"Not Just Another Action Movie"

At :40 in the interview below Arnold Schwarzenegger confirms what has been pretty clear in clips and trailers for 'Sabotage' -- David Ayer wanted to make more than just another action movie, another collection of hackneyed and expected beats. Schwarzenegger also mentions how Ayer 'drills down' in every scene, asking actors to find more nuance in their characters.

Can't argue with any of that. Ayer is becoming a director to watch. 'Action' doesn't seem broad enough to describe the genre Ayer works in, and 'character-driven' is way too soft, doesn't work either. Ayer delivers tightly shot and edited action sequences yet peels back the veneer to expose layers of character, driving motivations, and emotional complexity in just about every shot, and does it without missing a beat, while still keeping the audience on edge -- quite the hat-trick.

'End of Watch' had much the same feel as the footage I've seen from 'Sabotage' but, of course, that movie had Michael Peña and Jake Gyllenhaal in the leads so nobody was expecting a superficial action movie. With Arnold's involvement, bloggers have largely dismissed 'Sabotage' as a B-actioner and ignored the fact Ayer is directing -- a fairly thoughtless knee-jerk reaction.

'Sabotage' is almost certainly a cut above. That Schwarzenegger is in the movie, in this case, with this director, doesn't mean what it might have in years past. 'Sabotage' may deliver some of the most brutal action sequences, yes, but it might also be one of the deepest character studies, albeit with unavoidable restrictions inherent to the genre, to come along in a while.