The Wrecking Crew, 2026.
Directed by Angel Manuel Soto.
Starring Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista, Claes Bang, Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Stephen Root, Morena Baccarin, Lydia Peckham, Roimata Fox, Branscombe Richmond, Maia Kealoha, David Hekili Kenui Bell, and Mike Edward.
SYNOPSIS:
Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father’s mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.
At one point, foul-mouthed computer hacker sidekick Pika (Jacob Batalon) remarks that the leads, played by Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa, look like The Rock screwed himself and had twins. This lazy attempt at a joke is wild for several reasons: for starters, and this is said with no disrespect, it would make more sense directed at Jacob Batalon himself. It is also only one of several oddly placed jokes about past WWE legends. Moreover, the terrible insult feels more like director Angel Manuel Soto’s equally uninspired casting reasoning, as if he were saying to himself, “those guys look alike, let’s make a vulgar buddy action-comedy set in Hawaii using that.”
I have put more thought into making sense of that joke than anyone did while making The Wrecking Crew. Everything about the film (written by Jonathan Tropper) seems to have begun and certainly never evolved from that already simplistic idea that, while admittedly novel, is nowhere near enough to sustain 2 hours of generic plotting, CGI sludge, and the occasional satisfying fight scene.
James (Bautista) and Jonny (Momoa) are estranged half-brothers, with the suspicious death of their father paving the way to a series of events that call the latter home to Hawaii, a place he abandoned following being unable to solve his mom’s murder, currently residing in Oklahoma, and fighting with his on-and-off partner, Valentina (Morena Baccarin). Meanwhile, the former leads a traditional, idyllic family life while serving as a strict military commander training water cadets.
What more is to say that they incessantly bicker while finding themselves pushed into a rabbit hole of corruption involving the impending building of a casino on heritage land, Yakuza gangster reinforcements that want them dead, and the shady dealings between notable high-power figures here. Their only clue is a USB drive entrusted to Jonny and some files their father was trying to have Pika hack before his mysterious death, raising more questions than answers that the police department doesn’t seem too interested in looking into. Apparently, the crime occurred in a dead zone, out of range of all traffic cams and security footage.
Mismatched with James as the calm and reasonable one who wants to lay low, and Jonny as the angry loose cannon who, while never close to his father, feels as if he is obligated to solve what happened as a form of redemption for never finding cathartic justice over his mom’s murder. This also means that most of the humor is bestowed upon Jonny, who does everything from trying to sword fight with his genitalia to making endless heavyset jokes about Pika to blatantly racist gestures mocking Asian culture and famous celebrities such as Jackie Chan. When the character momentarily acknowledges and apologizes for saying something racist, it comes across as hollow, since the filmmakers clearly intend for it to land with audiences as funny. Nearly all of the jokes here are lazy more than anything, which is not helped by a grating performance from Jason Momoa, who is starting to play the same character in every movie now.
Across this unwieldy 2-hour running time that trudges through predictable plotting are a couple of bright spots. Namely, the chemistry between Dave Batista and Jason Momoa is amusing and even leads to a crowd-pleasing physical fight between them, sorting out their issues the good old-fashioned way. And while some of the car chases and more chaotic action sequences are filled with ghastly visual effects, the smaller-scale melee fights are mildly ambitious, at one point trying to re-create the beloved hallway battle from Oldboy, albeit with considerably less energy and bodies. The Hawaii setting is also a pleasant reprieve from the usual Los Angeles/Boston/New York familiarity. Mostly, though, all The Wrecking Crew does is repeatedly damage itself, destined to be another forgotten big-budget waste of algorithmic streaming space.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
