Sabotage ** (R) Arnold Schwarzenegger gamely slogs his way through in this attempt at an action flick, playing the head of a special DEA undercover team that also does the SWAT thing when they feel like it. After a big bust in which $10M of cartel drug money vanishes, Ahnuld and his squad are all suspended for six months of investigation. Even though the money is still missing and no one’s cleared from suspicion, the honchos decide to reinstate the crew. Just when they have a reason to celebrate, someone starts knocking them off in variably grotesque manners. Could it be retaliation by the drug lords? Is there a thieving rat among their seemingly tight-knit ranks? Were they set up by someone else who lusted for the money and/or other motivating factors?
The action sequences and other gory bits are generally satisfactory for splatter fans. But the screenplay is awful; the characters are poorly conceived variations on all the standard stereotypes. The who and why of where the money went may have been chosen by throwing darts at a board of possible endings - missing several better options. Ahnuld isn’t necessarily too old for the genre. But maybe he shouldn’t be trusted with script selection. I would worry that this role is a sign of career dementia, but many of his earlier choices like Red Sonja or Junior, indicate that was never a big part of his skill set. (3/28/14)