Following up his first directorial stab, the grippingly authentic 2012 cop drama “End of Watch,” screenwriter-turned-director David Ayer continues his career-lasting obsession with American law enforcers. In “Sabotage,” he turns his eye to a crack DEA task force fighting Mexican drug cartels, only this bunch wouldn’t look out of place on the other side of the US war on drugs. Led by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s grizzled cigar-chomper John “Breacher” Wharthon, they’re all tattoos, cornrows and beaded goatees, and they live up to their dodgy looks — while raiding a cartel warehouse, they secretly thieve $10 million from the stash in the basement and blow up the rest to cover their tracks. Sounds like a solid plan, only the money goes missing, they’re found out by their superiors and soon enough they’re being hunted down one by one in variously nasty ways.
As it was in “End of Watch,” Ayer’s vision of American policing is admirably grim and gruesome — struck by a speeding train, a grown man is reduced to a pile of meat, another is nailed to a ceiling, and recalling the kidnapping of his late wife, Arnie angrily barks, “They sent me her face in the mail!” But anyone going into “Sabotage” expecting the same level of authenticity or intensity of Ayer’s debut is sure to be let down by the lunkheadedness of the script and the emptiness of the drama — despite the sky-high body count and hefty funeral costs, the film lurches through its plot with nary an emotion on display. And anyone hoping for some brainless action based on the presence of Arnie is also in for disappointment: on the excitement front there’s a raid scene at the beginning, a car chase/shootout at the end and precious little in between. As for the Governator himself, he’s handed a grimly tragic backstory, yet his facial expressions rarely change from T-800 blankness and constipated straining — though as ever, he sure does look mighty fine with a cigar between his gnashers.
Rating: 4/10
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