6 Underground - Review

Release Date:  December 13, 2019​​​​​​​​​​

Absolute Garbage

You thought that Micheal Bay was off his rocker when The Transformers movies started getting crazy? Well, get ready for when he actually has full control and no oversight. 6 Underground is peak Bay as explosions fill the screen, all captured by his signature sweeping camera moves. That means constant action, little story, and lots of simplified stereotypes. The end result is something that general audiences might enjoy as it barely has time to catch its breath. I feel like this movie is a horror story from Hollywood come true. The story I'm alluding to comes from a studio executive that watched a man in an airport fast forward through a film, only stopping during the action sequences. It's something only Bay could make, and Netflix could release.

In the interest of being fair, there isn't anyone else in the industry doing what Bay does on the scale that he does it. Tom Cruise gets close, but the sheer amount of practical stunt work in Bay's movies is incredible. In 6 Underground alone, there are tons of different set pieces that would be the crown jewel for any other film. Having tons of stunt people do the things that they do while also

making it look good is hard. Bay is the undisputed king of action; whether that's cars flipping over, explosions, or shootouts, he knows how to make them look good. 

I can even throw a bone to the actors as all of them seemed to play their parts well. While Ryan Reynolds is probably the main draw for most, he doesn't give the best performance. Honestly, none of the actors did anything to capture your attention, though that isn't their fault. The movie is stuck in the highest gear for its entire two-hour runtime; there isn't a moment for the characters to settle down. Read the comments made by actress Melanie Laurent about how Bay shoots on set, and you'll understand why this is. It honestly comes down to their ability to get their characters across in a short amount of time, which they do, and it's just enough to get to the next action scene.

The rest of the movie is just constant cutting and motion, which can get nauseating. The first 20 minutes were unintelligible, as I had no clue where the characters were supposed to be when cutting to a different shot. This was a constant problem as characters teleport to new positions or major events happen offscreen. The fault lies squarely on two shoulders, the screenplay, and Bay himself. It doesn't help that there are constant flashbacks that the audience has no reference for and doesn't explain what is happening in the present. The best example comes right at the beginning of the movie, starting in present-day and going back six months for the first flashback. We spend approximately five minutes in this time period before jumping further back to four years into the past. With the amount of time switching, I'm surprised this isn't Back to the Future.

Some might say the action scenes lift this dumpster fire from the hell hole from which it came into a place of watchability. I can guarantee you that if you know someone who enjoys this movie, you should probably never take their recommendations seriously from now on. You would have to be neurotic to be able to sit through the absolute mess that could only have been made for Netflix. On the bright side, I guess the streaming service really is the only place where creatives get full control over their projects.

2/10
This hurt to watch