Star Trek Beyond CRAP

Thou’ must ruin a good thing and that’s for sure.

After two stupendous movies where Chris Pine & Zachary Quinto literally flipped the entire Star Trek fan base for doubting them as Kirk & Spock, it has all come crashing down in the end. Money can’t buy class and this movie highlights that. How else could you explain the fact that Paramount spent something to the tune of $185 million and gave a guy who made Fast and the Furious to make a movie with a history spanning back to 50 years?

Justin Lin (director and main culprit responsible) has taken his brand of shiny cars driven really fast by guys wearing their pants way too low and put that in the suave USS Enterprise. The result is something that makes a Chunky Pandey flick look like Schindler’s List. Lin was probably a step below painting the Enterprise red and having yellow flames on its side! Its unimaginable how someone with so little talent can be given the reins of a movie franchise which established its fan base while he was still potty-training. Mr. Lin, Star Trek is a lot more than fast cars and women wearing short skirts dropping their handkerchiefs to kick start a race, and you’d know that if you bothered to see it yourself.

Star Trek is about exploring science fiction concepts and themes through great storytelling, to borrow a quote “To boldly go where no man has gone before”. To help open our minds, to think of the possibilities and widen our imaginations and not watch a video game in 3D.

The story is lame, but with this being a review and all that….. It’s Star Date 2263.2 and Kirk (Chris Pine) is into the third year of the “5 year mission” and is emotionally ‘Lost in Space’. Spock (Zachary Quinto) also receives some unfortunate personal news and that unsettles him. Spock and Uhura are also “on a break”.  Kirk, Spock, Uhura etc. all are in need of a vacation, and Starbase Yorktown appears to be able to offer them that. (Throw in special effects to show an unbelievable location in space.) The reverie is rudely interrupted by the arrival of a frantic alien called Kalara (the gorgeous Lydia Wilson) from the other side of the galaxy. Her crew has been stranded on a remote planet and she needs help to rescue them. Kirk agrees but as most rescue missions go, this one comes up with a roadblock, mainly in the form of the warlord Krall (the brilliant Idris Elba who I feel is wasted in this movie), whose presence as the bad guy in the movie is literally as important as asparagus in a salad! Kirk and his crew now have to rescue themselves and the crew, throw in some more special effects, a random motorcycle and you have Star Trek Beyond.

Star Trek is much more than just a big spaceship racing another spaceship at warp speed and Justin Lin needs to realize that. Star Trek deserves better than Justin Lin. He is definitely not worthy of handling a franchise of this magnitude. For those making me think I am directing too much hate at him….please remember that he didn’t even make the good Fast & Furious movies!! (He made the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th one!)

Second comes the writing. Simon Pegg writing movies works well ONLY when he stars in them. Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul…all brilliant, all silly, all have Pegg as the lead character. They are funny short stories with little, to no brains required and this is Pegg’s niche. Star Trek needs more capable and able bodies to work through its storyline and not a stand-up comic who can write about a zombie infested city which the lead can clear with a baseball bat.

To give an example of the poor writing…THERE IS A MOTORCYCLE ON THE SPACESHIP!!! There is no rhyme or reason for that. Logically thinking, why would there be a motorcycle in OUTER SPACE!!?? Is the captain thinking,” You know we have never been that far out in space…screw the oxygen tanks and probably travel through thick jungles, let me just keep my motorcycle on board…you know….just in case an alien challenges me to a drag race!”

With poor direction and even poorer writing, the movie just falls apart. There was no character development in this movie, which I personally feel has been the best part of the franchise till date. The complex equations between Kirk and Spock, Ka’an and Kirk, Kirk and Bones, Spock and Uhura…etc. are all part of this wonderful science fiction adventure. Unfortunately, in this movie, there was neither a flow nor any character evolution and you do not learn more about anything really. Instead of Kirk, Spock and Scotty you could stick just any name over the protagonists and the movie would have flown the same. The story is loosely tied and the characters are thinly created and I have seen Barbie Dolls with more back story.

Sorry folks, but this movie is literally a waste of time and money.

 

 

 

Thoughts: The 5th Wave….of disappointment!

