Michael Bay ignites his latest film, 6 Underground, with an expansive, and (unsurprisingly) explosive 20-minute car chase sequence, begging the question: exactly how many cars were destroyed during this opening scene? The Netflix blockbuster, which cost $150 million to produce, appears to be the first in a potential franchise for the streaming service, and illustrates the catastrophic action tropes with which Bay has defined his career.
Following a team of nationless espionage agents, 6 Underground stars Ryan Reynolds as the group’s leader, known only as One. A mysterious billionaire, he is able to finance his own covert operations with the help of his equally mysterious team, all of whom have been assigned numbers after faking their own deaths. The movie opens as the 6-person crew attempts to scrounge their way out of Italy, navigating through Florence with a cavalcade of armed vehicles following closely behind. They are there to extract information from a Turgistan lawyer, who, four years after the country annihilated countless numbers of innocent people, knows the whereabouts of four high-ranking officers. With Six (Dave Franco) behind the wheel, the team leaves behind a catastrophic mess of corpses, gears, and air bags.
In the wake of their escape, which takes them off-roading through art museums and public squares, an astonishing 27 automobiles are left permanently destroyed. Averaging 1.35 demolitions per minute, 6 Underground’s opening scene witnesses the destruction of 20 cars, 1 truck, 2 motorcycles, and 4 mopeds. In terms of civilian damage, while there are countless dead and broken bodies left strewn about Florence, Six also takes out 2 merchant stands and 1 wedding cake.
For anyone familiar with the director’s repertoire, this reign of destruction is, if anything, nothing too out of the ordinary. Michael Bay, whose other credits include the Transformers series, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon, and The Rock, has made his name off of exploitative, explosive, and over-the-top productions for the better part of three decades. And following the team’s botched mission in Italy, which ends with Six facing a surprising and gruesome demise, Bay continues to hold 6 Underground to that trademark, if not well-received, standard.
That being said, Bay’s control over and confidence in his patriotically exploitative formula is somewhat admirable. The director has stuck, more or less, to his signature style with little to no consideration of anything critics have to say, and to his credit, the results are always cinematic. Roaring audio for the theater’s surround sound systems compliment a spitfire editing process — congested visual information that can be understood best on the big screen. Love it or hate it, Michael Bay’s movies are made to be epic.
That being said, however, this film, which also stars Mélanie Laurent, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Ben Hardy, is unique in that its explosive, fast-edit design is stepping directly into living rooms across the world. Following the likes of The Irishman, Dolemite Is My Name, and Marriage Story, 6 Underground is Netflix’s strangest and least palpable contribution to the awards season – though winning an Oscar or a Golden Globe were, more than likely, never the film’s intention.
More: Every Marvel, DC & Movie Reference In 6 Underground
- 6 Underground Release Date: 2019-12-13
