'The Wrecking Crew': Familiar difficulties

ACTION comedies are a difficult kind of film to get right. As with any attempt to blend genres, if you don’t get the balance spot-on, you can end up with something that feels chaotic or obnoxious.

Prime Video has a bit of a patchy record when it comes to this genre but their latest effort, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto, does a decent job of pulling off that balance, even if the end result won’t win any points for originality.

Thanks to affable performances from its two leads, no stranger this kind of fare, anyone looking for an untaxing popcorn story to stream on a Friday night will find this one ideal.

Walter Hale, a private investigator, is killed in an apparent hit-and-run in Hawaii.

The man had two estranged sons, one of whom is US Navy officer James Hale (Dave Bautista).

Though reluctant to inform his brother Jonny (Jason Momoa), an Oklahoma detective with whom he hasn’t spoken in years, James’ wife does so, just before he is attacked in his home by two yakuza thugs.

The intruders demand Jonny gives them a package Walter supposedly sent him but he doesn’t know what they are referring to.

After dispatching the thugs, Jonny makes his way to Hawaii for his father’s funeral.

There is still plenty of friction between him and James but the brothers soon realise that their personal issues are the least of their problems.

They grow suspicious of their father’s death after they learn what he had been investigating.

Their detective work leads them to the activities of Marcus Robichaux (Claes Bang), a slimy local property tycoon and suspected crime boss.

Uncovering a sinister web of murder and political corruption, Jonny and James put their differences aside in order to avenge their father’s death.

The Wrecking Crew is much what you might expect just glancing at the poster or reading the cast list. If you have come to this review expecting something other than what the trailer might convey, you are going to be disappointed.

However thanks to slick execution, solid action sequences and a script that doesn’t take itself too seriously, the film proves an amiable watch.

Though the central conspiracy the brothers investigate could have been conceived on the back of a postcard, the steady supply of thrills and pithy one-liners does enough to offset that rather thin plot.

Like a can of Ronseal, this movie does exactly what it says on the tin.

With a central buddy dynamic, integral everything a movie like this tries to do, needless to say the casting needs to be spot-on. In that regard and in today’s Hollywood, you could hardly do worse than Bautista and Momoa.

The two hulking stars, best known for their roles in rival superhero franchises, could not be more obvious choices for these roles and the two actors throw all their physicality and charm into it.

They handle the explosion-heavy, bullet-ridden action scenes with the confidence you would expect but it is the occasional dramatic character moments in between them that stand out just as much.

In amongst the mayhem, there is the odd bit of pathos as the two brothers try to work their way through their familial difficulties.

The Wrecking Crew transcends most of it flaws, thanks to nimble action and some unassuming star power.

RATING: ***

Matthew McCaul