Play Dirty - Mezmorizing Mayhem

 

Streaming on Amazon Prime

    One of the most important aspects of narrative filmmaking is pacing —the speed at which the story unfolds—because it profoundly shapes how the audience perceives and feels about the story. The best pacing is filled with highs and lows: moments of high intensity followed by slower moments to allow the audience to catch its breath and build up to the next big moment. Films like the first Star Wars and Mad Max: Fury Road are masterclasses in cinematic pacing. By contrast, the worst kind of pacing is the kind that moves at a single speed, with little to no variety or regard for the audience's tolerance. Look to any of Michael Bay's films released within the last ten years as examples. 

    Today's subject, Play Dirty, is an unusual experiment in cinematic pacing: on the one hand, it moves at a near breakneck pace that might cause one to perceive it as too fast, but on the other hand, the things that are happening are presented in such a sudden (often hilarious) way that by the time the audience tries to think about what just happened, something equally (if not more) sudden pops out of nowhere with the absolute minimal time neccecary to catch ones breath. Under most circumstances, this might be enough to make a film unwatchable. Still, the filmmakers here succeeded in finding the perfect balance between maintaining a quick pace and compensating for the minimal breathing time. It's not enough to recommend this film to everyone, but it may be enough to encourage you to give it the fifteen-minute test. 

    The story follows an expert thief named Parker (Mark Wahlberg) who has just survived getting double-crossed and shot by one of his crew, an attractive woman named Zen (Rosa Salazar). Zen killed the rest of the crew, made off with the money from their heist, and now Parker is out for some payback. However, once Parker finds Zen, she presents him with a heist unlike any they have done before; one that is too tempting to pass up. It turns out that a massive historical discovery—the lost treasures of a sunken ship from around the 15th century, connected to Zen's home country—is going to be secretly sold off to the highest bidder by her country's tyrannical dictator. Zen wants to secure the treasure for her people rather than let it be bought by some uber-wealthy schnook, so Zen convinces Parker to team up with her for the job and put together a new crew for the heist of the century. The first person Parker brings in is his best friend, Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), who could use the money to revive his theater, which is dying. With a new ragtag crew of misfits and the historical preservation of an entire nation at stake, what could possibly go wrong? 

    This film succeeds in providing likable, engaging, and mostly sympathetic characters, despite most of them being criminals, each with tangible, relatable goals. It also helps that the script offers clever, witty, and appropriately profane dialogue, accompanied by solid chemistry among the cast. This film reminds you of another all-important aspect of storytelling: if the characters are having fun, the audience will, too. 

    Co-writer and director Shane Black, who does not have the best of reputations right now for understandable reasons, delivers a film that feels more in tune with the style and presentation he seems to prefer. Much like some of his contemporaries, he has a knack for flair and extravagance, but he still manages to retain the more critical human element in his presentation. Something that was sadly lacking from his attempt at a Predator film (among other things, to put it mildly). 

    The action scenes deliver proper entertainment value, the cast delivers worthwhile performances, and the cinematography never falls into the trap of mistaking excessive shaky-cam for intense immersion. Even Mark Wahlberg, who isn't my favorite person in Hollywood for more than a few reasons, still delivers a tangible performance that's almost on par with his work in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Also, Rosa Salazar gets a grand opportunity to stretch herself a little bit and expand her range. 

    Play Dirty may not be the next big thing in heist cinema (nothing has yet to take the throne of my favorite heist film, Inception), but it does provide enough of the familiar elements of a good heist film, along with a few decent surprises, and enough of its own over-the-top silliness to provide a decent watch. If you have an Amazon Prime account, this is a decent pick for a lazy Sunday. 

    Give it a look. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.