If there is anything to prove that our future is bleak, it is watching our next generation grow up. Right from their music (that God awful Beaver and his donkey braying!), to reading horse shit like Twilight, the future is clear and it is depressing. All forms of art will soon die and their collapse is imminent, and future historians will probably pin down this decade as the trigger of our civilization’s cultural collapse.

However I digress and that too, is because I have just seen what can only be classified as the pivot in our cultural downfall and it takes its roots in the wormhole that is young adult science fiction. From the genre that gave us masterpieces like the Divergent series, the Maze Runner, I am Number four, Eragon and many such ‘gems’, comes yet another mind blowing crap fest; The 5^th wave. The movie is based the first book in the trilogy written by the ex –IRS collector Rick Yancey. The book was a big hit (sigh) and having not read the book I will refrain from making assumptions here.

Seeing that this is a review, I shall delve into the basics and try and explain to the best of my ability how this movie goes. Average high school girl crushes on boys, aliens come, mommy dies, Army takes over, brother is captured by army, daddy dies, girl fights to get her brother, aliens are good guys, army is bad guys, Colonel (or is he a General?!) dies. Girl kisses alien. Ka-BOOM! (Everything explodes).The End!

There I saved you a couple of bucks!

The saving grace in this movie would be Chloe ‘Grace’ Moretz (see what I did there,:)) as the lead. She does a decent job of acting like the confused sap of a teenage girl, who crushes on her class boys, loves her family and dotes on her little brother. Alas, she has dropped a long way from her kick-butt-first-ask-questions-later avatar of Hit Girl (Ref: Kickass), but well, a girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do! So here we see her in a pretty different role, albeit not a good role, but she does a decent job in it.

The rest of the cast, not so much!

As with all Young Adult Sci-Fi movies, the visual effects were something that could make or break them and somehow I think this one broke. J. Blakson (Director) is pretty new to the scene of movies (I believe it is his 2^nd foray as a director of full length motion picture) and on the bright side, he can only go up from here. But he has a long long looooong way to go up, and even then he might just make the tail end of the average director’s herd.

The story of the movie is flat, and there is nothing (and I do mean nothing!) interesting about it. It is so predictable, that you feel you have already seen this movie earlier. And of course logic takes a back seat here, I mean it deals with an alien race which can cause earthquakes and tsunamis and spread viruses and yet need children to kill adults as a way to take over the planet. Most inefficient bunch of morons I’d say. Heck! Paul and ET had a better chance of taking over our planet and don’t even get me started on what would happen if the aliens from Independence Day saw these guys and their attempt.

The movie works well on one level (assuming we have the attention span of a goldfish) and that is some of the individual scenes (very select few) work well on their own. If it weren’t for the bad writing, the gaping holes in logic, the horribly developed characters and the completely unnecessary romantic “tension” crow-barred-in the movie, this has the potential of competing with some of the better B-Grade flicks like Sharkando, or Megashark vs Crocosauraus or even Humshakals.

However for a majority of the roughly 112 minutes, there were instances where I was hoping to stick the straw from my coke up my nose and flood my brain with the cola!

Much like the 5 stages of dealing with grief, there are 5 waves depicting the demise of our culture here and these are:

• The decline of the music industry
• The death of Literature
• Twerking
• The remorse of seeing our youth icons
• This movie!

In the end, if you are not a girl aged between 11-15 years old …. Or you are Jaden Smith, you should definitely avoid this movie like the plague.

 

Thoughts: An Interview with Insanity!

I do have a soft spot for movies that make little sense, such as Jackass, Wild Wild West, most of Adam Sandler’s movies and of course the Transformers series! Then there are movies that make no sense…The Last Airbender, Pacific Rim, Battleship, Sex and the City and topping this list…The Twilight Series. The Interview falls somewhere in between these two lists.

The story is … uuhh…’unorthodox’? But I guess that would be like calling the World War as a small scuffle. Dave Skylark (James Franco) is the star of a cult celebrity tabloid TV show “Skylark Tonight” where he interviews celebrities and finds out their deepest, darkest secrets revealing them on television, all in the name of ratings. Aaron Rapport (Seth Rogen) is his BFF and also the producer of the show. Years go by and we pick up the movie when they are celebrating their 1000^th episode. It is then when reality strikes Aaron, who realizes that he isn’t doing any real journalism and his work is no different from watching a Kardashian do the stock market report.

