Pain and Gain

There’s generally two types of views with regards to Michael Bay’s work, there are those who absolutely hate his filmmaking, claiming it’s nothing more than a bunch of explosions and action scenes packed together piling up a cheap roller-coaster ride and then there are those who think his movies are ‘ok’. I’m not part of eighter one of those groups, i think Bay is a freakin’ genius.
His latest picture is called Pain and Gain, based on a newspaper article, it tells the story of 3 bodybuilders bend on fulfilling the american dream and, as the poster suggests, their american dream is bigger than yours. Recently released from jail from a get rich quick scheme gone wrong, the head of the operation, Daniel Lugo gets what he calls a brilliant idea as he’s working as a fitness trainer: kidnap one of his rich clients and force him to sign away all of his assets onto him. What follows is a roller coaster ride such as those Bay is known for producing only this time things get a little dark. Set in sunny Miami, amidst perfect 10 models, strippers, fast cars and generally happy rich people this story presents  elements such as torture, murder and drug abuse all whilst maintaing an overall sense of absurdist humor. There are times the movie insists of reminding you that this is in fact all real, it actually happened. Mark Whalberg actually mentioned in an interview (on the Howard Stern show) that ‘some of the shit had to be cut out of the script it was so outrageous, people wouldn’t believe it actually happened”. And it is the decisions these juiced-up muscle heads made that makes the story funny. Even though horrible things happened this story couldn’t have been told without humor because the real life people portrayed were so outrageous in their thinking that it’s hard not to burst into laughter at some point.
Ok, i’ll admit it, Bay’s the best when it comes to action scenes and there are a few of those in this movie, however i can only be impressed by the way the movie keeps moving forward and you are not for a second bored even though most of the movie is just these guys talking to each other, trying to figure a way out of the mess they’ve made, while at the same time getting in deeper and deeper trouble. In a way this movie reminded me of “the social network”, a movie that could seem rather simple and boring on paper but in the hands of a skilled film-maker keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. Not that that story of three juiced up roid raged bodybuilders bend on conquering Miami in the way of Scarface is a boring story but Bay just makes magic out of it. This story could have been told in many different ways but the combination of comedy, action and some pretty dark and disturbing subject matter makes this one of the most interesting movies of the year. If you don’t know the story of Daniel Lugo, don’t read it until you watch this movie. Sure, a few Hollywood exaggerations are made, some of the story elements are changed, some characters are missing from the story and the ending is a bit over-the-top compared to what happened in real life but what’s important has been kept, the core of the story is unchanged and it’s one hell of a ride. This is Michael Bay’s most interesting work, it’s not his biggest movie by any means but it is the most compelling, original and dare i say funniest movies that’s come out in a long while. PS: If you’re a transformers fan and remember Sam’s baby booties joke from T2, keep your eyes open. Also be sure to check the “so buff” soundtrack off the album after you’ve seen the movie.