We just had a big screen experience for a small screen film (Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale). This is exactly the opposite. Amazon’s newest release, Play Dirty, should have been brought to the big screen and was not. And, I am, quite frankly, flummoxed as to why Amazon wouldn’t give it a thorough theatrical release.
Maybe we don’t like seeing a high-speed train runoff its rails in IMAX. Maybe we would just rather see that on a cell phone. Huh?
Legendary underground criminal Parker (Mark Wahlberg) leads a team of thieves robbing a racetrack. The film gives Parker’s rep a little too much deference here, but we see why when the heist is blown by a rando. Parker takes charge and chases on foot while the rando crashes into the track with a horserace already in progress!
This is one of those “so surreal you cannot help but smile” movie moments. There’s a car chase; there’s gun play; there’s money … and then all of a sudden there are horses and jockeys running smack into the car trying to elude the gunplay. Oh, and tell me you won’t laugh aloud at the cut to the fan in the stands immediately ripping up his betting ticket in disgust. I can but imagine the thought bubble: “DAMMIT! I bet against a car crash in the 5th race!”
Is this real? Not even a little. Imagine shooting somebody in the head in front of a trackful of cameras and eye-witnesses and having no fear of escaping. It’s pretty silly. The film gets serious when fellow thief Zen (Rosa Salazar) betrays the team, killing everybody but Parker, who escapes wounded.
This is all before the opening credits, mind you.
The real plot
involves a UN heist of epic proportion. We’re told the UN is the most difficult building to infiltrate in the United States – and yet, apparently, people can stop escalators and sabotage teleprompts on demand when Trump is around. They should really research that one, huh?
I have soured to the Wahlberg oeuvre of late. I don’t think any of his last four or five action films have shown him to be much more than a mediocre hero. (Aside from the one where he’s a mediocre balding villain.) I like this one. I like the pairing of Wahlberg and Rosa Salazar as frenemies. I like the pairing with LaKeith Stanfield as the “voice of reason” thief. It could be I just like the work of writer/director Shane Black. Bottom line to all of this, however, is if you really wish to see Play Dirty, find the biggest screen you can to watch it. This film was meant for a theater, not your iPhone.
There once was a criminal, Parker
Whose motivations couldn’t be starker
Yet when a friend got iced
While on their big heist
His countenance got a tad darker
Rated R, 125 Minutes
Director: Shane Black
Writer: Donald E. Westlake, Shane Black, Chuck Mondry
Genre: “Well this could never happen … but I’m enjoying it”
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The “big caper” crowd
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Oh, COME ON!”
