There's One Thing The Wrecking Crew Gets Perfect About Brothers Fighting (Speaking As A Guy With Two Of My Own)

When I first heard about The Wrecking Crew dropping on the 2026 movie schedule, I thought this buddy action film starring Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista was just going to be two guys whooping ass and cashing checks. And while that is partially true for the new action movie currently streaming with an Amazon Prime Video subscription, it’s also a faithful and brutally honest exploration of brotherhood.

I don’t mean the “I always have my brother's back” type of situation (though that is there at times). Instead, it’s more about brothers frightening each other, whether mentally, physically, or emotionally. As a guy with both an older and a younger brother, this aspect of the critically-lauded movie hit really hard.

The Wrecking Crew Does Such A Great Job Of Showing Brothers Getting Under Each Other’s Skin

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa have great chemistry in The Wrecking Crew, which is no surprise considering they previously played brothers on See a few years ago. That said, they feel like brothers throughout this shockingly violent and outrageously funny buddy action comedy, instead of actors playing estranged siblings, and that was apparent in their first scene together.

At their father’s funeral, James (Bautista) and Jonny Hale (Momoa) see each other for the first time in years and they immediately start digging into one another while everyone else awkwardly watches or tries to get them to lay off. Watching them get under each other’s skin with barbs about age, appearance, past mistakes, and everything else, I kept thinking about petty conversations I’ve had with my brothers over the years. These little barbs, which would mean nothing coming from anyone besides a sibling, set us off as if snarky comments from siblings are amplified and far more personal.

From Trading Barbs To Painful Conversations To A Full-On Fist Fight, It Has It All

The bitter bickering between Jonny and James doesn’t stop with a few harsh comments uttered in whispers, as the tension between these two escalates to even more painful conversations and a full-on fist fight before it’s all said and done. There have been so many times, especially on vacation, when my brothers and I would start poking at each other, allow it to escalate over a couple of days, and then finally explode like we’re a pack of animals. And this movie captures that, beautifully, brutally, and honestly.

The scene that I kept coming back to is the big fight in the rain where Jonny and James finally duke it out, have that long-overdue heart-to-heart, and eventually listen to each other. I watched enough great action movies to know this was going to happen before the third act, but I didn’t expect to hit so hard.

These guys go from pounding each other’s faces in to having an incredibly emotional conversation about their traumatic upbringing, the resentment each carried with them, and what they want from each other in a few minutes. I’ve had conversations with my brothers like this, but instead of in a parking lot in Hawaii, it was on the patio of a rental in Florida or back at our parents’ house.

Though The Wrecking Crew doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s a fun and surprisingly thoughtful exploration of brotherly bond: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Now I just need to call my brothers and get them to watch this!