Posted by Jennifer Asencio | Published
The Wrecking Crew Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista team up in a movie about a friend whose trailer promises a lot of explosions and great one-liners, similar to the classic action heroes of the 80s and 90s. It’s a rare streaming entry that delivers on that promise.
Momoa and Bautista play brothers James and Johnny, who have a father and a complicated past. Their father is killed in a hit-and-run accident, sending prodigal son Johnny back to the family homestead in Oahu, Hawaii, to at least investigate why the Yakuza are visiting his home in Oklahoma. The brothers don’t see eye to eye, and James isn’t sure that his father was killed, while Johnny is sure that the Yakuza were involved.
Johnny is a police officer, and James trains Navy SEALs, so both men know how to behave as they begin to uncover a conspiracy that threatens their Hawaiian home. A chaos of Hawaiian gangsters, Yakuza criminals, and high security stand between them and the truth. As the brothers come to terms with their father’s death and mend their own tangled relationship, they leave behind an ever-increasing trail of destruction that will rock Oahu.
Classic Action Stars in the Modern Era
James and Johnny are classic action stars who remember the mayhem of the past as Die Hard, Lethal Weaponor Commando. Almost every scene moves things along by leaving more questions than answers and invites fights, explosions, car chases, and intrigue. As they try to solve this mystery, the brothers struggle to deal with each other, the memory of their banished father, and the threat to their families due to the events they are drawn into.
These two men are not the passive heroes of modern films. They are men, oozing masculinity in every scene. They deal with their feelings like men (although James’s wife is a child psychologist), and they solve their problems like action heroes: by beating them, including each other.
The Wrecking Crew shows its traces as men, wearing clothes that show off the muscles of both actors, especially Momoa. The Hawaiian setting gives them ample opportunity to wear things like Hawaiian shirts and tank tops, and no opportunity is wasted to showcase the duo to their best advantage.
However, as a male film it is, women don’t cry violets. They know who their men are, but they also do their part to help uncover the plot through their intelligence and agency. Co-starring Morena Baccarin as Johnny’s love interest, her movie trailer scene during the car chase doesn’t do justice to her actual performance in the full sequence.
Every Genre Trope in an Exploding Car Chase Scene
The Wrecking Crew’s transitions between well-crafted melee and gun battles and frantic car chases that raise the stakes at every turn, highlighted by the cinematography that brings us along for the ride. The two battles take place in a hallway with a window that reminded me of the battle in “House of Blue Leaves” Kill Bill Vol. 1. A single car chase invokes all kinds of genres, building them up to an explosive crescendo. Don’t look away, because there are tons of visual cues that connect each episode to the next.
Part of the amazing visuals is the fact that Hawaii itself is made into a character through the use of camera angles and photography. Oahu, where the story takes place, is always there, from the scenic drone shots to the dramatic ocean scenes and epic action sequences. In a special photo, a prominent mountain peak is framed between two trails, reminding viewers that Hawaii is always over their shoulders.
Maia Kealoha Breaks Free With Film About Ohana Actually
The Wrecking Crew and features true BloodStephen Root and Frankie Adams be The atmosphereand Jacob Batalon, known for the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies and the excellent characters to type. A young Maia Kealoha, who played Lilo in Disney’s live-action remake of Lilo & Stitchhe steals the show in almost every scene he’s in and hints at a promising career as an actor; anyway, it’s nice to see Lilo in a movie about it whoaor families stick together, after being disappointed in his other big movie.
If there is something wrong with it The Wrecking Crewa short period of investigation in the middle of a film that seems to drag, especially compared to the frantic pace of the rest of the film. This part only lasts 15-20 minutes, though, and then we’re back to adventure and excitement.
Naturally Masculine Film
The Wrecking Crew it’s unapologetically masculine while showing a depth of emotion that doesn’t reduce its trajectory to weeping sisters. These men of action deal with things in a very manly way without shame while never slipping into today’s ways of “toxic masculinity.” They suffer and are not affected, either physically or emotionally, but in the end, they are decent men who do what men do to protect their families.
The Wrecking Crew found a way to give audiences what they’ve been missing: a compelling story, a cast of characters we can all aspire to be, and the classic battle between good and evil. When you’re on this badass ride, you don’t get off until the credits roll.
The Wrecking Crew is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
