El desconocido

Bank executive Carlos (Luis Tosar) finds himself dealing with the volatility of the financial market in the wake of the Spanish financial crisis while also dealing with mounting tensions between him and his wife Marta (Goya Toledo). On a routine drive to work and school with his children Sara (Paula del Rio) and Marcos (Marco Sanz) when a stranger (Javier Gutierrez) calls telling him there's a pressure sensitive bomb in his car and no one is to leave as Carlos is forced to go through various avenues to secure a specific amount of money for this man who carries a grudge against him.

Retribution (aka El desconocido "The Stranger") is a 2015 Spanish-French action thriller directed by Dani de la Torre and written by Alberto Marini. Critical reception was mixed with a skew towards positive with many complimenting the acting and tension while also pointing out the preposterousness of the plot. The movie has had further exposure internationally with two local language remakes for Germany and South Korea (2018's Don't. Get. Out! And 2021's Hard Hit respectively) with a forthcoming English language remake starring Liam Neeson soon to be released. Retribution is a simple movie that could've fallen into the pitfalls of conveyer belt thrillers, but there is a strong enough core to give leeway to the outlandish plot.

Given how the film was written at the tail end of the Spanish Financial Crisis, the movie sets itself up as a morality play with Carlos very much a cog in the machine that left countless citizens at the mercy of economic upheaval while they remained unscathed. Despite the audience being able to understand "the stranger's" motivations, the movie never sympathizes with him and he is still very much a ruthless antagonist who although humanized by a tragic set of circumstances has driven to some extreme ends that can't be justified. De la Torre's direction keeps the tension high and Luis Tosar does a good job as Carlos who conveys a desperate man trapped in extraordinary circumstances quite effectively with scenes of him at his breaking point showing full commitment to the performance. While on occasion Carlos' children could be a little much, they still felt like they fit within a reasonable level of believability and it helps they're played by good actors. The plot also does stretch itself a bit at the one hour mark with some decisions made by the police or Marta that are there simply because it needs to be there, but thriller logic is afforded a certain degree of "leaping" and I never felt like it broke the movie.

Retribution is an engaging high tension thriller with committed performances and solid direction. While the plot does occasionally stretch believability, it's tight enough in the pacing and tension that it'll keep you engaged.

If you take LOCKE - starring Tom Hardy spending all the feature length speaking in a cell phone whilst he drives his car - and Joel Schumacher's PHONE BOOTH, starring Colin Farell trapped in a phone booth because of a death threat over his head - not a bomb but a sniper - you will easily get this film topic. OK, that a pretty good suspense, but admit that since a couple of years now, you have many of those topics emerging every where; I mean phone calls involving death threats, or a person asked to kill some folks by unknown killers using a cell phone. A very predictable scheme. When it is not persons buried, locked in a coffin, room, car chest, basement...I guess you will see many more in a near future. Only a not predictable ending can spice those suspense stories. It is also a little "tribute" to the economic crisis; the banker accused to have pushed a woman to suicide because of her lost savings...

Above average thriller with plenty of twists , turns and a suspenseful finale . It contains unstopped action with great cast and nice supporting actors giving good performances . Furthermore , displaying a colorful and luxurious cinematography as well as a stirring and emotive score . ¨Retribution¨ or ¨El Desconocido¨ deals with a bank executive called Carlos : Luis Tosar , who faces a risked situation when he receives a mobile phone call informing him he has just a few hours to get a large amount of money or a bomb under his seat will explode , but events are about to be worst . Complicating things still further , the police pursues him and surrounding his car and then happenings go awry .

This is a top-notch thriller about a high-powered banker submitted to weird circumstances surrounding him , that's just the starting point for him , and a bit later on , things get even worse . A film in similar quality other Hollywood blockbusters . As this film results to be a crossover from other benchmarking successes as well as grossing American films , such as : ¨Locke¨ by Steven Knight (2013) with Tom Hardy , "Speed" (1994) directed by Jan de Bont with Keanu Reeves , and "Phone Booth" (2002) Joel Schumacher with Colin Farrell . This splendid Spanish movie has a lot of action images , including pursuits , car crashes , explosion , and Police Helicopter scenes . The plot can not be very realistic ; however, displaying several scenes have you on the edge of your seat . The picture increases the relentless tension as well as the flick progresses on screen . Thrilling and nail-biting film with a lot of scenes of drama , tension , emotion and action , all of them at equal parts . This is a highly suspenseful and cerebral thriller , filled with plot twists , including an unexpected denouement in its final part . Hitchcock style psychological thriller , being surprisingly good and stunningly directed . The picture is pretty well , though sometimes stagy , as developing into the car , and it has a lot of turns . However , being very entertaining for its continuous suspense . The original as well entertaining premise is overspread across the movie adding some brief conventional pitfalls . The well assembled cast is frankly good , including masterful direction of players , such as : Luis Tosar as the selfish winner businessman , Javier Gutiérrez , Elvira Mínguez , Fernando Cayo , Goya Toledo , Luis Zahera and special mention for Paula del Río as his daughter Marta . It packs a colorful and evocative cinematography by Juán Inchaustegui . Shot in Vigo and especially in its Plaza de Vigo , A Coruña , Galicia . Rousing and moving musical score by Manuel Ribeiro . Soundtrack is really helping to keep tied to what happens .

This increasingly potent thriller was compellingly produced by Mercedes Gamero , Juan Carlos Caro , Emma Lustres , all of them have financed a great number of hits in the new Spanish cinema . This new film by Spanish writer/director Dani De La Torre was compelling and professionally directed . Dani previously realized short movies as ¨Lobos¨ and Minas¨ , and TV Mini-Series : ¨Mar Libre¨ and his first film was this ¨El Desconocido¨ , a film full of emotional thrills , suspense , mystery and non-stop action .

An attention grabber and holder that takes place in the Galicia area of Spain, north of Portugal. I think the main actor's portrayal is superior to those of the last two years in the Oscars. He displays a very wide range of emotions sitting in the driver's seat of his car. Never a dull moment.

A banker goes to work one day and takes the kids to be dropped off at school but before that can happen, he receives a phone call from someone who tells him he has placed a bomb under the seats of the car and tells him he must arrange a transfer of money to him.

It's the kind of idea that has been seen before whereby someone on the end of a phone is controlling someone else for their gain but from the offset we are sent on a thrilling journey making you wonder why this is happening and making you wonder what you would do in such a situation. The director manages to keep things fairly grounded and so the realism assists in building up the tension. There are a couple of twists thrown in which keeps the pace going.

Good acting from everyone involved in a cast that I am unfamiliar with due to the Spanish production. In the decade of remakes and reboots, this is certainly a film I can see being remade at some point. Provided you do not mind reading subtitles this is certainly worth the viewing time.