6 Underground stars Ryan Reynolds as an unnamed billionaire who fakes his own death to form a vigilante team to take down criminals and terrorists. Renaming himself “One,” he convinces five others to give up their former lives and join his team, renaming them “Two,” “Three,” “Four,” “Five,” and “Six” – played by Melanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ben Hardy, Adria Arjona, and Dave Franco. After the death of one squad member on their first mission, One brings in another and renames him “Seven,” played by Corey Hawkins. For their next mission, the team plans to stage a coup d’etat to topple the government of Turgistan, leading them on a daring, high-speed adventure the likes of which none of them have seen before.
The film is directed by Michael Bay, whose notorious for his extensive use of special effects and over-the-top set pieces for major action sequences. And like with nearly all his other films, this offers plenty of just that. This is a very loud, very aggressive, bombastic action movie. Things are exploding nearly every other scene, and when that’s not happening, characters are giving chase to a major villain, or trading vicious insults with one another.
And while the action scenes are fine, and entertaining to a certain degree, that’s really all this film has going for it. This movie is a relentless assault on the senses, and looks to incorporate as much noise as possible to fill up the scene. It’s a very similar tactic used by another film released this weekend, Uncut Gems. However, while that film utilized characters constantly talking over one another and being loud, usually things they’d say would advance the plot or further develop character. This is simply a series of loud explosions and screaming that simply try masking the total lack of a compelling story or unique characters.
The dialogue is often simplistic and contains painful attempts at humor. There’s a funeral sequence, for example, of one of the characters faking their deaths, and someone is seen giving a speech and trying to make some truly unfunny jokes before breaking down in what’s supposed to be a comical matter, and it simply doesn’t work. Whereas Uncut Gems injected substance into its constant use of noise, this simply replaces substance with noise, in an attempt to pass it off as entertainment.
And like with most of Bay’s films, this is so focused on effects that its characters fall to the wayside, with only the bare minimum ever being learned about any of them. And they never really say or do anything that makes them interesting in any way. Ryan Reynolds does his best to inject a sense of fun to the movie, bringing his usual snark with him to make some solid quips that get an occasional laugh here and there, making for some watchable moments. And while it’s always enjoyable to see him in action, he’s only given so much to work with, and is often reduced to spewing clichés and surface level statements.
The same goes for nearly the rest of the cast, all of whom are giving it their all, and trying to make it work, but are often limited to what they can do. They’re mainly forced into shouting childish insults and yelling at each other to get their respective jobs done. The only other one who’s even remotely explored is Corey Hawkins, since there’s some time spent with him before joining the team. And when he does actually join the team, he does try to add a dose of humanity, acting as a balance to these loud individuals who are determined to be detached from the rest of humanity, basking in their anonymity.
6 Underground is Michael Bay doing what he knows best, and like with most of his filmography, it only gets him so far. This is another large-scale action movie that’s essentially all style over substance. Things blow up, people fight, and occasionally someone will say a one-liner that may work, mainly Ryan Reynolds. It has some entertaining aspects, but it’s mainly overlong, abrasive, and loud, acting as proof that effects can’t truly replace a great story or great characters.
Recommendation: Avoid It
Comments