The two superhero movie stars get their bromance on in an explosive new Prime Video action flick.
Dave Bautista, Jason Momoa lead ‘The Wrecking Crew’ trailer
Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa star as estranged half-brothers who investigate their father’s death in the action movie “The Wrecking Crew.”
- “The Wrecking Crew” streams Wednesday, Jan. 28, on Prime Video.
- Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista posture and bicker as buff but estranged half-brothers.
- Jacob Batalon, Morena Baccarin and Stephen Root costar.
There is an art to the casting of a buddy action movie. Pair the right clashing personalities, you get “Lethal Weapon” or “Tango & Cash” – mess it up, you’re stuck with “Cop Out” or “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.”
“The Wrecking Crew” (★★★ out of four; rated R; streaming on Prime Video on Jan. 28) gives us not only a successful team-up but also a two-dude bromance that feels like there could be some real dysfunctional brotherly love at work. Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa bust heads – others’ as well as their own – with the best of them but also add muscular charm and some familial gravitas to boost this “Fast and Furious”-style action jam directed by Angel Manuel Soto (“Blue Beetle”).
When their private-eye Hawaiian father dies in a suspicious hit-and-run incident, two estranged half-brothers are brought back together for the first time in a decade. James Hale (Bautista) is a steely Navy man in Honolulu who’s a hardcase at work and at home and has no patience for shenanigans. The younger Jonny Hale (Momoa) is a walking, talking, tattooed shenanigan, a brash cop in Oklahoma suspended for excessive force.
So he’s got the time to travel back home to Hawaii for the funeral, where the reunion between him and James is predictably awkward. There’s a lot of simmering hard feelings between the two – which are slowly revealed through the film – and neither of them particularly liked their dad, who had connections to the underworld. Still, James and Jonny both begin investigating his death, separately, until they finally work together, and wind up tussling with Yakuza ninjas, bad guys in helicopters and motorcycles, and an extremely shady real estate guy (a very punchable Claes Bang).
And if you’re wondering why it’s called “The Wrecking Crew”? Well, you don’t put Momoa and Bautista in the same movie for a tea party. Between all the bickering and macho posturing, they manage to leave so much vehicular damage and injurious mayhem in their wake that it’s hard to tamp down the explosive ecstasy of your inner 10-year-old.
Before this, Bautista and Momoa have mostly stuck to their own superhero worlds – the former’s Drax being a Guardian of the Galaxy, the latter’s Aquaman a Justice Leaguer – and did costar, among many others, in the “Dune” movies. But there’s a winning yin and yang dynamic to the actors that’s a hoot to watch.
Bautista is the more serious too-old-for-this-stuff guy, Momoa’s the loose cannon, and yet they feed off each other’s energy and their characters become more alike than not in a believable manner. And yes, they’re action heroes of the A-plus sort, but they also bring a meaty amount of emotion to match their biceps, including one sequence where fisticuffs lead to a heartfelt, cathartic convo years in the making.
Jacob Batalon, aka Tom Holland’s buddy in the Spider-Man movies, has a fun role as the brothers’ reluctant tech-expert sidekick. Morena Baccarin is splendidly sassy as Jonny’s love interest and Stephen Root plays the exasperated cop trying to deal with the bros’ wanton property destruction.
It’s only January and, between this and “The Rip,” the streaming gods have gifted us with a couple of solid, enjoyable action flicks. There are parts of “Wrecking Crew” that could be better, including an intriguing subplot involving Hawaiian homelands that’s merely touched on. However, full-tilt Momoa and quietly powerful Bautista, with some gore and goofiness tossed in, is a satisfying improvement on the usual two-fisted formula.
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