Killing Cabos

In Mexico City, the powerful and violent magnate of steel Oscar Cabos (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.) surprises his daughter Paulina (Ana Claudia Talancón) having sex with her boyfriend and his employee Javier "Jaque" (Tony Dalton) and he works Jaque over. On the next day, Jaque pays a visit to Cabos in his office and the angry man comes with a golf club to hit Jaque again. However, Cabo accidentally treads on a golf ball, falls on the floor and faints. Jaque calls his best friend Mudo (Kristoff) to help him, but the janitor Nacho (Pedro Altamirano) finds his boss fainted on the floor and he steals and dresses his clothes and jewels. Meanwhile, Nacho's son Botcha (Raúl Méndez) and his friend Nico (Gustavo Sánchez Parra) have planned to kidnap Cabos and they are waiting for him in the garage. When he arrives in the place, the two kidnappers hit him on the back, believing that he is Cabos, and they wear a hood covering his face. They head with the abducted man to the house of Botcha's girlfriend Lula (Rocío Verdejo). Meanwhile, Jaque and Mudo calls their wrestler friend Ruben "Mascarita" (Joaquín Cosio) and his midget partner Tony 'El Cannibal' (Silverio Palacios) to help them to get rid of Cabos in his birthday party. But both plans do not work well along the night.

"Matando Cabos" is a gem of dark humor and one of the funniest comedies that I have recently seen. This comedy of errors has a wonderful and original screenplay, and the situations are unpredictable and hilarious. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Matando Cabos" ("Killing Cabos")

I find it amusing that so many would bash this movie based on what they thought of Blockbuster movies that have come before it. In many posts, I've noticed people mention movies like Scarface, Reservoir Dogs, Fight Club, and Pulp Fiction. People, if every movie was that good, then those movies would not be considered great films. They would be your typical run-of-the-mill movie that anyone can accomplish. The reason they are difficult to achieve is because not just anyone can do it. I thought this movie was funny. Maybe to a lot of people in the poverty ravaged country of Mexico, it's not funny because of the next to life reality of a severed finger and a senseless beating to a sequester victim, but to us in the U.S who have been desensitized by all the smut we see at the movie theaters, this is a great movie. There were some really funny moments in this movie, including the bus chase scene and the romantic love scene at the end involving el cannibal and Cabos' wife. Also, Ana Claudia Talancon was aesthetically pleasing.

Good characters, well paced, with a tight script full of twist and well placed turns. People will often dismiss any movie that is well crafted by comparing it to another movie that's well crafted. In this case I felt like it was more of a good thing instead of "more of the same", sort of like getting a second helping of something great. The movie does build it's central premise (a series of wild coincidences, characters that are larger than life, the fast paced-all in one night action) on other movies that feature similar elements (Snatch, Pulp Fiction, etc) but because the situations and characters are unique I did not feel ripped off. Overall I found this film to be very entertaining. I saw it at Sundance this year (2005). I hope it comes out in the US, I would recommend it to anybody that like to be entertained.

'Matando Cabos' is a mixture of the retro, Tarantino and absurd movies. It's a must to all of us that adored the b-movies of the 70s.

The story is not pretentiously developed in a way to be unpredictable, it's more like going out in this trip that you simply don't know what's going to happen next because you simply just don't know, just like in 'Go!'. In this fashion, 'Matando Cabos' results in an entertaining and hilarious urban adventure.

For all of those who are just sick of all those Latin American movies that just try to "portray" the reality of society with stories around prostitution, corruption, crime and injustice, you ought to see this movie. It's a good way to see that in Latin America they also "just want to have fun".

"Matando Cabos" is the title of Alejandro Lozano's debut film, that even when it shares some similitude with American Films, such as "Pulp Fiction" and "Taxi Driver", it stands as a great movie, bringing a refreshing breathe to Mexican commercial cinema.

The major attractive of the film lies in its screenplay. The story is about two best friends, Jaque and Mudo, that are involved on a critical situation when they accidentally kidnap their boss, the sadistic and rich Oscar Cabos, and they hide him on Jaque's car. Meanwhile, a kidnapper's band, directed by the son of Cabos' ex-best friend, plan to take him to ask for money. But they take the wrong person and that's how a series of funny events, plagued with a black humor-screenplay, are shown by a bunch of hilarity characters that add a special charm in the movie.

Of course, this film is far from been compared to "Amores Perros", "Y tu Mamá También" or "El Crimen del Padre Amaro", which were deeper and focused on complex and even controversial issues. On the other hand, in "Matando Cabos" we have a well written and light story from the beginning to the end.

Finally, it's very remarkable the use of f/x for the car-chase scene filmed in the Estadio Azteca, supervised by people in charge of effects for "Matrix", that is the most expensive scene ever done in Mexican Cinema's history and by the way, the best Mexican action film. That's the reason why the film was released on summer, because it's able to compete against the mega-budgeted productions.

One of the best movies of the Mexican commercial films that vindicates national cinema with its fresh air and leaves the door open for future indie and risky films that are changing the face of Mexican movies. Great film, excellent casting, very funny and catchy. Don't miss it.

9 out of 10