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Get the Gringo poster

CAST
MEL GIBSON
FERNANDO BECERRIL
DANIEL GIMENEZ CACHO
SCOTT COHEN
PETER GERETY
BOB GUNTON
DELORES HEREDIA
KEVIN HERNANDEZ
TENOCH HUERTA
JESUS OCHOA
PETER STORMARE

WRIITEN BY
MEL GIBSON
ADRIAN GRUNBERG
STACY PERSKIE

PRODUCED BY
BRUCE DAVEY
MEL GIBSON
STACY PERSKIE

DIRECTED BY
ADRIAN GRUNBERG

GENRE
ACTION
CRIME
THRILLER

RATED
AUS: NA
UK: 15
USA: R

RUNNING TIME
95 MIN

 

GET THE GRINGO (2012)

With its unique setting and Mel Gibson at his wise ass gun-toting best, Get the Gringo is non-apologetic violent entertainment sure to please the initiated.

If Get the Gringo being released on VOD (Video on Demand) in America is evidence of Gibson’s dwindling star wattage then it is a shame for this is the type of action movie, anti-hero throwback that is needed in cinemas. Luckily we Aussies and the Brits get to see it on the big screen.

Co-written and produced by Gibson, and directed by Adrian Grunberg (a long-time assistant director making his debut), …Gringo begins with a memorable sequence as Gibson’s unnamed career criminal is on the lamb from the fuzz while wearing a clown suit and holding millions of drug dollars in the back seat.

Literally crashing into Mexico, the unnamed “Driver” becomes a white man in Mexican hell as he’s thrown into a unique prison that is more like a shanty town for Mexico’s least wanted, where corruption rules, guns and drugs are as available as Coca-Cola and prisoners are allowed to have their families do time with them.

It is a setting unlike anything seen in the genre, inspired by the infamous El Pueblito Prison which was forcibly shut down after corruption and other assorted criminal activities was so ripe it became a raised middle finger to Mexican authorities.

It’s the perfect environment for Gibson to get into mischief, evoking that wise-ass inquisitive nature of his as he plays all sides in a bid to reclaim his hard stolen money from the grip of corrupt officials and make his escape, but only after planning to save a young boy (Kevn Hernandez) from the clutches of a crime kingpin (Daniel Gimenez Cacho).

Grunberg – who was an assistant director for names as varied as Peter Weir, Oliver Stone and Gibson – shows much considerable skill and flash with his feature debut. While the films style has Gibson’s fingerprints all over it with its slick design, tongue in cheek humour and penchant for grizzly violence, Grunberg has proven himself to be an imaginative and capable director cut from the Sam Penckinpah mould.

In fact Get the Gringo is a film that would have fit right in the 1970s, with its gritty setting and anti-hero exploits sure to appease fans of that era.

The biggest complaint to be had with …Gringo is its tendency to go overboard and much too amoral with its violence. While Gibson’s films have often utilised violence to move the plot along, more often than not that violence is steeped in purpose and features an ethical underlining.

But then again maybe the absence of such things is the point. “Driver” ain’t no saint. He’s just a rundown son of a bitch caught in one hell of a jam and will do what it takes to do for some wiggle room, with a gun in hand, smoke in mouth and attitude to burn.

Ah, the no BS taking anti-hero. How we’ve missed you.

***1/2
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