Would anyone be able to guess that End of Watch director David Ayer’s latest movie – formerly known as Ten, formerly known as Breacher, currently known as Sabotage - has its deepest roots in one of British suspense novelist Agatha Christie’s most famous texts? Set in the dangerous world of drug enforcement, Sabotage reportedly draws inspiration from And Then There Were None, though the frequent hails of gunfire that punctuate its new UK cut trailer, seen above, more rapidly call to mind Ayer’s past work.
Nonetheless, it seems like the most important characteristic of Sabotage is its whodunit narrative thread, which this freshly-pressed preview leans on more heavily than anything else. That in and of itself is an oddity just by virtue of who Ayer has set in the lead role. Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t known for starring in films steeped in intrigue, though of course Sabotage seems to give him enough to do with the business end of a rifle that his casting still makes sense; the film looks like a blend of procedural fare and sporadic, respectably brutal action.
Here, Schwarzenegger plays John “Breacher” Wharton, a veteran DEA agent and the leader of an elite team of tough-as-nails operatives. But following one particularly successful bust, after which a huge sum of cartel money suddenly goes missing, Wharton and his people all find themselves under fire by an unknown assassin who starts knocking them off one by one in varied (and horrible) ways.
Conventional wisdom dictates that if Wharton finds the money, he’ll stop the cartel killings, but that’s Sabotage‘s primary conundrum: no one knows who took it or where they stashed it, and those concerns become more pressing as the body count ticks up. Worst of all, signs point to the members of his own squad – comprised of the likes of Mireille Enos, Terrence Howard, Sam Worthington, Josh Holloway, and Max Martini – as the culprits.
That’s the Christie influence making its presence felt; Sabotage ultimately seeks to pit the bulk of its characters against one another as paranoia ratchets up among them and the situation grows more desperate. Whether that or the film’s graphic violence makes up more of its focus is another matter entirely. Even this clip, cleaned-up in comparison to the previous red band trailer, gets pretty bloody at points, hinting at the promise of serious carnage.
Maybe the gun play is just icing on the cake that is Sabotage‘s central mystery, or maybe this will end up being more of an all-in action fest that uses said mystery as window dressing. We’ll find out for sure in just over a month, but for now it’s just exciting to see Arnold back in action doing what he does best.
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Sabotage opens in US theaters on March 28th, 2014.
Source: Yahoo! Movies UK
This looks Great I’m glad Arnold picked some young guys to be around him makes him look better
Nice, looks like it could actually be one of Arnold’s best films. I’m not talking box office, but critically acclaimed.
I’ve been looking forward to this one for quite some time now. Mostly -if not only- because of David Ayer and how I loved End Of Watch.
I must say I’m pretty concerned about the Arnold casting though. Even the picture you guys put in the article (the one of Arnold with glasses and holding a gun) looks like Arnold overacting to be a tough guy, instead of just “being” a tough guy. I don’t know… I hope I’m wrong and he nails it.
I hardly watch movies in the theaters now a days and just wait til the movies i like hits VUDU but this would be my first movie of the summer! Last movie I’ve watched was MOS and its all worth it! Im sure this would be too!
I grew up watching Arnold BAD or GOOD, so why would I stop now?? LOL
Well, looks like I’ll be sitting in the cinema in May watching this.
It’s pretty cool you guys post the US and UK trailers for movies too because you can see the contrast between them. I’ve noticed the trend that US trailers seem to ramp up the action aspect of a movie while UK trailers focus more on the actual story.
Be interesting to find out why that is. Could be a future article, maybe?