Summer. I was looking for an action comedy with an interesting cast that manages to capture and hold my attention for the whole duration of the movie, amuse and relax me. I chose ‘Gringo‘, the 2018 film by Nash Edgerton, a director about whom I confess I didn’t know much. But I knew enough about David Oyelowo, Amanda Seyfried, Thandiwe Newton and especially Charlize Theron to make me watch it. I’m not sorry at all.
Harold Soyinka is the unhappiest guy on Earth. He works for a pharmaceutical company that has a revolutionary product – medical cannabis in pill form. The company is about to merge with another company. For this purpose, it abandons the export to Mexico, where the ‘customers’ were the drug cartels. His position becomes redundant. The bosses of the company lie to him, and his wife cheats on him. Desperate, he decides to stage a kidnapping to collect the insurance money, but the company had also canceled the insurance. Harold suddenly finds himself alone in Mexico, hunted by local mobsters and his company bosses. Could the situation become worse? Those who will see the film will find that it could.
‘Gringo‘ is well written, the story makes sense, the characters are convincing, the dialogues are funny and sprinkled with good quality dark humor. The actors play in a relaxed manner and it is visible that they are having fun too. The genre of films dealing with organized crime and various types of trafficking on the US-Mexico border has produced many interesting films, most of them violent and dramatic. ‘Gringo‘ approaches this material in a lighter manner, but I think it’s worth watching, especially for those looking for quality entertainment on a hot summer’s day.