Plot
An American man is arrested on the US/Mexico border having stolen money from a mob boss.
He is sent to the Mexican prison El Pueblito, which is more like a small neighbourhood than a ‘prison’. Being the only American there, he is soon dubbed Gringo by the other inmates.
Gringo meets a young boy, who he learns is being protected by the prison’s crime lord leader Javi – who needs the kids liver as he is the only match within the walls – and is months away from needing a transplant. The boy wants to kill Javi, as Javi murdered the kids father taking his liver.
Gringo promises to stop the transplant, and help the kid kill Javi.
Direction
Adrian Grunberg directs, this was his feature film debut. His own Mexican heritage shows through the lens, as usual harshness of Mexican landscapes depicted in other Hollywood movies aren’t as prevalent here.
I didn’t care for the ‘shoot out’ scene, I found it slightly absurd – and took away from what the film was trying to accomplish.
Cast
Mel Gibson stars as ‘The Gringo/Driver’ – he also wrote the screenplay. This character is very similar to Porter from Payback, from his personality – to the frequent narration… is it Porter???
Other cast include Kevin B Hernandez as ‘The Kid’, Dolores Heredia as ‘The Kid’s Mum’ and Daniel G Cacho and Javi.
Peter Stomare, Bob Gunton, Patrick Bauchau and Dean Norris play small bit parts throughout.
Breakdown
The narrative is fairly easy to follow, with us being introduced to a ‘nameless’ car driver – who crashes his getaway car through the US Mexico border (thank goodness for ramp shaped piles of dirt) and crash landing on the Mexican side.
Since his accomplice is killed during the chase, and the money stolen (we later find out from Frank Fowler a crime lord in America) has been taken by two crooked Mexican cops, he is sent to a prison that is more like a small neighbourhood rather than the traditional bars and cells. He is sent on false pretenses and as he is the only American in the prison he is dubbed ‘The Gringo’.
Discovering a ‘way to survive’ is theft off of those who are worse than him. He soon befriends a young teen boy – who looks up to him, due to his own fathers death. When the boy tries to kill the Javi, the crime boss of the prison, the boy tells him that he is earmarked to have his liver transplanted into Javi (and Javi already took his dads resulting in his death!)
This actually sets up a pretty intense and solid narrative as when Javi learns of the original stolen money – it sets up a three way conflict between Javi, The Gringo and Frank (an underused Peter Stomare). So while The Gringo is sent back to the United States to ‘off’ Frank – Javi sets out to take the boys liver so The Gringo can’t stop him.
There are some pretty intense scenes through the back half of the film, as the boy absconds to save himself – his mum is tortured by Javi for his whereabouts – and then the operation scene itself is quite graphic too.
While mostly good, there are a few instances where the writers should have used the “less is more” approach. Some characters feel like they are not needed (for instance Butterballs). His character adds nothing really to the overall film other than to be another foible in The Gringo’s time on screen (and he doesn’t even get that bad a comeuppance either). Butterballs initiates an assassination attempt on Gringo – which has such a silly shoot out sequence I thought I was watching a comedy movie.
The three way conflict between Javi/Frank and Gringo is short lived too, with Gringo’s clever way of initiating a meeting between everyone. But the explosive end is a little on the nose.
Overall
Okay overall – with some questionable moments within. I felt like this was more a passion project from Gibson than for the audience.
Whether or not this was a sequel to Payback? I don’t think it was – Gringo/Driver is very similar – but ultimately I think Porter is still with Rosie.
Good but not great.
3/5
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