Film Review: "6 Underground" (2019).

"They Say No One Can Save The World. Meet No One" in 6 Underground. This action thriller film directed by Michael Bay, and written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. Meet a new kind of action hero. Six untraceable agents, totally off the grid. They've buried their pasts so they can change the future.

In early March 2018, it was reported that Bay would direct an action thriller script penned by Wernick and Reese, which was to be produced by Skydance Media's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger. In May 2018, it was reported that Netflix would distribute the film, for what they intend to be a new action franchise with Ryan Reynolds starring in the lead role. By late July, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Adria Arjona, Corey Hawkins, Ben Hardy, Dave Franco, Lior Raz, Peyman Maadi, and Yuri Kolokolnikov rounded out the film's cast. At the same time, with a budget of $150 million, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early December. Filming took place in Los Angeles, as well as throughout Italy and United Arab Emirates.

The film stars Reynolds, Laurent, Garcia-Rulfo, Arjona, Hawkins, Hardy, Franco, Raz, Maadi, and Kolokolnikov. The cast, and Bay, shows how the film's bad-ass heroes become rogue fighters. But takes an age to do so, and does it without an ounce of intelligence.

Let down by a disappointing script, dodgy dialogue, poor CGI effects, panicky editing and a subplot that's both morally reprehensible and entirely out of place, Bay's movie is loud and vulgar and disorienting, and not at all an exhilarating kind of fun. The film is a cocktail of convoluted scheming, smirking one-liners, and unabashed Bayhem is unsurprisingly well-suited to its demands. But it's still s**t. Surely we've moved on? Had the action sequences been better framed and presented, this might have been one of the summer's mindless high points. As it is, it's a passable diversion. For those of us who like action, we can talk sensibly. Is the film a dumb film? Yes. How dumb is it? It's incredibly dumb-nay, exuberantly dumb. And who was it who said, "exuberance is beauty?" The film combines over-the-top action scenes with lifeless jokes and the disappointing result is an uninspired action comedy. It may well annoy a few of you as much as it occasionally did me, and it will definitely not elicit a good laughs. I don't hate action thrillers, but as well-intentioned as this film might be, it never gels for me. It's so awash in constant action that it takes all the fun of the characters right out of it. The set pieces are a confused mess and the character chemistry too weak to hold together the sloppy script despite good casting. Even committed action fans may acknowledge the editing is so frenetic that it's often impossible to know what is going on - or why. It's all shot and edited in a cut-to-ribbons, unsatisfying, no-stakes CGI way. Go and rent the far superior and similarly themed The Losers (2010) instead.

Simon says 6 Underground receives:

Also, see my review for Transformers: The Last Knight.