Three starring roles into his Hollywood comeback and it doesn't look too good for Arnold Schwarzenegger.
His appearances in 'Expendables' 1 and 2 notwithstanding, Arnie's solo missions have not appealed to audiences or critics. Can he lead a notable cast to success in action-heavy whodunnit 'Sabotage'?
The Austrian Oak plays Breacher, leader of a crack team of DEA agents whose raid on a Mexican drug cartel leads to one of their number dying and $10million going missing. Under suspicion of embezzlement, Breacher is brought back into the fold when, one-by-one, his team members start getting killed. Breacher must protect his life and that of his team, all the while trying to root out the person behind the bloodshed.
As you would expect, the film is intensely macho. While the main murder/conspiracy plot is fleshed out enough to keep you interested, the film seems itching to get to the next hailstorm of bullets (everyone has enough firearms to sink a small armada). The balance of story and action starts out well but things get increasingly silly towards the film's climax, making the excessive gore and outlandish nature less easy to swallow.
At this stage of his career, Schwarzenegger is no longer the 'One Man Army' he once was, and suits the role of elder statesman of the team (he still has more than an occasional brush with a machine gun, however). The rest of the DEA agents are all people you'd recognise- 'True Blood's' Joe Manganiello, 'Lost's' Josh Holloway and, inexplicably considering the minor role, 'Avatar' star Sam Worthington. All of whom contribute little, but look good doing it.
A strength the film does have is the female characters, who are as tough and as capable as their muscular male counterparts. Nowhere is this more evident than in Olivia Williams' performance as the grizzled detective trying to piece the conspiracy together.
It's arguably Schwarzenegger's best performance since leaving politics, but if nothing else 'Sabotage' shows that the action legend can't carry a movie based solely on charisma any more.
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