Michael Bay's 'passion project', the bodybuilding buddy movie/crime caper 'Pain and Gain' has released its first trailer, which you can check out below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjw3o9j66CY The initial thought is that this could actually end up being good. This thought is because it include guns, sweaty people and (possibly) explosions, and an intimate oscar-hopeful it ain't, but this is a world away from Transformers- which is only only a good thing. Who knows, in this film people may actually have something to do, and we may care what happens to them! Stranger things have happened... We have not really seen Michael Bay actually direct much- rather, he's rammed films down our throat without actually giving them his own personal stamp- most directors make a few distinctive films before becoming a parody of themselves (Case in point, people the word over associate his name subconsciously with ""EXPLOSION!" without thinking about his actual output, and this year saw Battleship, the greatest non-asylum Michael Bay spoof out there). The cast looks interesting (Anthony Mackie! Ed Harris! Tony Shaloub?), and it might end up being either a solid comedy drama that isn't for everyone, or a Showgirls-style 'so-bad-it's-good' scenario. A look at the world of bodybuilding is not something we usually see in multiplexes, and though I doubt this will be a deep, introspective examination of the psyche of men who endeavour to craft their bodies into herculean statues, it could be a lot of fun. It could, on the other hand, suck. The cinematography is offputting, and we've seen beats like this for a thousand trailers of a thousand movies. But, if one goes in with low expectations and gives it the benefit of the doubt, there's every chance we may end up being surprised. Mark Wahlberg rarely makes bad choices these days- Ted, The Fighter... let's forget The Happening...- and everyone seems to love The Rock, because let's face it, he's a rather charming presence, so despite rolling my eyes when the project was first announced, this has me mildly intrigued. But what do
you think? Please comment below with your thoughts, or tweet me @IAmOscarHarding