action

6

Castro (Argentina) – A Truly Original Action Film

Castro Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

Here’s a truly original action film. You’ll get to see some truly quirky (and Argentinian?) humour in this fast paced action comedy that you won’t see anywhere else. But even if you don’t understand why this trio is running all over town in search of one guy you can appreciate the cinematography (the editing and camera movement make it tick). Tune in for some Latin American fun!

Why Watch Castro?
  • You like your action films quirky and fast
  • You loved Naked Gun and Airplane! and want to see Argentina’s equivalent
  • For more films from Argentina’s El Pampero films – check out Extraordinary Stories for more great contemporary Argentine film
  • Watch out for the great score and cinematography
Breakdown

There’s a lot of running in the introduction to Castro. An awkward trio are chasing another guy across busy roads and city streets to a train station. Unfortunately for the trio, the guy they’re chasing disappears onto a train. At this point you’re probably thinking what the hell is going on!

And you’d be right to question. This isn’t your typical action movie. The characters are hilariously strange (almost on a Monty Python level). One of the spies hobbles around on crutches after injuring his leg and the guy they’re chasing always sleeps in closets. Argentine humour I guess?

Even if you’re not sold on the quirky humour, you can still appreciate the great editing. The fast paced feel comes directly from the editing. The camera moves along with runners and has a lot of moving close-ups which both reminded me (and might remind you) or the Oscar winning Birdman.

Conclusion

So if you love simple, quirky action films you’ll love Castro. It kind of reminded me of a mix between Robert Rodriguez’ El Mariachi and Monty Python. It’d fun, fast, and well made (look out for the cinematography).

For more Argentine films check out:

 

 

7

Waar (Pakistan) – The Pakistani Answer to The Expendables

Waar Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

If you love melodramatic action movies with loads of clichéd characters, you’ve got to watch Waar. It’s the Pakistani answer to the narco-peliculas (genre drug war films) of Mexico. Instead of drug cartels and undercover cops trying to assassinate the head capos you’ll see special forces trying to stop terrorists. Check it out here on Netflix if cheesy one liners are your thing!

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Why Watch Waar?
  • You love cheesy action movies such as The Expendables or Rambo: First Blood Part 2 with loads of hilarious one-liners
  • It’s ready for you to watch on Netflix
  • If you want to see a Pakistani film
  • For the melodrama – it’s on a par with the home-made drug cartel film you’ll find all across Mexico
The Breakdown

The good thing about Waar is that you know exactly what kind of film it is going to be from the opening minutes.

The film starts in a dimly lit interrogation room. One man smoking a cigarette sits opposite two men handcuffed to their chairs – it’s obvious who’s interrogating who. Then one of the prisoners says “we are not afraid of dying”. The interrogator responds by grabbing the speakers hand and firing a bullet into the back of it.

The interrogator is not there to mess around, and with this opening Waar:

  1. Grabs our attention
  2. Sets the scene for an action driven genre film

What else makes this film cheesy? Other than the one-liners, one-dimensional antagonist, and clichéd characters? Answer: the music. You’ll notice it when we are introduced to this ex-special forces agent who is accompanied by wailing singing as he arrives at the graves of his dead wife and son. You’ll also notice it when heavy metal music starts playing in the action films. Is the music necessary? No. But it does add to it’s cheesy action film credentials, a lot like the narco corridos (drug songs) that randomly interrupt the Mexican drug-genre films.

Conclusion and What to Watch Next

Unless you’re a big cult/genre action film fan or you love watching serious action movies for laughs, you might find Waar a bit too melodramatic.

If you’re looking for an action film with a better narrative and a bit less cheese I’d recommend checking out Drug War from China and Elite Squad from Brazil. Both are action films like Waar, but they both exclude the irrationally evil villain and melodrama.

Or if you love cheesy action films, go check out Rambo: First Blood, Predator, Die Hard, or most things with Sylvester Stallone, JCVD, Arnold Schwarzenegger, or Jason Statham.

Please also send all you’re Pakistani film recommendations to rowan@filmroot.com

 

8

Waltair Veerayya – Telugu Cinema Tackling the Unserious with Confidence

By Sebastian Torrelio

Waltair Veeraayya

It is perhaps not the most original sentiment in the world to declare a Telugu blockbuster interesting for subverting its tone, audience & subject, yet Waltair Veerayya, the newest from Bobby Kolli, has a blast doing so in spades. Waltair (Chiranjeevi) is a smuggler, often apparently a fisherman, hired by state police to extradite Solomon Caesar (Bobby Simha), a drug kingpin wanted for the murder of a slew of local authorities. Waltair hunts Solomon using his veritible tricks of the trade library – including such tactics as, disguising oneself in the villain’s hotel, wearing extremely noticeable attire, and bumbling around an airport with the crew.

The trailer for Waltair Veerayya, which gives some semblance of how this concept is supposed to come across, is a never-ending barrage of action shots in various settings with our lead placed squarely in the middle, as if kicking his enemies off the barriers of the screen for nearly three hours. What the trailer doesn’t reveal is how disorienting Kolli keeps his layered gang novela: the initial sequence of Solomon’s entrance promises a brutal story of “the beast hunter” meeting his prey. What follows could not be more mistakable for a common Telugu comedy, our lead a scruffy, drunken weirdo making every inconceivably silly intention a happy accident for the trueness of law enforcement.