Dave then hits the jackpot of all interview opportunities when he realizes that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is a fan of their show. Now for people looking to legitimize themselves as serious journalists there is no better way than getting face time with one of the most elusive rulers in the whole world. So while Dave and Aaraon are preparing for their interview and travel to North Korea, the CIA steps in and want these two to “take him (Kim Jong) out”, which becomes the core plot holding this movie together (barely!). What ensues is what qualifies as the action-comedy genre.

Now keep in mind that Seth Rogen is no Ang Lee, but to his credit he never makes any claims to that fame. His list of movies is a bit off the ordinary track (This is The End, Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked Up, Jump Street series etc.) and they aren’t exactly Oscar material, but they do find their niche in this market. James Franco on the other hand has done it all, from the highs of 127 hours to the lows of Deuces Wild. Now to his credit, the movie doesn’t require him to have any real talent and he does end up as a bit annoying but I guess that is what the role demanded him to do. The chemistry between Franco and Rogen is flawless and they always work well together, exude good cheer and continue to tweak their personas in this very amusing, very imbecilic film. I must make a mention of that fact that two of the best and most integral performances come from the Asian actors – Randall Park as Kim Jong-un (of Veep fame) and Diana Bang as Kim Jong Un’s Minister of Information, Sook.

The movie is the typical mass produced, philistine, comedy that Hollywood cranks out to appeal to teens and tweens. There are a few slapstick laughs and a couple of very “Oh-I-can’t-believe-you-said-that” dialogues that break the monotony of a movie definitely made for those who smoke the questionable stuff. I would not elevate the film to the level of a satire as that would imply that there was some perspicacity in it.

Having said all that, we know that this movie is in no way perfect, but it does have its moments. Yes, the movie is overloaded with toilet humor and profanity, but it does not necessarily make it a bad movie. Most of the comedy involves a peculiar and persistent strain of gay panic, endless jokes about having things shoved up your butt and I think rarely outside the playground has there been this much giddy conversation about the digestion process, but there are bits and parts when you will manage a chuckle and a giggle and I guess that makes it worth it.

No one will win an Oscar nomination here, the story is predictable and at times the jokes are more toilet than humor but I think this is what Seth Rogen was aiming for. This movie doesn’t reach the heights of This Is The End (which I’ve begun to suspect is a modern masterpiece), but if you can make it through the first fifteen minutes you’ll be rewarded with a movie that’s allows you to sit down, grab a beer and enjoy its bits and pieces of humor. It is a movie that doesn’t take itself seriously, meaning you should not take it seriously. After all, Haters gonna hate, and ain’ters gonna ain’t.”

 

 

 

Thoughts: Ke-Mo-Sah-Lead –> The Wrong Actor

Now yes I know it’s been over a week since the movie released and thus this ‘review’ doesn’t really seem to say much more than what most of us might already have judged for ourselves. Nevertheless, for those of you who have not yet seen this flick and do not have an interest in seeing an over beefed up Farhan Akthar run faster than Usain Bolt and are still contemplating if this movie is worth your time, for you…I write!

The Lone Range was a very popular radio show conceived by WXYZ Radio way back in 1933. The radio show was a huge hit, and that led to comic books which later gave way to a very ‘healthy’ Clayton Moore showing himself as the Lone Ranger on our television sets as he galloped away into the sunset after of course beating the baddies. The catch phrases (“Ke-mo sah-bee”, “Hi-Yo Silver, Away”), his trademark silver bullet and the eternal theme music all have led to this becoming the eternal icon of the American culture.

So why shouldn’t someone cash in on it?? Thus we now have The Lone Ranger!

John Reid (Armie Hammer; the lesser we speak about him, the better…its just how he was in the movie) is an idealistic lawyer who comes home to his Texas Ranger brother Dan Reid (James Badge Dale, who was ok for the few minutes he took up on screen) and his brother’s wife Rebecca Reid (Ruth Wilson, who again apart from sharing the same date of birth as me doesn’t have anything more exciting about her). Rebecca and John also loved each other, which makes you ponder on why would the elder brother want to marry her anyway?

