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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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!

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.

Better result thanks to good character actors

[BeneCumb · 6/10 · 22 July 2014]

Aging and post-politics Schwarzenegger has returned to his roots, to movies where betrayal and chases play significant role; proper action in the last century style, when man overrules technology and teamwork is equally important. Luckily, unlike Richard Gere and some others, Schwarzenegger has never focused on womanizing, thus he does seem ridiculous in his movies in spite of his 60+ age. And it is also important that he is not afraid of making fun of himself, but his fame and name allow to attract good character actors, here, for example, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, whose performances provide additional value to the not-so-special script. True, the latter had several twists and unexpected moments, good-guys-die-too, etc, and viewers can ponder on and over what really happened during the events depicted in the beginning. Car chases are also catchy, the thrill is up there, perhaps the plot could have been more assembled and so the movie some 10 minutes shorter.

Well, it is no True Lies or Terminator 2, being still the best movies with Arnie's participation - and I am afraid they won't be beaten - but if you do not hate him, then Sabotage is an okay watch.

Overall Good movie

[dnolan714 · 7/10 · 29 July 2014]

This was one of the most gruesome movies with special effects. The story has holes in it as does the characters here and there. Having worked with the DEA on cases I can say I'd never seen this type of renegade action from a squad or unit. Narcs are a different kind of cop and do get crazy acting with their pals off duty, just like any elite units...police or military. When it's time to go to work, they get serious and the professionalism kicks in. The special effects are top notch and gruesome as I said. The bodies, the autopsies, etc. looked very realistic.

One thing that stood out to me was Ms. Enos acting. She did an excellent job portraying a strung out, crazy ass bitch. Her mannerisms and behavior were that of a true doper. I've understood that the original movie was like 3 hrs. but had a better flow to the story.

Whoever did the special effects and advisors that trained these actors did a pretty good job teaching them entry techniques and how to handle weapons. The body and head shots looked very real. Again, being on gory crime scenes in real life and the viciousness of the streets...this movie has it down.

A movie with potential faulters under terrible execution...

[stevenfreekin · 1/10 · 25 May 2015]

...from almost every department. From the lighting, to camera, to costume, to make-up, to production design, I mean really? The movie has the same plot as an Alfred Hitchcock movie or an Agatha Cristie book, it even has the same plot from the television show "The Shield," and they even tried doing the same cinematography. The result is absolutely amateur at best.

What a waste of talented actors. Terrible writing, cliché, an dumb at times. This movie is a modern B movie, with over the top violence that are clearly cheap and silly, like the CGI blood spatters, muzzle flashes, shitty camera work not mention shitty use of standard definition camera. David Ayer gave us "End of Watch," which is one of the best cop movies, and now he's given us probably the worst. Skip Woods well...what else it there to say? WTF.

I love Schwarzenegger, but this is one of his worst movies.

[MovieAddict2016 · 3/10 · 14 July 2014]

"Sabotage" looked amazing on paper, and at one point early on in production, it was one of my most highly-anticipated action films. First of all, you've got David Ayer coming fresh off the critical and commercial success of "End of Watch," one of the best cop films in recent memory; then you've got a pretty good supporting cast (Worthington, Howard and Manganiello are fine enough for the kinds of roles they're playing here). But mostly you've got Arnold playing his least quintessential role -- what I mean by this is that, over the years, even in his more dramatic fare, Arnold has always enjoyed self- posturing and falling back on his reputation when he plays characters. There's nothing wrong with that, but at a certain point, the wink-wink, nudge-nudge stuff gets a bit repetitive; I thought "Last Stand" was a fun spaghetti western, but it was Arnold playing an older Arnold, complete with the "I'll be back" puns and jokey homages to older films.

What excited me about "Sabotage" was that it appeared Arnold had taken a decidedly un-Arnold role, which is to say that most any other aging, dry actor could have taken this on. From the haircut to the makeup (grizzled and riddled with tattoos), this was NOT Arnold playing Arnold. Apart from one throwaway line about a character's "48 percent body fat," this is the first time - maybe since the original Terminator - that Arnold has attempted to play someone other than himself, really, unless you count failures like End of Days, but even then he had a bit of the tongue-in-cheek stuff going on (and the film was crap to boot).

But what made it even more interesting was that, at the same time, the movie shared the whole Agatha Christie and-then-there-was-one plot device that "Predator" made use of. So it was kind of an interesting thing -- we've got a similar set up (an elite gang of mercenaries being picked off one-by-one by an unseen foe, with Arnold left trying to defend himself and his men) but a completely different approach in both tone and character.

With that in mind, I'm very sorry to say that Sabotage not only is a crushing disappointment, but ranks with some of Arnold's worst movies. I mean, I don't know how to describe it other than... this film left a really bad taste in my mouth.

