Hey guys, In the past I’ve had people send me emails asking if they could share their thoughts on a movie. Every so often I open the stage up for a fan to put their own review up for people to read.
The following review is for the movie El Gringo, and it’s been written by Pasi Vahlman, a 24 year old guy from Finland. Pasi is a pretty regular commenter on our Facebook page, so check out what he has to say!
Hey guys, In the past I’ve had people send me emails asking if they could share their thoughts on a movie. Every so often I open the stage up for a fan to put their own review up for people to read.
After Dark Action is a concept by producer Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Home Entertainment and production company After Dark. The idea is to put old and new stars together into movies that get only a limited theatrical release before a internet release. This gives a whole new system of film distribution and precautionary measures to prevent piracy.
One film made in this concept is El Gringo, starring Scott Adkins, a simple idea of which is to recycle Robert Rodriguez’s films, like bloody action and modern western.
El Gringo (Scott Adkins) arrives with a money bag in his arm after a bloody incident into El Fronteras, a small town dominated by the rotten sheriff (Erando Gonzales) and his gang. The City does not turn out to be very hospitable to new tourists. The interest in him however increases as the city’s people solve the mystery of the contents of the bag. Soon Gringo is chased by not only drug gangs, but also by DEA agent West (Christian Slater), as well as local bosomy Senorita Anna (Yvette Yates).
The first thought that arose in my mind after watching this movie for about ten minutes, was that I’ve seen this a hundred times already. Wholly dependent on it’s influences, the film however surprises by the positive way in which it shows humor. The direct although usual touch of humor ensures that the film remains enjoyable even in the company of a more serious audience. The simplicity of the characters achieves an easy smile.
The narrative consists of fragmented winged regression of the current moment. Storyline always leaves a little something to ponder upon, but still keeps the viewer up to date. The idea of a man who arrives as a stranger in town to kick some ass is not relatively new, but the directors passion for the genre can be seen throughout the film. Various captions and description styles bring out nostalgia conveniently, but the modern action scenes fueled by modern technology exhilirate the viewers who enjoy action scenes.
Action is a large part of the film, although it remains subtle. Scott Adkin’s fists wave more subdued this time, and instead of fist fights there are more firearms this time. One stylish action scene around the film’s halfway point leaves nobody cold. Especially as the scene’s are paced by amusing western-style music. The action experiment is enforced by the fact that Scott Adkins needs no stunt men. This is the Adkins show, and Slater was left put in the cold.
It is by and large an entertaining piece of the traditional action genre.
The film will surely be remembered as a cheap production B-class film, but lately there hasn’t been anything better out.
On Blu Ray –
Region B (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Europe etc) El Gringo on Blu-ray
On DVD –
Region 1 (US & Canada)
El Gringo on DVD
Region 2 (UK, Europe, etc)
El Gringo on DVD
Region 4 (Australia, New Zealand, etc)
El Gringo on DVD
More info on Movie Regions here.
Enjoyable movie but the climax was a bit of a let down needed a fight scene to show off Scott Adkins martial arts skills, he up there with the the best of them…..