John has come to town to help his brother and the other Rangers track down the horribly disfigured and psychopathic Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner, for those confused, he is agent Alex Mahone from Prison Break). The Rangers follow his trail and invariably end up in an ambush where all of them are killed. All but one….

John is rescued by an apostate Comanche Tonto (The very talented Johnny Depp). Tonto at the insistence of the white horse (which he considers sacred) and nurses him back to life and brings him back from the dead. Tonto has his own reasons to bring Cavendish to justice and both of them join forces, John Reid becomes The Lone Ranger and begins his pursuit of justice only he know how. Throw in a few laughs, some funny scenes and some banter between the two unlikely partners and you have this….movie!

Gore Verbinski loves Depp and for good reason too. He shot The Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy and Rango with him, and these movies got him roughly $1 billion dollars and an Oscar (yup, billion with a ‘b’). So was it a smart move to try Depp again? Most definitely! For if anything, Depp saves this movie from the colossal crap fest that it was going to become. In a very lame manner of explaining this movie, just try and imagine the Pirates of the Caribbean, remove the water and add sand. The rest remains the same.

Now I wouldn’t go and agree whole heartedly with the critiques that have smashed the movie, for there are enough reasons and good points in the movie – Johnny Depp, Tonto and the white horse (Silver). The rest of the cast could actually blend into the background and you wouldn’t feel the difference. If 95% of your casts names are followed by hushed questions of “who is that?” in the movie hall, you better have a brilliant storyline and a fantastic direction to make your movie a success. But all that was not exactly up to par and the movie somehow drags ahead in bits and pieces. The story was a little stretched and so was a few of the dialogues. I don’t see a sequel being made of this and I hope if they do, they bring in someone with more charisma for the role of The Lone Ranger.

The Lone Ranger presents a new take on the classic characters. This film is pretty much how a summer movie ought to be. Good clean fun for the family. (Personally that isn’t something I would really look forward to).

In the end, if you are a really big Depp fan you will see him as good as ever in this and thus must watch it; the rest of you who have something better planned can skip it.

Thoughts: It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, Its…..

Christopher Nolan has caught a nerve. After smoking whatever he does, he has REALLY read the books. I only say this, because the ability to convert the entire existing perception of super-heroes and what they stand for is not an easy task. To convert a spandex wearing Adam West, fighting off overweight henchmen, with the words “Bam” …”Pow”…”Whack” lighting up our television screens each time there is contact between fist and flesh and then seeing the “evil’ (and ridiculously dressed) Penguin and a one-size-too-small-spandex wearing Riddler trying to make Batman pay for messing their immoral plans by tying them up to some weird looking thingamajig and converting THAT perception into … The Dark Knight Series, is no easy task.

Nolan has picked the reins and taken us from cartoons to ‘super heroes’.  Movies like Sin City, Watchmen, The Dark Knight series and recently Man of Steel have definitely showcased the difference between comics and graphic novels.  It is not for kids anymore, so for those of you coming with their 6-10 year old brats, kindly buy a DVD and sit at home. I am tired of having your pest ask, “Where is Superman? Why is he not flying?” Stuff their faces with hot dogs, pop-corn, momos, nachos, Pepsi, the seat cushion, the usher, anything so that for the 143 minute run time I can actually watch the movie how it was meant to. THIS IS NOT FOR YOUR 5 YR OLD BABY!!!

Anyway now as that is out of the way. We can move on.

Man of Steel has a story most of us would have heard. Krypton is dying; Jor El (Russell Crowe, who is a refreshing presence on screen) is trying to save his only son, the first one born through natural means in centuries. Jor El believes that their son will be their savior and convinces his wife Lara Lor Van (the very beautiful Israeli actor Ayelet Zurer; honestly who wouldn’t want to have children through natural means with her) to send Kal El off to a more suitable planet; namely Earth. Enter General Zod (the versatile Michael Shannon); with his world crumbling all around, Zod attempts a military overthrow as he believes it is up to him to save Krypton. An unsuccessful coup ensues at the end of which, Jor El and Lara send their son to our planet where they know, “He’ll be a God to them”, General Zod is sent to a black hole for eternity and Krypton is destroyed.

