6 Underground is a film about a billionaire who fakes his own death in order to correct the wrongs in the world. He recruits others to join his vigilante crew, and as their first mission he wants them to conduct a coup against a dictator in a country called Turgistan.

The movie is, to me, woefully tone deaf. It doesn’t really take into account the United States’s long and ugly track record of doing coups to install leaders more sympathetic to the United States, usually to the detriment of the local populace. The one time the movie does mention this is when a passing mention is made that the dictator currently in power was installed by the United States.

However, even though the main character is also doing a coup, he does so successfully with the support of the local population and the new leader he is installing in power. His actions are never brought into question and the film supports his actions in every way possible. No negative aspects of the choices they make ever happen. I find it in bad taste that a coup can be depicted in such a positive and logic-defying light. The real world is so much messier than that in my opinion.

I suppose in some sense, if you’re okay with not examining the plot all that much, it’s an explosion-filled action film that portrays the main characters as the best good guys. It’s a film with a lot of explosions (apparently, this film is directed by Michael Bay) that expects you to not really observe it with a critical eye. But the fact that the plot cannot hold any water makes all of the action feels senseless to me.