‘Play Dirty’ Review: Shane Black Continues His Slump

Shane Black has always been a director to look out for, from his work as a writer on Lethal Weapon. The Last Action Hero and other classics, to his strong work as director including Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and of course, The Nice Guys. But in recent years, Black has been on a slump. From the atrocious The Predator and a subsequent seven-year hiatus, and now, Play Dirty. Read our Play Dirty review.

Play Dirty is a heist film based on the Parker novel series, where Mark Wahlberg plays Parker, and Lakeith Stanfield as Alan Grofield. Parker encounters a former death squad operative played by Rosa Salazar, and they eventually team up to steal a priceless statue from a corrupt South American dictator and a billionaire. The film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, and Tony Shalhoub.

The film, advertised as a buddy comedy, largely falls into the heist genre. Disappointingly, the buddy element isn’t as prominent as I thought it would be, given how good Black’s buddy films are. It wouldn’t be as big of an issue if other aspects of the storytelling were better. For example, the story is convoluted and lacks any real weight to it. Worst of all, a lack of charisma between the two leads, leads this film to be a boring slog. 

This aspect, to me, was the most unexpected thing about the film, given the fact that Mark Wahlberg is a funny dude and Lakeith Stanfield has been great in everything I’ve seen him in, but here they fail to generate any type of connection between their characters. Not even the stacked supporting cast can alleviate this.

The action in the movie is thrilling either way, with a lot of the vehicular action working to save this movie from being a complete and utter failure. The film makes a joke of throwing people off buildings and honestly, that is the type of dark humour where this film almost excels.

Play Dirty lacks a sense of charm, instead coming off as a mindless action flick with boring, uncharismatic leads, essentially wasting its brilliant cast. 

Play Dirty is directed by Shane Black and stars Mark Wahlberg, Lakeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, Chukwudi Iwuji, Nat Wolff, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, and Tony Shalhoub. The film is now streaming on Prime Video courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios. 

Watch the film below: 

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