his rugged team of undercover DEA task force -- James "Monster" Murray (Sam Worthington) and wife Lizzy (Mireille Enos), Joe "Grinder" Phillips (Joe Manganiello), Julius "Sugar" Edmonds (Terrence Howard), Eddie "Neck" Jordan (Josh Holloway), Tom "Pyro" Roberts (Max Martini), and Bryce "Tripod" McNeely (Kevin Vance) -- are happy to collect it later where they hide it in the sewer pipes. However, they return to discover that the drug money has gone missing. They are eventually held for investigation and everyone ends up suspended from duty. But after the authorities fail to land hard evidence against them, their superior (Martin Donovan) put them back into action. Then, one by one from Breacher's team members ends up dead in gory fashion. While trying to find out the culprit, Breacher is subsequently working with homicide investigator Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) and realizes that the murders as well as the stolen drug money is actually involving one of them.

THE GOOD STUFF

As with other Ayer's movies, the action is brutal and gripping enough to capture your attention. Together with cinematographer Bruce McCleery, Ayer also manages to create some creative shots including the one where he utilizes small digital cameras from the tip of a gun barrel's point-of-view during a shootout.

The overall cast here is engaging, with Schwarzenegger gives a daring performance as the cigar-chomping John "Breacher" Wharton with a dark past. It's certainly nice to see him willing enough to change his usual larger-than-life action image for something radically different. As the emotionally-confused and relentless Caroline Brentwood, Olivia Williams plays her role with enough gravitas to stand out on her own. The rest of the supporting actors, including Sam Worthington (sporting a shaved head and braided goatee) and Joe Manganiello (looking good with a cornrow hairstyle), are equally adequate with their respective roles but it was Mireille Enos who steals the show in SABOTAGE. Here, Enos brings an uncompromisingly fearless performance as the tortured Lizzy who is addicted to drugs.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT(S)

For all the blood, sex and profanities that showcased throughout the movie, I can't singled out a moment worth placing here.

THE BAD STUFF

It's a pity that the story here is major disappointment. Written by David Ayer and Skip Woods, SABOTAGE does look promising with a nifty concept that mixes Ayer's trademark gritty cop thriller with Agatha Christie-like whodunit structure (particularly her famous novel of And Then There Were None). However, the execution is rather poor or should I say, lazily constructed, as the whodunit doesn't look interesting at all. And worst, the story drags a lot throughout the movie.

As exceptionally good as Schwarzenegger has put into his character, there's a nagging feeling that he looks wooden when he is required to deliver more stilted dialogues than usual. As the soft-spoken Sugar, Terrence Howard does little to make his performance worthwhile in the movie.

As much as Ayer loves to showcase a lot of grits in his movie, his penchant for shaky camera-work feels rather annoying, particularly when he loves to do a lot of tight close-ups. Another flaw here is Ayer's over-the-top display of gore and violence that somehow works better for a hardcore horror movie than a gritty cop thriller.

FINAL WORDS

While SABOTAGE is far from both Ayer's and Schwarzenegger's best efforts, the movie remains quite a jolting cinematic experience.

A bit of a mess - narratively and literally - but this is still a brutal, surprisingly compelling film featuring a great lead performance by Schwarzenegger.

[shawneofthedead · 6/10 · 10 April 2014]

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Sabotage, the latest flick starring the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's relentlessly gory, and occasionally storms head-first into dumb, torture-porn territory. Anyone watching it for its purported connection to Agatha Christie's most-beloved mystery novel, And Then There Were None, will be disappointed - the considerably less brainy film is, at best, only vaguely inspired by the ingenious twists of the book. But Sabotage remains compelling almost all the way through, and is all the more notable for featuring one of Schwarzenegger's finest, darkest performances yet.

John 'Breacher' Wharton (Schwarzenegger) leads a rogue DEA team on a drug bust, during which they try to skim ten million dollars for themselves. But their scheme goes awry, and the money mysteriously disappears. When investigations into the crime finally end, Wharton brings his team members together again - only for someone to start murdering them, one by one, in grisly, brutal fashion. Detective Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) comes on board to piece together the entire puzzle. But, as she draws closer to the enigmatic Breacher, she discovers that there's far more to the man than meets the eye.

