Written by Sam Clark 

Certificate: 15 

Running time: 129 minutes

Director: Shane Black 

When one goes into a Shane Black film, you are only going to get one thing and one thing only: anarchic, screwball action comedy. Black is one of the leading screenwriters in action cinema history, having made his mark with Lethal Weapon in 1987, one of the best debut's any screenwriter could hope for, which then spawned three more films. Since then, we have had the likes of The Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys, all of which are rooted with his signature style of dark comedy and quickfire dialogue. Virtually everyone is in agreement when we say The Nice Guys deserved to do a lot better than it actually did upon it's release in 2017. Play Dirty is Black's first film in seven years which he returns to co-write and direct, after 2018's largely forgettable The Predator.

Mark Wahlberg is Parker, a professional thief who we meet in the middle of a heist at the start of the film with his partner Philly (Thomas Jane) and the rest of his crew which goes wrong. An employee at the establishment in which are stealing from kills a member of his team and runs off with some of the money. Parker chases them down, kills the thief and pays off his wife and runs off into the sunset with the remains of the loot. His team are in their hideout when one of the members Zen (Rosa Salazar), turns on them and shoots them, which Parker is able to escape from but falls wounded into a river. Parker then promises Philly's widow that he will avenge his death, and tracks down Zen. He learns that she was part of a death squad in her native country and is planning on using the money from this heist to fund a much bigger plan.

Image credit: IMDb/Jasin Boland/Prime 

The heist in question involves recovering sunken treasure in which the corrupt Spanish president plans to keep for himself. This is where we learn that a crime organization by the name of ''The Outfit'', led by the leader Lozini (Tony Shalhoub), is also involved who they must go up against. Parker reluctantly allies with her once again. In order to pull this off, he recruits his new crew - Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Ed (Keegan-Michael Key), Brenda (Claire Lovering) and their getaway driver Stan (Chai Hansen). 

There's quite a lot going on in Play Dirty, and it is an entertaining if undecided mash-up. It's journey to the screen had been long-winded, as Black was set to make this with Robert Downey Jr. who Wahlberg has replaced here. A long production history is never usually the best sign. One the one hand, you have some pretty decent R-rated bite and aggression. which did remind me of violent 70s action. As the title very much suggests, the film as a whole does certainly play dirty with plenty of violence and foul mouthed behaviour. At the end of the day however, there is only so much you can do with a heist caper flick as it's all been done to death now, and Play Dirty is just another one. I will however make an argument for the Den of Thieves films which, the explosive action aside, did feel surprisingly fresh in what they were doing.

Image credit: IMDb/Jasin Boland/Prime 

There is not a great deal going on underneath here, but for what it is, it does what it says on the tin. I went into Play Dirty expecting an oddball Shane Black heist film, and you do get that. But what you also get, much to my surprise, is a much more pumped up, action set piece extravaganzar. There is lots, and I do mean a lot, of green screen chaos and carnage that is nowhere near as reflective of his style as you would want. It is here in which I suspect his hand has been ever so slightly forced, as whilst they are entertaining in a disposable manner, they do not fit in the film one bit or what you'd usually expect from him. The reason behind this I could not tell you, but given the production history behind the film, I suspect a compromise has been made to get this to where it is now (which is always the last thing you want to see with someone with such flair). It is not as straight faced as the likes of The Nice Guys is either and is instead more like an R-rated popcorn adventure. Despite Wahlberg being a perfectly watchable screen presence, he is now just playing the same character every time, but I'd be lying to say I don't enjoy it. Perfectly efficient piece of action distraction to enjoy from the comfort of your couch. 

Play Dirty is available on Prime Video now