Superb action film with a running sociological analysis and redemption story.

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2009)

Leave your reason behind and get carried away by this relentless movie of another "justice whatever the cost" "enforcer", but this time, well filmed, acted, and with a woman that can hold a gun. And without any unnecessary "love interest". Which was your favourite scene? Mine was the moment before "crossing the bridge" near the end *(can't say more for obvious reasons). Like in Gladiator, but probably creating far better empathy for it's more related to "something we could all eventually do". The scene with "Fuentes" (the Mexican chief of the brotherhood) is also very good, even funny in a sick sort of way. The kind of image you remember long after the film is gone. The script is perfect, just following Poe's "rule" of "not one word in vain". Thanks to Amazon I just learnt the auteur is Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, L.A. Confidential). A good story can make or break a movie, no better proof than this one! Unlike in Gladiator, here our hero has a black past to expiate, no family to be lost and then revenged. He's got to overcome himself. As the film presupposes a religious view, we sort of know how things have to turn out. Notice the importance of religion: Casey's knowledge by heart of the Bible, and even Samuel's plush sanctuary at his home, full of candles, obviously built for bargaining with the Guadalupana Virgin.
The fight at the shanty town is VERY real. The film is not (where did all the dwellers go? How did the dirty copper get caught by a single man?) but we don't want " reality principle" to be part of our films, right :)? Characters: Casey, a "philosophical copper" who can learn to feel sorry for something external to himself steals the movie, the rest of characters are just filling up space, making things happen. He's no dumb killing machine, notice how he deals with "Samuel" among others. G. Giannini plays a small yet pivotal role. Pita is lovable, but doesn't overdo it or get sticky. Such gift for acting is rarely seen. Lisa is ethereal but not as stupid as we'd expect from her stereotyped role. Walken and Rourke act as naturally as we breathe.
"Sociology": Daniel Sanchez "family first", Lisa's passivity & machismo and the whole contrast between the isolated ultra rich and the numerous very poor is what sets this film apart from Chuck Norris, Stallone, Van Damme and all the other blockbusters with the same disregard for "society" and good taste. The phrase: "I-I'm a professional" shows how when the system is corrupt, no individual action could bring lasting change. I think for those of us who inhabit a third world country, this film just shows the future, if not the present if we open our eyes.
Director: Judging from his filmography, this is definitely Tony Scott's Masterpiece! It's hard to believe somebody who made films from Spy Game downwards could achieve something really well done but it's good to remain open minded. Luckily I didn't pay attention to who the director was when I saw it, I humbly recommend the viewer to to the same. I suspect the brothers mustn't be very nice people "Philosophically" this film is of course dangerous: "Justice by your own hands" leads to an anomic society, and probably even a corrupt state is relatively better than "might makes right" alla Thrasymachus (Plato's Republic's). Jeff Shannon on Amazon is as usually accurate: "both repellently violent and viscerally absorbing". What glues all together: Music is fine (I couldn't help crying in the end), moving but not overbearing. Photography is just the best, finding beauty where there is none. Edition is alluring but a bit overdone, "it borrows heavily from MTV videos" as "Flagrant-Baronessa" on IMDb writes on another of Tony's lesser films, "Domino".
Remember: "there's no such thing as tough".
The sheep that got lost.
PS: By the way, this film "endures a 2nd viewing" as J. L. Borges would quip. In fact I just saw it for the third time on air TV, dubbed into Spanish, and I also felt for Casey, so I guess this proves what a good product it is.