Review – Gringo

Gringo is a complicated movie about a simple guy.  It isn’t complicated in a confusing way, the movie is just an utter mess with too many plots and characters, which is a shame due to the talent in the movie.

Harold (David Oyelowo) is a kind man who follows all the rules.  All he wants in his life is to be happy.  But that isn’t the life Harold has.  He works at a company with two horrible, rude bosses (Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron) who give him no credit for anything, his wife (Thandie Newton) doesn’t appreciate Harold the way he appreciates her and has racked up a large amount of debt.  But things get worse for Harold when he goes to Mexico on a business trip and gets caught in the middle of his boss’s bad doings and ends up getting kidnapped and having to continuously fend for his life.

The cast of this movie is great, yet the characters that are written for them don’t do justice to the talent.  Oyelowo is far and away the best part of this movie.  In an unusual comedic turn, Oyelowo is what keeps this movie from really going off the rails by giving us a grounded, sincere performance of a man who just wants to do right.  He combines great comedic moments along with some good dramatic work to really shine in the messy movie.

Aside from Oyelowo, the rest of the cast doesn’t live up to what is expected out of them.  Edgerton and Theron are having a ball playing these despicable humans, but the performances lean more on the hammier side.  Thandie Newton is in the movie very briefly and isn’t utilized.  The great Sharlto Copley stars as Edgerton’s brother and former mercenary and he’s fun and all, but I have an issue with his character actually being in the movie.  Oh, and Amanda Seyfried is in this as well.  She doesn’t do much, but she’s there, being her fun, quirky self.

Here’s the issue with this movie, and it is far and away the biggest problem, is that the movie is too big for it’s own good.  So many things are happening in this movie.  There are drug lords, company buyouts, mercenaries, drug dealers, hotel workers, affairs, and feds are just the tip of the iceberg in this one.  All of these things happening take away from the Harold and his story of getting by by doing the right thing.  This movie could have played out like a Coen Brother comedy, which usually involve a simple man who get’s caught in something bigger then themselves.  Instead, it seems like director Nash Edgerton got caught in something than himself, as he fails to balance all the plots and neglects to focus on the central story and central character.

Gringo has a few funny moments and some cool action at times, but never works as a whole.  The movie is just a cluster of randomness that gets muddled down by the end.  Oyelowo is wonderful, but the rest of the all-star cast is less than stellar.  Gringo had the makings of a great movie, but misses it’s mark by trying to be too big and do too much.

DId you see Gringo?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.