At its best, Chiranjeevi—an actor no stranger to notoriously strange cinematic environments, but digging himself well into a charismatically aged humor here—leads an ensemble that comes across as tried and practiced with the sort of genre-mixed kerfuffle Kolli wants to embrace. The baffling whiplash from playing pants-down-level punchlines smoothly into serious, spotlight-coordinated corruption busting should be a lot more strained than this, and Waltair Veerayya‘s first half might as well feel part miracle for not allowing the actors to fall into tonal abyss.

Post-intermission leaves a lot to be desired, a commonplace travel back in time to the roots of Waltair’s true enemy, and true origins, that rides action de résistance far more than the wholesomely juggled first half. Where boring plot characters are interjected for sustenance, an entirely jarring final minutes at least makes up for what Kolli seems to be going for – memorable accountability, in spite of wanting so earnestly to play out the class clown role for himself.

Seen at Cinemark 18 & XD, Los Angeles

9

Kuttey (India) – An Insult to Global Action Influences

By Sebastian Torrelio

A defiant cry: “For the Revolution!” An undramatic cut sharpening a wooden facade, a blade lifted, an obvious prop blood squirter, and suddenly – a face rested decapitated. Kuttey is at least somewhat consistent in such bland motifs and imagery being used to create no motivational action.

Bhardwaj’s metaphorical tale on the animalistic tendencies of our most low-down gruesome criminals spills itself over three different perspectives, a concurrent narrative of outer-Mumbai seediness broken down into one gang’s interaction with another, and then another, each on the hunt for some dogged on-the-move cash flow.

Edited like a child was let loose with the footage, Kuttey plays a plethora of the book’s tricks: music preempts slowdowns of action for no reason besides to make shootouts seem cool; characters often don’t seem to know why they have to enter dialog scenes when intuition gathers – it would be easier to move onto the next opportunity to confront someone over drugs and guns.

India’s obsession with displaced timeline stories cannot survive an era of filmmakers unwilling to contend with how to keep the storytelling structure interesting, aside from names, gore, song queues and a really pompous intermission break. An action one isn’t interesting when you’re pacing your camera this slowly, when there is so little interaction between targets on-screen hidden by slow pans to other foes shooting from offscreen. Ended again, of course, by the overly dramatic slow-mo.

The film’s central young couple, portrayed by Radhika Madan and Shardul Bharadwaj, stop the film dead in its tracks. Madan brings an unbridled level of perceived mischievousness not only for the crime-adjacent world her family and loved ones place her in, but for her own curious mind, a soul willing to steer the film into a risk-fraught location (read: sex and intrigue) above something spoiled by bullet cases and fake blood splatters. It’s meant to thematically appeal to a traditionally masculine audience yet somehow plays more like a channel flip on an old television set, the brutalist Kuttey unfurled as a more sensitive homestead tale.

If the grand message at play is that crime is indefensible, then maybe so much of the film, namely its resolution, shouldn’t be played with this much animosity. Kuttey doesn’t value its own stock of human emotions well enough to make any considerate plays of its web of characters, choosing instead to let them fall into the pulpy pile of warnings and conflict foreboding.

Seen at Cinemark 18 & XD, Los Angeles

10

Finished Narcos? Here’s 8 Drug War Films You Need to Watch

If you’ve finished Narcos and are already experiencing withdrawal symptoms here’s 8 Drug War films you need to watch!

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Yes, you might have finished Narcos already but there are plenty of great drug war films which more than stack up to the series. If you’ve seen all the eight films below and want more recommendations leave a comment or email me here. If you haven’t seen any of the films below or Narcos, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do! No time like the present.

8. Scarface

Scarface: the old classic. It’s full of recognizable quotes and has a hit performance from Al Pacino. There’s plenty of violence, hard drugs, and strong language.

7. Sicario

Sicario: the modern classic. It takes place on the streets of the once murder capital of the world, Juarez, Mexico. You’ll see a group of FBI agents sent to the border town to try and take down the dominant drug cartel. The last scene is a nail biter.

6. Miss Bala

Miss Bala is a brutal portrayal of the Mexican drug war. The film is loosely based on the true story of 2012’s Miss Sinaloa who was arrested with suspected cartel members. It’s definitely not a happy film.

5. Maria Full of Grace

This Colombian film is the ultimate film about the perils of drug smuggling. In fact the performance from actress Catalina Sandino Moreno is so eerily convincing she was nominated for an Oscar.

4. City of God

One of the best films made ever. City of God tells the story of Rocket and Lil Ze, one becomes a drug lord, the other becomes a photographer trying to make it amidst all the turf wars. The fast paced editing and narrative are exactly what you want following Narcos. And don’t trust this strange 90s-esque trailer.

3. El Infierno

Aha! Unless you’re a drug war film pro you’ve probably never heard of this film. And if you haven’t heard of it you are missing out. It’s the best drug-war comedy in existence. It satirises the narcos, the police, and the government, Luis Estrada (the director) holds everyone accountable. And, as an added bonus, the main character is played by Narcos Drug Lord Gilberto Orejuela.

2. Traffic

Traffic is the best American Drug War film. It has an incredible cast: Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In addition, it’s broken into 3 storylines: one following a policeman in Mexico, another with DEA agents tracking a don, and another with the drug czar of the U.S. and his junkie daughter.

1. Elite Squad

Last but not least, here’s my favourite, the Brazilian Elite Squad. First thing you should notice is the main actor is the same guy that plays Pablo Escobar (yes Spanish is not his native language). Second you’ll notice that he’s on the other side – he’s playing a cop! It’s also directed by the same guy that directed Narcos. Three things which combine to make the ultimate substitute to Narcos! Plus the sequel is even better than the first!