I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I see a trailer for a relatively decent movie, I find myself wondering why it’s shuffled to streaming directly rather than making it to the big screen.
It gets even worse when the trailer has a fairly stellar cast, witty banter and an action-packed premise.
But, then I end up watching said film and by the time the credits roll, I know why it never made it to the big screen – Prime Video’s “Play Dirty” is that film for me.
I’m not exactly saying I had high hopes for the flick, but with Mark Wahlberg as the lead character, I did want to see a little bit more magic than whatever train wreck I was viewing from my couch.
In the end, I found that the storyline was desperately trying to be some big-time heist flick like the “Ocean’s 8” (2018), and “Ocean’s 11-13” (2001-2007) movies and fell pathetically short.
Dirty is an action thriller film co-written and directed by Shane Black.
It is based on the “Parker” book series by Donald E. Westlake, under the pen name ‘Richard Stark’.
The film stars Mark Wahlberg, LaKeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, Adam Dunn, Andrew Ford, Alejandro Edda, Hemky Madera, Claire Lovering, Chai Hansen, and Tony Shalhoub.
While the movie clocks in at 128 minutes long, it’s also rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, some sexual content and nudity.
Professional thieves Parker (Wahlberg) and Philly (Jane) lead a heist at a racetrack count room, but an employee kills one of the thieves and wounds Philly, driving away with the stolen money and his family.
Parker pursues him onto the racetrack and shoots him dead, bribing his wife and escaping with the rest of the score.
The thieves are betrayed by getaway driver Zen (Salazar), who shoots Philly and the others as a wounded Parker falls into a nearby river.
Recuperating at a motel, Parker promises Philly’s widow Grace (Mol) to avenge her husband.
With help from fellow thief Grofield (Stanfield) who runs a struggling theatre company, Parker tracks down Zen’s associate Reggie Riley (Dunn), who reveals Zen was a member of an elite military squad in her home country.
Her fellow mercenaries kill Reggie and his driver, but Parker forces the surviving gunman to bring him to Zen.
After killing her contact Bosco (Ford), Parker confronts Zen, who admits she used the racetrack score to fund a new score.
Her country’s corrupt President De La Paz (Edda) has hired a crime syndicate, the Outfit, to steal treasure from a shipwreck De La Paz will be displaying at the UN, in order to sell the $1 billion treasure himself.
Parker and Grofield meet with Zen and her comrades, led by Colonel Ortiz (Madera), who plan to seize the treasure on behalf of their fellow citizens.
Parker, exiled from New York City by the Outfit’s leader Lozini (Shalhoub) suggests they steal the treasure once the Outfit has stolen it from the UN.
Parker and Zen question Bosco’s boyfriend, but end up fighting off the Outfit’s men during a shoot out at the club.
While searching for Bosco’s plans upstairs, Parker drops Lozini’s lieutenant Kincaid (Wolff) from a window before finding the plans hidden inside a stuffed elephant.
However, Parker’s crew continues to hit several speed bumps throughout the entire heist and I feel like it was done in a ham-fisted grab to keep the movie interesting.
Well, for me it certainly backfired and I want those two hours of my life back, but, you’re free to judge for yourself.