As for Arnold? I love the guy, but maybe this is why it was best for him not to have attempted to play characters much beyond his own image. He tries, but his more earnest line readings are often pretty stiff and unnatural, and it must be said: he's just not really that believable in the role. Chalk it up to the accent, the mediocre line delivery, or the lack of chemistry with his cast members, but there's just something missing here, and as the film drags on you begin to realize how awkwardly cast it is with him in the lead. That pains me to say because I'm a fan of the guy and I was really excited to see him play a more unusual role, and thought it was a wise career move on his part to move beyond the wink-wink roles like Expendables and Escape Plan, but... maybe I was wrong.

But maybe it's not just Arnold. There's ultimately something very crass and callow about this film, and it's not just because it's overly violent, but rather, I think, because of how gleefully it tends to display the violence. It's not that strong violence bothers me, but compare how it was used in Predator to how it is used in Sabotage. Part of it may be the contrast between the ultra-realistic violence (think End of Days with the gritty hand-held style camera work and realistic- looking bullet wounds) and the absolutely ridiculous action sequences in the film (the movie's car chases are pretty poorly executed and unbelievable).

I don't know. I wanted to love this movie. It ended up being so distasteful to me that I couldn't even enjoy it as a guilty pleasure, and it lacks the goofy retro charm of something like Escape Plan so ultimately it just comes across as a forgettable attempt at a modern action thriller with a bungled approach both in front of and behind the camera. Given the talent involved this is definitely one of the biggest "What went wrong?" head-scratchers in recent memory. A shame, because if you look at this film on paper it reads like it could have been one of the Austrian Oak's finest rather than one of his worst.

Not that bad

[kim-bunting · 7/10 · 10 July 2014]

After reading some of the reviews I almost decided not to watch the film, however wisdom has taught me "what is one mans poison etc ...." so I have just watched the film and enjoyed it. The script is realistic - as we speak every day without the "funnies", "slick lines" etc of some other movies - not everyone is as 'quick witted' as screen writers would have us believe! The the film is a "sit back and watch" movie. Take it for what it is.

I would have liked to have seen the full version of the film as this may have taken the thriller side of it further. Maybe there will be a directors cut at some point.

I Liked the realism of the film, the car chase in particular, much more realistic. I also liked the blood, guts, gore etc. Is it necessary? Yes it's am action film!

Cold-Blooded Reality

[billygoat1071 · 4/10 · 2 April 2014]

Which is obvious for a David Ayer film, Sabotage gives a grounded depiction to the realm of corruption. It begins acknowledging that crime is nothing to be taken as a joke and one has to think through the stakes before the situation leads to their love ones. It's quite a risky subject taken place on a job of DEA. While the protagonists are hotshots, they also have the capability to get killed in the most mundane ways. But the film meanwhile negates the grander realities and ends up indulging itself into a relentless murder machine that doesn't always make sense. It would be pleasurable if you have fetish for gore, but for the commentaries, it is thematically vague.

The film is at its most interesting when it acknowledges the audience that the job of law enforcements are outright dangerous, like even the strongest hotshots could get wacked in the job. This is a cold-blooded context where no one acts like a superhero to take the job easily, just a bunch of hard-as-nails men prepared to get their body parts blown off. When the plot kicks in, it immediately becomes a mystery where it rigorously jumps into places. Director David Ayer deserves some credit to take us in to a compelling grim world where any deadly consequences are present. But not all of those mundane elements come around consistently. The plot leads to a ridiculous twists that is probably meant to fit for more bloody pleasures. As an action movie, this won't be a problem, but the film seems like it is setting up an ordeal and that piece of revelation kind of ruined it.

The lead character has a backstory that might have been a much interesting ordeal to see, but that isn't what the filmmakers want. It's really about the action, you can see how awesomely shot they are. The camera clearly shows how every piece of flesh gets destroyed. And for sure, B-movie fans will find this fun, seeing how a less sugarcoated violence really looks like. But really, it could have also shown more of the dangers of their situation other than just getting killed horribly. It lacks more exploration to the commentaries of how getting involved to drug lords can lead to an awful feud, like what happened to Breacher's life years ago.

The cast has a bunch of tough guys doing their thing. Arnold Schwarzenegger obviously still has the muscles and everything else is pretty ordinary from him. His crew sometimes feel like they're ghosts where you sometimes didn't notice one of them are actually in that scene. For the female cast, Olivia Williams is able to make her character a lot interesting than what is written in the script, and Mireille Enos shows natural madness and it looks like she's having fun even if it gets out of hand.

Sabotage is disappointing, apparently. You get a director who is an expert at depicting real life crime and law, yet the movie rather tells a ridiculous story which only leaves the context at the background. It might have been cool, but it has a potential of telling something revelatory. All we get now is some sweet madness that action fans usually crave. I'll tell you this, the movie is perfect when you seek for manly action with cold-blooded violence (except if you see this in Philippine theaters where half amount of violence is cut). But looking through their situation, I don't think it's appropriate to call it fun. The film should have gotten the same ambition of Ayer's last movie, End of Watch, where the heroes doesn't always have to be cool. That way, the ordeal and the commentaries would be more visible.