Netflix's 6 Underground Delivers On Its Promise To Provide High-Octane Action Despite Uneven Storytelling

      In an era where comic book films dominate the slate of new movies released in theaters, streaming services such as Netflix and Disney Plus aim to give audiences the original content they've been craving for. With Netflix, the popular streaming service has made a strong effort to expand its variety with producing not just its own shows, but original content in the realm of Cinema with recent hits such as Bright, The Cloverfield Paradox, Roma, The Christmas Chronicles, Bird Box, and The Irishman. With 6 Underground, the intent behind its production is to create a new action franchise, that Netflix can capitalize off with the combination of Ryan Reynolds in the main role along with Michael Bay as director. Released by Netflix on December 13, 2019, 6 Underground became a huge success for Netflix with the film being viewed by a whopping 83 million members within a time period of four weeks despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. Having seen 6 Underground, one can say that the film is best enjoyed by those not looking for a deep thought-provoking story, but prefer to see Michael Bay do this thing in terms of performing his traditional style of action movie mayhem (Or "Bayhem" as his critics call it), along with capitalizing off Reynolds status as being both a charismatic and likable action star. To put it blatantly, 6 Underground is a loud, silly, relentless, frantic, and absurd action flick that's unapologetic in entertaining its audience, though it does so ultimately while utilizing all of Bay's classic trademarks as a filmmaker.

      The plot for 6 Underground centers around a group of international commandos under the leadership of a tech billionaire named One (Played by Ryan Reynolds), find themselves being presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity that requires the erasing of their histories, along with going off the grid in order to fight for justice more freely. If one enjoys the body of work that Michael Bay has produced throughout his career minus the numerous Transformers sequels, chances are they will like this film as well and accept it for what it is, as it's undeniably entertaining and fun to watch. The plot for 6 Underground feels like a mixture of A-Team mixed with The Expendables with all three stories revolving around diverse teams of individuals fighting against corrupt dictatorships. Upon watching the film, it's no mystery why both Michael Bay and Ryan Reynolds were attracted to the script, as it contains elements that allows both men to put their talents on full display with the end result proving to be a well-blending of the two worlds. Bay's unusual style of directing kinetic action mixed with fast-cuts, quick flashes, constant shaky camera movement, and frantic pacing goes hand in hand with Reynolds quick wit and heavy sarcasm, making him the appealing lead star in the film. This film knows that it's a Michael Bay flick and doesn't shy away from that fact, but capitalizes on its filmmakers ambition to be loud and insane with directing action. The film has one clear agenda behind it which is to entertain its audience with a disregard on how to achieve that goal. The film places heavy emphasis on the way it's filmed in regards to its style rather than storytelling with the films characters coming across as appearing to be rather shallow in terms of development. While the film was never designed to be a strong character study nor have tons of backstory in regards to its plot, it aims to be an experience that's full of explosions, car chases, and traditional action movie mayhem with the end result being it succeeds at doing so even if it comes across as being ridiculous at times (The films opening car chase for example, is full of unnecessary slow-motion shots and excessive gore including Reynolds character holding an eye of one of the antagonists killed early on in the film. It is a sequence that's both over-the-top and crude as it demands the audience to be both shocked at, as well as laugh at its absurdity). The film aims to ultimately be a fun yet bizarre ride for audiences with it not appearing to care how crude its humor can come across as being at certain points.

      Besides Bay's masterful directing of action sequences, the film mainly works due to its strong ensemble cast, all of whom showcase believable chemistry. Ryan Reynolds proves to be a brilliant choice as the films main lead One, with him being able to make the character both appealing as well as a delight to watch despite a lack of backstory. Reynolds has the right balance of humor, charm, and seriousness that makes him a perfect fit in the main role with him having moments where he brings the same style of wittiness and sarcasm, that made him popular playing Deadpool to the character. He helps to elevate the film from the shortcomings of its script and encourages the rest of the main cast to do the same. Melanie Laurent shines in her role as Camille/Two, showing audiences that she's the one person in the group who can effectively shoot guns and fight along with extending her talents as an actress. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo does well in his role as three, even managing to steal the show from the rest of the cast in certain scenes. Ben Hardy and Adria Arjona both impress in their roles as four and five along with Dave Franco and Corey Hawkins as characters six and seven. As a whole, the immediate ensemble cast works extremely well together and demonstrates strong chemistry, making the audience want to see them succeed on their mission despite not getting much of opportunity to know each person on a deep level as their character development is rather shallow. Other notable performances are Lior Raz as the films main antagonist Rovach Alimov, a brutal and cold Turgistan dictator with Payman Maadi as his reverse brother Murat Alimov, the person that One's team wants to swap Rovach out with ultimately. Regardless of how one feels towards Bay's films in general, it can always be agreed upon that he always manages to put together a strong group of actors/actresses that can bring life into characters who appear to be hollow with the reliance on those performers to make them believable to the audience in a way that's both convincing, and doesn't make them ask too many questions with the films primary focus being directed towards the plot, which ultimately justifies the films insane action sequences. The cast of 6 Underground prove to be economical and highly effective in making the film ultimately work along with appeal bring brought to the group.

