Review- Get The Gringo

On DVD and Blu-Ray- Get The Gringo - This surprisingly entertaining Action/Crime/Comedy is gritty, grimy, bloody and occasionally quite funny.  It's competently written and Directed, with a few impressive action scenes (featuring some very cool, almost Peckinpah-esque slow motion) and a fair amount of witty dialogue- it would make a great companion piece to star Mel Gibson's tonally similar Payback. The actor proves once again that he's as relevant and as likable (at least onscreen) as ever, with more believable presence than the vast majority of the current crop of budding action stars half his age.

Apprehended by Mexican authorities and thrown into a strange, hellish prison/town hybrid called "El Pueblito", career criminal "Driver" (Gibson, in a variation of his "Porter" character from Payback) is shown the ropes and taught the rules of survival by an 9 year old boy (Kevin Hernandez).  "Driver" soon plans his escape, battling it out with countless thugs, hitmen and crime-lords ruling the prison from the inside out, all the while establishing a bond with the boy and his prostitute mother.

Mel Gibson's face looks like a road map made out of dried leather- it's refreshing to see an older actor that hasn't had an obvious, extensive overhaul performed on his aging mug.  It's a shame he's so determined to piss his career away.  Other actors you may recognize:  Peter Stormare (Fargo) as a wealthy crime-boss, Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption) as a crooked Lawyer and Dean Norris (Breaking Bad) in a very short role as a U.S. Border Patrol Agent.  Mexican actress Delores Heredia (Vantage Point) is a talent new to me- she's Gibson's love interest here. Young Kevin Hernandez (The Sitter) will probably grab quite a few more roles in the very near future.

Complaints: Add Mel to the list of action stars that have deemed it necessary to aim and fire their handguns while holding it sideways in an attempt to look cool (it's uninformed and just plain stupid).  A certain character's ridiculously short amount of recovery time from a major surgery will probably come across as laughably awkward.

It's a movie that would have been perfectly fine as a theatrical release, but held back and released straight-to-video because of Mel's off-screen tantrums.  Driven by the inherent talent of it's troubled, aging star, it's a dark and edgy little action film that might just be best of it's type released this year.

Recommended

Get the Gringo - 7.5 out of 10