Great films are often those that deal with an intriguing story, wide-ranging characters, robust dialogue, fluid editing, cinematography that is both inspiring and unobtrusive, a subtle yet distinct soundtrack and even then, a certain element that we, as viewers, often cannot articulate, yet we instinctively recognize. Michael Bay’s latest release on Netflix, “6 Underground,” veers from this path, crashing into an ugly heap of a mess.
- The Car
Don’t get me wrong, the chase scene that sparks the first 20 minutes of the film is fun to watch at times, though it becomes a gigantic mess when looking at the film’s continuity. At the start of the film, we have One (Ryan Reynolds) and Six (Dave Franco) in the front seat of a neon green Alfa Romeo sports car, which hurtles down the road. While this is going on, we have Two (Melanie Laurent) and Five (Adria Arjona) wincing in the back, as Fives performs last-minute surgery on a bullet wound Two is succumbing to. In one scene, the car takes a split- second turn and dodges a semi-truck. In slow-motion, the truck scratches the car on the driver’s side, taking off the side mirror. Next we cut, to the car as it was with the side mirror and the same marks of the accident. But things quickly change, in the next cut, the car is in tip-top shape.
- The Baby
If you didn’t think we were done with the first chase scene, you were dead wrong. While circling a fountain, One peeks his head out of the car, shouting that there is a baby. Next cut, we have a slow-motion glimpse of the scene with the window open but One appearing nowhere in sight. Then we cut back to him, peeking out of the window. Talk about continuity.
- The Pep Talk
While at a restaurant, the team meets up, now with the addition of Three (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) and Seven (Corey Hawkins). One tries using cups and condiments as a way of explaining how to overthrow a dictatorship. The problem is that it lacks any sort of substance in it. Meaning that, by using cups, it could have been something that was well played out, but instead, it makes things more confusing. This scene could have been aided by a fourth wall break, by a celebrity like in the scene of “The Big Short” when Margot Robbie sits in a bathtub and explains finance terms. By simplifying a dictatorship’s governmental structure to cups and not using a well-tuned sense of dialogue to go through this strategy thoroughly, all cups are on the table, literally.
- Jump-Cut Galore
One aspect that can change an entire film is the editing; you can take a bad movie and edit it in a way that creates new meaning. Though this is not the case for “6 Underground,” one of the things that the film gets wrong is the scene order. It jumps around in time way too much and for reasons that only further the story slightly, making it feel like a colossal mess. While there are some notable instances of jump cuts in the film, one stands out as being the most abysmal. Near the end of the movie, One, Four and Five meet on a mountain in Turkistan and One prepares another pep talk to his team. In the middle of speaking, it goes from a medium-long shot to a mid-shot in rapid succession without adhering to the 30-degree rule, where the film cuts to the same actor without making a difference in angle, which comes out in a way that is choppy and uncinematic.
- The Try-Hard One-Liners
Another aspect of the film that lacks in its cinematic glory is the try-hard one-liners, which we see a lot of in the movie, taking pop culture references and trying to weave them into the film. Lines like “Eagles landed love that movie line,” are lackluster attempts at trying to hamper some quick laughs. What’s worse is that near the end of the film, One tries to reference an Eminem song, “If you had one shot, one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or let it slip?” Well, it doesn’t work here and feels like a lousy attempt to get another laugh. Instead, it just ruins the song by Eminem and further questions the tonality of the film; while dealing with serious themes of bombing innocent civilians and overtaking dictators, this sense of humor is almost cringe-worthy in this kind of film.
- Characters
Good screenplays have characters who, through events in a film, overcome different obstacles learning new things and using them to accomplish those dastardly feats. While in some ways there is this in the film, we never really get a sense of who these characters are and what makes them tick. Instead, we get a rough vignette of six different people who don’t develop into anything other than some rather cliché characters. In filmmaking, characters that have notable traits also have substantial flaws, and pure motives are what make a film, though in this nothing is really learned and at the end of the day, our heroes briskly walk away in the sunset remaining unscathed from their battles.
While I cannot recommend the film, if you can overlook the clumsy and baffling continuity, the bitter and lackluster writing, a cliche roster of characters, or the second rate editing, “6 Underground,” may very well be for you. Just don’t expect anything cinematic when it comes to “6 Underground,” now streaming on Netflix.