David Ayers' film has come under fire for myriad reasons: it's been called an ugly, twisted piece of film-making, more interested in sickening gore than character depth. Ostensibly, that's true. The murders are almost unbearably disgusting, Ayers' camera lingering almost lovingly over scenes awash in blood and internal organs. The film also deteriorates as it goes on, degenerating from a dark, uber-twisted thriller into a frustrating sequel to Final Destination, wherein death insists on finding its victims in the most revolting of ways.

But the real surprise of Sabotage is how it actually manages to juggle its main characters surprisingly well for much of its running time. A few characters do indeed turn out to be narrative fodder, quickly sliced up for maximum shock value. But others have far greater impact on audiences. In Breacher's team, the drugged-out Lizzy (Mireille Enos) and her dreadlocked husband Monster (an almost unrecognisable, bulked-up Sam Worthington) stand out. Caroline, too, is an assuringly capable, level-headed presence - despite some of the ignominies the character suffers in her growing relationship with Breacher.

The cast also does quite effective work, with Schwarzenegger leading the charge. As Breacher, he mines reserves of darkness and complexity he's barely accessed before, somehow managing to capture the man's odd mix of madness, nobility and ruthlessness. He's well-matched by Williams, who lends both the film and her character an air of respectability best- observed in scenes that might otherwise have played as a series of cheap grindhouse shots. Few people could pull off smoking desperately while bathed in blood, but Williams does it with charm to spare. Enos, too, is a joyful, ball-busting standout in a film running almost entirely on testosterone fumes, and Worthington heads down dark, bitter paths in a more convincing way than he's managed thus far in the likes of Avatar and Clash Of The Titans.

All in all, Sabotage is better than you might expect, but not as good as it probably could have been. While the film does revolve around many deeply considered ideas of vengeance, loyalty and morality, it doesn't really manage to come to grips with all of them beneath a backwash of diced-up body parts and pints of blood. It is, however, consistently gripping and almost worryingly compelling, a thriller that packs a punch so brutal it fascinates even as it disgusts.

About what I expected

[freemanpatrick7 · 6/10 · 28 March 2014]

There has been so much total crap at the movies these days that I don't like to waste my money. And if I have already done so, I don't want to waste my time. If a movie sucks I'll walk out.

Sabotage looked to me like it would be a fun, if not award worthy, movie. And it was.

Let's face it, Arnold is getting a little over the hill to be playing in action movies. He's pushing 70, for crying out loud. In a federal job he'd have been forced into retirement a long time ago. But if you can get past that, and the fact that supposedly everyone on the team wants to sleep with a skanky crack whore, then it's really not a bad flick.

Yes, some of the dialog was hard to listen to. But I write dialog so I might be more picky than others. Also, the fact that everyone on the team can hit any target they aim at anytime they want to, unless...unless it happens to be in the big finale, where no one can hit the broad side of a barn, just to prolong the scene - that's was a little far fetched.

Other than that, not a bad flick. Not Arnold's best. But definitely not his worst either.

Not impressed

[0U · 23 February 2020]

This kind of movie is David Ayer's bread & butter, and he has a good cast to work with including Schwarzenegger, Worthington, Howard and Enos. The problem is that the script isn't tight enough and I didn't believe some of the actions of the characters. Worth a watch if you are fans of the genre or the actors, otherwise skip it.

thriller first...don't watch if your'e not into locker room antics

[purerehabandrewjmorris · 7/10 · 10 July 2014]

the aim of any actor is to have something different and to have charisma.You don't have to be great looking you don't even have to be great physically...you just have to have something that people want to watch.

For some unknown reason Arnie has that something...an extra thing that so many wanna be's don't have.An individual dirty harry frank sinatra dean martin, grace kelly ZING.

Anyway, the movie has that thing that makes you start watching and also want to see what happens.It has a 80's video schlock thriller feel but that just adds rather than takes away.The actors are attempting that blokey locker room stuff you do when you play sport with your buddies but at game time they all put in a team performance.

Good work Arnie you still got it.

Unbelievably bad

[vealessi · 1/10 · 25 September 2014]

I don't normally post reviews, but if I can save one person the 2 hours that I lost, it will be worth it.

