6 Underground (2019) Netflix/Action RT: 128 minutes Rated R (strong violence and language throughout, bloody images, some sexual content) Director: Michael Bay Screenplay: Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese Music: Lorne Balfe Cinematography: Bojan Bazelli Release date: December 13, 2019 (Netflix) Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Melanie Laurent, Corey Hawkins, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ben Hardy, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco, Lior Raz, Peyman Maadi. Box Office: N/A
Rating: **
There is never any doubt, not even a nanosecond’s worth, 6 Underground is a Michael Bay joint. It has all the classic signs. It’s long, violent, hyper, incoherent, idiotic and extremely loud. It has minimal plotting and character development. It’s aimed at 14YO boys of all ages. It couldn’t have been made by anyone other than the guy responsible for all those Transformers movies, a fact noticeable by all who cast their eyes and ears upon it, from expert cinephiles all the way down to those with only a limited knowledge of cinema.
The title refers to an anonymous vigilante group of six, led by an eccentric billionaire genius (Reynolds, Deadpool), that metes out justice against the evildoers world governments refuse to touch. In order to do this anonymously, they fake their own deaths and identify only as numbers- e.g. Reynolds is “One”. The others are former CIA spook “Two” (Laurent, Inglorious Basterds), former hitman “Three” (Rulfo, The Magnificent Seven), agile young thief “Four” (Hardy, Bohemian Rhapsody), doctor “Five” (Arjona, Triple Frontier) and sniper “Seven” (Hawkins, Straight Outta Compton), a traumatized ex-soldier guilty over being unable to save his unit due to orders. Where’s “Six” you ask? He dies in the movie’s opening extended car chase.
The plot, if it even matters, has the team staging a coup d’etat in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Turgistan in order to depose the current leader, a brutal dictator (Raz, Operation Finale), and replace him with his more benevolent brother (Maadi, A Separation) who he has imprisoned in a luxury hotel in Hong Kong. The plan involves killing off his four military leaders, rescuing the brother and inciting the Turgistanian people to revolt.
Is it possible? Have audiences finally had enough of Bay and his noisy action vehicles that can be heard clear across the multiplex? If the grosses for the last Transformers movie are any indication, the answer is a great big YES. Given that 6 Underground is a Netflix movie, it would appear that Hollywood has lost confidence in him as well. Bay, being the formidable filmmaker he is, isn’t about to let something as minor as a change in platform affect the way he makes movies. 6 Underground is every bit as messy, loud, dumb and expensive as anything involving giant alien robots.
As for 6 Underground being any good, it’s really a toss-up. It has three cool action set pieces. The first is a 20-minute car chase through the streets of Florence, Italy during which no fruit carts are overturned. Our heroes are quickly introduced as they’re chased by cops and Mafia guys. The second is at the Hong Kong hotel where Four’s parkour skills come in extra handy. Who says you need an elevator to get from the penthouse to the ground? The third is the climax on board a yacht that One has somehow managed to magnetize. There is violence and blood aplenty in 6 Underground. The body count is very, VERY high. One of my favorite scenes involves a baddie getting shot in the head via the cigar in his mouth. This is what’s good about the movie. The rest of it stinks.
I guess what bothered me most about 6 Underground is Reynolds. Despite some of the titles on his resume, I don’t really see him as an action lead. When he talks, all I can hear is his Deadpool character. Since I don’t think Bay is going for comedy with 6 Underground, Reynolds is totally miscast. I kept think how much cooler it would be if One was played by Nicolas Cage.
As for the rest of the movie, it’s mainly filler between the big action scenes I previously mentioned. Some of it involves One’s reluctance to get close to his team. He keeps talking about family and Leave It to Beaver, but refuses to learn his team members’ names. We learn a detail or two about each member (except the doctor) but not enough to make us care. Even though they’re supposed to cut off all ties to their previous lives, Three still visits his mother in a nursing home. She has Alzheimer’s so I guess it’s okay. There’s no point in discussing performance since the actors aren’t given much to work with in terms of character. However, they do kick ass pretty well.
As far as the technical aspects are concerned, it’s business as usual for Bay. 6 Underground is hyper-edited to the point of confusion and the sound is set at migraine-level. The latter thing is fixable thanks to the volume control on your remote; there’s nothing to be done about the visual style.
I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to watch 6 Underground as an alternative to the Oscar fare that’s especially popular this time of year. Many of them will probably like it. I’m well aware that not everybody is as discriminating as me when it comes to film. These folks will happy to know that the door is left open for a franchise should enough people watch 6 Underground. Me, I’ll watch future installments for the action and chase scenes. They’re always fun.
