Review of Miss Bala (2019) by Hnestlyonthesly — 07 Oct 2019

“I loved it and you cannot convince me that I didn’t,” said Wife to me during the credits of this movie.

Some time has passed since then and I still feel very strongly that this was one of the most fun action movies I’ve seen in a long time. An adaptation of a Spanish language film from 2011, Bala buzzes with the quirky absurdity of Miss Congeniality meets the gritty realism of Sicario meets the will-they-won’t-they of Twilight or The Office. Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin) shows off her range in this novel addition to the genre. She’s sexy and sultry and cunning and badass and frightened in ways that cut new paths for future action films to follow, paths that would not be as possible with a man at the helm.

Bala turns the male wish-fulfillment element of most action films on its head by placing the damsel-in-distress squarely in the center of the storytelling. Her agency is what stokes the tension of the film, her escape attempts and her need to stay one step ahead of her captors. The film flirts with the complex mix of titillation and fear that comes from the possibility of Gloria’s real or manufactured feelings for her crime-lord-with-a-heart-of-gold, somewhat of a staple of the action-romance genre. At one point, we both turned to each other and whispered, “Are they going on a date right now?” only to have our minds blown by the very next scene.

A moment of tacit acknowledgement and sisterly abnegation punctuates a particular brutal scene of gang violence in the film and serves to complicate the moral decisions that Gloria must make in order to stay alive and find her friend.

Wife says, for those who’ve been blessed with the knowledge of the trailer, certain scenes of this film are heightened in their comedy even as the protagonist herself fears for her life. For instance, as she’s woken up in the morning and told to walk down the hill (possibly to her death), the audience recognizes the scene as the moment when she is about to receive target practice and that priceless line, “In the end, the bullet solves everything.

Bala revels in its absurdity and spins a pretty good romance and it’s leading actors have fabulous chemistry. If you are hungry for a Red Sparrow that doesn’t flag in the second act, check out this film.