Prime’s The Wrecking Crew is the chaotic action-comedy that might just be the distraction highlight of my week. Set in Hawai’i, Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista play estranged brothers Jonny and James Hale. The duo must solve the mystery of their father’s death while running from Yakuza and confronting their dysfunctional family problems. Jonny (played by Momoa), is an Oklahoma cop originally from Hawaii who goes home to investigate father’s death while on an alcoholic bender. Jonny has zero polish, lots of baggage, and strong cliché ‘bad boy’ vibes. He’s generally unlikable, violence prone, and seems unlikely as a cop (at least not a good one). It’s easy to forget that’s his career without the many reminders throughout the dialogue.
James (played by Bautista) is a responsible, upstanding navy man, still living in Hawaii with his family. He’s more by the rules, but has an undercurrent of FAFO. The setting does not portray glossy, touristy Hawai’i, but is still full of natural beauty. Themes of family, brotherhood (when they can find it), belonging and home are strong in a film that takes very little seriously, except family and indigenous land rights. The brothers’ opposite personalities eventually make them a good team. The two leads do a decent job portraying brothers at odds.
There’s a lot going on in this movie, and it feels like organized chaos that’s managed well by the rest of the cast; Pika (played byJacob Batalon) brings order to the investigation. Nani (played by Frankie Adams) is central to mediating the family chaos. And Nakamura (played by Miyavi) is fully immersed in his over-the-top Yakuza gangster bad guy role. On the whole, The Wrecking Crew is a testosterone fueled, high energy murder mystery that manages to be kinda fun, despite persistent off color humor. What it does well is entertain without taking itself seriously. There’s heavy use of vulgar jokes, but much of the quality humor is in the over-the-top action. There are moments of good slapstick, physical comedy especially Jonny’s hand to hand fight scenes. Most of the action is fast paced and highly destructive, keeping the pace moving and bolstering the simple, trope-heavy plot. Come for the action, stay for the chaos.
This film starts streaming January 28th on Prime Video. I rate it a (2.5/4) 🍿
