Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Lakeith Stanfield, Rosa Salazar, Keegan Michael key, Nat Wolfe, Gretchen Mol, Thomas Jane, Tony Shaloub

Directed By: Shane Black

Release Year: 2025

Studio/Streamer: Amazon

Runtime: 125 minutes

Audio Description Provided By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What Is It?: While not directly based on one of the Parker books, it is adapted from the character last seen on screen played by Jason Statham. Here, Parker (Wahlberg) finds himself betrayed, and later having to trust a former associate (Salazar), who has a lead on a major score. But he has to steal the treasure before an old foe (Shaloub) catches up with him, and a warlord for a random South American country not specified.

What Doesn’t Work: I can’t believe I didn’t like a Shane Black film. I could blame this on Black for not just trusting his abilities, and writing the script solo. There should only be one credited screenwriter, not three. This is the guy who wrote Lethal Weapon, and later surprised audiences with the sleeper hit Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Shane Black knows his stuff, even if he also did dabble in Last Action Hero.

But you know what? I’d rather watch Last Action Hero again. At least that one swung for the fences with its concept. Play dirty is just derivative heist nonsense with a cast that seems bored to be there, and the least charismatic version of Mark Wahlberg.

I consider myself a Shane Black fan and apologist. On one hand, he has some easy successes he’s responsible for, like The Nice Guys, but I feel like I need to explain myself when talking about The predator or Iron Man 3. This is the worst thing he’s directed, which is such a shame. When I saw this on Amazon’s slate, i truly thought they were breaking their curse this year, and finally put out a good straight to streaming title. Sadly, there’s a reason this didn’t go to theaters.

It’s a convoluted mess that embraces being a hot dumpster fire of a film. It starts off with a big heist sequence, with characters we have no backstory for, who all end up being expendable except Parker. Then, we have to build a world, but there’s clearly backstory missing we should know. This isn’t a direct sequel, so there should be more of an attempt to explain the notoriety of Parker. hell, even Casino Royale did a better job of resetting James Bond, a far more familiar face than Parker.

But then, they have to go after literal buried treasure? So, they once again assemble a crew, and more people enter the film with little to no backstory. Shane Black clearly wants to have that Ocean’s 11 vibe, but he doesn’t know how to get it. Even when you look at the opening sequence, arguably Brian DePalma did a better job with the beginning of the 1996 Mission Impossible adaptation. Play dirty lacks the same level of suspense that even dePalma tried to bring in, which eventually became the massive franchise helmed by other directors.

Tony Shaloub and Lakeith Stanfield were maybe the best two performers, but it’s like being excited because out of the dozen eggs in the carton, two of them aren’t broken.

The Audio Description: Honestly, I’m sure it was mostly fine, but this track could have helped us identify these characters more simply because the film itself does such a poor job. As a blind person, I feel like, after seeing the cast list, this is one of those “see his face?” Type movies where we have recognizable actors and that’s supposed to be enough. From my perspective, it wasn’t, which almost puts unfair weight on the AD to make up for that lost effect. Yes, I would recognize Thomas Jane. No, I didn’t know he was in the film until the credits.

Why You Might Like it: You’d have to be a really big Parker fan to let this one fly. But if you like convoluted heist movies, Shane Black has you covered.

Why You Might Not Like it: because it has to be one of the more disappointing films of the year. Where War Of The Worlds had almost no talent aside from the actors on screen, this has a writer/director who should have known better.

Final thoughts: Play Dirty has a messy script that needs to be cleaned up, which is depressing considering it passed by Shane Black who should have known better.

Rotten: 3.0/10