An old-school action spectacle with bickering buddy humor and emotional family drama, “The Wrecking Crew” may not win points for originality, but it has the energy, professionalism and star power to please fans of the genre. The long-awaited collaboration starring Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa as estranged half-brothers in Hawaii investigating their father’s death is sure to climb the viewing charts when it debuts on Prime Video on January 28th.

You only have to look at the thousands of comments on various pages on the internet and social media to see how much of a buzz this Aquaman and Drax the Destroyer pairing is among fans of the genre. In a very particular way, the level of anticipation and excitement is reminiscent of the historic first screen-sharing teaming of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Mann’s Heat. It’s nothing but a wonderfully quiet scene. Momoa and Bautista co-starred as warrior brothers in Apple’s dystopian sci-fi series “See,” but this project, directed by Angel Manuel Soto (“Blue Beetle”), marks their first bespoke co-starring vehicle and is sure to be a tentpole event for action movies. As such, “The Wrecking Crew” is sure to spark debate about bypassing movie theaters and streaming directly.

In advance publicity, Momoa highlighted the “very yin and yang” dynamic between him and sidekick Bautista on screen. It’s an accurate comment, and one that helps the duo get along pretty well, playing half-brothers who haven’t spoken in 20 years. When we meet James Hale (Bautista), he’s an analytical and highly disciplined Navy SEAL commander who lives in a nice but not very expensive-looking beach house with his beloved wife Leila (Roimata Fox), cheerful daughter Lani (Maia Kealoha, “Lilo & Stitch”), and teenage son Kai (Josua Tuivabalagi), who calls his father “sir.”

A devoted husband and father, but emotionally attached when it comes to events from his family’s distant past, James is the polar opposite of Johnny (Momoa). The mercurial Oklahoma detective who walks around in biker skins and has a troubled relationship with his jaded partner Valentina (Morena Baccarin, good in a largely thankless role) carries himself like a 1970s rock star trashing a hotel room. But with a twinkle in his eye, a heart of gold deep within, and a desire to win Valentina back, viewers will soon warm to this big hairy pile of a guy who just needs a family-related emotional crisis to bring out the best in himself.

Momoa contracts audience support early on in a great fight sequence. Alone at home, wearing only a lavalaba (a traditional wrap-around skirt), Johnny manages to gulp down a beer and utter a provocative line while fending off four yakuza thugs looking for a package sent by his father, Walter (Brian Keelana). Walter, a Hawaiian private investigator who had not had any contact with Johnny for years, had just died in a highly suspicious hit-and-run “accident” in downtown Kalihi, Honolulu.

The crux of the film is how Bautista and Momoa get along after Johnny returns to his Hawaiian roots for a funeral and is reunited with his half-brother, whom he has had no interest in seeing or speaking to in years. The action stars may not be great actors in the classic sense, but they acquit themselves more than competently as they get to work confronting the painful details of how James and Johnny became half-brothers, while also realizing, of course, that their father’s death was no accident. With the help of Walter’s offsider Pika (Jacob Batalon, solidly played as a comedic sidekick), the two uncover a shady real estate scheme affecting Hawaii’s Native American community. James and Johnny piece together a conspiracy involving local gangsters and the Yakuza, led by coke-sipping assassin Nakamura (versatile Japanese artist MIYAVI), with more lightheartedness than necessary and at the expense of a fascinating mystery taking shape. The head of this nefarious network is Marcus Robichaud, a conniving businessman with a British accent, played happily by Claes Bang (The Square, The Northman).

Much of the comedy in this action comedy comes through the barbed exchanges between James and Johnny, who are constantly bickering. Many of them are funny enough to give you a chuckle or the odd laugh out loud, but a little more wit among the throwaway invectives would have been welcome. When the tempo of genuine soul-searching and truth-telling subsides, the results may not be dramatically scintillating, but there’s a frank and compelling dynamic between these two big, burly half-brothers who aren’t used to expressing their emotions. The dialogue is a little shaky at times. Do James and Johnny really have to say “I’m sorry,” “I’m so fucking mad,” and “fuck it” during the big slugfest in the mud that finally exposes everything? – but the honesty and dedication of the stars will see things through.

These interludes are like ballads between the heavy power chord songs at a stadium rock concert. It’s an experience similar to watching a loud action movie like this. They serve a purpose and enhance the overall experience, but what we’re primarily here for are the intense numbers that get your adrenaline pumping. And that’s certainly the case here, with a number of large-scale, impressively executed, and widely varied set-pieces. It also includes an extended highway chase featuring a helicopter and assassins on motorcycles, or “ninjas on motorcycles.” – and a series of car crashes with vehicles rolling over, flying off, and exploding. Complementing Momoa’s opening Yakuza brawl, Bautista faces off against a horde of assassins in a narrow passageway in Robicheaux’s compound during a long, bloody finale, winning against spectacular odds (and paying homage to Park Chan-wook’s Old Boy). The film does indeed earn an MPA R rating for its graphic violence, but this violence can be quite disturbing at times and can feel a bit jarring alongside the film’s comic book and family drama elements.

The film, cleverly shot on location in Hawaii and New Zealand instead of Hawaii, works well thanks to the sharp editing by Mike McCusker (Oscar winner for Walk the Line and Ford v. Ferrari) and its strong casting choices. Sure, this is a Bautista and Momoa show, but there’s also a good performance from Foxx as James’ wife, whose job as a child psychologist comes in handy when dealing with her husband and Johnny. Stephen Root is at his best in the time-honoured role of a local detective who chews out men who trample on his turf, and Frankie Adams (A Thousand Ropes) shows mettle as a member of the James and Johnny family working for the governor of Hawaii (the third Temuera Morrison, who does little). She only has a few lines of dialogue, but it’s worth noting that young Maia Kealoha has perhaps the film’s funniest moment, her character’s hilariously natural reaction when Johnny wakes up on the couch and discovers the braids she put in his hair while he slept.

With a catchy, versatile pop-culture title reminiscent of Matt Helm’s 1968 spy parody that featured Marvel Comics’ supervillain team, a group of famous L.A. session musicians, and Sharon Tate, and received a scathing reference in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Wrecking Crew is, perhaps most importantly, an example of truth in movie advertising. What you see in the key art, and the first impressions you get from teasers and trailers, are a clear and accurate indication of what you’ll get in the movie. And for many action movie fans, that will be enough.