{"id":392024,"date":"2026-01-26T22:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/392024\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T22:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T22:34:08","slug":"jason-momoa-dave-bautista-team-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/392024\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Momoa, Dave Bautista Team Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAn old school action spectacular with some bickering buddy humor and emotional family drama on the side, \u201cThe Wrecking Crew<\/a>\u201d may not win points for originality but has the energy, professionalism and star power to please genre fans. The eagerly awaited teaming of Dave Bautista<\/a> and Jason Momoa<\/a> as estranged half-brothers investigating their father\u2019s death in Hawai\u2019i is bound to race up the viewing charts when it launches Jan. 28 on Prime Video. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYou only have to look at the thousands of comments on various internet and social media pages to get an idea of how big a deal this pairing of \u201cAquaman\u201d and \u201cDrax the Destoyer\u201d is in genre fan circles. In its own very particular way, the level of anticipation and excitement is reminiscent of that surrounding the historic first screen-sharing teaming of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Mann\u2019s \u201cHeat\u201d \u2013 for one gloriously quiet scene, no less. While Momoa and Bautista appeared together as warrior brothers in Apple\u2019s dystopian sci-fi series \u201cSee,\u201d this project directed by Angel Manuel Soto<\/a> (\u201cBlue Beetle\u201d) is their first tailor-made co-starring vehicle and is a major action movie event, to be sure. As such, \u201cThe Wrecking Crew\u201d is sure to generate discussion about it bypassing cinemas and going direct to streaming.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn lead-up publicity, Momoa has made much of the \u201cvery yin and yang\u201d screen dynamic between him and buddy Bautista. It\u2019s an accurate comment and helps the duo make a pretty good stab at playing half-brothers who haven\u2019t spoken in 20 years. When we meet James Hale (Bautista) he\u2019s an ultra-disciplined U.S. Navy SEAL commander with an analytical mind who lives in a nice but not too expensive-looking beachfront house with loving wife Leila (Roimata Fox), bubbly young daughter Lani (Maia Kealoha, \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d) and son Kai (Josua Tuivavalagi), a teen who calls his father \u201csir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA committed husband and father but stitched up emotionally when it comes to events in his family\u2019s distant past, James is the polar opposite of Jonny (Momoa). A wayward police detective in Oklahoma who gets around in biker leathers and has a failing relationship with fed-up partner Valentina (Morena Baccarin, good in a largely thankless role), this dude-child carries himself like a 1970s rock star looking for a hotel room to trash. But with that twinkle in his eye, deep-down heart of gold and desire to win back Valentina, viewers will soon warm to this big hairy mountain of a man who clearly just needs a family-related emotional crisis to bring out the best in him. <\/p>\n

\n\tMomoa seals the audience support deal early in a terrific fight sequence. At home alone and dressed only in a lavalava (traditional wrap skirt), Jonny manages to guzzle down a beer and crack zingy one-liners while dispatching a quartet of Yakuza goons who\u2019ve come looking for a package sent to him by his father, Walter (Brian Keaulana). A private detective in Hawai\u2019i who\u2019s had no other contact with Jonny for years, Walter\u2019s just been killed in a highly suspicious hit-and-run \u201caccident\u201d in downtown Kalihi, Honolulu. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe crux of the movie is how well Bautista and Momoa fire off each other once Jonny returns to his roots in Hawai\u2019i for the funeral and re-connects with the half-brother he\u2019s had no interest in seeing or talking to for years. The action stars may not be great actors in the classical sense but they are more than competent and acquit themselves well as James and Jonny get down to the business of confronting the painful details of how they came to be half-brothers while also discovering, to no surprise, their father\u2019s death was no accident. With the help of Walter\u2019s offsider, Pika (Jacob Batalon, giving solid service in the comic sidekick role), the duo uncover shady property plans affecting indigenous Hawai\u2019ian communities. With a little more ease than should be the case and at the expense of gripping mystery taking shape, James and Jonny piece together a conspiracy involving local