Review: Get the Gringo

Mel Gibson plays a career crim and getaway driver trying to evade police by heading into Mexico after having stolen some cash ($2 million) from slimy Peter Stormare. The Mexican cops, being corrupt, keep the dosh and throw Gibson into El Pueblito, which is kind of a prison city, and frankly, a complete shithole full of corruption. While in prison he befriends a juvenile con (Kevin Hernandez) who lives there with his recovering addict mother (Dolores Heredia), and who is on tap to provide a liver to a local crime boss (Apparently you can have your family with you at this prison) played by Daniel Gimenez Cacho. Naturally, the gruff, self-preserving crim is softened by his interaction with the boy and his mother, but he also wants to get his damn money back. Peter Gerety plays a US Consul employee who is just as sleazy and corrupt as everyone else.

 

Not everyone finds it easy to watch a Mel Gibson movie these days, but I have to say that the on-screen impact of his off-screen alcohol-fuelled psychotic behaviour was the least of the problems I had with his “Edge of Darkness”. It just wasn’t much of a movie. Similarly, I was able to just watch Mel Gibson the actor/movie star in this 2012 flick from co-writer/director Adrian Grunberg (assistant director to Gibson on “Edge of Darkness” and the underrated “Apocalypto”), which Gibson himself had a hand in writing (I swear he could legitimately find himself in a situation like this one day), along with Stacy Perskie (also an assistant director on “Edge of Darkness”). There’s not much to it that you haven’t seen before (though it’s a lot better than “Payback” if you ask me) and it starts stronger than it finishes, but I’ve got to say, up until then it’s highly watchable.

 

The plot is familiar and unique at the same time if that makes any sense, but it’s a billion times better than that other Mexico-set caper, “The Mexican”. A severely weathered but roguishly charming Gibson is well-cast (On-screen punishment as penance for his off-screen misbehaviour?) in a performance that might remind you of the laconic Bryan Brown with a little more grit, but boy does Gibson do the worst Clint Eastwood impersonation you’ve ever heard. The opening police chase, however, is memorable and quite funny, with the humour having somewhat of a laconic Aussie vibe to it. There’s some really funny, droll and cynical lines of dialogue throughout.

 

Peter Stormare is underused, and although he’s always the same in every film, this is the right kind of film for his sleazy, bizarro Timothy Carey schtick. Meanwhile, if prisons like this corrupt shithole really exist...what’s the point? It seems easier to be a crim in prison than on the outside! Wow.

 

It’s little more than a B-movie, and I can kinda see why it didn’t get much love commercially (It wasn’t even released to theatres in the US), but it’s a whole lot better than its reputation to say the very least. If perhaps it leaves you feeling a little bit  undernourished by the end, it’s at least pleasant while eating. Well, maybe not pleasant, but for a film about the shittiest Mexican hellhole prison you’ve ever seen, it’s not unentertaining. It certainly has one thing going for it: After watching this film, you’ll make damn sure you never end up in a Mexican prison.

 

Rating: B-