Sabotage 2014

Critics score:
19 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Wesley Morris, Grantland: I don't know what Ayer is trying to prove by dunking the camera in spilled guts and having it linger over charred and frozen corpses. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: So Arnold Schwarzenegger has reached the shaky-cam-and-hoodies stage of his career. But it's a bit late in the day for Arnold to try to get all indie and complicated. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Anybody got a bar of soap? Hand it over. I've got a movie here that needs its mouth washed out. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: "Sabotage" rarely rises to Schwarzenegger's level, in large measure because the other characters (of which there are far too many) aren't nearly as sharply drawn by Ayer and co-writer Skip Woods. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: A sloppy DEA whodunit, distinguished by its scatological humor and gore. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: The bloodshed is unrelenting and, ultimately, exhausting. There are [only] so many disembowelments and head shots, and bodies torn into pieces you can take. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Ayer directs with style, very little sense, and a wheelbarrow full of blood squibs. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: What redeems all this, to some extent, is Ayer's bleak but honest vision... he understands how law-enforcement people witnessing the depths of humanity might lack the necessary character to climb back up. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The acting's fine in this thing; the acting's rarely the reason a violent action movie succeeds or fails. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: Horror movie-gruesome and pumped up like a 'roid rage, "Sabotage" is an abrasive, ugly exercise in macho nonsense. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Director David Ayer has made two of the best films about the tough lives of cops -- Training Day and End of Watch -- but his streak ends with the very violent and ultimately forgettable Sabotage. Read more

Jordan Hoffman, Film.com: [an] ugly, abrasive and thoroughly charm-resistant bag of slop Read more

Frank Lovece, Newsday: It seems strange to say about an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, but "Sabotage" is flabby. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Somehow David Ayer got Arnold Schwarzenegger to do something he hasn't done in years. Make a real movie. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: It does have a weird, boldly ugly edge that makes for unexpectedly compelling viewing. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: "Sabotage" isn't any good, even if its jagged, jolting visual excesses and frenzied energy keep you awake, gasping and guffawing by turns. Read more

Michael Sragow, Orange County Register: Rarely has a non-horror movie lavished as much attention on viscera and entrails; the only times brains enter the picture are from head wounds. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: This is the type of movie best enjoyed as a late-night indulgence on cable. Really late at night, when your eyes are still partially open, but your brain has called it quits. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For most of its running length, Sabotage is a gritty, compelling motion picture with twists to make a pretzel envious. Unfortunately, it overstays its welcome. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: A modern-day, Georgia-set version of a spaghetti Western. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: "Sabotage" cannot be called a good movie, not with a straight face. But as an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, it has something. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sabotage" is a damn fine whodunit with a surprising layer of pathos and depth. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: With this bloody exercise in provocation, the aging action hero climbs aboard the crooked-cop bandwagon like it was an ambulance to revive his dying career. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Cynical, slapdash and a waste of time for all concerned. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Bloody, banal and boasting a surprisingly able clutch of stars who will soon be deleting this from their resumes, Sabotage is a 109-minute cadaver count. Read more

Chris Klimek, Village Voice: This is the disreputable, even disgusting diversion the Expendables pictures should've been. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Sabotage starts off as a fun, nasty, occasionally surprising little piece of genre filmmaking. But it gradually loses the thread. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: The waves of mayhem pound harder and with greater frequency as the movie wears on, building to a conclusion that's harrowing, even by the gruesome standards of today's action thrillers. Read more