PAIN & GAIN

Personal fitness trainer and bodybuilding junkie, Daniel Lugo is tired of his financially meager life. He’s outraged that he isn’t rich and he hates people who are. His personal philosophy is “if I believe I deserve it, the universe will serve it.” But sometimes the universe is a bit too slow in granting one’s wishes. So Lugo, along with fellow bodybuilder/ besty Adrian Doorbal and ex-convict Paul Doyle decide to kidnap and shake down a wealthy businessman. This crime is just the beginning of the downward spiral that will eventually lead to their ruin.

This motion picture is based on a true story. The events took place in Miami, Florida between 1994 and 1995. The screenplay was adapted from a three-part article about the real Daniel Lugo and the Sun Gym Gang; written by Pete Collins and first published in the Miami New Times. Nonetheless this is a Hollywood production, so artistic liberties have been flexed, names have been changed, events have been altered and the spoken dialogue has been spruced up. In Hollywood terms, this story does resemble most of the actual incidents albeit exaggerated at times. The news article paints the real-life Lugo as a capable conman who devised many illegal schemes but the film version of Lugo shows him as a dim-witted dreamer. If Lugo is dumb, then Doorbal is dumber and Doyle is the dumbest. At first the actions of these bumbling criminals are laugh-out-loud funny but then the tone shifts into black comedy territory. Black or Dark comedy basically takes serious subject matter like murder and infuses it with humour. In my opinion, it is the most difficult form of comedy to pull off. So fans of this particular genre will most likely find Pain & Gain extremely entertaining but others may find it offensive. Lugo considers himself a Robin Hood of the nineties. His goal is to take from the rich and give to the poor. The poor in this case, is him and his two brainless accomplices. What starts off with kidnapping and extortion quickly leads to torture and attempted murder and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The character’s relentless need to achieve the so-called ‘American Dream’ is probably the most alarming aspect of the film. Superficiality, self-centeredness and materialism are the dominant themes of this film; similar to the true spirit of Americanism and that country’s ‘Get rich or die trying’ philosophy.

The real life Lugo, Doorbal and Doyle look nothing like their movie counterparts, Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Mackie and Dwayne Johnson. But all three actors bring their A-game and make their individual performances terrific. All three get equal amounts of screen time and all three provide doses of comic relief. Although the real guys were despicable members of society, their movie versions are shockingly endearing. Even though Wahlberg is the lead, Johnson steals the show. He takes you on a wild ride as the ex-convict, recovering drug addict, sober alcoholic, Team-Jesus member. Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris and Rob Corddry makes up the great supporting cast who all pump up the acting quality of the flick.

Love him or hate him, director Michael Bay does have a cinematic signature. The 360° Panning Shot where the camera moves around a character in a full circle, the Steady-Cam Chase Scene where the Steady-Cam operator runs behind a character at breakneck speeds and the Low-Angle Shot with a plane flying overhead. This is textbook Michael Bay cinematography. Even the jerky editing and techno score are common traits in his films.

After Pearl Harbor (2001), The Island (2005) and the three Transformers movies (2007-2011), I had pegged Michael Bay as a director who just wanted to make gaudy films with bad stories, hot chicks and cool explosions. So directing a fairly low budget film by Hollywood standards with morose subject matter is quite surprising. The decision to take a true story, add in dark humour and change three detestable characters into three likeable ones is gutsy. Voice-over narration equals lazy storytelling is an overused cliché by film critics. I feel; if it works for a particular story, use it! And it definitely works for Pain & Gain. The momentary insights to the thinking of each character allow us to get to know them better. Obviously family members of the true life victims probably don’t see the humour or feel the enjoyment in the movie, but that’s just art. As Henry James wrote; “Life is all inclusion and confusion, while art is all discrimination and selection.” The screenwriters, producers and Michael Bay have included the right elements and discriminated the unwanted details of the true story in order to make a thoroughly enjoyable and simply hysterical film. A Must-See movie for ‘dark comedy’ fans.

Rating: 8/10
S. V. Fernando