Mas o Menos....

Rating: 6/10 (29 January 2016)

Entertaining enough film which kept my attention for a couple of hours, but at the end of the day, wasn't fantastic.
The film had some very nice shots by Roger Deakins (which I suspect is why cenophiles are having orgasms over it)and made excellent use of "la tierra" in Mexico, the USA, and the desert between them. This is not Deakin's most impressive work, but it is a nice looking film.
The plot was straightforward and something we've seen many, many times in network TV shows and other movies...A do gooder, top of her class type Federal Agent gets involved with the (CIA?) and is shocked and horrified to learn her employer is working with the Medellin cartel (Benicio del Toro) to bring down a Mexican cartel, since apparently the Colombians are less crazy and chaotic than the Mexicans at smuggling drugs (lol). Naturally, the US of A wants to keep the operation under wraps which is where the conflict comes because the do good agent (Emily Blunt) doesn't approve of the methods.
The performances were good, but again, ruthless killer for a cartel (Del Toro), federal agent with a moral compass (Blunt), slightly eccentric, yet ruthless agent type (Brolin)? All are cookie cutter characters we've seen before so I just couldn't get into it. The one pleasant surprise was Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) making a nice cameo. It didn't wow me, but it was refreshing.
Either way, this film didn't make me feel anything particularly special. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. See it for yourself and make your own decision!