A Slightly Tedious but Amusing Crime Action-Comedy About an American Manager’s Misadventures in Mexico
Gringo, while perhaps a tad slow-paced, manages to deliver a quirky and entertaining crime action-comedy centered around the misfortunes of an American manager south of the border.
Harold (David Oyelowo), a Nigerian immigrant, works for a small American pharmaceutical company that has developed a method to produce marijuana in pill form. Given the somewhat illicit nature of this innovation, the pilot production is located in Mexico, and Harold is in charge of overseeing it. Before another trip south, Harold discovers that his bosses, Richard and Elaine (Joel Edgerton and Charlize Theron), are planning to sell the company and lay off all the employees. Already drowning in debt, Harold decides to stage his own kidnapping in Mexico and extort as much money as possible from his superiors. Meanwhile, it turns out that a Mexican drug cartel is interested in the tablet form of “weed” and that the gangsters need Harold’s finger to steal the drug formula. While heartless businessmen decide whether to pay for an employee who is no longer needed, Mexicans are looking for a Nigerian to kidnap him for real.
Fun Fact: This film marked the cinematic debut of Paris Jackson, daughter of Michael Jackson.
As previously mentioned, Charlize Theron not only acts in films but also produces them. She deliberately chooses projects where she can portray characters that producers typically don’t offer her. This led to the Oscar-winning drama “Monster,” the spy action film “Atomic Blonde”… And now, the crime comedy “Gringo,” where the South African star revels in portraying an unprincipled, sexually obsessed, and utterly selfish businesswoman willing to sleep with any influential man.
Elaine is such a colorful character that the film could have been built around her заочное competition in bitchiness with Catherine from “Basic Instinct.” But Theron didn’t hog the screen time. “Gringo” is a multi-character production in the spirit of early Guy Ritchie (albeit without his stylistic frills), and almost all the main characters are bright and funny in their own way. For example, the “Latin” drug dealer interrogates everyone who comes to him for an audience about their attitude to the Beatles and shoots those who answer incorrectly. And the mercenary sent to save Harold (Sharlto Copley) turns out to be a доброхотом who is tormented by the question of what crimes can be committed to save the children of Haiti with “bloody” money.
Behind the Camera: Nash Edgerton
Director Nash Edgerton was Ewan McGregor’s stunt double during the filming of the “Star Wars” prequels.
As you can see, Joel Edgerton’s older brother, Nash Edgerton, has made a not-so-serious film in which the characters have enough time to show their quirks. What follows from this? That there is relatively little action in the almost two-hour film and that the drive of the production is not blockbuster. The action of “Gringo” develops deliberately and mostly разговорно. If the confusing and not entirely predictable plot does not capture you, then in the middle of the film you may get bored. However, if you like cynical crime films, where everyone unashamedly pursues their own interest and where everyone gets into trouble because their interests contradict each other, then “Gringo” is more likely to appeal to you than leave you indifferent.
We would praise the film with greater enthusiasm if Edgerton-старший had given it a stylistic flair and if the jokes in the film were funnier and more abundant. But it turned out well anyway. Especially given that this is a low-budget film ($7 million) and only the second full-length directorial work in the career of Nash Edgerton, who previously worked as a stuntman and stunt coordinator. Although the Australian director is still far from true mastery.