It's all down hill after the first scene. The character development is way overdone across the board, especially Arnie's character: cigar smoking while guns are blazing, the one night stand with the all-business homicide detective, bad lines like "look at you with your 40% body fat", etc. The DEA crew living together in a crack house, drinking and getting lap dances at every turn, the member with the drug problem, etc. Not one cliché was over-looked.

The acting is also horrible, but worst of all, the plot makes absolutely no sense.

I could write a better plot than this. How does this stuff get past the script writers, reviewers, actors??

And then there was Arnold

[dvc5159 · 7/10 · 25 March 2014]

One of Arnold's darkest performances highlights nihilistic, gruesome, occasionally incoherent who-dun-it.

If there is any indication that present era needs an aging, post- gubernatorial and post-scandal Arnold Schwarzenegger, David Ayer's "Sabotage" is the real deal - a no-holds-barred return to form for the Austrian Oak as a ruthless, dangerous being. If that doesn't convince you, then a shot showing a brooding, hooded Arnie will.

This isn't an all-out action bonanza, it's a riveting crime thriller with book-ending action sequences that aim to shock rather than awe. Watching an Ayer film otherwise would be missing the point. Like the superior "End of Watch", "Sabotage" has flawed human beings as the protagonists - trying to survive in a world where they think they understand.

Ayer uses the admittedly repetitive Agatha Christie-inspired whodunit plot as a background to explore the character of the protagonist John Wharton ("Breacher" to his comrades). He is regarded as some sort of legend in the DEA and a father figure among his dysfunctional team (a strong ensemble cast made up of Sam Worthington, Joe Manganiello, Terrence Howard, Max Martini, Josh Holloway and Mireille Enos), albeit with a reputation as notorious as his conquests. The opening shot sees the hulking figure stare ominously towards the laptop screen as the video of his wife getting brutalized and eventually murdered by a drug cartel plays in front of him. Stealing 10 million dollars from a cartel bust months later, the team gets picked off one by one. They succumb to their vices and let the paranoia and money go in over their head; this suspicion of each other effectively destroys the brotherhood. Wharton, already walking down a lonely path refusing to let the killings of his family go, is made subsequently worse with the offing of his team members.

Already with this shot the film's nihilistic message about the futility of the war on drugs is already established. There will be no winners or losers, just evil acts and their survivors. When he unsuccessfully tries to track down his family's killers, it haunts him to the point where it corrupts his soul, making him less gung-ho and more of a suicidal man on a mission. The suicidal factor becomes complete when he discovers that his actions may have led to the subsequent killings of his own team members in increasingly ghastly ways, pushing him even further down the brink as he tries to grasp that he's failing to protect the next thing that matters to him the most – his brotherhood.

Ayer and his team have crafted a dark, nightmarish and cynical world to the point of borderline nihilism. The few women shown in this film are either brutalized, objectified or corrupted – with the exception of two very interesting characters: the character of Lizzy with her coked-out bravado in a scene-stealing performance by Enos (TV's "The Killing"); and Investigator Brentwood (Olivia Williams with an over-the-top Southern accent more ludicrous than Schwarzenegger's) as a tough-as-nails detective that brings a strong foil to Arnold's character - the two make for an unusual but effective action duo near the end.

All of these themes were explored in various movies before, for better or worse. This concept was concocted by Skip Woods, whom you may remember butchered the last "Die Hard" film. Of course one can see the flaws of Woods' story through some inane plot plodding, but Ayer's drastic rewriting of Woods' script fleshes out these themes as an examination of machismo to go along with the beefcake story. Adding more muscle to the film is Ayer's handsome direction that strongly echoes Walter Hill and Sam Peckinpah in terms of rough-tough violence, which keeps the film feel like a strong sense of realism even as the deaths become increasingly graphic and macabre. With a frantic eye from cinematographer Bruce McCleery displaying the raw gritty look; and a mean, equally moody score by David Sardy, the film looks and feels so modern it *almost* makes you forget you're watching a Schwarzenegger film – because as few as the action sequences come, Ayer delivers on the thrills and doesn't relent on them once they start. This is the most violent Schwarzenegger film I've ever seen. I'm not talking about the body count - the extremely graphic and methodical ways the team members get offed take center stage in the violent department - even involving some completely innocent blood. Trust me when I say that this is not a film to bring your kids into - some of the gory content reach "Saw" levels. The film also has the most gruesome and horrific end to any car chase I've seen.

