The Ugly Thrills of Realism in SABOTAGE

My reviews are intended for those who have watched the movie already and want to dive a little deeper with me. Consider this the spoiler alert.

Writer/director David Ayer, booted out the door by his parents and into the arms of the U.S. Navy, has a bit of an obsession for capturing "authentic" military/police dialogue in his movies. But naturalism is a strange and subjective beast for viewers. When we talk about natural film dialogue, we're talking about how immersive, efficient, and believable it is. What one person finds natural-sounding can sound staccato and rough to someone else.

I have no experience being chased down by a masked killer, or losing a child, or fighting in a foxhole. We give movies permission to take us to a situation we're wholly unfamiliar with - it's part of the deal. I can't say that the dialogue in SABOTAGE is necessarily unnatural - I'm sure plenty of soldiers actually talk this way - but I found it distracting nonetheless. Heavy cursing can color a movie full of angry people, like in CASINO, or it can make it sound like it was written by 7th grader at a skatepark. It's a gentle dance. In END OF WATCH, the very real chemistry between Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña sold the occasional silliness of the dialogue. Sure, you weren't always in on the joke between these two cops, but you at least believed the joke existed in whatever reality you're watching.