Has some Charm

Rating: 7/10 (23 June 2018)

I'll be honest with you and mention that half the reason I ended up watching this film was because I was captivated by the trailer for the sequel. Well, I guess the producers would be pretty happy with that, but then again I probably shouldn't get too caught up with trailers because sometimes they really don't tell you all that much about the film. Then again, I guess getting another opportunity to watch Thanos, or rather Josh Borlin, in action was going to suit me well.
As it turned out I didn't mind this film all that much, particularly since it was pretty much told from the perspective of Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) who is trying to work out what is going on. She starts off as an FBI agent working in the kidnap squad (give them points for that, since most of the time they are either working homicide or narcotics - kidnap is original) when she uncovers a house were a heap of bodies have been hidden in the walls (and how nobody actually smelled the stench in the entire neighbourhood, let alone as soon as they entered is beyond me - then again they might have been responding to a 'there is a putrid smell coming from next door' call, but why send the FBI, why not sanitation).
Anyway, she attracts the attention of Josh Brolin who asks if she wants to tag along for an operation. She invites her buddy along, only to discover that he isn't allowed into the airforce base, only to tag along for the rest of the film, you know, for somebody to actually talk to because Brolin and this Mexican friend (del Toro) are just so full of conversation. We can't have an actor suffering in silence, can we, especially since Brolin falls straight asleep as soon as they get on the private jet.
So, lets start with this whole going into Mexico and kidnapping a prisoner, only to have the entire police force, you know the ones who are just so effective against the drug lords, escort them through town and back again. Then there is the hugely packed road back into the United States, which conveniently gives the gangsters an opportunity to make a strike at them, when if these guys are like black ops, and have authority from on high, surely they could have used the less crowded opposite side of the road. Oh, and then there is all this CIA this, you know, they guess that he is CIA, but he denies it, and they all talk about how CIA aren't allowed to operate in the United States, only to suddenly have it revealed at the end that they can, if they are attached to a domestic agency, which is why we end up having all these FBI 'observers' on CIA missions. Surely, surely, surely they would have known that, but then again it would have undermined the big reveal, the 'we have been denying that he is CIA for the entire movie to suddenly admit that he is in fact CIA'.
Look, this movie isn't all that bad, a little slow at parts, though I did appreciate Kate 'only has one T-shirt in her entire wardrobe' Macer. Then again Blunt seems to play this tough characters pretty well, if some of her other films are anything to go by. Also the fact that the entire story is actually told from her perspective also gives this film a bit more panache than many of the other films do. A bit unrealistic in parts, but still good.