My subsequent score will be given based on three points
Character development
Music
Ending
First off let me preface by saying that you cannot, I repeat, CANNOT build your movie on the backs of your bad guys. You want to make a bad guy film you make yourself an anti hero. There are six characters I believe important, three good three bad.
The soldier, the genius, and the damsel.
The vicious king pin drug dealer, the hitman, and the sympathetic kidnapper.
The good guys:
were completely underdeveloped. It’s nothing more than a soldier and a good smart guy trying to get their girl back. And they smoke. A lot. It’s pointless. I’m all for drugs. When Tony took a face plant into a mound of cocaine in Scar Face it was nothing less than art. Here weed was just weed. Pointless. Oh look they’re smoking again…I was almost completely apathetic to their situation.
The bad guys:
Salma Hayek who will be the only actor/actress I mention here basically carries the entire film on her shoulders. Had this been a film revolving around her, well it would have survived well enough. She does an astounding job portraying a drug king pin who had a job pushed on her, which she reluctantly took less her family continue to be picked off by rival cartels. The Hitman, who I must admit took some getting used to, provided a good balance of comedy and good old fashioned Mexican I don’t give a fuck attitude. And as for the sympathetic kidnapper…. well he warmed my heart. He spoke less than three words and managed to deliver an amazing performance.
Music:
It was fair enough. my attention though was drawn to two specific scenes in which classical music was masterfully used to create atmosphere. And then, just like that, it was gone. No more classical music. You do one thing well and you don’t continue doing it? Come on now.
The Ending:
Endings can make or break films. They can be the reason you tell someone to watch a film. Everything was going great, extraordinary. I was ready to give this film a decent 7. Until they pulled the most unforgivable act in my book. A stunt that in my opinion is left for the mediocre and uneducated. A move pulled when “the end…and ummm yea…” just isn’t stupid enough.
For a movie that advertised itself on action, there were two scenes.
If it wasn’t for your secondary characters you’d be getting a 3.
Pathetic
5/10