Michael Bay's Pain & Gain could be as thoroughly Miamian as action films gets. Why? First, it's based on an absolutely ridiculous, but totally true, Miami story: the murders, thefts, and comical hijinks of the Sun Gym Gang. Second, it was shot entirely (or close to it) in the 3-0-5. Third, it isn't one of those movies whose locations scouts fly in, check out a couple of cool South Beach spots, schedule filming dates, and fly out. Fourth: the location choices are spot on, thoroughly researched, iconic, unusual, and hil-a-rious. Whoever thought of using Mark's Dry Cleaners in Sunset Harbour as the gang's warehouse, the zebra-striped Wynwood Building as a strip club, the Bacardi Building as a bank, or the Admiral Vee Motel as a gym was a fricken genius. Here now, we present a few of the many awesome locations of Pain & Gain, after the jump.
The Admiral Vee Motel, an icon of Midcentury Modern Miami architecture on Biscayne Boulevard with its iconic second floor lobby space and pool, stood in for the Sun Gym, where the Sun Gym Gang held day jobs. The motel is now used as a photography studio called Glasshaus Studio.
Dwayne Johnson's character, a composite of a few real life members of the Sun Gym Gang, exits a church where he's been living, just outside of Edgewater. He helps the priest, gets felt up, gets upset and kills the priest, and before you know it, bam!
Mark Wahlberg, who plays the gang's leader Daniel Lugo, plots their next move outside the mural of the topless latina on Biscayne Boulevard by local artist Krave. Oh, and they stuck a door in her ass. Nice.
Dwayne Johnson rolls up to the Fontainebleau Hotel with his newfound riches, a sweet ride, and a sweet new honey.
The second floor of the Alfred I. DuPont Building, with its vaulted banking hall, stands in for a bank in the Bahamas as the authorities close in on Wahlburg.
· Pain & Gain The Movie [Paramount]
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