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.
So Netflix gave Michael Bay $150 million dollars to make a film. That's slightly more than the budget for his first Transformers film. 6 Underground is the result, and it's pretty much exactly what we have come to expect from Michael Bay. If you enjoy his films, you'll enjoy this. If you dislike his style of films, then I can't imagine even Ryan Reynolds starring in the film will be able to change your mind on that front.
This is quintessential Michael Bay, like a child that is told not to push a button, every time someone complains to Bay about his style, he invariably pushes that button, hunkers down, and uses it even more. So prepare for a veritable treasure trove of unnecessary fireworks-style explosions, scenes predominantly taking place around sunsets, a neverending barrage of car chases involving brand new shiny cars, beautiful women shot at very-near-NSFW angles, and cameras constantly revolving around the characters for no other reason beyond trying to look cool.
The story is effectively Mission Impossible if it was structured more like Ocean's 11, and with Ryan Reynold's presence in the film, one cannot help but imagine that this is exactly what we would have gotten if Disney hadn't bought out 20th Century Fox, and the Deadpool: X-Team film ever came to be. Reynolds does go with his usual dry, sarky, meta-humourous self (as he has done throughout practically his entire filmography), though I'm pleased to announce that he does share the spotlight in this film, feeling more like Nick Fury assembling the Avengers than being Tony Stark himself.
Unfortunately, the film is quite weak, in a narrative sense. The story is non-linear in the first two acts and spends a lot of time jumping between past and present trying to fill in the gaps of where these nameless characters came from. Without names and no sense of character development throughout the entire film, there is nothing for the audience to engage with, and as a consequence, every time the action slows down, you'll find yourself looking at your watch.
Once the film gets going in the final act, it can be quite fun. It meets the minimum requirements of action to keep your interest, and yet somehow manages to be harder to follow than a Transformers film. As we have come to expect from Michael Bay, the action scenes are a series of quick-cut edits and close-up shots that make it impossible to fully comprehend what is going on in the scene. We have an extensive car chase that looks like our protagonists are struggling to lose the final car, and when they final escape, another one appears, and they repeat this over and over and over and over and over and over (is it getting tiresome yet?). The audience can't properly get invested, when they have no idea of what the stakes are. You can get away with it when you have giant alien robots fighting, but when the characters are human, we need to know how many enemies there are, where they are, and need to know enough about the protagonists to care about them, to be able to feel the tension properly.
The majority of the aspects in the film are sloppily executed and struggle to maintain the interest of the audience due to the complete lack of character development (Transformers at least had 23 years of history prior to the live-action films). Even the characters one defining aspect of commonality, their moral compass, has little effect with the level of collateral damage involved. This will appeal to those young teens that love Bayhem, and for others, there may be enough action to hold your attention for most of the film, but you are unlikely to walk away from 6 Underground with a sense of satisfaction.