Anyway, here are my thoughts. The movie has a sluggish start, despite jumping right into the action of some unrelated event that isn't fully explained. Maybe I wasn't paying attention. I do know the guy they got in the raid was a drug dealer, because his name comes up throughout the first third of the film. So this team of ex military dudes, I think seals, hatches a plan to steal this drug dealer's money from his home. They gather this intel in the beginning of the film. Here's where Melanie fell asleep.
I felt like I started to understand the plot better once things picked up. I found the break in to the house full of money way too easy. Like how do you not hear a guy getting shot? How do you not hear Ben Affleck's bad acting coming through a door? Anyway, the sequence was cool. I will admit that. A bit over the top, but cool nonetheless.
And then they break out of the home pretty much unchallenged and aquire a helicopter. This sequence was pretty cool, although the CGI looked a bit cartoony. So they're trying to make it to the ocean, carrying around $21 million in drug money to the other side of the Andes mountains. Bad idea. Money weighs a lot, and when you have like 5 matcho guys in a helicopter, weight screws up the ability of the chopper to climb. You can guess what happens next. Those guys would be a lot more beat up with that crash. Ball Affleck decides to unnecessarily shoot peeps, and it pisses owf the villagers, after they crash land in a field. They pick up the remaining money and go find some mules to take it on a trail over the mountains. They lose a mule at some point, not to mention a lot of money. Once at the top of the ridge, they can't take the mules over, so everything has to be done by manpower from here on out. This part was pretty neat. The scene were they light some money on fire on top of the peak was well shot. The movie has moments of neat cinematography.Man, why does it stink like bad sulfur gas in here? - I think it's because Ben Affleck had Chipotle before we flew down here. - Well that explains why he's acting so stiff. - Yeah that also explains why he's late to this firefight sequence. Chipotle poops are no joke - they're real.
Anyway, bad news. The pissed owf villagers are out for blood because Ball Affleck killed a couple of their people for no reason. So they end up killing him. Ball Affleck disappears from the movie for obvious reasons. So the objective is to get to a boat in the ocean that is waiting for them. They aren't sure if the boat is still waiting, because it has been five days past when they were supposed to arrive. One guy some how just goes right down into the mess of troops down below waiting for the group and comes back, confirming the boat is still there waiting. They take the remaining money and toss it into a deep ravine.
Anywho, the team sneaks down into the village. A cool chase sequence and firefight happens, with some implausible moments, and the usual action shots of cars flipping over and people corpsing. The movie ends with the guys driving their car into the ocean and getting on a small boat and floating away, still having about $5 million in cash left.
Here's one of at least two parts of the movie I found frustrating. I expected the escape to be difficult but they make it to the boat with very little problems. I guess these guys are pros, so I will give them a pass.
Anyway, the guys will get about $1 million each before all is said and done, but they decide to give their share to Affleck's estate, because he has a daughter, who is in the movie for less than a couple minutes.
The guys part ways, but one guy gives Poe from Star Wars (Oscar Issac) a piece of paper with coordinates to the ravine were the rest of the money is. He walks off into a crowd and disappears while butt rock plays. The end.
Overall, it was a good turn off your brain action movie with a good cast. I feel like the cast was wasted though. This could've been soooo much better, had it 1) been a little tighter story wise, 2) been a little less implausible 3) used less CGI, and 4) cast someone other than Affleck. I read that originally Tom Hanks was going to be in this film, and Johnny Depp. However, I think both of the actors would be too oldballs for this. Pedro, Isaac, and the other dudes, save for Affleck, did a good job. They're believeable. The film was also going to be directed by Katherine Bigelow at one point, but she went on to make Zero Dark Thirty, which is a much better film. It would've been interesting to see how she would have directed this.Little do these guys know, I'm going to be the only one with a steady career here in a couple of years.
The director is a guy I've never heard of before, but it looks like he likes these type of films.
As I said, it's a good dumb popcorn film. Nothing special, a bit slow in places, but those are made up by interesting locations, some cool action scenes, and Pedro Pascal's charm. Swoon. Hea.
I give it 2.8991/2 stars out of 5.