New Red Band trailer just came out. Probably NSFW. I'm very excited about this movie!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvMsuONpTLo

Man, crazy ass story.


But leave it to Bay to neuter it.


7 abduction attempts...damn!

Can someone do a cliffnotes of the story? After two trailers I still can't tell what's going on...

I have not read anything about the story, but I'll try to summarize the trailers:

Mark Walberg likes to work out a lot, but is poor.

Mark gets The Rock to help him and his friend legally steal a bunch of money/property from Monk.

Monk is pissed and takes some course of action to get his money/property back.

Other shenanigans ensue throughout the film. Michael Bay adds explosions.

A good time is had by all viewers who enjoy life like to have fun.

quote:

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Mark gets The Rock to help him and his friend extremely illegally steal a bunch of money/property from Monk.

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FIFY... at least if they go by the true story. The movie does make them seem much more likable and fun then the story though.

Read the story. It's nuts.

It is a long ass read, but the story is awesome.



My cliff notes of the real story so far.


This Messa guy is super into body building and opens a gym. It has a ton of problems, but he keeps it going and hires this guy named Lugo.

Nevermind Lugo just got out of jail for a huge money fraud scheme, but Messa ended up liking this Lugo character enough to make him gym manager.

One of Lugo's work out buddies was this guy named Doorbal; who eventually introduces him to this guy named Delgado. Delgado had been working with this other guy Schiller in various business. The two had a falling out and parted ways.

Schiller was a fairly successful business guy and had a fair amount of assets. Delgado doesn't end up as well and figures some of Shiller's money is his.

He enlists Lugo and these Carribean fellows in a kidnap scheme. After 7 failed attempts, they finally nab him. Over the course of a month, they have Schiller call various business associates and get his wife to take the kids and go to Columbia. The story is he found this young Latin and was liquidating everything to run off with her.

After this is done, they force him to get drunk and load up on sleeping fills and fake a car crash. They fake the crash and set the car on fire with Schiller inside. Dude manages to get out, to which the gang then ram him with their car and run over him.

Eventually, Schiller ends up in a hospital and later New York. The gang, who know he isn't dead, never the less move in to Schiller's old home and live large.

Schiller hires a PI to track them down, and starting with a strong suspicion Delgado is involved. PI tracks the gang down. Turns out Messa was pretty involved too.

Messa ends up hosting meetings between the PI and Delgado. Apparently one meeting place Messa set up is the office Delgado and the gang used when they planned the kidnapping. Needless to say, the PI finds all this evidence in the trash.

Best part so far:

quote:

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Suddenly Delgado interrupted. "We're not going to talk about this anymore," he said.

"Well, then, why are we here?"

"Because we're going to give you Schiller's money back, the one million dollars."

That sounded as sweet as a confession to Du Bois [The PI]. "When and where do we get the money?" Schiller, he knew, had no liquidity, and was in need of hard cash.

The return was conditional, Delgado explained. First Du Bois and Schiller would have to sign an agreement that they'd never repeat the story to anyone, certainly not the police. Then, and only then, Schiller would see the $1.26 million from the offshore accounts he'd signed over.

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Long story short, the Miami police blow of Schiller's story. Lugo and gang find another target, some Hungarian dude who made most of his fortune off of sex-phone lines. They nab the guy and his girlfriend, but OD the guy on tranquilizers. Oops

Anyway, fools finally get caught by the police. One moron still had Schiller's wedding album in his condo.

Then it turns out Schiller made most of his money on a fraudulent Medicare scheme. The Miami prosecuter asked him to come give a final statement to the judge and jury as to whether Lugo and them deserved the death sentence. Right after, the Fed arrest Schiller for fraud. He ends up getting more time than Delgado, till the Judge reduces it because of what he went through.

And to top it off, the Judge who oversaw all the cases...

http://www.judgealex.com/meet/


[This message has been edited by MSCAg (edited 4/1/2013 1:52p).]

Yeah, the story was insane, but the movie looks more like 'here are some meatheads, throw some explosions and awesome music and we'll just make some **** up'

Looks gayer than rainbow trousers

Just got out of the movie. It's insane and stupid as hell, but a ton of fun. Really unique. Felt like vintage Michael Bay (in a good way). Sold-out crowd we saw it with absolutely loved it. Honestly didn't expect to get that invested in the story. Again, it's DUMB, but really well-done for what it is, almost to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually becomes a semi-classic on cable.

Anyone else see it yet?

I haven't seen it yet but I did watch on 48hrs some details from the real story.. Seems interesting

Still haven't read the main article it's based on yet, but according to MSCAg's summary above, the movie definitely diverges from the real events at times, and obviously takes quite a few liberties, but overall, I'm genuinely surprised at how close they seemed to have stuck to the actual story.

[This message has been edited by TCTTS (edited 4/28/2013 12:43a).]

Disclaimer, I have not seen the movie yet, but here's my issue. I know this is Hollywood, don't take movies so seriously, etc. Maybe I feel this way because I did read the whole article - but I hate the fact that all the ads have played up these guys as simply good guys who came up with a bad idea to get rich. In fact, one ad I saw said those specific words. It actually called the main characters Good Guys. In real life these guys were far from being "good guys". I know, I know, artistic liberties, its just a movie, blah, blah, blah - it just bothers the hell out of me in this instance for some reason. TCTTS, you should really read the whole article. Hell, I think a great movie could have been made simply by sticking to the simple truth, and having no one come off as "good". But then again I haven't seen it yet, so I'll quit talking out of my rear for now.

