By Wyatt Robb
Staff Writer
In Spanish, the word “compadre” can mean “best friend” or “buddy.” Unfortunately, the new film “Compadres,” starring Latin actors Omar Chaparro and Aislinn Derbez is neither of those things.
Directed by Enrique Begne, “Compadres” lacks a linear plot and background information and is completely void of strong dialogue, leaving the viewer feeling exceptionally confused. Despite having a cliche, fairly boring story, the movie’s action scenes make it entertaining at some points.
The story takes place in Mexico, where detective Garza (Omar Chaparro) mourns the death of his fallen partner. He longs to take revenge on the cartel that murdered his friend, yet is not sure how. After returning home from work one evening, Garza finds that his pregnant girlfriend Maria (Aislinn Derbez) has been kidnapped by the same cartel that killed his partner.
In an attempt to save his girlfriend, Garza unites with an American hacker named Vic (Joey Morgan). Garza and Vic travel through Mexico, evading police and the ruthless cartel leader, Santos (Erick Elias) in their search for money and revenge.
The plot is unpredictable in the worst sense of the word. The movie starts off without a proper introduction and jumps straight into a gunfight, leaving the viewer clueless as to what the shooter’s motives are. From there on, the story climbs towards a climax, only to turn around in an attempt to provide the viewer with more background on the protagonists, making the overall plot less interesting.
The movie’s script is mediocre. Aside from a few scenes, the film is completely in Spanish with English subtitles. This would be acceptable if the script provided poignant and informative dialogue, however, the character’s lines are weak and hold little to no emotional value; regardless of language.
The bright spot in the film’s negatives is its action. There are a number of different explosions and gunfights that make the movie somewhat entertaining. With a budget of $3,000,000, there is no shortage of expert special effects and fight choreography. In that regard, the movie lives up to the standard set by other action movies this year. In one such scene, Garza drives into oncoming traffic, only to pull off the road at the last second forcing an oncoming truck to slam into a following police car and blow it up.
Chaparro does a decent job filling his role, Detective Garza, in non-emotional scenes. However, he is unequivocally sloppy when it comes time to show his anger or sadness. After his girlfriend is kidnapped by the cartel, Chaparro acts perplexed, but not at all upset. As a character, he is either funny and quick witted, or robotically monotonous. When he is not saying his cheesy yet somewhat amusing taglines, Chaparro is delivering a weak, almost unemotional performance.
“Compadres” is quite honestly not worth the ticket price. It is a strange, dull movie that completely lacks creativity. Out of five stars, the film barely deserves two. The movie is rated R and is only available in certain theaters around Los Angeles.
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