Directed By Shane Black

Starring – Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar

The Plot – An expert thief rolls out the biggest heist of his life. Parker (Wahlberg), along with Grofield (Stanfield), Zen (Salazar) and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexual content and nudity.

Play Dirty – Official Trailer | Prime Video

POSITIVES

Above all else, Shane Black proves that he’s still an action-first director, featuring some of the most rampantly fun and enticingly urgent set pieces of the director’s career, and the kind that other streaming giants like Netflix could educationally learn from in their buddy duo action flick of the week. Similar to Netflix, the sequences here do entail some semblance of noticeably artificial special effects that at least momentarily flounders audience focus, yet the kind that never completely compromise the integrity of the urgency or dangerousness of the established environment that Black takes ample time and exercising of characters to vividly flesh out, whether in the volatility of hand to hand combat, or full throttled chase sequences repeatedly trampling on the line of vulnerability that is brandished among the many untimely deaths meant to shock and awe its audience. If this isn’t enough, these sequences are enhanced audibly with a detailed blanketing of sound schemes that convey consequential devastation, even in aspects that we aren’t always privy to within the imagery. For my money, the single most echoing entrancement stems from the permanency casually littered in these gunshots that transpire so suddenly during these off-the-rail conflicts between characters, featuring articulated detail not only in the magnitude of the ammunition rounds, but also the intensified heft of their intended destinations, which ring resounding with the kind of anatomic impact that can be visualized mentally, taking ample opportunity to the desirable R-rating that no Shane Black movie would work effectively without. On top of this, the cutesy quirkiness of Black’s brand in personality is well maintained in his first directorial effort in seven years, surmising a caustically corrosive layering of wit that, as usual, always plays particularly well with the open-ended candidness of an R-rating at its limitless expression. While the gags themselves are nothing exceptionally clever or rarely surprising in their writing, the commitment from such a charismatic ensemble take their intended destinations miles with the frenetically fundamental ways that their pocketed dynamics pull something uniquely endearing towards continuously interacting with one another, eliciting more than a few noteworthy effective responses that dug much deeper than just a momentary chuckle, all the while proving impeccable casting within the many decorated names who take full advantage of the opportunity to work alongside Black. The best of these is definitely Stanfield as the unbreakable stage actor, Grofield, who, despite a complete lack of faithful dedication in the screenplay paid to the hollowness of his overall characterization, commands the kind of necessary attention to voraciously devour the scenery, proving not only Stanfield’s evidential fun within the frenetic instability of Black’s articulated world, but also food for thought to him possibly being one of the more adaptive and genre-bending actors prominently working today. In addition, Wahlberg’s unflinching stoicism works well with Black’s distinct brand of off-beat humor, especially in utilizing the dry deliveries that stand out negatively in other emotion-heavy projects, but here feel in touch with the cruel and unusual world tying so many amoral characters together under one roof. For my money, the best moments of the movie, and ultimately the kind that Black shines the brightest towards articulating in his buddy comedy dynamics, are the rare but impactful moments when Parker and Grofield are alone together on-screen, attaining a surprising element of chemistry between them that seamlessly implements the kind of playful banter needed to balance so much of the violent dependency, and in turn the kind that would ultimately drive the need for future sequels, should Amazon Prime decide to go that route.

NEGATIVES

Unfortunately “Play Dirty” is more of the same, with regards to content filling action comedies of the contemporary age, especially in the confines of a blandly dull and unengaging screenplay co-written by Black, which revels in the kind of convoluted sequencing that makes the objective of the mission feel unattainable, even as the narrative is continuously driving us towards it. For such a by the numbers action flick, the script gets overly involved with the social commentary of middle east conflicts and contending parties for the objective, in ways that constantly left me struggling to evaluate the magnitude of the stakes within the insanity of the adaptability for this party of thieves to roll with such unpredictable aspects of their heist, leaving it feeling like a side story in the “Fast and Furious” franchise for its logic leaps that are as big as the Grand Canyon. On top of this, the movie is pretty unpleasantly edited, cementing a two hour finished product that even despite its abundance of overindulgence on unnecessary scenes and sequences, still doesn’t feel like it always effectively tells a coherent story. I previously mentioned Grofield’s lack of development, and it’s an aspect that is unfortunately troubling considering Stanfield gives the best performance of the film, and yet isn’t important enough to illustrate anything other than his character being a jadedly overwhelmed stage actor, and between this and some glaring evidence for missing scenes in the introductions of characters, who conjure up and interact comfortably among others, the finished cut feels like it hems too much of the opening act, while not cutting enough of the second act, draining excessively the momentum from the pacing that makes it feel every inch of such an unnecessarily bloated runtime. Even the aforementioned action sequences aren’t free from nagging consequences, as some unconvincing green screen work involving characters turbulent bouts with gravity and heights feature a glaring transparency to artificial backdrops and wire-hanging actors, without anything even closely registering the kind of necessary velocity or wind influence to replicate such environments. The versatility of the set piece designs make them captivating enough to lose yourself in, but there’s an uncanniness lacking polish that immediately disturbs so much of the accommodating imagery of what we’re being shown, removing some of the lustrous essence from the rumored 35 million dollar budget, one of the highest of Black’s entire career. Even the opportunity to sample another of Alan Silverstri’s scores comes up entirely unfulfilling, as not only does his themes lack versatility among repetitious rhythms and stock instrumentals, but also fails to inspire any kind of epic underlining to a climax that falls by the wayside of convoluted tedium. Considering this is the same composer who lives on in the memory of limitless fandom, with the kind of familiarly iconic themes from “Back to the Future”, “Forest Gump”, and “Predator” that are recognizable in a single solitary note, it’s disappointing that nothing sticks with the kind of meaningful infectiousness that brings out the heart in these characters and their personal objectives, leaving it all the more difficult to invest in a film where the evidential effort feels so limited.

OVERALL
“Play Dirty” wastes away Shane Black’s return to the director’s chair with a creatively convoluted and inconsistently executed buddy action comedy that fails to evade the shadow of some of Black’s best within the hybrid subgenre. While the film does prominently feature a charismatically charming ensemble, led by LaKeith Stanfield’s scene-stealing and scenery chewing turn, as well as chaotically entrancing set pieces, its self-conflicting execution makes it feel like a studio obligation for Black, rather than a spirited passion project, offering nothing close to Prime for Amazon, other than content filler to scroll by unnoticeably

My Grade: 5.8 or D+