I can’t decide how this movie came to be, but I have two guesses: the first is that somebody thought it would be a neat idea to get the professional wrestlers from the DC and Marvel worlds together in one big stupid film. The second idea is that the casting director couldn’t tell Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista apart and accidentally called both their agents. By the time they both agreed, a new film had to be written. That film is The Wrecking Crew, a film so heavily reliant on fight/stunt choreography that you’d swear Jackie Chan was behind it.
Huh. Maybe he was. That makes as much sense as anything else here.
Walter Hale is a P.I. in Honolulu, not unlike Magnum. Unlike Magnum, however, Walter gets killed two minutes in by a hit-and-run driver. And suddenly, his two estranged sons, Navy Seal James (Bautista), and Oklahoma police detective Jonny (Momoa) have a mystery to solve, except these guys are much better at destroying stuff than solving stuff. The Wrecking Crew is a good name for this film because this whole movie is like two bulls entering a China shop … on ice skates.
Part of the reason these two leave such a wake of destruction is pure girth mixed with not-so-nurturing skill sets. And another part of the reason is these two are both kinda pissed off … at everything, including each other. So they pummel everything, including each other. Now, you would think they wouldn’t waste punching friendlies when Yakuza were targeting them, but this isn’t the kind of movie where people spend a whole lot of time thinking.
If you want a basic plot, Walter found some information out about Honolulu hijinks involving Yakuza, sent it to his sons, and was killed as a reward. And we the audience 
behave as if it doesn’t matter that two behemoths have destroyed the Hawaiian islands in seeking justice, cuz it was probable these guys were gonna break something anyway; it may as well include bad guys. The stunts are what make this film. I was taken the big stuff, like an out-of-control helicopter with a mind of its own, and the small stuff, like Jacob Batalan using unnecessary parkour to escape Jason Momoa. I’m not saying The Wrecking Crew will make audiences forget that Jackie Chan exists, but Jackie Chan audiences probably wouldn’t dismiss this one immediately.
If you’re here for the linguistic stylings or trade applications of these classical artists, you will be disappointed. Bautista and Momoa spend a lot of time jawing at one another in The Wrecking Crew, and little of it is pleasant. OTOH, I quite enjoyed when The Wrecking Crew behaved as a wrecking crew; the film did not cheat on its basic premise. There will be wreckage, and much of it.
Two half-brothers named James and Jonny
Both mountain-like samples of brawny
Gotta avenge dad
We will all be so glad
That they destroy half the town and get gone-y
Rated R, 124 Minutes
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Writer: Jonathan Topper
Genre: Destruction
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who love chaos
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who love order