"Sabotage" ends up slightly weaker than "End of Watch" due to some plot issues and some really hackneyed writing, and not because of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who I honestly think is a strength for the movie: in a subtle, subdued performance, he nails the role for the most part – he looks like a guy who's been through hell and seen it all, and has more or less succumbed to the dreary lifestyle accustomed with his job. A lot of people are quick to write off his acting due to his thick, iconic Austrian accent and inability to act in something serious.

Arnie proves that he can act well if he wanted to, providing that audiences are willing to see that. Not an easy task when the heavy accent proves hard to take him seriously, but pleasantly, gone are the gung-ho self-awareness and ridiculous one-liners; here he becomes a ruthless, desperate character that creates unease rather than pleasing the crowd. For him, this could be the start for more challenging, dramatic roles - accent be damned. It could be the perfect coda to Arnold's action career, like an Austrian cowboy riding off into the sunset - providing that he doesn't do any more franchise or action work later.

Flawed story

[Dafunque · 2/10 · 22 July 2014]

Although i watched it until the end, and actually enjoyed the action part of the movie, the story is very very flawed.

i will only get into the beginning of the movie, so hardly any spoilers here.

The movie starts with a DEA team apparently robbing a drug-lord. At first the viewer thinks it's a sanctioned operation but in the next scene it turns out to be a rogue one. OK, so fa so good.... BUT!

The team thought of a way to take away 10.000.000 Dollars from the drug money for themselves. Still, plausible. But then... Arnie blows up the stash of about 2 billion dollars....

The next scene he gets interrogated by his colleagues/ internal affairs about where the 10 million is.

Excuse me... but he blew up all the money... so how could anyone know there is 10 million missing?!?!?!?!?!?

This is what the entire movie is based on... sorry... that just does not fly! Nice action ... horrible story!

Another Arnie movie

[cinematic_aficionado · 6/10 · 29 May 2014]

Ultimately, this is just another Arnie film although in all fairness it has a bit more substance than usual.

The film deals with the fall from grace of a decorated veteran of special police and as the plot develops it becomes a guessing game whether the main character is corrupt or simply his luck has run out.

In many ways a typical action film with a slightly better plot than we are accustomed to, although the Hollywood exaggeration was ever present. Seeing a whole team of experienced special operation agents are being wiped out as if they are schoolchildren lowered the experience but then I recalled that this is an Schwarzenegger movie so I just sat back and enjoyed the action.

So bad.

[PCWProductions · 2/10 · 30 July 2014]

This film is absolutely terrible. The main plot point makes very little sense, as the basis for the film is precipitated by a completely unnecessary risk taken by the elite DEA task force.

The characters are abysmally written. Each one has fully embraced their "gutter trash" personas so that they can be the "best undercover agents in the DEA". The result of this is that every member of the team is completely unlikeable, a trait which extends even to Schwarzenegger's John 'Breacher' Wharton, and I found myself not caring in the least when a character was killed off.

The female characters in the film were unattractive, in every respect.

Please keep in mind, Schwarzenegger is my favorite action star. End of Watch is one of my favorite films. I greatly enjoyed Harsh Times.

Did it seem like the filmmakers made an effort to incorporate realistic room-clearing tactics into the film? Yes, and it should always be appreciated when consultants with actual experience in a field are hired to contribute to a film's authenticity. But it doesn't compete with the nonsensical storyline or the forced, unbelievable interactions between the static, uninteresting characters.

This film is absolutely terrible.

Entertaining, brutal action-thriller

[Finfrosk86 · 8/10 · 6 June 2015]

Why did this flop, and why is it rated to low!? I don't quite get that. No, it is not the only movie you ever need to see, but it is pretty darn entertaining, I'll tell ya.

Yeah, it totally overdoes the we-are-such-a-tight-group-of-bros-(and-a- sis)-and-we-joke-in-a-rough-way, but it doesn't really get too annoying. Arnold is good, this is not his usual role, and that's pretty neat. Olivia Williams is also pretty good.

