Directed by:
Michael BayCinematography:
Bojan BazelliComposer:
Lorne BalfeCast:
Ryan Reynolds, Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ben Hardy, Adria Arjona, Dave Franco, Corey Hawkins, Lior Raz, Payman Maadi, Yuriy Kolokolnikov, Kim Kold (more)VOD (1)
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After faking his death, a tech billionaire recruits a team of international operatives for a bold and bloody mission to take down a brutal dictator. (Netflix)
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Reviews (9)
Oh dear. I was expecting from Michael Bay one of the most action-packed films of the year, but instead, I got a somewhat undercooked product that no one will remember in a few months, or even weeks. The cast was enticing, and the juicy budget was promising, but this "Six" simply stumbled on multiple fronts. Firstly, there is the terrible story. I didn’t expect a groundbreaking plot, but does Bay really think that such a childish script and weak storyline have anything to offer the audience? If so, that’s quite disappointing. Even Reynolds didn’t do much to save it; you could tell that most of the jokes were forced, and the scriptwriters sank the film. The only redeeming aspect was the bloody R-rated action (unusual for Bay, but I welcomed it enthusiastically). The opening chase in Italy and the sequence in the Hong Kong skyscraper were delightful, but unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the rest of the film (for most of the runtime, the chaotic editing ruined the action). This leads to a warning for sensitive viewers... skip the film to avoid potential epileptic seizures; the rapid image switching won’t be kind to your eyes. Honestly, I don’t even want a sequel, even though I know this saga doesn’t end with the open ending. 60%
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Michael Bay is simply nuts. Moreover he thinks that a movie about a bunch of people who want to save the world but actually kill many innocents is going to be fun. And yes, I can say that the action was fun. I’ve probably never seen it affect it its surroundings as much in any movie. However, the action was the only thing that worked. The boys and girls here didn’t offer anything the audience could relate to. Even a sight of the half-naked Mélanie Laurent left me totally unaffected… and that’s saying something.
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Netflix unleashed Michael Bay and gave him (within its limits) apparent freedom with all of the good, and bad, which that entails. So, here we have a film that generally does not make much sense and lacks coherence and causality. However, that is quite possibly due to the fact that Bay simply blew most of the budget on the best action sequences of (not only) his filmography. The introductory scene in Florence is a formal and logistical masterpiece, for which it would be difficult to find an equivalent in terms of topographic breadth, variety of formal elements, the number of production ideas, and the narrative and spatial trajectories of the individual characters, as well as the detailed planning and shooting. It may seem that Bay has become enchanted with the style of Tony Scott’s late creative period, but that is not entirely true. As a devotee of superficiality, Bay never slips into genuine experimentation with alternating formats and framerates. He merely adopts the concept of a cubist collage of scenes, which allows him to flawlessly map a particular moment, whether action or the state of mind and mood of the characters. At the same time, he discards the existing definition of a money shot as the single moment with which an entire sequence culminates and instead stitches together dozens of such scenes one after the other or, better said, for each moment of action, he finds the most perfect field of view, from which he creates the money shot. Everything is subordinated to the maximum wow effect, not only at the level of the overall collage, but also of its individual fragments. Bay stages breathtaking, logistically demanding shots with several action plans (which is true of both large units and numerous half-details) and with tremendously well-thought-out filling of the frame with movement and energy. It is reminiscent of the aesthetics of John Woo at his absolute creative peak (think Hard Boiled), just hypertrophied into a wild chase through the historic centre of a European metropolis instead of shoot-outs in studio interiors. ____ The rest of the film typically does not offer anything to match the opening sequence; rather, it comprises mainly static dialogue scenes and action sequences set in spatially limited locations. Let’s also acknowledge that, in many respects, 6 Underground is a painful illustration of its director’s limitations, whether in the overarching bombastic idea that only a dandyish billionaire can save the world from evil or in the inability to depict the suffering of war refugees in a manner other than embarrassing kitsch. All masters have their limitations and some are not even respectable people, but that does not diminish their virtuosity in their respective fields. 6 Underground is a bombastic project not just because of Bay, but largely because that is exactly what Netflix wanted from him in order to show off in grand style. Despite the impression of its own uniqueness, Netflix merely repeats what Cannon Films did a few decades previously and the main B-movie studios did long before that, when they attracted distinguished filmmakers to join them with the promise of absolute creative freedom, so that they could earn respect in Hollywood while feeding their distribution platforms with filler trash flicks. Just like those predecessors, Netflix will also turn out a handful of top-rate productions among its original projects, as well as quite a few half-baked films which, conversely, would greatly benefit from the intervention of a producer and script editor. However, 6 Underground raises the question of whether it is actually a badly made film as a whole or, conversely, a perfect product of Netflix algorithms. Due to its episodic narrative and frequent recapitulations, it does not work according to standard dramaturgical rules, but it is perfectly suited for fragmented viewing on mobile devices on the way to work. It is also evident that the entire project is intended to be the start of Netflix’s own blockbuster franchise. After this spectacular kick-off, let’s hope that Netflix approaches it in a similar manner as Mission: Impossible once did and hire a new director with a distinctive style or approach to the genre for each subsequent instalment. ____ Either way, the fact remains that Bay put forth his audio-visual masterclass here and 6 Underground will go down in the history of the genre. And so what if that’s thanks only to a single sequence in an otherwise forgettable film. After all, it will not be the first in that respect; it suffices to recall Bullitt (or, better said, let someone try to remember anything from that film other than the iconic car chase).
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The action movie of the year arrives just before the end of a year where Netflix is clearly winning on the full front. Michael Bay is let off the chains like a hungry pit bull and serves up perhaps the purest action ecstasy, orgy and orgasm I've ever seen. From start to finish, this is an adrenaline-fueled, uncompromising, explosive, glammed-up wild ride that features two potentially iconic scenes (the opening chase in Florence and the finale with Magneto). Ryan Reynolds is traditionally excellent and his actor boost is nearly 100%, but the rest of the crew is impressive as well, with everyone being a pro at something different. On the action side of things, there's pretty much everything you can think of ( fast cars, beautiful women, parkour, shootouts, slow motion, location changes, explosions, destruction and juicy gore). The only thing I found lacking here was a proper fight, but otherwise a Bay beauty that I would love to have framed. Those who complain about the script should run against the wall to realize they're watching an action movie, not an Oscar-winning existential art sophisticated drama. 10/10.
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Bay rulez them all! A mediocre story about a team who kills evil bastards and stage coups d’etat in exploited countries that Wernick and Reese gave a non-linear narrative structure, Dead Pool-style humor and a cool giant magnet that has its say in the final act. Lots of blood, headshots, cussing and beautiful shots of wonderful models in spectacular action scenes, all of which are typical for Bay. Reynolds plays Reynolds and the rest of the team is well cast, but you’ll remember just the stats and the great lines. The backstories are routine. I have a feeling that Bay visits the same website where I go for wallpaper and then he makes movies in the most amazing locations. I didn’t expect we’d get this far.
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Gallery (40)
Photo © Netflix
![6 Underground - Photos](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/166/063/166063025_8e390e.jpg)
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