Josh Reviews Play Dirty
Play Dirty is the latest film written and directed by Shane Black. Mr. Black wrote a number of very successful action movies in the eighties and nineties (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero), and in 2005 he wrote and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, starring Robert Downey Jr. & Val Kilmer. That is one of my all-time favorite films, and I think it still stands as Mr. Black’s best film. It’s a phenomenal action-comedy; if you haven’t seen that, go watch it immediately. Mr. Black followed up that masterpiece with Iron Man Three and the criminally underrated and under-seen The Nice Guys (starring Russell Crowe & Ryan Gosling). That was a great run of movies, though unfortunately since 2016 the only film Mr. Black wrote and directed was The Predator, which I thought was a big disappointment. But he returned last year with Play Dirty, a movie based on the Parker books by Donald Westlake. Mr. Black directed Play Dirty and co-wrote the script with Charles Mondry and Anthony Bagarozzi.
I wrote a whole series of reviews a few years ago of all the different movies that had been made based on Donald Westlake’s Parker novels. Those include 1967’s Point Blank, 1968’s The Split, 1973’s The Outfit, 1983’s Slayground, 1999’s Payback, and 2013’s Parker. Mr. Black has made a specialty of dark and twisty-turny crime films, so seeing him take on a Parker story seemed like a great match to me. But I was concerned that this 2025 movie came and went without much notice last year. It was released on Amazon Prime video; I don’t believe it got any theatrical release. Was this a stinker or a buried treasure?
It’s somewhere in between. I enjoyed watching Play Dirty. It’s a fun action-comedy. The cast is great; Mr. Black’s writing has created a bunch of fun and memorable characters, all of whom are well brought to life by this talented and game-to-play cast. The film is action-packed, and all of the action/violence is filled with the little comedic flourishes that Mr. Black does so well. At the same time, the film doesn’t come together in the way Mr. Black’s best films do. There were too many times when I questioned why characters were doing the things they were doing. There’s a lot of dodgy-looking CGI that kept pulling me out of the film. And I think they needed a stronger leading man than Mark Wahlberg.
Let’s start with Mr. Wahlberg. I’ve really enjoyed his work in a number of movies, including The Departed, The Fighter, All the Money in the World, and Ted. I know he’s been criticized as not having a great range as an actor, but I thought his Boston tough-guy persona could be a great fit for the Parker character. And at times in this movie, it is! Mr. Wahlberg is convincing as an unflappable tough guy who doesn’t care much about other people’s feelings. But I think you need a really exceptional actor to bring heart and soul to this type of gruff, terse character. We need to see the cunning and intelligence behind his eyes. If that’s not clicking, this not-very-talkative character could just come across as boring, or as a dull goon. Many of the Parker movies I listed above succeeded or failed based on the strength of their leading man. Lee Marvin was the best Parker, in my opinion, and Jim Brown and Mel Gibson were strong, while I didn’t think Jason Statham or Peter Coyote were able to bring enough internal life to the character. (I have the same problem with Alan Ritchson in the Reacher TV show.) Mr. Wahlberg is fine in the role. He’s not bad. But I can’t help but feeling that a stronger actor could have brought more life and energy to this role.
On the other hand, I loved Rosa Salazar (Alita: Battle Angel, Undone) as Zen. I enjoyed seeing all the different levels she brought to the character: playful and sexy, noble and devoted to a cause, and also vicious and heartless when needed. I was also very taken by LaKeith Stanfield (Atlanta, Uncut Gems, Judas & the Black Messiah) as Grofield, who runs a failing theater as cover for his criminal activities. Mr. Stanfield brought tremendous humor and charisma to his every second on-screen! I loved this character, and the joy Mr. Stanfield brought every time Grofield was allowed to make use of his actor skills in their various heists. Keegan-Michael Key and Claire Lovering were terrific as the criminal duo of Ed and Brenda. Their scenes together during the train heist were a highlight of the film. Tony Shalhoub (Galaxy Quest, Monk, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) was fun to see as Lozini, the frustrated boss of the criminal Outfit who can’t seem to shake the annoyance that is Parker. Even better was Nat Wolff, who was absolutely hilarious as Kincaid, Lozini’s right-hand man who really thinks he’s hot shit. Thomas Jane (The Punisher, The Mist) was great as Parker’s buddy Philly; he hit every note exactly correct, which winds up being critical to the launch of the story. It’s a pleasure to see Gretchen Mol (Rounders, Boardwalk Empire) in a few short but important scenes as Grace. Chukwudi Iwuji (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3) was terrific as the billionaire mogel Phineas Paul. This is a great cast! Mr. Black has done a great job in fleshing out all of these side characters… and many more even more minor characters, such as the bank employee in the opening heist scene who is trying to impress a woman who is also a member of the bank’s staff. These little touches make Mr. Black’s movies stand out from the more generic versions of these types of stories.