Now, the action. This has some intense action sequences, and it is bru-tal! I mean, this is an R-rating if I ever saw one! Blood is flowing. I saw a you-tube review of this, he though it was to violent, it's not. I like me a really brutal movie now and then!

It has a couple twists and turns, action is good, acting is decent, (I dare you to recognize Sam Worthington!) it is, *drumroll* entertaining!

People saying this is a bad movie, well, they obviously haven't seen The legend of Hercules. Sabotage is one of several Arnold comeback-movies, and it is definitely a good one.

As I've said, it isn't a classic, it tries to be a little better than it really is, but it does not make it that bad at all.

Suspense mystery with action, not action thriller

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 16 May 2014]

John "Breacher" Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger) heads up a DEA Special Ops Squad which is brutally effective. The enquiry which follows money going missing during a raid takes its toll on the bonding within the squad which, in turn, leads to complications when someone starts killing squad members.

Starting as an action thriller, this becomes a suspense mystery with action sequences, and is rather good. It is brutal (and sweary), but the performances are all good. I would go so far as to say that Schwarzenegger has never been better. Happy to look his age, his performance has an emotional depth and a sense of weariness that we haven't seen before.

The story is strong. It appears to be more densely plotted than it actually is, but it is perfectly satisfactory, and keeps you guessing throughout: things are constantly happening which you don't expect.

I enjoyed this.

How This Brutally Awful Movie Was Made

[kmichaelpm · 1/10 · 9 July 2014]

Arnie:"Hey David, I am bored and was wondering if you fancy making a movie David Ayer: "I am kinda busy watching the grass grow, did you try any other directors." Arnie: "Tried them all but their phones were all switched off" David Ayer: "Damn, forgot to do that. OK I will make a movie with you. What have you got in mind." Arnie: "Duh!...I was hoping you would have some ideas." David: "Ok, just round up some actors and I will get Skip Woods to write a story." He should be able to throw something together in about an hour." Arnie: "Great."

A couple of weeks later.

David:" Arnie, I got the footage you sent me. It is almost 3 hours long and I cannot make any sense of it." Arnie: "Oh Yeah!...sorry about that. The Actors seemed to be stoned and drunk most of the time and we kinda lost track of things. I suppose that means the movie is screwed." David: "No problem. I will cut the crap out of it and make some kinda movie from it. All the blood and guts and shooting should help. The story or the acting is irrelevant. The morons who go to movies will watch anything if it has a few star names attached. Anyway, it is no worse than most of the utter crap coming out of Hollywood the past few years. I am sure we will make a bundle before the public realise how bad it is. We can always get some of our buddies to write good reviews. That always seems to work." Arnie: "Thanks.....gotta go....time for my meds." David: "Yeah!...me too."

THE END

Note: Save your sanity, your money and your family, and stay far away from this brutally bad movie. It is seriously bad. Note 2: I had some time off and decided to relax and catch up on some movies. I will never take time off again. I am considering therapy to undo the possible mental damage this so called movie may have done to my poor brain.

Darker Arnold Movie

[stevendbeard · 7/10 · 28 March 2014]

I saw "Sabotage", starring Arnold Schwarzenegger-The Last Stand, Jingle All the Way; Sam Worthington-Avatar, Hart's War; Mireille Enos-World War Z, The Killing_t.v., she was also born in Houston, Texas; Terrence Howard-The Best Man Holiday, Iron Man and Olivia Williams-Hanna, Dollhouse_t.v.

This is a little different Arnold action movie; it has a plot and it's a little darker. It's based on an Agatha Christie story called 'And Then There Were None', which you may have seen as a movie called 'Ten' or 'Ten Little Indians'. It's directed by David Ayer-End of Watch, Street Kings-and he also wrote it-one of his other writing credits is Training Day. Arnold plays the leader of a DEA team that gets the job done, busting drug cartels and ticking people off. Sam, Mireille and Terrence are other members of the special team. After a big drug bust goes down, ten million dollars of the drug money goes missing. Questions are raised about who took it; Arnold's team, of course, are all suspects and their bosses, as well as the drug cartels, think they are guilty. Then, one by one, the team members start dying and not by natural causes, either-one guy is nailed to the ceiling. Olivia is the police officer that is investigating the countdown murders-and then there were none. The violence is pretty graphic, even for an Arnold movie. It's rated "R" for the bloody violence, language, sexuality-including nudity-and drug use-I guess a lot of people do not pay attention to the ratings because I saw several people with young kids in my theater-and has a running time of 1 hour & 49 minutes. I would probably buy it on Blu-Ray.

