6 Underground (Netflix Premiere Tonight - Review)

Media Screening – Premieres on Netflix Friday 13 December, 2019
(127 minutes) – Action

What’s the best part of being dead?
It isn’t escaping your boss, your ex, or even erasing your criminal record.
The best part about being dead…is the freedom.

The freedom to fight the injustice and evil that lurk in our world without anyone or anything to slow you down or tell you “no.”

6 Underground introduces a new kind of action hero. Six individuals from all around the globe, each the very best at what they do, have been chosen not only for their skill, but for a unique desire to delete their pasts to change the future. The team is brought together by an enigmatic leader (Ryan Reynolds), whose sole mission in life is to ensure that, while he and his fellow operatives will never be remembered, their actions damn sure will.

“None of us will be remembered, what’s about to happen will. Little things, they add up to big things. Let’s go change the world”

The opening sequence is a long car chase that has to go for almost twenty minutes, setting the tone for the cinematic spectacle by Director, Michael Bay. Bay is known for his work on Transformers and Deadpool among many others.

It’s not the strongest script in terms of character development as the structure of story at times seems disjointed with unnecessary interlacing of flashbacks. There are some missed moments with the curated operative team as Ryan Reynolds’ character trains his team to a strict code of detachment and dissociation with the world and each other. The infighting within the group not as moving or compelling as they could have been.

Much of the two hours is dedicated more to the stuntwork relegating its five supporting cast members to the sidelines with very little material to work with. While there is a lack of depth in the emotional connection to characters that cements the audience for a sequel, in the space of Netflix viewing, the film challenges the dominance of silverscreen productions of the same genre and is sure to gain popularity. It provides moments of comedy in between magnificent destruction and visual grandeur through extended combat, parkour and action sequences, comanding our attention over the holiday period.

It’s described by Netflix Communications Manager who addressed guests at the opening as an “assault on the sense” and perhaps the script is deliberately light on dramatic dialogue and intensity for that reason.

It’s a great 2 hour investment to add to your MyList

Directed by: Michael Bay
Written by: Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese
Produced by: Ian Bryce, p.g.a., Michael Bay, p.g.a., David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger
Co-Produced by: Jonathan Hook, Michael Kase
Executive Produced by: Matthew Cohan