A throwback to the 1980s in a surprisingly good action romp! After so many decades of action spectacles for the big and small screens, how can Hollywood come up with a memorable example of the genre these days? Not trying to be innovative and presenting skirmishes never seen before, but being highly effective with tried and tested set pieces that work just fine.
At least, that seems to be the approach of The Wrecking Crew (2026), a movie available on Prime Video produced by Amazon MGM. The movie stars Jason Momoa (Aquaman) and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) as estranged siblings Jonny and James, respectively a cop and a Navy SEAL, who are looking into the mysterious death of their father, a private detective in Hawaii. Soon it becomes clear that there is a conspiracy involving the Yakuza, some local gangs and an entrepreneur with an eye on developing suspicious real estate on the island.
To be honest, the screenplay by Jonathan Trooper (of the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter) matters very little. There is a lot of ideas that you have already seen here and there and, even if it makes an effort to humanize the characters and their relationships, it is nothing that could be called very deep. And that is ok, because you pressed that button on the remote control to watch fistfights, explosions and shootouts. And in those, director Ángel Manuel Soto (Blue Beetle) actually exceeds. It is very rare to see so much energy thrown into action sequences these days. And there are not so many of them, only around three or four, but all of them excellent, brimming with violence and thankfully very little humour. My favorite sequence was a high speed chase involving a helicopter, a motorbike and four of our heroes in their car — so great it could almost be the climax in a lesser production. There are the expected jokes throughout (some of which don’t give a damn about political correctness), but not so many that everything seems like a farce. This is definitely not a Marvel movie.
Speaking of Marvel, rounding out the cast are some names we have seen in superheroes movies more or less recently. The beautiful and talented Morena Baccarin (Deadpool) is Valentina, James’s on-and-off girlfriend; Temuera Morrison (also from Aquaman and Boba Fett on his downtime) is Governor Mahoe; and comic relief Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home) is Pika, an assistant to the heroes with some parkour skills shown in a scene that ends in a very good example of the “Texas Switch”, that old technique in which the stunt double is replaced by the actor while on camera. The parkour scene is a fun moment that the audience expects will have some relevance later in the plot… but, once again, the screenplay is not good enough to remember and follow through with some of its most interesting moments. Or, actually, even to give appropriate send-offs to some of the supposedly most important supporting characters.
But in general The Wrecking Crew is a fun movie, a 1980s inspired action thriller (as proven by the soundtrack, full of hits from that decade) that doesn’t try to be something more than it is. Sometimes, like in this case, that is more than enough.
The Wrecking Crew (2025, Amazon MGM Studios)
Starring Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Morena Baccarin
Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto
122 minutes
Raring: 7 Nerds (of 10) 😎😎😎😎😎😎😎
Did you enjoy it? Give it a like and leave a comment!