mobsters and Yakuza led by coke-snorting assassin Nakamura (multitalented Japanese artist Miyavi). Top dog in this nefarious network is Marcus Robichaux, a shifty English-accented businessman played with enjoyable relish by Claes Bang (\u201cThe Square,\u201d \u201cThe Northman\u201d). \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch of the comedy in this action-comedy arrives via barbed exchanges between the constantly bickering James and Jonny. Many of them are amusing enough to get chuckles and the odd big laugh but a little more wit amongst the throwaway put-downs would have been welcome. When the tempo calms down for genuine soul-searching and truth-telling, the results may not be dramatically scintillating but there is a blunt and convincing force that registers between these two big beefy half-bros who aren\u2019t used to expressing their feelings. The dialogue is a little wobbly at times \u2013 do James and Jonny really have to say \u201cI\u2019m fucking sorry\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m fucking angry\u201d and \u201cfucking\u201d this, that and everything during their big slugfest in the mud when everything is finally laid out bare? \u2013 but the sincerity and commitment of the stars sees things through.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese interludes are like ballads in-between heavy power chord tunes at a stadium rock concert; an experience somewhat akin to watching a big loud action movie such as this. They serve a purpose and do add to the overall experience but what we\u2019re here for primarily are those thumping numbers that get the adrenaline pumping. And so it goes here, with many and varied set-pieces that are mounted on a large scale and impressively executed. Among them is an extended highway chase featuring a helicopter and assassins on motorcycles \u2013 \u201cninjas on bikes!\u201d \u2013 and a car crash pile-up involving flipping, flying and exploding vehicles. To complement Momoa\u2019s opening Yakuza smackdown spectacular, Bautista pulls off a fine \u201cimpossible odds\u201d victory (and homage to Park Chan-wook\u2019s \u201cOldboy\u201d) when confronted by hordes of assassins in a narrow passage in Robichaux\u2019s compound during the lengthy and bloody finale. The film certainly earns its MPA R rating with graphic violence that carries a rather nasty tone at times and can sit a little uncomfortably alongside the film\u2019s comic and family drama elements.<\/p>\n

\n\tNicely shot in Hawai\u2019i and New Zealand locations standing in for Hawai\u2019i, the film is well served by the sharp editing of Mike McCusker (\u201cWalk the Line\u201d and an Oscar win for \u201cFord v Ferrari\u201d) and its strong casting choices. Sure, this is Bautista and Momoa\u2019s show but it also has good turns from Fox as James\u2019 wife, whose profession as a child psychologist comes in handy when dealing with her hubby and Jonny. Stephen Root is on the money in the time-honored role of the local detective who chews these guys out for treading on his turf, and Frankie Adams (\u201cOne Thousand Ropes\u201d) brings mettle to her role as a member of James and Jonny\u2019s family who works for the Governor of Hawai\u2019i (third-billed Temuera Morrison, who has little to do). Though she only has a few lines, it\u2019s worth noting that youngster Maia Kealoha scores arguably the film\u2019s funniest moment with her character\u2019s hilariously natural reaction to Jonny waking up on a sofa and discovering the braids she has put in his hair while he was asleep.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a catchy multi-function pop culture title that brings to mind the Marvel Comics supervillain team, L.A.\u2019s celebrated group of session musicians and the 1968 Matt Helm spy spoof that featured Sharon Tate and received poignant referencing in \u201cOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood,\u201d this Wrecking Crew is, perhaps most importantly, an example of truth in movie advertising. What you see in the key art and the first-look impression you get from the teaser and trailers is a clear and accurate indicator of what you\u2019ll get in the film. And for many action movie fans that\u2019ll do just fine. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An old school action spectacular with some bickering buddy humor and emotional family drama on the side, \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[147598,61380,96,20947,2839,127144,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-392024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-angel-manuel-soto","9":"tag-dave-bautista","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jason-momoa","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-the-wrecking-crew","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}