Sabotage Blu-ray Review: Startlingly Unimpressive

David Ayer's gritty and violent Sabotage arrives on home video looking and sounding as unimpressive as the film.

Writer/Director David Ayer is a well-known asset among those bringing gritty drama/action flicks to the big screen. Although he had scripted 2001's The Fast & The Furious, Ayer gained his greatest popularity that same year for the Oscar-winning Training Day. His up-and-coming status is in stark contrast to that of Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's seen his star diminish since returning to acting in 2010. For both, the home release of Sabotage is important in defining where each stands in their respective careers. For Ayer, it's clearly filled with high-octane; for Arnold, it's something quite different.

The Movie - 3/5

DEA Agent John 'Breacher' Warton (Schwarzenegger) and his elite strike team form a dangerous response to the drug war. Murray (Sam Worthington), Phillips (Joe Manganiello), Jordan (Josh Holloway) and Edmonds (Terrance Howard) treat each other like quarreling brothers, with Breacher acting as their surrogate parent. But away from the missions, the team is unpredictable and even dangerous: the strung-out Lizzy (Mireille Enos) and the drunk Roberts (Max Martini) are just as likely to brawl with one another as save each other's bacon. The team's allegiance come to a head when the DEA launches an investigation into the whereabouts of $10 million lost during a raid on a cartel. But we soon learn that the team's history with the organization is far darker than anyone expects. As murder envelopes the team, an FBI agent (Olivia Williams) begins to unravel the details, leading her and Breacher down a rabbit hole that only one will emerge from alive.

Our feelings about Sabotage span the range of emotions, leaving us stuck somewhere between mild disappointment and a healthy appreciation for the effort made. A film lives and dies by the details, and so few of the film's characters are worthy of our love or even attention. The only one we even tacitly endorse turns out to be a well-played pawn played by Williams, a victim of best intentions. Perhaps that was Ayer's point, but his deep betrayal of the characters is equaled only by the effort they make to deflect the blows. A film cannot exist on grit alone, but Sabotage tries its best, even if its main character can no longer carry a movie.

Much like his character, Arnold seems tired and even a bit empty, a man with a deep and glorious past but lacking much of a future. As Breacher, he looks down at his teammates' wild antics like that of a grandfather who doesn't understand this new generation. And just like Breacher, Arnold no longer plays the wild hero we came to love, but a morally ambiguous figure who will readily stand in the shadows to get over on Uncle Sam. Whether he carries that deeper dramatic side off is up to the audience to decide, but his cast represents the most talented of his career, in many ways eclipsing him in every scene. Enos plays the most unstable of the lot, but everyone from Manganiello to Worthington do their best to offset the rather thin script. Even SJF favorites Howard and Martini get their scenes, with the latter in a particularly funny one that's part of the explicit trailer. Their on-the-edge lifestyles teeter dangerously into murderous rage, and Arnold seems like the last one who can contain them.

Ayer manages to craft a decent side plot with Williams and Schwarzenegger, leaving the former Dollhouse star holding the bag after a particularly good ending. We didn't like the overly-simplistic revenge epilogue, which felt like someone else shot it other than Cinematographer Bruce McCleery. It's so straight-up in its approach that it reminds us of the 80's Arnold rather than the deeper one Ayer desperately tries to invent. Ayer is clearly an excellent director, crafting environments that seem so far removed from the lives of ordinary people. His strength lies in an ability to get the most out of his actors, even if his own script lacks the emotional heft. Had anyone else produced Sabotage, the results would have been disastrous; instead, he merely keeps the ship from veering too far off course by mitigating several puzzling plot holes. The result is a film we could have loved but only merely like.

And yet, the additional scenes contained within the Supplements speak to a larger - and I think better - film, Watch the theatrical one, then piece together the various deleted scenes, and you'll experience a much more final work. Too bad that one didn't make it theaters. Sabotage is a film teetering on the edge of insanity, but missteps and a poor epilogue keep me from recommending it in its current form. On the other hand, the 'director's cut' makes the film much more cohesive. Either way, with a team of actors better than he, Schwarzenegger seems out of his league.

