Once a staple of the 1980s, the buddy comedy is back as Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista crash through Hawaii and beyond in "The Wrecking Crew". Can this star duo recapture the genre’s original swagger? Los Angeles (dpa) – Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista are bringing the buddy comedy genre back with "The Wrecking Crew", arriving on Amazon’s Prime Video from January 28. In the 1980s, action comedies led by two bickering male protagonists were among the most popular film genres. Two mismatched heroes who would rather not work together often had to crack a case, leaving collateral damage and endless one-liners in their wake. Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in "48 Hours", Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in "Lethal Weapon" and Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in "Bad Boys" are among the best-known examples. In the genre's reboot, action stars Momoa ("Dune", "Fast X") and Bautista ("Spectre", "Guardians of the Galaxy") play estranged half-brothers Jonny and James. When their father Walter (Brian Keaulana) dies in a hit-and-run car crash, the duo investigate on their own, as Walter was a private detective and apparently working on a dangerous case. Jonny (Momoa) is a biker with a taste for alcohol. A traumatic event drove him from his Hawaiian home many years ago, and he now works as a police officer in Oklahoma. His older brother James (Bautista) serves in the Navy. Neither had a good relationship with their shared father, who left one mother for the other. The brothers have not been in touch for a long time. Jonny is not keen to attend the funeral, but before his sister-in-law even informs him of the death, some highly irritable Yakuza, members of Japan’s notorious crime syndicate, show up at his home. They have not reckoned with the quick-witted, if half-naked, Jonny. It emerges that shortly before his death Walter sent Jonny a package containing something that the gangsters are desperate to get. On their trail across Hawaii, Walter’s sons encounter more unfriendly characters, and the disagreeable patron Robichaux (Claes Bang). Morena Baccarin ("Deadpool") plays Jonny’s resolute girlfriend Valentina, Jacob Batalon ("Spider-Man: Far From Home") the tech nerd Pika. The fitting cast is rounded out by cult comedian Stephen Root ("Office Space") as a tetchy, resigned police investigator, and Temuera Morrison — known as Jango and Boba Fett in several "Star Wars" films and the series "The Mandalorian" — as a family friend and politician. "The Wrecking Crew" has everything a buddy comedy needs: sharp quips, inventively choreographed fights, plenty of situational humour and thumping action. A standout sequence sees James, Jonny, Valentina and Pika in a minivan attacked first by motorcycle hitmen, then by gunmen in a helicopter, as they weave through busy highway traffic. Stars Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista clearly have fun on camera and have strong chemistry in this entertaining action film. It cannot match the genre's classics, but as a breezy TV choice for an evening on the couch, "The Wrecking Crew" fits the bill. The following information is not intended for publication dpa pde xx a3 gth
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