'The Wrecking Crew' packs a punch with a grounded depiction of Hawaiʻi

The new Amazon MGM film The Wrecking Crew, directed by Ángel Manuel Soto (Blue Beetle) and written by Jonathan Tropper (Warrior, Your Friends & Neighbours), offers an action-packed, comedic adventure for those who enjoy underground crime mysteries and explosive surprises.

Set in Waikiki, Honolulu, the film features globally recognized actors Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa as two estranged half-brothers, Jonny and James Hale, who must overcome their shared hostility to discover who killed their father.

Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa as Jonny and James Hale. Image courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios.

The film features a vibrant ensemble cast that consists of Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Morena Baccarin, Roimata Fox, and Claes Bang.

As one clue leads to another, bullets, cars, and even helicopters chase the leads across the island as they escape enemies, form alliances, and heal relationships.

Cold Tea Collective’s Natasha Jung interviewed writer Jonathan Tropper, director Ángel Manuel Soto and actors Temuera Morrison, Jacob Batalon, Frankie Adams, Miyavi, Morena Baccarin and Roimata Fox. Minor spoilers ahead.

Hawaiʻi as its own character in ‘The Wrecking Crew’

Amid The Wrecking Crew’s vivacious action, a more grounded sociopolitical issue emerges: money-laundering from corrupt government officials in partnership with the Yakuza threatens to gentrify and illegally commercialize Hawaiian lands.

The culturally specific setting of Waikiki is its own character in the film. Writer Jonathan Tropper consulted with Jason Momoa and his writing partner Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, who were about to film Chief of War, to learn about Hawaiian culture before writing the script.

“It was really important to Jason that we not show the tourist version of Hawaiʻi,” said Tropper. “Jason and Thomas arranged a week of going around to see all these places, to meet with the people from the Aha Moku, meet with elders, and really understand the politics of Hawaiʻi.”

Aha Moku is a system developed by Native Hawaiians to preserve their natural lands and oceans, and is upheld by the Aha Kiole Advisory Committee.

Showing life behind tourism in ‘The Wrecking Crew’s’ Hawaiʻi

The film’s crew and its ensemble cast reflected Hawaiʻi’s diversity, imbuing the story with more personality and depth.

Director Ángel Manuel Soto said that growing up in Puerto Rico, another island with drastically different tourist and resident experiences, influenced his approach to the Hawaiian setting of the film.

“I see how the Waikiki of Puerto Rico tends to be a tourism postcard,” said Soto. “Being able to have a script that Tropper wrote — that lives behind the curtain of Waikiki — felt like a great opportunity for me to also speak about situations that I experienced firsthand in Puerto Rico.”

Soto also credits The Wrecking Crew’s Hawaiian cast members as crucial cultural consultants in the process, including Jacob Batalon, who plays the brothers’ comedic sidekick, “Pika”.

“It was my first time ever getting the chance to work back home,” said Batalon, who grew up in Hawaiʻi. “It’s really awesome to put [Hawaiian] culture in Hollywood in a sense, where it’s going to be seen by people and hopefully understood and thought of more and taken care of more.”

Director Ángel Manuel Soto working with actors behind the scenes. Image courtesy of Amazon Prime.

‘The Wrecking Crew’ creates common ground amid the action

For Frankie Adams, who played the brothers’ clever cousin “Nani Palakiko,” portraying a Hawaiian character felt natural.

“In all the work that I do, I try to be as authentic as possible, and especially if it’s a Brown story,” said Adams, a Samoan New Zealander who will also be part of the live adaptation of Moana. “The writing, the team, the crew, working with Jason — it was all there. So it felt very effortless and safe.”

Temeura Morrison, who played “Governor Peter Mahoe,” echoed Adams’ thoughts as a fellow Polynesian actor.

“With this kind of Polynesian stuff, it’s easy to draw on our own cultural background,” said Morrison.

Japanese singer-songwriter Miyavi plays the sly and snarky “Nakamura,” a Yakuza member that threatens to wipe out the Hale brothers at every turn. In real life, Miyavi is a father of three and resonates with the film’s focus on familial bonds.

“Jason’s and Dave’s characters — they’re brothers. Sometimes you have a hard time between your siblings, you know, even if you love or respect each other,” recounted Miyavi. “But sometimes you can’t show that, you know. That’s the kind of tension between Jason and Dave.”

Even in the most frenetic of scenes, The Wrecking Crew, at its core, asks us to consider familial relationships, and what it means to come home and repair them.

The Wrecking Crew is available on Prime Video. See our full playlist of interviews on YouTube.