Kal El comes on Earth and is found as an infant to the Kent family comprising of Jon Kent (Kevin Costner who I think hasn’t done a decent movie until this one for nearly a decade) and Martha Kent (Diane Lane who holds down her end as the foster parent). They take care of him; see him grow up into a big, strong (understated) lad. And eventually he decides to move on and find his real self. Enter Lois Lane, (the very talented and cute Amy Adams), the epitome of the do-or-die female reporter from the Daily Planet, who on one of her reporting missions manages to find out about our lead actor. Now that the love story begins, Zod is back and he is baying for blood, mainly for our Man of Steel who holds the key to the revival of their species. And then there is all out war!! Will Superman make it out in time? Will General Zod finally have his revenge? How will Superman save the world and get the girl? Stay tuned folks, same channel…..yea, you get it 🙂

Critics trashed the movie, but then if you are clued in you will see the critics always trash a Zack Snyder movie. They trashed Sucker Punch, Watchmen and even 300 (Yes, you heard me, EVEN 300!!!!). They claim his movies have too much action and not enough essence. Well boo-hickey to them. Ironically, the essence of this movie lies not in the story, but how it’s been told. We all know how Superman came into existence, the planet, the terror, Sophie’s choice for his mother yada yada. But this time, there is a little something different about it. Zach Snyder has made the movie in his typical low lighting, pacey action, wobbly fight sequences and the creation of a man who is more of a God. (300 and Watchmen, though in this case its more or less true). Snyder has done a good job and it shows.

As far as the roles go, I wouldn’t say Henry Cavil is the best Superman I have seen, but Cavil has finally hit the jack pot with this role. He’s done some forgettable movies in the past and hopefully this one is the start of something new for him. He looks beefed up and appears to have the ability of delivering the subtle jokes which Superman is known for. The very talented Amy Adams has carved a niche for herself as Louis Lane. She has the perkiness and the hell hath no fury of a cheesed of reporter look on her face and seems to be a good fit to play a God’s arm candy. Michael Shannon, Diane Lane, Russell Crowe, Antje Traue, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White and Kevin Costner all do a decent job in their roles. I personally liked Kevin Costner who although hammed up his death does a good job in his dialogue delivery and makes you connect somewhere with how it was being a father to a super-hero.

Also as a side point, keep your ears peeled for the soundtrack. Hans Zimmer has done a pretty decent job.

There are a few drawbacks of the movie. The first of them would be a lack of Kal El’s sense of humor. For those who follow the series, Superman is known to have a very dry sense of humor. He is a very down to Earth (excuse the pun) kind of man (!!) and from the entire Justice League of America is the one with the funny bone. For now seems like the type who is pretty up- tight. But I guess that can be forgiven seeing that his entire planet just got annihilated and being the sole survivor of an extinct species makes humor hard to come by. I sense Zack will give Superman his actual charisma in the next movie. (Oh yes, there are going to be more, don’t forget that). As of now he has only two or three lines that are humorous, making him less charming than the Christopher Reeve version and the charm is replaced by the character development the man of steel experiences when he must choose between his past and his future. Secondly, I think the action sequences are a little larger than life and I feel they kind of kill the thrill with the overdose. But that’s just me.

The movie has a lot of potential and with a few tweaks (more chemistry between the cast, let us not destroy a city so badly, let us have some more humor in the movie) this has the definite making of a new great series. I would definitely recommend this movie to those who followed the Dark Knight series with interest but please do not compare it with the trilogy and if possible try and go for a show without kids.  🙂

Thoughts: Dabangg 2: Half the movie, twice the headache!

Yes I am back, and I know you 4 readers missed me.

I have plans this year, plans to write more (oh the horror!!!)

Cest La vie, wasn’t off to the best start. But all that is history now and today I begin with a fresh and renewed energy. So to get inspired I decided to see a movie…a piece of art, something that could instigate me, amuse me, motivate me, something that could bring to life the creative giant that lies in the dormant recess of my mind and tickle him. Something that could make me believe in magic, art, cinema and the vastness of the human mind.

