Medellin

How I am going to give a 600 letter review here is beyond my imagination.

I wish Amazon Studios would list on their description of a film from what country the movie was made. This film was so disappointing for me, rude and crude language through out with some of the worst characters I have ever seen in a movie. As a viewer I didn't feel any emotion for any of the characters.

I have worked in the movie industry for over 40 years and have seen the down grading of movies since sound was invented. A classic movie is something special to watch these days with actors who were trained in their profession. Not a bunch of yahoo's acting like idiots like in this movie.

Wow I made over 600.

I gave this film a good, worth seeing rating of 7due to its originality with a mix of action and comedy like you've never seen before. Medellín hits the funny bone and the heart at the same time without feeling contrived. The actors are mostly new and refreshing, with Frank Gastambide, the creator, actor director doing a yoeman's job keeping the crazyness coherent and fast paced. The other two main characters played by Ramzy Bedia and Anuair Toubali form a nice odd trio of reluctant heros with Gastambide. Casting Mike Tyson as the somewhat secretive CIA type who aides their mission to rescue Bedia's character's younger brother- a Pablo Escobar, look alike, internet wannabe, played hilariously by Brahim Bouhlel. Totally full of funny moments, and a few good spoofs to keep your interest going...

The movie is really bad.

There are several scenes that don't make sense, and we realize that the characters are making mistakes on purpose just to try to be funny.

The characters stand in the middle of a hail of gunfire and no one hits them. The head of the gang manages to be violent with everyone, except the protagonists. It looks silly in front of the protagonists, who suddenly manage to learn to fight, handle weapons, and even fly helicopters.

And to complete, in the end, after the film has tried to make fun the whole film, they put an unnecessary tragedy just to try to make drama. They reserved only about 10 minutes of the film to conclude the whole story and everything was rushed and without rhythm. Not to mention the police character, who was very poorly used in the story.

I could spend hours talking about this movie.

Bad, bad, bad and bad. By the way, bad!

Franck Gastambide applies the same recipe as his three previous films. But with this film, the result is less successful. Perhaps because certain ingredients are missing: the equivalent of Medi Sadoun's character in Les Kaïra (2012) or Malik Bentalha's in Pattaya (2016) or Taxi 5. Here, he is replaced by the character played by Ramzy Bedia, already present in the two aforementioned films. But it doesn't work, because he's not a source of humor.

This is also due to the subject matter, the drug cartels in Colombia. It's a less interesting subject, as it's been dealt with many times before, and much more brilliantly. A poor choice, then. And that's despite some nice ingredients: Mike Tyson as a trainer or the romantic attribute (Essined Aponte).

Otherwise, Franck Gastambide's talents are still there: a character with logorrheic dialogue, a mix of situational comedy and action sequences that are meant to be, and are, breathtaking, and the dwarf (Anouar Toubali) who brings his variations, much less well integrated here than in Les Kaira or Pattaya. In short, the recipe doesn't work here.

Absurd movie. Only people as obtuse as the Pablo wannabe would enjoy it.

This boasts an absurd premise and Spanish speaking actors who can't speak Spanish without an American accent, let alone a Colombian accent. I'm looking at you Diablo, but this applies to every other actor who wasn't an extra.

Geographically inaccurate. The only near by town with a large body of water is a lake. Please explain how you got a shark there.

While we're at it: a hotel in the Comuna 13? Really???

The car under the semi scene, must have been the tallest semi, prime for rolling over in the tight hairpin turns of the roads between the mayor cities of Colombia, paired with lowest car in the history of the country: prime for getting stuck in potholes or at the foot of the myriad of hills within the city.

Need I go on? I always finish a movie, but my time is far too valuable for this one. I just couldn't.