Director Michael Bay has garnered a reputation in the film industry for a few things: big (and sometimes improbable) action sequence, his love for explosions, a glossy cinematic aesthetic, creating some of the most widely regarded action franchises, as well as tanking the Transformers franchise, and sexist portrayals of women. However, his latest film for Netflix, 6 Underground, could be his most ambitiously stylized and Red Bull-fueled action film to the point that it’s like his magnum opus.
The second 6 Underground begins it feels like Bay is so upset that he hasn’t been tapped to direct a comic book movie so he’s gone and basically created his own Avengers team-up movie. Stylistically, the film is reminiscent the 2010 adaptation of The Losers with the graphics used to introduce the film’s team as they work towards staging a coup against a powerful tyrant. The team is led by an eccentric billionaire who labels each member with a number, with himself being One (Ryan Reynolds), in order for everyone not to be comprised if things go wrong. The rest of team is made up of men and women with their own unique set of skills: there’s Two (Melanie Laurent) former member of the CIA, Three (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) a former hitman, Four (Ben Hardy) an agile parkour pro, Five (Adria Arjona) the team’s doctor, Six (Dave Franco) a skilled get-away driver, and Seven (Corey Hawkins) a sniper that comes onto the team after one of members bites the dust.
6 Underground is definitely ambitious for an action film. This leads to some pretty incredible action scenes throughout. Right from the opening car chase, you can tell that Bay is just letting loose every wild action fantasy he’s ever had and, at times, it’s pretty amazing to watch. It’s raw in its presentation of violent action as car crashes. Headshots come with some viscerally brutal deaths. Seeing a good chunk of the action sequences, like the opening car chase and gun-fight choreography, being done practically is hard not to respect. There’s also an incredible scene that’s basically having fun with magnets that’s hilarious and awesome to watch.
The rapid fire pacing makes it a struggle to follow at times. The music comes feels you’re listening to someone who’s constantly changing radio stations because they can’t find a song they like, which is very distracting. It’s almost like Bay watched a Dude Perfect video and wanted to take all the music they use in their videos – it’s weird. There’re also some parkour scenes with Four, as it’s his specialty, that are cool to watch, but are distracting with the go-pro camera that’s clearly lower quality to the rest of the film.
As far as the plot of the film goes … it’s passable. The main story of the team slowly taking down the evil dictator by crippling his regime and replacing him with his “democracy loving” brother is very straightforward. A fun part of the script is the idea of this team’s chemistry is just not to have any as they constantly bicker with one another and struggle to find a balance between all of their skills. It’s fun to watch for the most part.
The cast definitely strikes up some strong humor because it’s almost as if they’re competing to see who can spout the most action movie lines and be the funniest. Of course Reynolds easily wins because, well, he’s just like he is in every other movie he’s been in recently. Roles like this make me worried that Reynolds can only be like Deadpool and it’s actually starting to get old for me. I’ve always felt that Reynolds has a wider range that’s just waiting to be unleashed. I hope that he can find more opportunities to show it in the future. But, as for 6 Underground, if you’ve loved him before, you’ll probably love him here.
As for the rest of the cast, it’s great to see Laurent again since her standout performance in Inglorious Basterds and she proves herself to be a crafty bad ass here. Franco, Hardy, and Rulfo also bring a nice energy to the film with some strong comedic moments. As for Arjona, her character, unfortunately, is definitely the weakest. Her skills as a doctor are rarely shown and even though all of the characters’ backstories are shown in flashback, she doesn’t get the same treatment.
Speaking of these flashbacks, the story is muddied up through the use of flashbacks and monologues by One to create this shadowy tone around the team being under the radar. There’s a point where One tells us that we’re all caught up in the story and then we’re just met with more flashbacks that tie into why each person is on the team so it barely feels like you’re progressing in the story and makes the two hour runtime feel so much longer.
The script from Deadpool and Zombieland writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese is a little messy at times and takes too much from other movies. The team’s arc going from loners to family is pulling too hard from the Fast and Furious franchise and leaves zero impact because the character development is incredibly weak. There’re also too many one-liners pulled from other movies. There’s literally an entire sequence where they just rip lines straight from other movies to the point where One tells everyone to stop and no one listens. The entire script is made up of action lines that are reminiscent to their past works, but never land the same punches with Bay’s direction. Not to mention, the way Bay shows women and implements more masculine-driven humor, like Six talking about the Statue of David’s package, feel forced and completely unnecessary.
Look, if you’re in need of some viscerally explosive action, familiar action lines, and some good old-fashioned time with Reynolds, then 6 Underground is right kind of medicine for you. However, even for it’s entertaining qualities, it’s basically just Bay fully unleashed with comes with the good, the bad, and the ugly that the director is known for.