I went to see Dabangg-2. Don’t say another word.

Slam-em Khan can do a better movie, he most definitely can. You know how I know that? Because a blind hobo living under a bridge and his partially deaf dog can do a better movie….a paraplegic man can do a better movie…but I guess I should not get carried away.

The movie was ok (ONLY IF YOU ARE IN A COMA!)

I don’t know why they didn’t pass out aspirins with the tickets! This movie seems like a little more of a college placement brochure video (You know the types, the college mascot stands in an ill-fitting suit with the SOLE pretty looking girl from the college talking about how the students spend time in the library working hard by picking up the biggest book on the shelf and pointing impressively at a line in the book and the rest work hard in the ‘state of the art’ computer facility on MS DOS or Excel and the maximum number of kids are playing basketball  etc all in the fake allure to convince some HR rep in a company that “Yes we study, we know how to use a computer and we are fit enough to sit in a desk job from 8 am to 8 pm 5 days a week”) Well this movie is just that….only worse. I have honestly seen brochure videos that are better!

Here is the movie’s story; Slam-em Khan comes…beats up baddies….Slam-em Khan dances. Next scene: Slam-em Khan comes….*dishoom dishoom* ….(insert some PJ from him, including but not limited to a fart joke or a dirty joke about marriage)…insert song and dance sequence….repeat steps until main bad guy gets beaten up to a pulp. The End!

As you can figure out, the movie lacks a story. Even Linsday Lohan in her crack-addicted, bleached blonde psycho stage could pen down a better script than what was passed off as a story in this movie. Salman Khan is a great actor….well ok, he’s a good actor….hmmm…well ok, he acts and his movies make millions. But if I wanted to see buffoonery I could switch on America’s Funniest Videos. There are a bazillion shows on television that makes more sense (and yes that includes Roadies!)

Salllu bhai really needs to focus on his core and stop doing trash like this. I was, rather still am a huge fan of Dabangg (and Munni….oh Munni *drool*) And I am completely on board with the debate that after Armageddon there would be only three clans left, one lead by Robocop, one lead by the Terminator and the rest of us huddled under Salman Khan’s left bicep. But this is trash and even Sallu bhai can’t make this movie good.

Dabangg in all its brashness was still a well conceived, well thought out and brilliantly executed movie. This one in comparison appears to be the work of a mentally unbalanced trauma patient with a handy cam. There is a lack of story and all characters are under developed. (To elaborate they are like those kids who acted as trees in the school annual day). The bad guy in the earlier movie for instance was well defined; he had an aim, a motive, a reason to be on camera, this one just seems like a Delhi boy who met a random south Indian who really had nothing else to do. I mean for God’s sake at least ensure that they LOOK similar. The three villains looked something right out of a UCB advertisement. One from up north, one from down south and the one who actually looked like he was from Kanpur (where the movie is based out of) was cheekily killed off early.

Sonakshi Sinha looks more of a man than Vinod Khanna and Arbaaz Kahn combined and most importantly she really shouldn’t dance next to Malaika Arora Khan….it is just pitiful to look at. The acting of all three plus the extras was put together ‘barely passable’. Not one character stood out in the movie (apart from our muscled super hero cop) and on a side note Kareena Kapoor is definitely not fit to be an item girl. (Again a special mention to Munni for setting the bar so high 🙂 )

Arbaaz Khan got lucky once, but he is no Ben Affleck and Dabangg in all its glory was no Good Will Hunting. He should now just sleep in the money he has made for the next few decades. He has never done one decent thing in his life apart from Dabangg and he should stop before he ruins his name after that. Salman Khan needs to really pick his socks. Having Eid is not a reason to make a movie. Sonakshi Sinha should just get that sex change operation done and over with. And the rest of the cast can go back to their mundane existence because I doubt this movie would make any spec of significance in their life.

For those who STILL didn’t get it, the movie is horrible and needs to be missed. (Yes I know it’s late to state that, but it’s usually how I end reviews, so had to say it)

…until the next time.

