Pain & Gain (Blu-ray + DVD)

Great movie

Made me feel the urge to go get a pump

The last year brought four films which, in different ways, deal with the same topic: amoral materialism run amok in today’s America. They are: The Bling Ring; Spring Breakers; The Wolf of Wall Street; and Pain and Gain. In my view, despite its brutality, crudity, and ugliness, Pain and Gain is the best. If you can stand it.Amazon’s customer reviews reveal roughly a 50-50 split. Interestingly, Rotten Tomatoes.com, which collects critic reviews on films, shows a virtual tie between the pros and the cons. The outraged negative reaction doesn’t surprise me. Pain and Gain is not a pleasant film. Many people were turned off by the raw language and sexual references. Others abhorred the violence. And others, oddly, despite all that sex and violence, were bored.That the Bling Ring was directed by Sofia Coppola may explain why it fared somewhat better with the critics--but not with Amazon customers--than Pain and Gain. That Pain and Gain was directed by Michael Bay no doubt hurt the film with some critics. (What if the same film been directed by a critical darling like Quentin Tarantino? Pulp Fiction overflows with both violence and crudity.)Pain and Gain isn’t a comedy. Overall, the mood is pitch black. There is simply nothing funny about graphic violence inflicted on even sleazy victims. Still, the film contains many absurd, laugh-out-loud moments, such as when the criminals botch the first kidnap attempt or when one of them fastens the victim’s seat belt before crashing his car. Or when head criminal Mark Wahlberg organizes a Neighborhood Watch meeting, after moving into victim #1‘s posh house.Other moments produce reflexive shock laughter, the kind we’ve all experienced in life.The film’s message about greed, the things people do for material gain, is bleak indeed. And, in this regard, the film is absolutely uncompromising and stark. Here we’re not dealing with Wall Street crooks or spoiled 20-somethings in L.A. Here the stakes are , great bodily injury, life and death.To Michael Bay’s credit, he does not play the murder scene for laughs. And he doesn’t prettify the three attempted murders on victim #1, though the victim’s resilience does produce shock laughter. (He does cross the line, however, when the males at the Neighborhood Watch get-together eagerly volunteer to role-play an attempted rapist. Not funny.)The writing is damned good, with a spot-on sense of real-life criminals. Prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys, and judges can cite chapter-and-verse about criminals who overrate their intelligence, who turn on one another when the going gets rough.The cast is terrific. Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson (yes, he can act), Anthony Mackie (from “The Hurt Locker”), Tony Shalhoub, and Ed Harris.I’m not a Michael Bay fan. But he’s made good films before. (See, “The Rock,” selected for the elite Criterion Collection DVD series). He’s done it again. If you can stomach the violence and deal with the sexual references, Pain and Gain is well worth watching. Otherwise, avoid.

The decision to go funny-dark instead of serious-dark when telling this true horror story is done for one obvious reason: These crooks are ate-UP with stupid. Even if the pool was empty, they'd still be drowning in stupid. And you gotta give Florida credit; NO one does crazy like Florida.Mark Wahlberg as Chief Crazy in Charge just nailed it. If you loved Wahlberg in The Other Guys, he brings the funny here too, while still playing the positive-thinking psycho-killer. Even rewound a couple times just to watch his face as he ripped some major snappy dialogue. Part of what makes Wahlberg funny is his flow and patience to wait for *just* the right beat to make his move. He doesn't tell jokes or do schtick, thank god. He just convinces us he's completely unaware that what he's saying is hilarious.Anthony Mackie brings his own special crazy, especially at the strip-club bar when he's tripping on just how big he's gonna get in that gym: Ima get SWOLE! Ima have to turn SIDEways and shiat just to walk through tha door!!. Because Dwayne Johnson played the guy who was Christian with still a tiny bit of conscience while snorting dumpsters full of coke, he had to tone down his funny from what we saw in The Other Guys, and only once do we get to see him do that blazing adorable full-faced smile of his.Of special note is Emily Rutherfurd who all-too-briefly played Ed Harris' wife. That kind of wicked-smart and wicked-cool makes her wicked-funny. We desperately need more nuanced female roles like this and the actresses who can handle it. Ken Jeong as the slimy, cliched motivational speaker was the perfect choice. Jeong can work a crowd like nobody's business.The trial highlights narrated by Ed Harris will leave you utterly gobsmacked and Googling for more details of the real criminals, their real crimes and their real trial.

First of all I'd like to say I was surprised to find out that this film was based on a true story, with that said, I found this film to be entertaining, I thought it was funny, (cheesy in certain parts), Tony Shalhoub ( Victor Kershaw ) is one of the funniest actors I have ever had the pleasure of watching whether he's in the TV series Monk or some other film that has comedy. And he's a great actor in dramas as well, I literally was drinking a sprint and spat it out because of how funny he was, Anthony Mackie ( Adrian Doorbal ) who I've seen in other films. I never thought that he was as hilarious as he is, this film starts out with Daniel Lugo ( Mark Walhberg ) who is a fitness trainer and a wannabe entrepreneur and his scheme to become not only a wealthy, entrepreneur. But a somebody within the city where he resides. He gathers a team: Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie ), and Paul Doyle ( Dwayne Johnson ) to discuss the plan that he has for all of them to become wealthy and "somebody's" in the community of fitness, at first Paul needed to be persuaded to go along with the plan, after all are aboard with the plan. What comes after they've agreed, is a very entertaining film, the film held together and I didn't see any loopholes in the plot, if you're in for a good laugh check this film out.

Nach einer wahren Begebenheit mit Dwayne „The Rock“ Johnson und Mark Wahlberg.Der Film zeigt wie in denn 90er in Miami Florida USA eine Gruppe Bodybuilder versuchen an Geld zu kommen und das nicht mit legalen Mitteln - nein mit Entführung, Erpressung - Mord.Finde denn Film Super gemacht ist von allen was dabei - Spannung, Action, Humor,……Wenn man im Hinterkopf hat der Film nach einer wahren Geschichte gemacht wurde - wobei nie alles in einem Film gezeigt werden kann, finde ich denn Film noch mitreißender. Vielleicht mal nachlesen was da genau passiert ist. Ich schließe mich dem Cover des Films an - „ HART, COOL - SPANNEND !“

Very happy with my purchase.Shipped in perfect condition.

After seeing the trailers for this I thought it was going to be junk but after seeing it on a whim I am glad I did. An excellent movie that shows us what transpired in the early 90s with the Sun Gym gang (albeit a few things are added in for comedic effect). The fact that for the most part it stays true to the actual story makes it much more compelling and disturbing as the movie goes along.Well worth a watch!

Good

This story is brilliant marvellous actors on the front line there is no way this movie is going to be boring, Action and comedy mixed together what more do you want. Now two trainers want more than they have got and that's the American dream. Somewhere down the track they get caught up with the criminal enterprise that goes astray, Now with that bit of intelligence there can only be a lot of mistakes along the way. I rated this an A grade plus for the fast paced and fresh ideas that come to light in this movie based on what really happened. The action is great and a touch of comedy that will have you tied up in stitches. Time for your feet up popcorn in hand, try to relax in front of the television with a fabulous movie that will have you sitting upright, taking note of everything going on from beginning to end. Highly recommended and no disappointments, now you can see for yourself and be a judge. Enjoy!