Unexpected mystery action thriller, but not very good

[siderite · 6/10 · 16 July 2014]

A lot of people left disappointed by the movie and for a very good reason: it was marketed (I just rewatched the trailer now to make sure) as an action revenge flick. You expect some good old fashioned Arnold bashing of bad guys and instead you get a "10 Little N!ggers" like mystery thriller with extra blood and gun violence. I mean, when I saw that Martini's character died, I thought "the team" would wreak havoc on those murderous cartels. I even made a mental note to title the review "No Martini, no party", but the movie was not about that at all.

Yet that is not enough to make it a bad movie, right? Certainly if it would have been a well done film, it would have stood on its own, marketing be damned. However the silly dialogues, the wooden acting, the random bunch of TV series actors (plus Sam Worthington) and the confusing editing of reality with imagined scenes, it all spoiled it for me.

And it's too bad. The actors in the cast are good actors and they deserved a better script. The story in itself is not bad either and I could enjoy some parts of the movie. Bottom line: big budget failure. The worse of it is that the action scenes were actually pretty stupid, too. The action scenes!!

Headache waiting to happen

[Baldy_Nohairs · 1/10 · 12 March 2015]

The story itself was decent, would have been better if Schwarzenegger was the one killing them all. What made the movie the absolute crap hole it was; is the terrible cameraman/film editing... you "hear" people talk, extremely quiet, right?... guns start shooting and I SWEAR it's as loud as a real gun beside you, shooting.

It felt like the cameraman was on a rubber boat, on the water... filming with his cell phone.

This is the first movie I had to take a Tylenol 45 minutes in, because I had a massive headache. Yes, I ended up watching till the end, and surprisingly I actually thought the last 5-10 minutes felt like a real film; and felt like a Schwarzenegger movie.

/rant off, sinceriously

Baldy Nohairs

Almost watchable, but

[r96sk · 6/10 · 25 February 2023]

'Sabotage' is almost watchable, but it just falls short of being that in my eyes.

It does have issues. I didn't really enjoy Arnold Schwarzenegger in this, but his performance does improve slightly as the film goes on. Mireille Enos isn't the best, nor are any of her co-stars behind Arnie to be honest - Sam Worthington and Olivia Williams are alright, more miss than hit though.

This 2014 flick also feels like an all too obvious attempt to replicate 'The Expendables' from four years prior (or same year, going by TE3), at least until the ending - where I feel like it does something else. Speaking of the conclusion though, it all felt a bit rushed and not well developed. Another negative is that all the characters are unlikeable, even across the first chunk when the film seems to want them to be.

Those are numerous criticisms, evidently, and would usually equal a lower rating from myself. However, as noted at the top, it is almost something I could just sit back and watch, without thinking too much about it. I'm all for so-called 'switch off your brain' flicks, but this doesn't quite reach that level in my opinion.

Not the Arnie flick you've come to expect ...

[mecheart · 1/10 · 10 July 2014]

Despite Schwarzenegger's presence throughout, 'Sabotage' is among the worse films this viewer has seen. A veteran of Arnold's movies since 'Conan', I advise all of his fans--and fans of action movies in general- -to run from the movie poster. Escape it! Avoid this one, avoid 109 minutes of foul crud and days of lament after the credits roll.

"But" you say, "the governator stars in it! Can it really be that awful?" Yes, my fellow movie buffs, 'Sabotage' is that bad. Why? Well I'll elaborate. A thirteen year old seems to have written the script. Every other line (being generous here) contains a jest of bodily functions, human reproductive practices, or gory gallows humor. The dominating themes of the movie are cruelty, extreme violence, and glorification of police brutality.

Arnold stars as the commander of a DEA "special operations" strike team (whatever that is), the single positive note here being Schwarzenegger does wear his age well. Other than that, his delivery of terribly written lines lack any timing, synchronicity or emotion. We see the old Arnie trying to shine through in some of his expressions, but his usual animation and vitality never come through.

