The Wrecking Crew - Review 

Rating: 3 out of 5

JASON Momoa and Dave Bautista unite for a throwback action thriller that is infused with cheesy ‘80s dynamics and a gleefully non-PC approach.

Given what it’s drawing from, The Wrecking Crew is a guilty pleasure of the ‘put your brain in neutral’ variety. It’s brash, loud, crude and over-populated by dick jokes.

But it just about gets away with things because of the undoubted chemistry between its two leading men and some nifty, post-Raid inspired action sequences that enliven proceedings. The Hawaiian backdrop also helps.

Bautista and Momoa play estranged half-brothers James and Jonny, who are reluctantly forced back into each other’s lives following the death of their father Walter (Brian Keaulana) in a hit-and-run incident.

James is the supposedly level-headed one (or the bear you don’t dare poke!), as he trains Marines and is married to a child psychologist wife and father of two; while Jonny is a currently suspended Oklahoma-based cop, nearly always sozzled on booze, who is still coming to terms with the murder of his mother than he could not prevent or solve.

Put together, they are the wrecking crew of the title and it goes without saying that their father’s death was a murder… the result of his involvement in exposing a property deal involving a casino that would rob the island of its natural beauty and provide investment opportunities for a wealth of villains, including corrupt officials and the Yakuza.

Jonathan Tropper’s is arguably better than it needs to be when it comes to exploring some of the emotional dynamics at play, loosely tapping into the tormented psychology of Jonny while delivering some potent exchanges between him and his brother.

If anything, it hints at a better film.

But all too often, the script and the direction are more content to pander to more typical action hero genre tropes, with testosterone-driven bickering the order of the day (dick measuring and posturing is an all too regular thing) and a fair amount of misogyny.

It’s perhaps inevitable that the brothers will work things out, will also come to the rescue of their female family members, and will ultimately be given one-to-one confrontations with the movie’s main villains.

Just as it’s inevitable that someone closest to them will also unveiled as a ‘surprise’ baddie.

There’s also an unnecessarily unpleasant streak to a lot of the violence, with little thought spared for the collateral damage the characters (both good and bad) cause, or the random dismemberment and disfigurement that’s also on display.

The only real surprise, therefore, is just how serviceable and, dare I say, mindlessly enjoyable the film still manages to be.

The action sequences are pretty well choreographed for a straight to streaming offering of this variety (bettering the likes of Netflix’s Back In Action and Prime’s own Without Remorse), while the chemistry works.

It’s disposable trash, for sure. But The Wrecking Crew is fully aware of its limitations and unashamedly embraces them. The overall result is a watchable guilty pleasure that quickly fades from memory.

Certificate: 15

Running time: 2hrs