'Pain & Gain' (2013)

The crime drama 'Pain & Gain' is based on a true story documented by journalist Pete Collins in the 'Miami New Times'. Ex-con Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) puts together a lethal criminal crew capable of taking down a drugs trafficker in the name of ol' glory while restoring the American Dream in the process.

The buff '80s replay 'Pain & Gain' projects the unfettered joy of Hulkamania yet seems a little confused to me. It heavily references the crime works of directors Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Michael Cimino and especially Brian De Palma, yet displays none of the innovation we associate with these defiant innovators. The rising players in this "muscle mecca" are surely average at best, yet director Michael Bay allows no sense of foresight or perspective to enter the audience mind, instead indulging in a Vince McMahon style-redux of glistening hardbody glory. Sure, there's the fateful line within the script; "They call Florida "God's waiting room", all the half-dead senior citizens turning brown on the beach", but in general, this is as far from real life as you could imagine. Even the stone cold temptresses are photographed like extras appearing  in 'Sports Illustrated', so what gives? The commercial script is so diluted yet abrasive, Dwayne Johnson even calls out the power of hitting a "rock bottom", oh yeh Rowdy Lousey.

For a self-reflexive commentary on excessive wealth, body fascism and self-entitled steroid junkie dreaming, 'Pain & Gain' is seriously hard to beat. It's a celebration of tax dodgers who willingly contribute to "trickle-down" economics, the big men who make America's heartlands tick. It's less the Floridian dream that produced rock 'n' roll artists like Jim Morrison, Tom Petty and Debbie Harry, more the state of Pat Boone and Flo Rida. Bad*ss Bostonian Mark Wahlberg adds energetic gangster gravitas as the wannabe big cheese and remains an indomitable spirit throughout; what an actor he is.