231. Gringo; movie review

GRINGO
Cert 15
110 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, violence, sex references

Is Joel Edgerton particularly popular among his fellow actors?
I was just wondering how such an A-list cast were brought together for his brother's mainstream directorial debut.
Nash Edgerton's movie stars David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried and Thandie Newton but has been one of the box office disappointments of 2018.
Actually, Theron might be persuader-in-chief because she produced Gringo.
Anyway, the movie surrounds a hapless but loyal employee (Oyelowo) of a dodgy drugs company whose ruthless management (Joel Edgerton and Theron) are trying to make illegal big bucks before pulling the plug.
As part of their scheme they have become embroiled with criminal gangs south of the border down Mexico way.
Meanwhile, Amanda Seyfried plays a naive young woman, holidaying with her evasive boyfriend (Harry Treadaway) who is obviously up to no good.
There are echoes of films such as In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths about Gringo with the dialogue even more quickfire than the plethora of heavy guns.
Gringo's pace is head-spinning - the action transfers from place to place at dazzling speed and characters flit in and out of the storyline with equal speed.
It is evident that it is out of the comfort zone of some of the cast - Joel Edgerton, for example, struggles with the dark comedy.
However, there is a stand-out contribution from Oyelowo and Theron and Seyfriend again demonstrate their versatility.
But I could help thinking that, despite having some attractive moments, Gringo tries to cover too many bases and its gags fail to have a cutting edge.
Oh, I nearly forgot - Paris Jackson has a cameo part which was spiky enough to make me want to see more of her.

Reasons to watch: fans of the In Bruges-style, comedy shoot-out genre should enjoy it
Reasons to avoid: It flits around too much

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 6.5/10

Director quote - Nash Edgerton: "“My brother couldn’t be a more generous, loving person, so to get him to play such a douchebag was really good fun."

The big question - How was such a stellar cast persuaded to join such a relatively low-key production?

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