The Video - 3.5/5

Sabotage comes complete with a MPEG-4/AVC track that broadcasts a clean but unimpressive 1080p signal. Here, the trouble occurs with blacks and shadows, which lose any sort of detail in most situations. Yet other elements of the picture are terrific, such a details on clothing and guns, Arnold's graying hair, and the variety of outdoor scenes. Colors are well-balanced with reds brightening every scene they're in. Sweat and blood (and there's a lot of it here) look realistic, and the retained graininess gives the film an unique edge that's textbook Ayer. Yet it's the aforementioned blacks and shadows which do not play well with each other, losing any sort of detail and get swallowed into black far too often. Luckily, there's no issue with banding or edge enhancement, and pixelation is non-existent. As a result of these strengths, we're not ready to write-off Universal's efforts, mainly because Ayer tends to favor gritty realism over picture-perfect. Hence, our score reflects some leniency.

The Audio - 3/5

Just like most Universal releases, Sabotage sports a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio experience; but unlike others from the studio, this one isn't perfect. One minute, the track rumbles along nicely during the action-packed opening, while the next scene is strangely silent and flat of any immersion. The pulsing LFE does a nice job throughout, but even that is a little too quiet when a key member of the team is killed by a train. And while the front speakers mix a combination of music, dialogue, and sound effects, there's a distinct sense of flatness to them, There's very little coming out of those forwards, and we finally realized that odd sound we were hearing was in fact a stronger center channe. Luckily, it boosts dialogue well enough to offset the flatness of the left/right channels, but the problem persisted enough that we found ourselves raising the volume, only to dial it back down during louder scenes. The surrounds also deliver a rather thin experience, pushing office chatter one minute then virtually nothing from a strip club the next. We ensured that our settings had not been tampered with, so we're unsure why this part of the release is so uneven.

The Supplements - 3/5

The home release for Sabotage contains only a small amount of extras, with no commentary by Director David Ayer. Such an inclusion would have been fascinating, but instead we're left with features that can only boast a 1080p transfer:

• Alternate Ending #1 (8:58) - Placed in time with the other related deleted scenes, Caroline makes the film better, period. It matches the gritty realism of the rest of the film, and it seems a more fitting end than the 'ghost' theatrical version.
• Alternate Ending #2 - Breacher (2:03) - Here Caroline is the victim, but iit's unclear whether the theatrical ending would have been used.
• Deleted Scenes (17:13) - These scenes are interesting Caroline Questions Joe John (2:18), Search for Dakota (0:38), Joe John Threatens Caroline (1:09), Condom Flush (0:56), Lizzy and Sugar Kidnap Civilian (1:52), Caroline Dives for Bodies (0:39), Dakota Case Solved (2:38), and Caroline and Jackson Find the Money (7:04). These scenes point to a much larger larger story that would have ended much differently than the glamorized theatrical one. I would recommend watching these scenes before watching the two alternate endings. When combined with Alternate Ending #1, the film makes much more sense.
• Making Sabotage (8:32): A basic piece that feels like a huge chunk of it was removed, it looks at Ayer's world through set visits and interviews with the cast. It definitely paints Schwarzenegger as more than willing to expand his horizons, and the effect Ayer has on the cast is resounded several times throughout the piece. Previews: Additional Universal titles.

Our evaluation copy arrived as a Blu-ray/DVD Combo, along with UV Digital Copy. The embossed slipcase is attractive, but there is no interior artwork. At the time of this posting, we were not aware of an special editions being offered in The United States.

The Bottom Line - 3/5

Sabotage endorses the gritty, distrusting world of law enforcement that's sadly become so popular in American films. It's foul-mouthed, ugly, and absolutely unapologetic, but do such qualities make for good cinema? Depending on how you look at it, Sabotage either ups the ante or descends to new lows, clearly establishing itself as the ultra-violent end of Ayer's spectrum. Schwarzenegger is outperformed at every turn by the best cast we've seen behind him, but even they can't keep the thin story from tearing apart under its own weight. The home release also under-performs, but it's the supplements which paint a much different ending that's worth a second look. Whether audiences will take a chance on a purchase is anyone's guess, but what's clear is that Schwarzenegger is an old battleship that's seen better days.

Sabotage is rated R for everything under the sun and has a runtime of 109 minutes.

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