Miss Bala review

MISS BALA:

GINA RODRIGUEZ LOOKS GORGEOUS AND KICKS ASS, UNFORTUNATELY THE MOVIE AROUND HER IS PRETTY STANDARD! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES

Gina Rodriguez in Miss Bala

On the search for her missing best friend, Gina Rodriguez (Deepwater Horizon, Annihilation, Smallfoot) goes from makeup artist from Los Angeles to drug money smuggler for a local cartel at the Mexican border in the new action-thriller, Miss Bala. The film is directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown, Twilight) and is an American remake of the 2011 Mexican film of the same name. 

I have never seen the original film so I’m not sure how faithful this adaptation is, but as an action and thriller enthusiast, I was interested in the premise when I saw the trailers. Since Gina Rodriguez has been making a name for herself after appearing in films like Filly Brown, Deepwater Horizon and Annihilation and even becoming the new voice actress for Carmen Sandiego, I decided to give her first attempt at becoming an action star a watch. 

And, well where do I begin?

Remember my review of last year’s cinematic classic, Venom and how I said the film suffered from serious tone issues and that it didn’t know whether it wanted to be this edgy, more mature thriller or a dumb PG-13 popcorn flick to get kids into the movie theater? Pretty much, the same thing happened with Miss Bala, but it’s at least closer to a legit “Movie” compared to Venom.

This is a perfectly watchable movie with some occasional thrills and Gina Rodriguez gives it her all, but with themes of the Mexican drug cartel and cross-border crimes as part of the story, it would have been stronger and more impactful with an R rating and following in the footsteps of the Sicariofilms. But when you see gang members and law enforcement shooting at each other (You know, violence that can happen in real-life) with no blood or someone about to drop an f-bomb only to be blown up before finishing, it feels off and you’re never quite as invested in what’s going on. 

The film follows a Latin-American makeup artist named Gloria Meyer (Rodriguez) from Los Angeles, crossing the Mexican border to visit her best friend, Suzu (Newcomer, Cristina Rodlo) in Tijuana. One night while at a nightclub, Suzu mysteriously disappears and in the process of searching for her, Gloria is kidnapped by a local drug cartel and is forced to smuggle drug money for them. 

Gradually she works her way into the good graces of the cartel’s leader, Lino Esparza (Ismael Cruz Córdova-The Good Wife, Berlin Station, Mary Queen of Scots) as well as the DEA, which also takes part in this case. Gloria must turn the tables on everyone in order to escape as she navigates the dangerous world of cross-border crime in hopes to save her friend. 

The film also stars Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Marvel Cinematic Universe,The Night Before) as Jimmy, Aislinn Derbez (Gossip Girl: Acapulco, Macho, Win It All) as Isabel, Matt Lauria (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood(TV series), Son of Shaft) as Brian, Ricardo Abarca (Cane, Popland, Silvana sin lana) as Pollo, and Thomas Dekker (Star Trek: Generations, Heroes,Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) as Justin.

Overall, Miss Bala tries to be the Sicario for the teenage demographic and it has sparks of legit action and suspense, but it doesn’t really offer the same intensity or emotional depth as that movie. Even if it did have an R rating with all the blood and profanity present, it wouldn’t save the film’s generic and predictable narrative. 

As mentioned before, I think the premise itself is strong, but the actual story wastes it with an overabundance of action movie clichés. It starts off interesting but by the final act, it becomes a recycled version of the climax from Taken. 

It really doesn’t help that I was able to predict who the bad guy was going to be the entire time, it’s one of those “surprise villain reveals” but literally the moment you see him he looks pretty suspicious. However, it’s one thing to have a weak villain, but when you try to mask your lazy screenwriting with a half-ass fake-out involving another character that isn’t called for and pads the movie out for another fifteen minutes, that goes too far. 

It’s a shame, Rodriguez was casted in such a mediocre action film, she’s clearly doing her best on-screen and she has proven several times that she’s a talented actress. Had the story been edited better and the film picked a tone to stick with, Miss Bala could have been a much stronger movie, but as is it’s just a generic action thriller that doesn’t really make an impression and I’ll probably forget about a couple days later.