Disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (23 October 2015)

Much was promised about the tension in this film and it's true it did have it's moments. However, most of this was sustained by the dramatic background music and not the story itself.
The plot itself is straightforward enough. A disenchanted Mexican/Colombian agent/drug dealer (we never find out which) seeks revenge on the criminal mastermind who had his family slaughtered. He's ably supported by various US govt agents who, apart from Blunt's character, seem quite happy to run roughshod over the Constitution as the end justifies the means. Doesn't it?
Blunt struggles with this moral dilemma and reacts to the horror she witnesses mainly by looking like a rabbit caught in the headlights or throwing a tantrum. We're supposed to believe that she stays with this abhorrent mission (which she is reminded she volunteered for) because of her deep rooted desire to get to the real bad men in the drugs trade but which conflicts with her equally well founded belief in the law and due process. Oh, what a dilemma.
Benicio del Toro is excellent of course but, to be frank, if Bruce Willis could speak Spanish he would have got this part, such was the skill required to pull this off.
Sad to report that in an industry where there are so few "hero" roles for women, this could have been the chance to give us another Ripley but what we got was more like a small child not getting her own way.
The cinematography was first class with some excellent night vision scenes that, in my opinion, were novel and moody. The general "feel" was worthy of a much better and original plot and script.
Shame - an opportunity missed