Sorta agree with that post after watching 48 Hours. I know this is technically just "based on" the actual story, but I'm not sure I'm interested now that I see how awful those guys were. I'd probably watch if they just made a movie out of the real thing, but making it a comedy turns me off for whatever reason.

I read the real article a while back. After reading that then seeing the trailer there's no way in hell I'll waste my money. The true story is better than any script to come out of Hollywood in 10 years. It was so insane that if you had seen it as a movie some people would say "wow, they went a little overboard I think."

Then bay takes it and turns it into some action comedy that looks godawful with his typical corny one liners and ****ty music. No thanks.

I agree about the comedic element and portraying them as lovable "good guys". They were anything but good. And it might be hard to keep that in context while watching. That said, I am really looking forward to this movie, and think it looks awesome.

TCTTS, I'm anxious to see it to see what parts are stupid and insane. I read the article and I can assure you, it is an insane story, and these guys were absolute morons. It may be closer to the truth than you think.

Having read the article and seen the movie, the biggest discrepancies was combining characters into profiles (e.g. Delgado and Lugo were combined into just Lugo, etc) and they changed the names of the innocent. Other than that it was pretty accurate.

The marketing is somewhat misleading. Yes, at first, the main three are portrayed as guys we're kind of supposed to like - a band of lovable misfit doofuses. But as the story progresses, the movie takes every opportunity it can to underline just how misguided these guys are. By the end, you're definitely rooting for Ed Harris' character to take them down.

Their dreams of wanting to become rich are innocent enough at first, and the movie does a great job of showing why each character - in their own minds - needs the money. But it quickly becomes a story about just how delusional these guys are, and does not endorse what they're doing AT ALL. Just because there's a continual through-line of slapstick humor, that doesn't mean what these guys are doing is ever endorsed. I'd argue that if that humor wasn't present throughout, the movie would be WAY too dark. And trust me, it gets pretty dark and twisted as is. I usually can't stand Bay's brand of humor, but in this setting and in this story, it works, if only as a way to keep things from becoming too horrific.

In the end, these guys get consumed by their misguided dreams, and spiral down a horrible path in attempt to achieve them. And that lovable misfit doofus quality is what allows them - in their own minds - to justify what they're doing. They have to be portrayed as that brand of moron in order for the audience to believe that these guys can possibly believe what they keep telling themselves (if that makes sense). That portrayal is essential for the audience to be in on the farce.

This is Michael Bay doing a Coen Brothers movie. Off-beat characters and a certain tone of dark humor portrayed in such a way as to endorse the "moral of the story" by untraditional means. With a splash of Pulp Fiction thrown in for good measure.

I just hate that he was the one to make this story. If I had never read the article I'd probably have enjoyed it in a stupid senseless way but there's just no chance of that happening for me now

"This is still a true story."

^ Didn't want to spoil that, but yeah, one of my favorite moments.

quote:

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In the end, these guys get consumed by their misguided dreams, and spiral down a horrible path in attempt to achieve them. And that lovable misfit doofus quality is what allows them - in their own minds - to justify what they're doing. They have to be portrayed as that brand of moron in order for the audience to believe that these guys can possibly believe what they keep telling themselves (if that makes sense). That portrayal is essential for the audience to be in on the farce.

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Sounds like Saul Goodman

"I once convinced a woman that I was Kevin Costner, and it worked because I believe it."

God, this is still a true story got me so hard. Dwayne was drugged out of his ass in the second half of the film.

I really enjoyed it. The prescreening I saw had a lot of people loving it. Constant laughs, though it definitely took a turn in the second half, but keeping the laughs.

I'm a little encouraged now by your response TCTTS. The ad campaign just threw me off - it doesn't portray any of the darkness you mention (which is appropriate if you know the true story) and like I said, one ad literally called them "good guys".

The previews were not representative of the movie. It was much more serious than what I was expecting. The movie was fine. I feel like it had the bones of a really good movie, but it just never got there for me. I thought the Rock was really good in it though.

Loved it. Yeah it's an unfortunately true story about bad people doing bad things, and definitely a dark comedy, but damn if it wasn't entertaining.

Mark Wahlberg is so good at comedic roles, especially where he's kind of manic and talking out of his ass. His facial expressions had me cracking up. It's basically Terry from The Other Guys as a dumbass criminal.

"Most people get out while they're ahead... most people are *******."

Good to hear, SP.

Also, here's a great truth vs. fiction article...

http://thefilmstage.com/features/the-facts-fabrications-of-pain-gain-how-much-truth-is-in-michael-bays-latest-film/

Saw it last night and agree with The notion that the trailers are very misleading. It is simultaneously hilarious, ridiculous, and mortifying...somewhat fitting to the source material. Overall, I liked it and thought the Rock and Wahlberg were great.

[This message has been edited by Noblemen06 (edited 4/30/2013 9:38p).]

Scene with the kids had me rolling. Good movie

very enjoyable movie.. very funny.. glad to see the Rock do some adult content movies..

I take it this one's a good one to take the SO to? She likes both leads.

The Rock was great in this.

This is still one of my biggest surprises of the year.

Pulling this back up as I just watched the film on Netflix. It was surprisingly good. I had read the articles before the film and still liked the movie.

[This message has been edited by Coppell97 (edited 7/20/2014 12:19a).]