Starring: David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Sharlto Copley
Distributor: Roadshow Films
Runtime: 110 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2018
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‘Gringo’ is a movie about bad people. The actions of its cavalcade of contemptible business people, drug runners, cartel members and mercenaries push the well-meaning antagonist from helplessness to desperation, and it is his first, foolish act of self-determination that forces its plot into motion. David Oyelowo, who plays the film’s lead, is a fine actor, evidenced by his award-winning turns in titles like ‘Selma’ and ‘The Butler’. However, ‘Gringo’ fundamentally can’t match his talent, nor that of his impressive co-stars. In its laser focus on being as good as any number of comparable titles, ‘Gringo’ forgets to do anything interesting at all.
Harold Soyinka (Oyelowo) is a Nigerian-American stranded in a middle management job at a dodgy pharmaceuticals company run by his “friend” Richard (Joel Edgerton). Richard and Elaine (Charlize Theron), two almost visibly slimy corporate types, have staked their company, Promethium, on a new marijuana pill that they’re having mass produced in Mexico, ready to flood the US market the moment it is legalised. When the pair take Harold to Mexico to check on their operations, a run in with a ruthless cartel operation sees Harold left behind. Back in Chicago and sensing trouble for their legally murky operations, Richard and Elaine decide to – rather than alert the authorities – send in an ex-soldier (Sharlto Copley) to extract their missing employee.
Being an ensemble crime film, the movie has to keep other spinning plates in the air too. Harry Treadaway and Amanda Seyfried play Miles and Sunny, a couple holidaying in Mexico. What Sunny doesn’t know is that Miles has an ulterior motivation to their trip; he’s smuggling some of Promethium’s cannabis pills, siphoned from their production plant by an insider, back to the US for a big-time dealer who wants to replicate their formula. There are a few other players, including Promethium’s man on the ground in Mexico (Yul Vasquez) and a pair of Mexican hoteliers (Diego Catano and Rodrigo Corea), though their impact on Harold’s story is nigh inconsequential.
Director Nash Edgerton, brother of Joel and the talent behind Aussie neo-noir ‘The Square, boasts a long list of stunt credits in big Hollywood productions. Seeing his name linked to a cartel movie, one would be forgiven for expecting some first-rate action sequences. Frustratingly, ‘Gringo’ falls short here – sure, there are a couple of practical car rolls, but its climactic shootout is surprisingly pedestrian. After the magnificent onslaught of twists and turns delivered by ‘The Square’, one would also be forgiven for expecting more of the same from a multi-stranded crime drama. Again, ‘Gringo’ comes up empty handed, with a plot that barely, if it all, manages to surprise (and it’s questionable whether it even tries to do so). In fact, predictable developments that an audience might expect to happen in the first act don’t take place until well into its runtime, with a laboured pace that frustrates constantly.
What ‘Gringo’ wants most is to be a crime caper with complexly interwoven plot threads that coalesce in a big, shocking finale. However, there just isn’t enough meat on its bones to sustain its 110-minute runtime. With three plotlines moving forward together (four at a stretch), viewers versed in crime flicks will expect them to overlap and snake across one another in surprising and meaningful ways. Instead, they barely touch, Seyfried’s journey with her boyfriend barely registering a ripple in Oyelowo’s stream. As you might expect, the equivalent of cutting between a handful of tangentially related short films is not the rollercoaster ride that the filmmakers hoped to set you on.
In addition to being disjointed, the screenplay, written by Matthew Stone and Anthony Tambakis, strands its exceptionally talented cast with little to sink their teeth into (bar Theron, whose Elaine gets some memorably sociopathic dialogue). It’s one of those movies populated with characters who spout highly stylised dialogue, peppered with long parables and asides rather than actual conversation. You ever hear “that” story about the gorilla? Well Harold has – twice by the times the credits roll. Unfortunately, peppering the film with these and other Tarantino-esque touches (a crime boss who loves The Beatles, how original!) does not elevate the film to parity with his work. It’s also being called a “comedy”, which seems quite far from the truth.
‘Gringo’ is a strange misfire. Nash Edgerton presumably has some goodwill banked up from his previous efforts, and one can only hope that his new attempt to leverage them yields better results.
Callum Ryan is an associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting.
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