“The Wrecking Crew” was directed by Angel Manuel Soto and stars Dave Batista, Jason Momoa, Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Stephen Root & Morena Baccarin. Batista & Momoa both serve as producers on the film. Jonathon Trooper wrote the film and in 2021 sold the rights to MGM who were backed Batista & Momoa to bring the script to the big screen. David Leitch was originally attached to direct but dropped out after production on his 2023 film, “The Fall Guy” went into production with Universal. Soto come on board almost immediately following his previous film, 2023’s “Blue Bottle”. Filming began in October of 2024 & although it wrapped in Spring 2025, the film was delayed due to Jason Momoa’s involvement with his DC film project. Unfortunately, this film marked the final film for actor, David Hekili Kenui Bell who passed away on June 12th, 2025. Bell & Maia Kealoha had roles in this film and in 2025’s “Lilo & Stitch”.
In this film, a private investigator is murdered on the streets of Honolulu, Hawaii which then prompts his 2 estranged sons to reunite after 10 years of being apart. James Hale’ (Batista) is a Navy Commander living in Hawaii with his wife & children while Jony Hale’ (Momoa) is detective from Oklahoma who works on the Native American reservation. James agrees with the local police that his father was the unfortunate victim of a random hit & run while Jony feels there may have been foul play involved. Jony’s suspicion’s are further proven when a group of Japanese gang member attack him in his home. Jony & James begin the investigation with the help of their father’s informant, Pika (Batalon) which involve a corrupt businessman & his powerful friends from Japan & also may have the Hawaiian government involved. as well. These brothers will have to put their past trauma & animosity towards one another aside and save the island they once called home and bring their father’s killer to justice.
From the moment I saw the trailer of this film, I was immediately interested & being big fans of Dave Batista & Jason Momoa peaked my interest even more. These movie was pretty good and had a solid performances from our 2 leads. Their chemistry was top notch and each displayed great character development despite the story being very generic. While this story was predictable, its the performances and chemistry of the 2 leads that makes this film much more entertaining. One brother feels hopeless and angry after his mother’s death while the other feels abandoned and remorseless after his father’s leave him and his mother for another woman. Their trauma pushing one towards the military while the other towards a dead beat cop with a drinking problem. Batista’s has always great range as an actor and this performance was no different. Momoa on the other hand was a radical departure from his action star roles such as “Aquaman”. We see a more vulnerable side of Momoa that I don’t think we’ve ever seen in any other film. Much like Netflix’s “The Rip”, this film had a generic storyline but has great performances from the 2 leads. While “The Rip” was more of a serious crime drama, “The Wrecking Crew” was more of an action comedy that a less complicated plot that the Netflix film.
This film premiered in New York City on January 15th, 2026 before being made available on Prime Video on January 28th.