When green lighting or distributing a movie, the potential backers of the film have to weigh up certain considerations. On paper you could see why a film distributor might have a problem with a Western (a commercially dubious genre), set in Mexico (not the more bankable U.S.) starring two women (wasn't the Wild West supposed to be a male dominated world) and written by a Frenchman (nuf said). But when it was revealed that that film would star Latino hotties Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, they should have been clamoring to get that puppy into theatres. That movie was Bandidas and, alas, it was released straight to DVD.
The fools. Bandidas is from the minds of Robert Mark Kamen and Luc Besson, the team behind The Transporter, Kiss Of The Dragon, Danny The Dog, Taken...and the whole sub-genre of bullshit Euro-thrillers that are fun, fun, fun. This Western is certainly no different, blending a buddy action movie with the sophisticated European direction that defines all the above movies. Much less brutal in tone than something like Taken, this is a light adventure film in the vein of Mask Of Zorro that would make a great Boxing Day afternoon treat. For it's $35 million budget it's a rich, sumptuous film and doesn't disappoint on the action front.
Best of all is the interaction between it's leads. The gorgeous Cruz (playing the poor, uneducated, feisty partner) and the voluptuous Hayek (playing the rich, sheltered, feisty partner) are great, putting their heart and soles into a female buddy dynamic that's rarely seen in cinema. And as a bonus, you get the goofy Steve Zahn bumbling around, as the beautiful ladies squabble for his attention.
Fun, sexy as hell and sadly overlooked.
1 comment:
I watched this a while ago. Didn't do anything for me aside from the obvious. Perhaps I will try again
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