Pain and Gain

DIRECTOR –Michael Bay SYNOPSIS –A group of down on their luck bodybuilders decided to get more out of life by kidnapping people and forcing them to sign over all their worldly possessions. Director Michael Bay’s attempts at comedy have not inspired a great amount of confidence in the discerning movie fan. The supposed humour in the Transformers movies can best be described as a series of farting noises coupled with the occasional drug reference. Therefore Bay might not jump to mind as the first choice for a murder story with darkly comic overtones. It has to be said therefore that this film is not the comic black hole that some of Bay’s other efforts have turned out to be. Perhaps this is because the film is grounded (however loosely) in real events. Bay (who also co -wrote the film) takes (one is tempted to say is forced to take) a calmer pace throughout the film. Without his usual high octane explosions and fighter jets to fall back on attention must, for once, actually be paid to the characters – a rarity for Bay. This allows the laughs in the movie to be more downbeat and word based rather than constant visual gags. Unfortunately Bay seems to lose confidence in this approach towards the end of the film and instead gives way to a parade of increasingly grotesque visuals that do more to turn the stomach than gain a laugh. The humour in this part of the film comes mostly from the true story features as you sit and wonder “this really happened?” Mark Wahlberg’s performance as the ringleader of the criminal gang is one of the film’s main assets. His narration (one of several throughout the movie) constantly extolls virtues that an audience otherwise might find likable qualities in a protagonist ie leadership, determination and daring. It is the dark deeds he uses these qualities for, coupled with his crippling lack of actual intelligence, that distorts him and makes for an almost cult leader-like figure, albeit one who can only appeal to those with an IQ possibly lower than his own. Having this character as our principal narrator for a good portion of the film is a daring move as, the above mentioned qualities aside, he is an utterly unlikable character devoid of any redeeming features and best summed up by one accomplice as “manipulator of manipulators” With our protagonists being such an unlikable bunch the writers have something of a task on their hands in preventing our revulsion for them spoiling our enjoyment of the movie . The method they chose to accomplish this is proving rather controversial (remember this is a true story) and that’s to make the victims subtly (if never outright described as) deserving of what they get. The main victim Kershaw (Tony Shaloub) is even described in the film as difficult to sympathise with. Whether this was the right approach or not is largely a matter of one’s personal opinion. I have to admit that for myself it struck something of a sour note. As stated, our leads are pretty contemptible on their own so was there really any call to make grotesque caricatures out of their victims? This film is going to divide opinion and, frankly, my own feelings on it are rather ambiguous, yes I laughed but I can’t help but feel the story could have been better handled by a director more adapt at comedy and sympathetic to the crime victims.