As for the DEA team Arnie leads, well, the movie asks you to care for them or at least find them interesting as the opening gives each team member a spiffy nickname that's really not. Although the team is composed of some fairly large name actors (Sam Worthington, Terence Howard, Mirelle Enos), each of them is foul mouthed, hyper violent, a drug addict, or all three. That the moviegoer is expected to view them as elite law enforcement officers is both a joke and an insult. These thugs with badges do nothing throughout the movie but kill, steal, double cross and party.

The plot, if such a convoluted mess can be so classified, is as disgusting as the senseless gore which permeates it. Schwarzenegger's family was slain (gorily) by drug cartel members and although this tidbit is central to the rest, it is simply mentioned and then brushed aside at the outset. Silence of the Lambs level gore is flung at the viewer raising the final theme that human life and friendship and integrity mean very, very little indeed.

Alright. So many of Arnold Schwarzenegger's movies have been about little more than killing lots of bad guys to a sci-fi or cop drama backdrop. However, in 'Sabotage' not only is Arnie the badguy but he is a willing leader of even badder guys. At one during the viewing point I was trying to tally up the deaths of innocent bystanders--there are lots of them--and the film seems to rejoice in stray bullets knocking off pedestrians.

Yes, there's a train wreck of sorts in 'Sabotage' which is about the only aspect of it that makes sense because the film is one giant derailment start to finish.

Gaming Goes to The Movies!

[Buckster69 · 24 March 2015]

This film is the logical output of a team brought up on Grand Theft Auto and Ghost Recon, to mention just two . The stylised action sequences are punctuated by poorly scripted 'cartoon' characters in 'cut scenes' and strung together by a wafer thin nonsensical plot so full of holes someone could get hurt. The level and frequency of bad language and general offence is totally unnecessary, it doesn't abate throughout the movie and has obviously been ramped up to create a degree of edginess to proceedings. It just becomes an embarrassment for the notable actors.

The writers constantly remind us of their lack of subject matter knowledge, from the outset they confuse the roles of DEA SWAT with DEA Agents (think Navy Seals vs FBI). These are two mutually exclusive types of policing that have been unrealistically crashed together to create the premise. Anyway, as such the team seem to go about their business in a sort of pseudo 'Sons of Anarchy' world between a scuzzi group hut and the local DEA office.

The cinematography (in the broadest sense of the term) cannot seem to create the visual parameters or syntax to allow the viewer to understand what is happening within a scene's environment. Therefore, a snazzy mansion party full of horrible dial-in non-American types, depicted at the opening to the movie, is strangely forgotten when our SWAT team go through the err....front doors and appear to go straight to into the err....basement and find the $2bn crime stash cunningly hidden under a err.....tarp, beautifully illuminated in the middle of a room. All the while, the Russian/Middle Eastern cheese and wine event in the house seems to be largely unaffected.

The dealer and owner of the mansion must have been very honest and exact in his last tax return as the DEA seem to know that $10m (0.5% of the $2bn) has gone missing, even after the team incinerate the huge pile of cash in order to cover up their actions. Arnie, the head of team, doesn't get in trouble for destroying the $2bn (IRS must have been delighted) but for the missing $10m.

The rest of the movie follows an incredibly well trodden double cross / team death format and barely warrants a summary. If you can make it past the pole dancing level, sorry, scene then you have done well.

There must be some 14 year old boys pretty worried about their Hollywood careers after this effort.

solid action film

[EternalRome · 7/10 · 16 April 2014]

First off, the main reason I watched this is because of Arnold. I did not expect anything great from this film at all so i just set my standards low and i was surprised how it turned out, I enjoyed the movie it was decent at best, the story were surprising it has some solid twists on it. I only have two problems with this film, first the character utilization and development. second the cameras it was pretty shaky it almost made my eyes bleed but other than that, the film was enjoyable though it could have been better still i recommend it to all Arnold fans. the film was worth my penny and time, just don't mind the critics they just don't enjoy films because they were too occupied pointing out the negatives.

Immature, unbelievable, low brow....