There are some big, creative action set-pieces in the film. There’s a great car chase in the opening that winds up spilling onto a race-track; and a whole business with a speeding train that builds up to a huge action calamity. I admire the ambition of this film, which I don’t think was made for a high budget. Unfortunately, the film’s reach often exceeds its grasp. Both those sequences I just mentioned are brought to life through a LOT of CGI, much of which often looked obviously fake to me. I don’t mind this — I know these types of sequences in movies are fake!! I can suspend my disbelief and enjoy these sequences. At the same time, I think this would have been a stronger film if the effects in those action scenes had been more believable.
Those big set-pieces are fun, but I also like how many other action scenes are woven throughout the film. There’s also a lot of suspense, as we get to follow multiple different heists over the course of the movie. I love a good movie heist-gone-wrong, and this film gives us several. Mr. Black’s script packs a lot in.
I think the major flaw of Play Dirty is that we should be far more invested in the twists and turns of the relationship (or lack thereof) between Parker and Zen, but that fell flat for me. SPOILERS AHEAD in the next paragraph. STOP READING HERE if you haven’t seen the film, OK?
I mean it!
After Zen brutally murders Parker’s first crew, including his buddy Philly, I just don’t buy that Parker would ever work with her again. Yes, he wants the money he feels he’s owed, but he’s a master criminal, so surely he has other ways of getting money than being forced to partner up with Zen again, right? And, OK, let’s say we buy that Parker is cold-blooded enough to get over her killing all his old crew; and let’s say he’s arrogant enough to think that he can best her when she inevitably betrays him again. I could go with that. It still seems so strange to me when Parker brings her into his new crew without giving them any word of warning. (I also wish the film explained Parker’s connection to that second film. They all seem like buddies, but what is their history? Has Parker worked with them before? Did he connect with them through Grofield? I wish the film gave us more info on that.) This second gang all seem like great buddies — I think do their planning meetings right in Ed and Brenda’s house — so it’s crazy to me that Parker would bring Zen into this new crew (and Ed & Brenda’s home) without seemingly having any concerns. Then we get to the end of the film; Zen seems totally surprised that Parker has come to kill her, which seemed crazy to me. Has she forgotten what she did to his old crew? Does she think that he’s in love with her and so he’s forgiven her? Was the movie intending to have given us that idea? That could have been interesting — if we’d seen that maybe Parker was falling for Zen in the second half of the movie, when they were working together, and thus setting up a dilemma for him. But I didn’t feel that at all!! This feels like a script problem to me, though maybe a different actor that Mr. Wahlberg might have brought more nuance to his scenes with Zen as the story unfolded? I don’t know. But I wanted to feel like there was more tension or romance or both between Parker and Zen as we followed them through this story. Without that, I kept asking questions that pulled me out of the movie — I kept waiting for one of them going to try to kill the other, and then when that never happened, I kept wondering why and what was going on with Parker and Zen.
Other thoughts:
- I really thought Mr. Black did a great job with the opening. The movie does a terrific job quickly establishing everyone in Parker’s first crew and making us like and root for them.
- A great Parker story has to start with his getting betrayed and almost killed; I really liked how that played out in the film.
- When Parker fell into the water right as the opening credits started, I half expected to hear the Skyfall theme!
- And then we DID get a Bond-like opening sequence!! I really liked that. (Though I didn’t think the mournful jazz music playing over the credits quite worked. I wanted something that’d feel more exciting.)
- Despite my not loving the music over the opening credits, I did enjoy Alan Silvestri’s score.
- Of course this movie is set during Christmas! It wouldn’t be a Shane Black movie if it wasn’t.
- I liked that Lozini’s criminal empire is called the Outfit, which is taken right from Donald Westlake’s Parker novels. And I smiled that the public name of Lozini’s business was The Westlake Group.
- When Mr. Black is cooking, he can set up a character type in seconds. The introduction of Kincaid is a great example. He’s immediately presented as a complete jerk, giving Lozini’s secretary a bitcoin gift card and giving her a hard time about her boyfriend. This way we can enjoy all the abuse he suffers at the hands of Parker during the rest of the movie! All that business of throwing him out a building (and how panicked he gets when Grofield accidentally brings that up again, later in the movie) was so funny to me.
I’m glad to have seen Play Dirty. It’s a fun movie with a lot of elements I enjoyed. At the same time, for a movie written and directed by Shane Black, I wanted more. I’d love for Mr. Black to make another movie that can hit the highs of Kiss Kiss Bang Bank or The Nice Guys.
Click here to watch Play Dirty right now on Amazon Prime video!
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