This movie offers you exactly what you expect, no more no less. While this movie is definitely nothing that is going to stick in your mind much after you watch it, it is a fun time at the movies.
What works best in this film is our three lead characters. These characters are immediately likable and there interplay with each other is great. The three actors (Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Vanessa Kirby) have perfect chemistry and are a joy to watch together. This leads to much of the humor of the film which comes more from the characters than anyone else. Most often it is the actors delivery that makes a joke funny, rather than the joke itself. For instance the faces our two male protagonists make at each other provide the biggest laughs in the movie. Naturally this is an action movie, and it certainly gives you lots of action. There are explosions happening constantly and each action scene seem to be building up on the last. Helping these scenes is that we care about the characters and the action is often undercut with humor. Also sometimes it is fun to just watch things blow up.
This movie does however suffer from overlength. 2 hours and 15 minutes of almost non-stop action can make the movie feel monotonous at times. Because of this even with all the explosions on screen it is easy for your mind to drift at times. Another problem with this film is the villain. With how fun our protagonists are the villain is just bland and boring. This is nothing fun or interesting about this character at all. Idris Elba turns in a good performance but he can't make this cliché character interesting. There is also the fact that you know what is going to happen in each scene because you have seen all these story points before. Still you knew that coming in.
While I would never call this a great movie, it is certainly an enjoyable one.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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