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Sabotage (2014)

18A | | Action, Crime, Drama | 28 March 2014 (USA)
Trailer
2:01 | Trailer
Members of an elite DEA task force find themselves being taken down one by one after they rob a drug cartel safe house.

Director:

David Ayer
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3,236 ( 561)
2 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Arnold Schwarzenegger ... John 'Breacher' Wharton
Sam Worthington ... James 'Monster' Murray
Joe Manganiello ... Joe 'Grinder' Phillips
Josh Holloway ... Eddie 'Neck' Jordan
Terrence Howard ... Julius 'Sugar' Edmonds
Max Martini ... Tom 'Pyro' Roberts
Kevin Vance ... Bryce 'Tripod' McNeely
Mark Schlegel Mark Schlegel ... 'Smoke' Jennings
Ned Yousef ... Dubai Money Launderer
Mireille Enos ... Lizzy Murray
Maurice Compte ... Sapo
Martin Donovan ... Floyd Demel
Michael Monks ... ASAC Phelps
Nick Chacon Nick Chacon ... DEA Sniper (as Nicolas Chacon)
Tim Ware ... Stan Morris (DEA Interrogator #1)
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Storyline

An elite DEA team raids the safe house of a drug cartel and hide $10 million in the plumbing. When they go back to retrieve the money it is not there. The team is under investigation for the missing $10 million. Then after a couple months the investigation is lifted. The team trains together again and then celebrates at a strip club. Then one of the team is murdered. He wakes up in his RV on railroad tracks. Then a second team member is nailed to the ceiling. The third team member is gunned down at his remote cabin. There is a female City of Atlanta investigator in charge of the murders. After investigating the cartel angle, the twisted truth comes to light.

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Leave no loose ends See more »


Certificate:

18A | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Sam Worthington and Arnold Schwarzenegger have both had roles in Terminator movies as terminators. See more »

Goofs

Just after Floyd gives John Wharton his gun, badge and credentials back, John drives his black Silverado pickup truck into a gravel parking lot. He backs in and parks with his front wheels turned on an angle, but in the next shot, his front wheels are straight. See more »

Quotes

Floyd Morgan: [from trailer] I gotta ask you a few questions. Ten million dollars is missing from your cartel bust. Did you steal it?
Breacher: No. And fuck you for asking.
See more »

Alternate Versions

For the release in Germany, 2 versions were released on Blu-ray: a 16 rated version and an 18 rated version. 3 minutes and 29 seconds were cut. See more »

Connections

References Friday the 13th Part III (1982) See more »

Soundtracks

Darkest (Dim)
Written by TokiMonsta (as TOKiMONSTA) and Gavin Turek
Performed by TokiMonsta (as TOKiMONSTA) featuring Gavin Turek
Courtesy of Brainfeeder
By arrangement with Third Side Music Inc.
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User Reviews

 
A bit of a mess - narratively and literally - but this is still a brutal, surprisingly compelling film featuring a great lead performance by Schwarzenegger.
10 April 2014 | by shawneofthedeadSee all my reviews

There are plenty of reasons to dislike Sabotage, the latest flick starring the Governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It's relentlessly gory, and occasionally storms head-first into dumb, torture-porn territory. Anyone watching it for its purported connection to Agatha Christie's most-beloved mystery novel, And Then There Were None, will be disappointed - the considerably less brainy film is, at best, only vaguely inspired by the ingenious twists of the book. But Sabotage remains compelling almost all the way through, and is all the more notable for featuring one of Schwarzenegger's finest, darkest performances yet.

John 'Breacher' Wharton (Schwarzenegger) leads a rogue DEA team on a drug bust, during which they try to skim ten million dollars for themselves. But their scheme goes awry, and the money mysteriously disappears. When investigations into the crime finally end, Wharton brings his team members together again - only for someone to start murdering them, one by one, in grisly, brutal fashion. Detective Caroline Brentwood (Olivia Williams) comes on board to piece together the entire puzzle. But, as she draws closer to the enigmatic Breacher, she discovers that there's far more to the man than meets the eye.

David Ayers' film has come under fire for myriad reasons: it's been called an ugly, twisted piece of film-making, more interested in sickening gore than character depth. Ostensibly, that's true. The murders are almost unbearably disgusting, Ayers' camera lingering almost lovingly over scenes awash in blood and internal organs. The film also deteriorates as it goes on, degenerating from a dark, uber-twisted thriller into a frustrating sequel to Final Destination, wherein death insists on finding its victims in the most revolting of ways.

But the real surprise of Sabotage is how it actually manages to juggle its main characters surprisingly well for much of its running time. A few characters do indeed turn out to be narrative fodder, quickly sliced up for maximum shock value. But others have far greater impact on audiences. In Breacher's team, the drugged-out Lizzy (Mireille Enos) and her dreadlocked husband Monster (an almost unrecognisable, bulked-up Sam Worthington) stand out. Caroline, too, is an assuringly capable, level-headed presence - despite some of the ignominies the character suffers in her growing relationship with Breacher.

The cast also does quite effective work, with Schwarzenegger leading the charge. As Breacher, he mines reserves of darkness and complexity he's barely accessed before, somehow managing to capture the man's odd mix of madness, nobility and ruthlessness. He's well-matched by Williams, who lends both the film and her character an air of respectability best- observed in scenes that might otherwise have played as a series of cheap grindhouse shots. Few people could pull off smoking desperately while bathed in blood, but Williams does it with charm to spare. Enos, too, is a joyful, ball-busting standout in a film running almost entirely on testosterone fumes, and Worthington heads down dark, bitter paths in a more convincing way than he's managed thus far in the likes of Avatar and Clash Of The Titans.

All in all, Sabotage is better than you might expect, but not as good as it probably could have been. While the film does revolve around many deeply considered ideas of vengeance, loyalty and morality, it doesn't really manage to come to grips with all of them beneath a backwash of diced-up body parts and pints of blood. It is, however, consistently gripping and almost worryingly compelling, a thriller that packs a punch so brutal it fascinates even as it disgusts.


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Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook | Official site | See more »

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Release Date:

28 March 2014 (USA) See more »

Also Known As:

Sabotage See more »

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,272,444, 30 March 2014

Gross USA:

$10,508,518

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$22,126,842
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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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