Review: Michael Bay rocks the small screen with Netflix's '6 Underground'
Bay teams with Ryan Reynolds in this action blowout, which begs to be played at high volume
Adam GrahamYou can't downsize Michael Bay.
The madman director's Netflix debut "6 Underground" is so big it feels like it's going to smash out of your television screen.
Bay makes no concessions to the small screen here. He opens with a nearly 20-minute Bay-nanas car chase through the streets of Florence, Italy where cars Tokyo Drift around Michaelangelo's David and at one point an automobile flies through the air and gets sliced in half like a deli sandwich, all while a doctor attempts to extrapolate a bullet from a member of her team in the backseat of the lead vehicle.
"Woo!" screams Dave Franco's character as he whips around another turn. That "woo!" pretty much sums up "6 Underground," an explosive, untethered action showcase full of insane stunts and over-the-top set pieces. It won't touch your soul or inspire any great thoughts about humanity, but you'll be too busy saying "woo!" to care.
Ryan Reynolds, snarking at half-"Deadpool" speed, plays One, a billionaire who has assembled a team of global adrenaline junkies who operate off the books of any governing body and take out war criminals, tyrants and "world class evil mother (rhymes with truckers)," as One puts it.
His team consists of a doctor, a hitman and a parkour expert, like a third grader's creative fiction come to life. They're globe-trotting and taking out bad guys with stops in Turgistan, Hong Kong and Las Vegas, which isn't nearly as important as the Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other choice vehicles that are paraded across the screen like models.
Oh and there are models too, whom Bay shoots in short skirts from low angles, like it's still the 1990s. The whole thing is like an extended guitar solo that never tails off.
There are some rumblings about family that make "Fast Five" look like an incisive character study, and there are references to "The Sixth Sense," "8 Mile" and "Ocean's 11," and probably a few other movies with numbers in their titles. There will probably be a sequel. Listen closely and you can already hear Bay tuning his guitar.
agraham@detroitnews.com
@grahamorama
'6 Underground'
GRADE: B
Rated R: for strong violence and language throughout, bloody images and some sexual content
Running time: 128 minutes