mutlut-13121
Absolutely enjoyed this film one of my favourites I actually must have watched it 3 times well made really well acted..
Mehmet l. Jackson
I liked this movie.Another masterpiece from Micheal Bay.Nolan fans say that it's not a real story but it is so Nolan fans gonna cry and said 'It can't be real'.I think this movie is better than inception and dark knight.My favorite character is the black man with steroids. Because he shows us that life can be hard sometimes but you need to be harder so use steroids to be harder.It may be his most thought-provoking film to date, but Michael Bay's Pain & Gain ultimately loses its satirical edge in a stylized flurry of violent spectacle.There's something inspired about putting Michael Bay in charge of a brazen action-comedy about gym-pumped knuckleheads who screw up their own criminal master plan most royally.
Dominic LeRose
Based on the true story of Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) a Miami bodybuilder who wants to live the American dream. He wants the money that other people have. So he enlists the help of fellow bodybuilder Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and ex-convict, Christian bodybuilder Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson). Their kidnapping and extortion scheme of a rich jerk goes terribly wrong since they have muscles for brains and they're left to try to hold onto the elusive American dream without ruining their lives. Did I mention the guy who brought the loud and obnoxious "Transformer" movies, Michael Bay, directed this? Bay, surprisingly, turns the tides on his ordinary style of robust filmmaking and creates a clever and interesting movie. Bay doesn't glorify what these pinhead criminals are doing. He makes us laugh at them and helps us understand how pathetically dumb these dreamers were. He lets us laugh along with them for sometime, but in the end he makes us think hard about why in the world these idiots went as far as they did in order to be successful. Many critics slammed this film just because of who dirceetd it. If these people would dig deeper into how Bay set this film up, I bet you there wouldn't be so many one-star ratings for "Pain and Gain." A big issue, however, is the pervasive sexuality that didn't serve a function. It was used to be erotic in many scenes and wasn't necessary for the plot. With lots of funny slow motion shots, the laced message of capitalistic greed, hard work, and how great girls' bodies are, Bay does get a little over the top in exploiting a message about the American dream. Michael Bay is an entertainer, not an artist, which is what he proves with this film. You'll get a wave of energy over your head with his unguarded directing and the actors silly performances, but you won't get the sensation of a brilliant message about greed that other directors do.
moviechick1010
I just watched Pain & Gain in Seoul, Korea last night on TV and perhaps it's the distance from the U.S. that allows this brilliantly written, acted and filmed tragicomedy to underscore even more the unfortunate mindset of American get-rich-quick-at-any-cost ideology especially in light of the country's continuing economic slide and cultural decay. The characters' Waiting or Godot-type spoken narrative finds a perfect partner in the cinematography, which, unexpectedly, is the films' Narrator: the intensity of the overload of the "Miami Vice" color scheme and the odd-angle shots exposes the characters desperate urgency and underscores their unfortunate pathos. The absurdity of Daniel, Paul and Adrian's "plan" - how ironic that two of them are named after Biblical heroes - is made more so because Pain & Gain is filmed as a comedy and not a drama. The genre choice therefore allows the viewer to be pierced by the sadness of the real-life events the film is based on.I didn't take my eyes of this the entire time I watched it, so tuned in was I in that 'Oh, no they didn't' way. All the actors both starring - Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris and a surprise turn by Tony Shalhoub - and supporting executed themselves well. I suspect in time this Michael Bay film may become a classic exposition and commentary of the fallout of the American Dream becoming a nightmare.rating: 9/10 starsmoviechick1010
AD
