Review of Gringo (2018) by Ray H — 03 Jun 2018

Gringo is yet another of those movies that should have been a lot better than it turned out. The film centres on Harold (a quite entertaining David Oyelowo), who is kidnapped while on a business trip to Mexico with his friend and boss Richard (Joel Edgerton) and business partner Elaine (Charlize Theron).

He's unaware of the illegal activity his bosses are up to, and also unaware that his wife is about to leave him. Things don't seem to go right for Harold. Richard's company is illegally supplying drugs to a Mexican cartel and all hell breaks loose when he instructs his Mexican workers to stop the supply so a merger can go through.

It's a convoluted plot with a number of twists and turns and that's where things seem to get messed up. It's not really a comedy, it's not a drama, it's not an action thriller, it doesn't seem to know exactly what it is.

The cast does their best, particularly Oyelowo who has all the best scenes, and I admit the ending is somewhat satisfying but the road to the finish isn't so satisfying. I'm not sure how they got there! On the whole, if you're looking for a bit of light entertainment this might suit because it's hard to take it seriously.

I do get the impression that there's a good film in there but it's not realised on the screen.