Otten Tomatoes: Pain & Gain
Pain & Gain (2013) tells the true story of three Miami, Florida bodybuilders in 1995 that tried to achieve the "American Dream" by kidnapping a rich guy and forcing him to sign his fortune over to them. That alone should give you an indication of the kind of geniuses we are dealing with here. Unsurprisingly, their dream is short lived as they continually botch every attempt to get away with it, leading to acts of torture and murder in the most grisly of ways. In the end it is much closer to an "American Nightmare".
The three main characters are played by Mark Wahlberg (The Italian Job, The Departed), Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (The Rundown, Fast Five), and Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, The Hurt Locker), and all three of them give fantastic performances. For me, however, Dwayne Johnson's was the best, because while he has always had the look (as demonstrated in the movie Be Cool (2005)) and the charisma, here he really has to play a character that gives the audience their only shred of sympathy for the protagonists. A tall order, given their heinous acts, but he really pulled it off. Of the three, Dwayne's character is the only one you believe is burdened by their behavior; for the others, it simply makes sense in their half-wit brains.
From left to right: Anthony Mackie, Mark Wahlberg, and Dwyane Johnson. Image credit: Paramount Pictures
Visually, Pain & Gain, directed by Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon, Transformers 1-3), is one of the most original films I've seen in a long time. It uses narration to both give the character's backstories and explain the thoughts of the characters in the moment, but instead of just one narrator, each character takes turns narrating the film. It's as if there are multiple story lines being weaved into one film. The film also uses several different types of freeze frames to emphasize moments; in one case the screen simply freezes, but in the other the screen freezes and radically changes color as a way to place a sort-of amplified, twisted emphasis on what has just happened. The film also uses on screen text often to provide plot information to the audience, including reminding them at one point that yes, this is still a true story. The film did have the shots Bay is known for, including high angle shots looking up at a characters from the ground, shots spinning and rising around characters, and shots moving the camera through walls in a circle to show the progression of two different events occurring simultaneously. All of the imagery is simply stunning.
Director Michael Bay. Image credit: Paramount Pictures
I've read other reviews that have compared Pain & Gain to everything from Fargo to Fight Club; I think each of those comparisons has merits. For me, there were two movies that immediately came to mind. First, Smokin' Aces (dir. Joe Carnahan, 2006), for it's just completely insane circumstances that the characters find (and cause) themselves to be in, with the added "insanity" of this story being true. And second, Domino (dir. Tony Scott, 2005), which, like Pain & Gain, is also a true story and used very aggressive film colors and textures. In the case of Domino it was intended to express to the viewer what they might experience if they, like the title character (and narrator), were high on mescaline while experiencing everything in the film. In the case of Pain & Gain, while certainly several if not all the characters were suggested to be on drugs (from steroids to cocaine), I'm don't think the film effects were intended to make the same impression. Here, I think they were intended to amplify the intensity of the scenes and connect the events to the prominent colors of mid-1990's Miami, Florida. Either way, it makes for a very vivid film watching experience.
Image credit: Paramount Pictures
I also very much enjoyed the score to Pain & Gain, written by Steve Jablonsky (The Island, Transformers 1-3), who has shown an ability to write both great smaller moment music and epic action beats. In Pain & Gain, he stays on the smaller scale mostly, although uses strong electronic beats to amp up the excitement, especially when the main characters start to "enjoy" their newly acquired lavish lifestyle. These bass-heavy beats are also especially effective combined with the visual imagery of the three massively muscle-bound main characters. (You can buy the score on iTunes here.)
Pain & Gain is awesomely entertaining, although it's certainly not for the faint of heart. It moves from funny to disturbing and back again at a break-neck pace, barely giving you time to catch your breath. It may not be my favorite Michael Bay movie (that still belongs to The Rock (1996)), but it is definitely in the running for his best, and it certainly is his most original. I still can't believe it's a true story.
(As an aside, I saw the movie at a free sneak preview a week before it opened in the United States at a single screen theater that is located on Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Southern Maryland. I know that sneak previews are not rare, but providing the opportunity for people on the base (and visitors) to see the movie is an awesome gesture by the studio.)
(Thanks to r-type of Shoot for the Edit for the idea for "Otten Tomatoes", a spin on the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes.)
