The
lure of America to most people who immigrate to this country is the “American
Dream”. The thought that you can achieve anything you set your mind to makes
coming here very desirable. Making the “American Dream” come true takes hard
work, luck and time. What if though you didn’t want to do all that hard work?
What would you be willing to do? Well here is a story of a few guys in Miami
who wanted it all, but wanted to take the easy rout.
Daniel Lugo
(Mark Wahlberg) believes he is a doer. Working at a local gym, he helps people
achieve their dream to have the perfect body. Daniel is all about fitness,
while his friend Adrian (Anthony Mackie) is about just getting buffed. Daniel
is tired of seeing people he deems unworthy having everything they want, while
he struggles to make ends meet. He wants to change that and talks Adrian into
going along with him. Everything comes together when they recruit an ex convict
named Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson). Now all they have to do is find their target
and Daniel knows just the guy. The three bodybuilders kidnap Victor Kershaw
(Tony Shalhoub) and force him to sign over all that he owns. What follows is
one error after another and an example of what greed can do to you.
Let’s all be
honest here, Michael Bay has become pretty predictable. After busting on the
scene with “Bad Boys” with his stylish direction, he has become a prisoner to
his own success. Bay has had a steady diet of big budget end of the world/robot
movies, and no longer has done less with more. In fact you can argue he has
done the opposite and has taken more and done less with it. Then “Pain &
Gain” comes along, a little twenty five million movie that could maybe help Bay
find his magic again. Well the good news is that the Michael Bay we first saw
is alive and well within this film. Not many people can make Miami look any
better than Bay does, and once you see this movie you will know what I mean.
Based on a true story that took place in the nineties, it is one of the stories
you see and think, man that would make a good movie. Well “good”, I don’t know
if I would say that, but for sure it is entertaining. You will have fun
watching this movie and that is all you want when you go to the movies. That
said we all know, “no pain no gain” can apply to a lot if things in life. The
thing about this movie is you while you don’t gain much, there is a whole lot
less pain than watching Bay’s version of “Pearl Harbor”.
Brian Taylor
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