      On a directing note, the film is directed with the same intense style and energy that Bay brings to all of his previous films up to this point. One can't help but wonder if Bay has a childlike mind to where he feels he must top each action sequence he's done before previously with something even bigger and extreme than before, almost as if he wants to overpower the audience with the action he puts on the screen. 6 Underground is undeniable proof that Bay has a clear agenda in regards to his desire of entertaining his audience to maximum effect, even if that intent comes with potentially blowing out the screen of their television sets. With the film, Bay knows exactly what he wants to show on the big screen and directs the film with that vision, allowing no restrictions or barriers to hold him back. One can essentially say that much like his work on The Transformers franchise, this is essentially Michael Bay unleashed with the main difference being he has a more grounded script with characters and a serviceable plot he can play with, along with pop culture references he can turn to for support in gluing all the pieces together. Just when one thought that Bay couldn't get anymore over-the-top and unfiltered after unleashing the Transformers sequels on the world, here comes 6 Underground with Bay demonstrating that there's no limit or roof to his extreme desire of entertaining his audience. Here he provides them with an endless combination of loud noises, gorgeous explosions, exotic females that are meant for the sole purpose of male audiences to gaze at, lots of blood, gore, and high-octane action that comes with nearly all of his films. As excessive and ridiculous as that description of those elements sound, they all manage to blend together to create an experience that's ultimately a wild ride. Bay knows who his audience is and aims relentlessly aims for them in confidence that they'll back for more with his future projects. The cinematography is well-shot with the scenery being gorgeously filmed, particularly the films action and chase sequences. Bay has a constant rythm in how he films his action sequences with the cinematography capturing all the scenes striking colors mixed with gunfire and the main characters yelling and screaming at each other. The film even includes his trademark moments of the sun setting in the background. The films editing keeps the film moving relatively steady enough to where it doesn't feel like it overstays its 2 hour running time along with being shorter than the typical 2.5 to 3 hour running time that often comes with a Bay flick. While much can be said about Bay as a filmmaker, one thing that can be said for certain about him is he knows how to make his films look appealing on a visual front with a consistent focus on fast cars, gorgeous women, and a heavy emphasis on human carnage with brains and blood being particularly focused on. Whereas Bay continues to struggle as a storyteller, he excels as being a visionary action filmmaker who knows the mechanics of delivering a solid action flick, along with giving people their money's worth.

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      The films screenplay by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese serves as providing the foundation for Bay to conduct his routine style of delivering action mayhem. They succeed in giving the film a plot and characters, that the audience can follow in a straight-forward fashion without much confusion as to what's happening. The writers even go as far as to give brief moments of character development for the members of One's group to provide an anchor for the audience to become somewhat connected to the team. While those moments are greatly appreciated, they appear to be few and far between with the characters still remaining one-dimensional. The concept of replacing one evil dictator with his more righteous brother sounds interesting on paper with it ultimately being a strong premise, though it genuinely feels like its not fully developed here as the audience doesn't really connect with the righteous brother to care enough about the switch. Despite a strong performance from Ryan Reynolds in the main role, the character of One comes across as feeling rather bland with the audience having numerous questions about his backstory that never get answered. The main characters are shown to have faked their deaths so they can officially join the Underground 6 team in order to seek further justice, but they're never shown to really be affected by such a decision nor the emotional impact that it has on the loved ones they left behind. The script feels like a compiling of underdeveloped ideas, that's jumbled together to provide a vehicle for the filmmakers to deliver popcorn entertainment. The biggest flaw with the script is there's not enough substance there to get the audience emotionally invested in the story outside of the films action set pieces. The concept of seven people attempting to change the reign of a ruthless dictator, who rules with an iron fist while using gas on his own people is promising though never utilized to its full potential. One wishes that enough character elaboration on each member of the Underground team was given to where their connections to the films main antagonist became more clear along with the strengthening of their resolve to overthrow him.

      To reaffirm the obvious, 6 Underground is a mess but an enjoyable one which ultimately gives its audience the popcorn entertainment they desire that's not comic book related. The film is a prime example of style being put over substance, though it still manages to deliver on its promise to entertain despite feeling that it goes to extreme lengths to do so. An example is the films opening car chase that feels as if Bay is trying his hardest to draw the audience into the story while finding every absurd way of catching their eye. The film provides impressive action sequences that are constantly being switched up throughout the course of the film to keep audiences excited and not run the risk of being bored (The opening car chase, action sequence in Hong Kong, and final fight scene are prime examples). Given what one expects from a typical Michael Bay flick, 6 Underground meets those expectations head on while possessing the same consistent issues that plagued his previous works. One of the main problems that keeps Bay struggling on the storytelling front, is the way he edits his films with 6 Underground's suffering on that front as well. Although the films pacing remains consistent, the editing is both choppy and all over the place leading to the flow of the story being compromised as well as the tone of the film. Whereas the film has a scene that's presented as being dramatic, it's generally followed up afterwards by a scene that showcases humor that's either forced or just falls flat. This not only confuses the audience but makes one wonder whether this film was meant to be a serious one with its somewhat thought-provoking plot or an action comedy.  The films editing becomes one of its greatest downfalls, though the soundtrack by Lorne Balfe proves to be effective and helps bring out both the excitement of the action scenes as well as the emotion of the characters. Under no circumstances can 6 Underground be considered a great film, but it also has enough positive elements going for it to save it from being on par with the quality of Bay's worst works ( The Transformers sequels, anyone?). It's neither his best movie nor his worst, but what it sets out to do it achieves with wanting to provide both relentless carnage and mayhem for its audience. The plot is predictable as the audience knows the team will inevitably succeed in the end and switch out the brothers, but the ride there is both an explosive and awkward one that one can't help but find some form of entertainment value in it's determination to thrill. As long as one shuts off their brain, they'll be entertained by 6 Underground but won't think much else of it afterwards.

Final Verdict: For action fans as well as fans of both Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bay, 6 Underground is worth watching so long as one doesn't look too deep into its plot and not notice its shortcomings.