Thoughts: Go for the Gringo

It’s been a while since any of us have seen Mel Gibson do anything that would classify him as a decent human being, leave alone a good actor. With his incessant rants and his scandalous headlines which kept him in the news, Get the Gringo is something that would probably remind you what was his selling proposition; his charm, his wit, his sense of humor and the cynical edge he bought to his roles.

Now although this is no Braveheart, but Gibson I believe is one of the few who is a better director than an actor. With movies like Apocalypto, the very savage Passion of the Christ to the wonderful Braveheart (Double Oscar winner!!) Gibson has a sort of magic in telling stories.

The movie starts with “Driver” (Gibson, who never reveals his name in the course of the film as part of the mystery on who he is I guess) running away from the US Law enforcement authorities and ends up plowing his car through the border fence. The Texas police try to persuade the Mexicans to hand him back but one glance at two duffel bags oozing millions in cash prompts the Mexicans to keep Driver on their side of the line. They then toss him in a putrid, slick prison, corrupt and ramshackle and to top it off its being run by thugs and goons themselves with the law enforcers just sitting on a back seat (they actually stand atop with sniper aimed at the general public). Here is when the rest of the cast gets introduced, Gibson’s “best –friend”, a 10-year-old cigarette smoking child ironically named ‘Kid’ (Kevin Hernandez who does a decent job in the movie) who is plotting to exact revenge on another criminal, Javi (Daniel Gimenez Cacho) who is the real head of the prison and who killed Kid’s father.

Driver is a career criminal and gets into his groove quickly settling down into the prison and gets money, a gun and the usually riff-raff needed to survive in prison while simultaneously making friends with Kid. Initially he bribes the Kid into listening to him, but as the movie progresses we see a sort of father – son – buddy bond developing between the two. (Sort of touching, but doesn’t really distract you much from the movie)

The movie kicks up dust once Frank (Peter Stormare who’s been in cults like Fargo and the Big Lebowski), dispatches professional killers to retrieve the money that Driver stole. They track down the crooked cops who arrested Driver and then its gets graphic for those poor saps. Of course the usual issues ponder Driver of how to get out and how to keep him and the Kid safe. He manages to gain Javi’s confidence and snag a deal so he can get out, return to America, and pump Frank with a bucket load of bullets. The Kid’s mother, her back-story, the smaller criminals under Javi’s reign, the police chief, and why the Kid’s father was killed are all smaller intricate stories running together which keeps the story moving forward.

The script is very well written by Gibson and it’s been directed by Adrian Grunberg (who is making his directorial debut here after deputizing for numerous films such as Traffic, Man on Fire and Apocalypto). The movie runs a tight line of humor, edge, and danger that can very easily be considered an unofficial sequel to Gibson’s cult favorite, Payback. The acting is decent to say the least. The Kid is good, he doesn’t try to overdo his bit, and the villains are all relegated to a miniscule piece thereby ensuring the Gibson remains at the forefront of it all.

The brilliance I personally saw in the movie is the cinematography and the overall environment that was created. It makes a seamy place out to be seamy, and doesn’t take the route of showcasing something less so that the focus remains on the lead actors only. Get the Gringo exists in the world it’s built, “El Pueblito,” based on the actual prison in Tijuana, is real and startling. It’s based a dirty, gritty world, and the movie wants to show it all.

This movie has all the ingredients necessary to be a decent hit, with a mysterious lead actor who has a history and motivation; a friendship blossoming in the notorious place and un-friendliest place on Earth, secret past life stories where staying alive depends upon it and main lure of life is to be free. (‘You can buy anything here, but you can’t buy freedom”)

Yes, there are traces of Prison Break here (especially from season 3) but Driver, unlike Scofield doesn’t take crap from anyone and has a sense of humor.

The scope is exactly what you would expect from a $20 million movie. It’s also not very long (about 90 minutes), so it goes by rather quick, but it’s really fun.

If only it had been marketed well and had a wide release this movie would have been a decent (in terms of dollars generated) hit

For those of us who endured so many years of understandable negativity towards Gibson for his personal troubles, Get the Gringo is the film you’ve long awaited. Catch if you can.