The Wrecking Crew

Do you remember the 90s when you would go to the video store and find films you had never heard of? Often, the cover was more appealing than the content, and sometimes you would take home something that quickly turned out to be a questionable investment of both time and rental money. For me, a classic example is Dolph Lundgren's The Last Patrol, which unfortunately found its way into our family's VHS player. Today, we get direct to streaming rather than direct to VHS, but the feeling is the same. The Wrecking Crew on Amazon Prime is exactly that kind of film: what you get if you mix L.A. Cop and Lethal Weapon, but with a slightly weaker ensemble and without the same confidence in the execution.

The Hale brothers have drifted apart and have an almost non-existent relationship. When their father dies under mysterious circumstances, they are forced to meet again in Hawaii. It soon becomes clear that they must work together despite old conflicts and irregularities, as it is obvious that their father's death was not an accident. The setup is familiar, and the film makes no major attempts to surprise, leaning safely on well-known buddy-cop tropes.

James Hale, played by Dave Bautista, is a commander in the American elite force Navy Seals and extremely orderly. Jonny Hale, played by Jason Momoa, is the complete opposite: a messed-up suspended police officer who has also been dumped by his great love. The dynamic is supposed to be driven by their total inability to work together, but also by the realisation that they are the only ones who understand that someone wants to harm the family. The problem is that the conflicts feel more schematic than genuine.

The story is straightforward and predictable, often to the extent that you can guess the next line before it is delivered. Bautista and Momoa give competent performances and seem to enjoy their roles at times, but the chemistry between them is not quite there. It is more like two stars sharing the screen than a dynamic duo lifting each other up. In supporting roles, we see Temuera Morrison and Danish actor Claes Bang, among others. Morrison seems mostly interested in getting through his scenes, while Bang at least seems to be having fun with his villain role and brings some energy when he appears.

Director Angel Manuel Soto, who previously made Blue Beetle and La Granja, does what he can with Jonathan Tropper's script. However, it feels like it's more Matt Flannery's cinematography and Bautista and Momoa's pure star power that make the film fly at all. The Wrecking Crew is well packaged, occasionally giggly and never directly painful - but also never particularly memorable. Overall, the impression is mostly meh, and when the credits roll, it feels like yet another streaming title that will be quickly forgotten.