6 Underground

“I feel like a Jedi.”

Filmology Rating: 2.5 out of 4

6 Underground was directed by Michael Bay, who I thought was blacklisted from Hollywood, but here's his new film from Netflix. 

Essentially, this film is 'Takers,' but our group of skilled individuals are working to make the world a better place. In this group, they don't exist. To their family and friends, they are dead. In this film, they seek to topple a dictatorship and its ruler. 

When it comes to Michael Bay, his films range from utterly unbearable, so films like 'Bad Boys' and 'Transformers,' to watchable, so 'The Rock.' Michael Bay has never truly made a good film. At best, he's made bearable films. '6 Underground' is bearable. 

The first half of this film is a complete mess. The opening scene is a twenty-five minute action scene where you have no idea what's happening, who's involved, or why they're being chased. In that scene, there is nothing but close-up, close-up in another location, shaky close-up of someone's face. We then have innocent civilians being ran over and toppled like it's a video game because I'm sure Michael Bay thought it was funny. 

This film is just full of that Michael Bay juvenile humor that only fourteen year-olds would laugh at. Like a pigeon poops on the windshield of a car or someone makes comment about the Statue of David. It's all very dumb.

After that twenty-five minute car chase where you have no idea what's happening, the film jumps around like a kangaroo on a stimulant. It goes four months into the past, then back to present, then seventeen minutes earlier, then it goes into flashbacks of every character on the crew. The first half is nothing but incoherent editing, flashbacks, and just utter nonsense. 

However, after the first hour, the backstory is done, the narrative is now focused on one goal, and the film becomes much better. However, it may just seem that way because of how inept, juvenile, and convoluted the first half was.

The second half is fine, but it's now just generic heist stuff. A group of skilled people must hatch a plan to take out a foreign dictator. That's really it. 

However, the film does offer Reynolds a pretty good character arc, which was shocking because I'm not used to Michael Bay doing such a thing. It touches on the concept of being dead and the idea of having nobody/nothing to worry about. 

I've never really thought of Michael Bay as much of a movie/pop-culture buff, but this film has lots of references to other films. That may be an addition from the screenwriters, but there are lots of references to 'Star Wars.' Other references include James Bond, 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,' and 'The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.' A lot of the comedy comes from references to those films and I found none of it funny. Besides references to films that are better than the film you're watching, the comedy relies on juvenile humor that only a fourteen year-old would laugh at. 

Though the editing of the action scenes in this film feels like someone fed the dailies to a weed wacker, Michael Bay still does a lot of explosions and car crashes practically. Aside from all the film's issues, I appreciate that Bay still does a lot of practical work. Especially many sequences involving a free runner. It's becoming more and more rare in film today. Just ask Roland Emmerich.

As a film completely disconnected from Michael Bay, it's a mess. However, because it is a Michael Bay film, it may be one of his best films, but keep in mind that that's not saying much at all. It's like watching your friend get out of prison and get a job at a DMV.

All I know is that I didn't want to punch my television while watching this like 'Bad Boys,' which is an awful, annoying, and dumb film.  In conclusion, '6 Underground' is edited horribly and has the usual Bay staples, but it wasn't unbearable to watch.

Rating: Rent It

-Nolan