Review: El Gringo

Scott Adkins stars as an extremely thirsty man-with-no-name who arrives in a shitty Mexican border town with a bag full of American money well over a million bucks. Whilst all manner of seedy townsfolk (gangsters, corrupt lawmen, street thieves etc.) try to alleviate him from the pressure of having to carry that bag, we get to find out slowly how he got to be in possession of the money in the first place. He might be staying thirsty for a while, though, it seems. Christian Slater plays a DEA guy investigating the deaths of several agents, and chasing Adkins, whom he has an apparent history with. Erando Gonzalez plays the corrupt sheriff. Yvette Yates plays a sexy bar owner who refuses to give Adkins a glass of water, but eventually allows him to sleep upstairs while he waits for the next bus out of town. Something tells me he might be staying in town for a while though, too.

 

I’ve always been convinced that Scott Adkins could and should be the biggest action star going around. “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” is probably the best martial arts fighting/tournament movie ever made. Unfortunately, he’s pushing 40, and his role in “The Expendables 2” was as the chief henchman to Jean-Claude Van Damme. You’d think with his combo of fighting skills, good looks, acting ability, and affinity for accents Adkins (a former soapie star in the UK, by the way) would have reaped more substantial rewards by now. This 2012 flick from director Eduardo Rodriguez (a Venezuelan with only one prior directing assignment, a Dolph Lundgren film) and writer Jonathan Stokes is not the film that will make his star rise.

 

It’s not a bad film, but Rodriguez overdoes it with the slow-mo, stupid rapid-fire editing, and shaky-cam from cinematographer Yaron Levy (the recent “The Getaway” with Ethan Hawke) that make it difficult to enjoy Adkins’ arse-kicking prowess. Credit where it’s due, some of the fight choreography is nifty, even with all the nonsense Rodriguez throws in its way, though Adkins sadly does more punching than kicking here. Honestly, the strobe-like editing might just induce seizures in some people, it’s that bad. I will say that Mr. Levy gives the film an interesting washed-out look that was probably an attempt to make Bulgaria look more like Mexico, and that works rather well. It’s very harsh-looking and sun-drenched, if obviously a wee bit pretentious. Points off, however, for whoever the fuck thought it was a good idea to shoot and edit the big sex scene in such a way that it never quite gives us a look at Ms. Yvette Yates’ no doubt rockin’ body. Why bother having her clearly nude if we can’t actually see the goods for ourselves. A no-nudity clause? Then don’t fucking hire her. It’s not like she’s Meryl Streep or even Anne Hathaway in acting ability.

 

It’s quite bloody and doesn’t take itself too seriously, but the script, direction, and editing (Rodriguez serving as co-editor as well) aren’t worthy of Adkins’ talents. As for Christian Slater, I guess this is better than appearing in the studio audience for “American Idol” (Seriously, why are he and Anthony Hopkins always in the audience?) and we all know why he’s stuck picking up cheques in flicks like this. He has a limited amount of time on screen, and perhaps a bit too perfectly cast to be honest. Cute reference to Montezuma’s Revenge, and an hilarious theme song at the end by heavy metal band Manowar (sounding somewhere in between Rob Halford and Ennio Morricone) are nice, but hardly enough to make the film memorable. Hell, even Mel Gibson’s slightly similar “Get the Gringo” was better. I’m not sure Mel Gibson should be making better action films in 2012 than Scott Adkins.

 

In addition to Mr. Adkins himself, both action uber-producer Joel Silver (“Commando”, “Lethal Weapon”, “The Matrix”) and Isaac Florentine (director of the aforementioned “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing”) served as EPs. Better luck next time, Scott, I guess (“Undisputed 4” may well be on its way from what I can tell, so that’s a positive sign).

 

Rating: C+