[pale_pixie · 1/10 · 27 July 2014]

How it got over a 5. rating so far on IMDb, completely mystifies me. If you like fart jokes, fart comments, high school T + A comments, implausible if not far (or fart) fetched story line, poor acting or lack of acting skills, car chases, improbable events and lack of reasoning, then THIS pile of rubbish, is just for you. What a waste of time. It is a complete embarrassment from start to finish. What were they thinking? Really? Two days later, I am still shaking my head in disbelief that someone on that crew or cast could not speak up even just once and ask "what are we doing here" or make a judgement call. Utter garbage. For imbeciles. Lowest common denominator. Sorry, I've run out of descriptions for how stupid and low this movie was. And Marielle Enos? Come on! She looked about 80 years old. An 80 year old skeleton. My eyes!!!!

Delivers as an Action/Crime Thriller with one of Arnold's Best Performances To Date!

[Rebel_With_A_Cause_94 · 8/10 · 28 March 2014]

Don't listen to the critics! Go see this movie if you are an Arnold fan! Unlike The Last Stand and Bullet to the Head, this is a straight up dark gritty crime thriller with some great action sequences. While most of the team was unlikable, all of the cast gave good performances aside from Olivia Williams who's accent was pretty bad. The story was good and had enough twist and turns to keep me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the film. The action scenes were fantastic and the violence was incredibly brutal and gory! This is one of the most violent mainstream movies I've seen in a long time! Trust me when I say this movie earned it's R rating! I loved how David Ayer managed to combine the genres of action, crime drama, and western elements together while keeping the tone ultra dark and gritty. Arnolds performance here is also one of the best of his career in my opinion. If I had any complaints it's that it is true the characters are very unlikeable and while they are suppose to be, you do get tired of their crudeness pretty fast.

Very good movie and defiantly worth seeing on the big screen! Don't listen to the critics! If you are a fan of action/crime movies you will enjoy this!

Underrated mystery thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 21 September 2014]

SABOTAGE is an erstwhile reimagining of the classic Agatha Christie novel AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, featuring a simple but electrifying plot: a corrupt DEA team steal $10 million from their latest haul, only to have the money stolen in turn before a killer starts cutting a swathe through their members one by one. I saw the red-band trailer for this and was blown away; it looked like a true return to form for Arnie, and I couldn't wait to watch it. Then I found out it was directed by David Ayer, and I was in two minds; I either love his work (such as the equally underrated STREET KINGS) or despise it (such as the much-lauded END OF WATCH, in which barely anything happens). Things could go either way.

Well, despite the plentiful negative reviews, SABOTAGE turns out to be a great deal of fun and I'm not quite sure what the other reviewers were either expecting or watching. It's an action-packed movie, well directed and chock-full of on-screen mayhem and gory death, and there's very little to dislike about it. Apparently the movie originally had a running time of three hours and was later cut down by executives, revealing the odd plot hole here and there, but these aren't enough to detract from the entertainment value as a whole.

Inevitably, Arnie towers head and shoulders above the rest of the cast in this film (even though some of his team, like Joe Manganiello, are more physically imposing) and he delivers a fine performance as a haunted family man. His one-liners are kept to a minimum, but it's great to hear them when they do arise. The rest of his team are more interchangeable, but there's a surprisingly touching turn from Sam Worthington. The downside is Mireille Enos, who overdoes things as a drug addict.

The good news is that the film has plentiful action and it all plays out very well, from assaults on apartment buildings to car chases. The gore quotient is also strong, which I'm not complaining about, lending this film a distinctly adult edge. I know the ending was altered after initial audience dissatisfaction but I think it works very well. In all I had a ball with SABOTAGE and look forward to revisiting it in the future.

Worst Movie Ever

[balshawy89 · 1/10 · 7 September 2014]

This movie is really annoying and stupid. The plot is boring and the way the police act in this movie is unrealistic. They are all drunken fools. When their friends start dying off one by one they don't show any emotion whatsoever. It makes their relationship questionable. They are supposed to be this really close group of friends that work together and care about each other. Like Brothers. But they don't act like it at all. They just act high and drunk and extremely annoying. Even the husband and wife don't act like a couple. I don't get how this movie won any awards. The men are perverts and the women is an addict. They don't act like they are important. They seem more like gang members. Also the scenes jump from one to the next too quickly. There are no finished thoughts. There is nothing to follow. Plus the filming is B rated looking. The camera is bouncy and unprofessional.