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Sabotage (2014 film)

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Sabotage
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDavid Ayer
Written by
Produced by
  • Bill Block
  • David Ayer
  • Ethan Smith
  • Paul Hanson
  • Palek Patel
Starring
CinematographyBruce McCleery
Edited byDody Dorn
Music byDavid Sardy
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • March 19, 2014 (2014-03-19) (Los Angeles)
  • March 28, 2014 (2014-03-28) (United States)
Running time
109 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[2]
Box office$17.5–18.4 million[3][2]

Sabotage is a 2014 American action film written and directed by David Ayer, co-written by Skip Woods, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Mireille Enos and Terrence Howard. The film was released in the United States on March 28, 2014.[4]

Plot

John "Breacher" Wharton (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is the leader of an elite team of DEA agents from the Special Ops Division, which consists of James "Monster" Murray (Sam Worthington), Lizzy Murray (Mireille Enos), Joe "Grinder" Philips (Joe Manganiello), Julius "Sugar" Edmonds (Terrence Howard), Eddie "Neck" Jordan (Josh Holloway), Tom "Pyro" Roberts (Max Martini), Bryce "Tripod" McNeely (Kevin Vance), and "Smoke" Jennings (Mark Schlegel).

During a raid on a cartel warehouse, in which Smoke is killed, the team steals $10 million of the cartel's money and hides it in the sewer while blowing up the rest of the cartel's cash to cover their tracks. However, the money disappears, and their superior Floyd Demel (Martin Donovan) suspends them while the DEA investigates the team for the theft. After several months without any confessions or evidence of their participation, the team is reinstated.

Pyro is killed after an unidentified stranger tows his trailer onto a railroad crossing while he is unconscious and is rammed by a train before he could escape. Atlanta Police homicide detective Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) and her partner Darius Jackson (Harold Perrineau) are assigned to the case and interrogate Pyro's teammates.

Brentwood notes Neck is aggressively avoiding interrogation, and Breacher accompanies her to Neck's house hopeful he will cooperate. When they arrive, they find him nailed to the ceiling and disemboweled. Brentwood recognizes the execution as the modus operandi of the cartels, leading Breacher to assume the cartel is hunting the team over the stolen money.

Breacher and Brentwood visit Tripod, who left the DEA after being suspended, and find him dead after a shootout in which he killed an assailant Breacher identified as a cartel enforcer. Monster later visits Brentwood, who is suspicious of Breacher. Monster tells her that Breacher's family was kidnapped by the cartels, who videotaped their murders and later sent the tape to Breacher along with the severed body parts of his wife and son. Breacher spent months searching for his family's killers before the team convinced him to move on. Brentwood apologizes to Breacher, and they wind up having sex.

Jackson traces the dead enforcer's cellphone to a cartel safe-house, which is raided by Breacher and his team. However, the enforcers are not there. They are later found dead at the bottom of a river near Tripod's house, and Brentwood realizes that they were killed before Pyro and Neck, meaning someone is framing the cartel for targeting the team.

Breacher reunites the team to tell them what happened, and Lizzy lashes out and reveals she's been having an affair with Sugar. Grinder later confesses to Brentwood that they stole the money. Breacher and Brentwood meet with Grinder in a public setting to discuss what should happen next when Grinder is shot dead by Lizzy, who is behind the murders along with Sugar. Monster destroys her passport to prevent her escape, and Lizzy attacks him with a knife, killing him.

Breacher and Brentwood go to Lizzy's house and find Monster's body stuffed in a refrigerator. Lizzy calls Breacher, pretending to be alone, and arranges a meeting at a parking garage. Breacher goes there with Brentwood hidden, and they engage in a shootout with Lizzy and Sugar, who attempt to escape. After a violent car chase through Atlanta's streets, Sugar and Lizzy's car ends up crashing into a tow truck, decapitating Sugar.

Breacher and Brentwood confront a dying Lizzy, who accuses the team of stealing the money behind her back, motivating her to seek revenge. Brentwood is puzzled, assuming Lizzy had stolen the money. Breacher tells the dying Lizzy that he took the money. Lizzy tries to reach for her weapon and Breacher kills her. The local cops arrive and Breacher disappears.

Weeks later, Breacher is in Mexico, where he uses the stolen money to bribe a corrupt police official into helping him identify Brujo, the man who murdered his family. Breacher finds him in a Mexican bar and kills him and others loyal to him in a violent shootout, during which he is shot in the chest. Having avenged his family, a seriously wounded Breacher sits at a table, takes a shot of whiskey, lights up one last cigar and smiles as he hears the approaching sirens.

Cast

Production and marketing

Sabotage is loosely based on the classic Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None.[5] Filming started on October 12, 2012 and was completed by December 13, 2012.[6] While the initially released poster for the film gave a release date of April 11, it was released on March 28, 2014.

An unrated red band trailer for the film was released on February 7, 2014.[7] The film was previously titled Ten and Breacher.[8]

To promote the film, Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello guested on the March 24, 2014 episode of WWE Raw, where they joined Hulk Hogan in the ring before confronting The Miz.[9][10]

Reception

Box office

The film, budgeted at $35 million,[11] grossed $5.3 million in its opening weekend, finishing in seventh place. The opening was the worst for a Schwarzenegger film in over thirty years.[12] The worldwide gross as of July 6, 2014 is $17.5 million, with $10.5 million of the total gross coming from America.[3] The Numbers reported a final worldwide gross of $18.4 million.[2]

Critical response

Sabotage received negative reviews from critics, who criticized the film for its gratuitous violence and unlikable characters. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 19% based on 103 reviews; the average score is 4.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Sabotage boasts one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's finer post-political performances, but it's wasted in a movie driven by grueling violence that punishes seemingly without purpose."[13] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 41 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[14]

However, IGN gave the film a rating of 7/10 with the following verdict: "Sabotage is far more effective than its action-centric trailers have suggested, with the film more a mystery-thriller that actually offers Arnold Schwarzenegger and the cool ensemble a chance to act and not just shoot guns."[15]

References

  1. ^ Sabotage (2014) at the British Board of Film Classification
  2. ^ a b c "Sabotage - Box Office Data". The Numbers.
  3. ^ a b "Sabotage(2014)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 20 May 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  4. ^ Goldberg, Matt (May 7, 2012). "Arnold Schwarzenegger to Star in David Ayer's 'Ten'". Collider.com. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  5. ^ "Sabotage Movie Trailer (2014)". AtThaMovies. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
  6. ^ "IMDB Box office / business for Sabotage". imdb.com. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
  7. ^ Eisenberg, Eric (February 7, 2014). "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Sabotage Gets A Hardcore New Red Band Trailer". CinemaBlend.com.
  8. ^ "First look at Arnold Schwarzenegger in Ten". Flickering Myth.com. October 26, 2012. Retrieved November 9, 2012.
  9. ^ "Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello to Guest Star on Monday's Raw". WWE. 2014-03-17. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  10. ^ "Arnold Schwarzenegger and Joe Manganiello join Hulk Hogan in the ring: Raw, March 24, 2014". WWE/YouTube. 2014-03-24. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
  11. ^ Faughnder, Ryan (March 27, 2014). "Noah' to sail to No. 1 at the box office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  12. ^ Entertainment Weekly. April 11, 2014. pg. 53
  13. ^ "Sabotage (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  14. ^ "Sabotage". Metacritic.
  15. ^ "Sabotage (2014)". IGN.
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