\nPain & Gain: Special Collector’s Edition (2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nGenre(s): <\/b>Crime, Drama, Comedy
\nParamount | R \u2013 129 min. \u2013 $39.99 | December 3, 2013<\/p>\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/span>Directed by: <\/b>Michael Bay
\nWriter(s): <\/b>Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (screenplay)
\nCast: <\/b>Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Rebel Wilson<\/p>\nTheatrical Release Date: <\/b>April 26, 2013<\/p>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/span>Features: <\/b>Featurettes, Digital Copy
\nNumber of Discs: <\/b>1<\/p>\nAudio: <\/b>English (Dolby TrueHD 7.1), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/b>1080p\/Widescreen 2.40
\nSubtitles: <\/b>English SDH, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/b>42.4 GB
\nCodec: <\/b>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/b>A, B, C<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/bar_blue.gif\" "\\"*\\"")
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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nThere seems to be two sides to Michael Bay: the blockbuster one we all know and debate and then there\u2019s the one who directs the smaller budget, perhaps personal projects and his latest, Pain & Gain<\/i><\/b> tells an interesting story based on actual events with your normal amount of Hollywood BS thrown to tell a more dramatic narrative. On the one hand, I have to respect what Bay attempted to do but on the other cringe at the liberties taken, in particular changing a character who was an innocent victim into somebody just a smidge above our already lowly main characters.<\/p>\n
The plot involves fitness instructor Daniel Lugo (MARK WAHLBERG) desperate to obtain the American dream but decides to take a shortcut. With the help of fellow fitness freaks Adrian Doorbal (ANTHONY MACKIE) and dumbbell Paul Doyle (DWAYNE JOHNSON) to kidnap rich guy, after a failed first attempt, and all around douche bag Victor Kershaw (TONY SHALHOUB), hold him for ransom and reap the rewards.<\/p>\n
When they gain control of Kershaw\u2019s massive assets, rather than letting him go as promised, Lugo instead believes he needs to die so they first force him to drink alcohol, crash his BMW but Kershaw doesn\u2019t die so Lugo sets fire to the car and yet again, Kershaw survives so hoping to finish the job, they run him over with their car. Believing him to be dead, the so-called \u201cSun Gym Gang\u201d leave the scene but Kershaw just won\u2019t die and he makes it to a hospital. However, with the police not believing his story, Kershaw hires private detective Ed Du Bois III (ED HARRIS) to find the perps, but not before the \u201cSun Gym Gang\u201d return to the hospital to finish the job, yet once again fail. Now Du Bois is on the case and tails the gang.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, as most stupid common criminals tend to do, Doorbal and Doyle quickly run out of money with Doyle attempting a failed armored car robbery which resulting in Doyle shooting his toe off. Yep, as you can tell, these are all geniuses. So, with two out of the three out of dough, with Doorbel getting married, they propose another kidnapping, this time of Frank Griga (MICHAEL RISPOLI), owner of a phone sex operation. But Griga gets on Lugo\u2019s bad side and kills him and getting the necessary codes from Griga\u2019s girlfriend is fruitless and she in turn is accidentally overdosed with horse tranquilizers. Oops.<\/p>\n
So Du Bois is hot on their trail but it\u2019s not really hard to catch them given how bumbling these idiots really are though hardly complete morons since the gang, and Lugo in particular, buys equipment to chop up the two victims. Not exactly people you want to cross even if they could easily be tracked and captured.<\/p>\n
The cast, despite their low-life characters, are all well done headlined by Mark Wahlberg followed by Dwayne Johnson attempting something new and Anthony Mackie who by comparison doesn\u2019t have as much meat yet still has some good scenes especially in the third act. Tony Shalhoub for his part is nice to see again on the big screen and, of course, Ed Harris is legendary and although any character development takes a backburner to the others, utilizes the most he can with the limited screen time.<\/p>\n
Pain & Gain<\/i><\/b> wasn\u2019t my kind of movie for many reasons, one being I had a hard time finding anyone in the film to even root for outside of perhaps Ed Harris\u2019 Du Bois but he\u2019s really not in the film a whole lot while the three main characters might bumbling idiots but they still are scumbags to the nth degree. I will give director Michael Bay some credit for tackling something different outside of his normal $150 million+ budgeted flicks and on his end, the film at least looks good and stylistically is pretty standard.<\/p>\n
All in all, Pain & Gain<\/i><\/b> isn\u2019t a terrible film at all however it\u2019s not for everybody as I know plenty who loved the hell out of it for one reason or another. For myself, it\u2019s a one and done viewing.<\/p>\n
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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn one of the strangest double-dips, a rarity from Paramount, only months after the initial release, this \u201cSpecial Collector\u2019s Edition\u201d gets a new embossed slip cover<\/b>. Inside of a red case, like what Entertainment One did with Passion<\/i>, is a code for the Digital Copy<\/span><\/b>.<\/p>\nThe A Game: Michael Bay\u2019s Pain and Gain<\/i> (57:10; HD)<\/span><\/b> is an 8-part making-of documentary chronicling nearly every aspect on how the film came to be. It\u2019s not a bad feature with comments from the cast (including Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson) and, of course, director Michael Bay.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s it, the solo feature and while nice, not sure it\u2019s worth a double-dip but if you hadn\u2019t picked up the bare-bones release, it is well worth buying.<\/p>\n
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VIDEO \u2013 4.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nParamount releases Pain and Gain<\/i><\/b> in what I assume is the same transfer as the first go-around. The 1080p high-def transfer, presented with a 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio, looks pretty damn good. The video takes advantage of the bright Florida settings which pop off the screen rather nicely while the detail levels look excellent throughout<\/p>\n
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AUDIO \u2013 5.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe disc has been given a 7.1 channel Dolby TrueHD lossless track which is really expansive showing off the crisp and clear dialogue coming from the center channel while ambient noises, and when we get some action\/crime scenes, via the front and rear speakers. This is a robust track which I would expect nothing less from a Michael Bay flick.<\/p>\n
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OVERALL \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\nOverall, Pain & Gain<\/i><\/b> might have its moments but the characters are mostly unlikeable and even acknowledging the substance of the plot, it\u2019s not enough to recommend even though Mark Wahlberg is quite good in his role. Now, this \u201cSpecial Collector\u2019s Edition\u201d Blu-ray re-release only has one feature, a 57-minute long documentary and while it\u2019s well worth watching, it\u2019s hardly worth the cost unless you never bothered buying the bare bones release.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
The Movieman
\n<\/i>Published: <\/b>11\/21\/2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pain & Gain might have its moments but the characters are mostly unlikeable and even acknowledging the substance of the plot, it\u2019s not enough to recommend even though Mark Wahlberg is quite good in his role.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2002,219,854,159,480,2162,2164,2163,1585],"class_list":["post-6477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-anthony-mackie","tag-dwayne-johnson","tag-ed-harris","tag-mark-wahlberg","tag-michael-bay","tag-pain-and-gain","tag-rebel-wilson","tag-rob-corddry","tag-tony-shalhoub"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6477"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27480,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6477\/revisions\/27480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/main\/logos\/paramount-sm.jpg\" "\\"Pain")
Pain & Gain<\/i><\/b> might have its moments but the characters are mostly unlikeable and even acknowledging the substance of the plot, it\u2019s not enough to recommend even though Mark Wahlberg is quite good in his role.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.moviemansguide.com\/images\/reviews\/2013\/painandgain-bd2.jpg\" "\\"Buy")
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