The eternal debate of substance versus spectacle rages onward…

Director Michael Bay arrives on Netflix with 6 Underground today which on one end of things is a problematic mess filled with logic gaps, excessive violence and misogynistic nonsense from end to end…

HOWEVER…

On the other side of that coin, as full bore visual ‘Bay-hem’ this might be the most gloriously unhinged film that he’s ever put to the screen (which is saying something) and it’s got a real chance to run as a franchise to boot.

What’s the best part of being dead?

It isn’t escaping your boss, your ex, or even erasing your criminal record. The best part about being dead…is the freedom.

The freedom to fight the injustice and evil that lurk in our world without anyone or anything to slow you down or tell you “no.”; that’s the dream.

6 Underground introduces a new kind of action hero. Six individuals from all around the globe, each the very best at what they do, have been chosen not only for their skill, but for a unique desire to delete their pasts to change the future. The team is brought together by an enigmatic leader (Ryan Reynolds), whose sole mission in life is to ensure that, while he and his fellow operatives will never be remembered, their actions damn sure will.

Let’s get this out of the way.  As a film and piece of narrative storytelling; 6 Underground undoubtedly has problems, but this just isn’t that kind of movie and to be quite honest if that’s what you are looking for you’re probably in the wrong place.

We’d recommend you select Marriage Story which is probably right next to this on your Netflix menu; we’ll let you leave us and do that now…

Still with us?  OK good.

6 Underground is admittedly lacking a genuine narrative cohesiveness as the film plays like a series of set pieces in an overlong origin story, but those set pieces are just so gonzo, frenetic and dialed all the way up to 11 that you seriously can’t help but be entertained even though you know that you’re damn well not supposed to take any of what you see seriously.

Michael Bay takes off the training wheels here and floors it with the action going pedal down from the opening minutes with visual carnage that would make even the largest scale action director blush.  There’s a real possibility that all of these actors we’re probably in legitimate danger while shooting these sequences and it damn well shows as you quickly find the edge of your seat and make sure you’re fucking comfortable in it, because it’s not letting you up to the point of basically exhaustion.  For his entire career Michael Bay has made movies that you quite frankly can’t believe someone didn’t die during the making of and he just raises the intensity on this one in his trademark ways that make sure you can’t look away.

Sure the script has logic holes, and every third shot of any of the female characters has them all looking like Victoria Secret models.  You could hardly consider of it to be terribly enlightened or ‘woke’ but it’s undeniably effective and at least here the ladies are getting shot, kicking ass and mixing up with the guys even if it has to be in the most impractical of evening ware.

There’s also an undeniable frivolity to it all that star Ryan Reynolds is certainly riding as hard as he can but the overall tone of the movie is at best uneven as it tries to crack jokes while in a variety of car chases taking place all across the globe.

Ryan Reynolds along with Corey Hawkins and Melanie Laurent do an effective job of carrying the action and any of the heavy lifting that was necessary from a character perspective while international actors like Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Ben Hardy, Lior Raz & Adria Arjona round out the cast.

Don’t come into 6 Underground looking for logic as it’s the visual equivalent of an unhinged car wreck, but in playing so deftly into the very dirty nature of our human psyche’s; it’s a car wreck that we just can’t look away from.