SoftInloveRox Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Leofwine_draca EL NINO is a flawed Spanish thriller from expert director Daniel Monzon (THE KOVAK BOX) who creates a stylish and fine-looking movie saddled with, unfortunately, a somewhat meandering and overlong plot. The narrative clocks in at around two hours and fifteen minutes in length, but at least forty-five minutes of that running time could readily have been excised in order to make a better paced, more exciting film.The setting is Gibraltar, which looks exceptionally beautiful thanks to the cinematography, and the subject is the drug smuggling route to Morocco and back. There's a tableau of characters, the best of whom are the investigating drug agents led by Luis Tosar (SLEEP TIGHT), but the bad news is that they're off-screen for long stretches of time, leaving the film in the hands of a less experienced cast. Instead we follow youthful drug smuggler Nino and his attempts to make a fortune from the trade.The problem the film has is that Nino just isn't a very interesting character and the guy playing him is a bit wooden. He's very self-centred and out for what he can get, and the actor just doesn't have the charisma to make him likable at all. A romantic sub-plot between him and a Moroccan girl is almost unwatchable, it's so dull. Monzon does shoot a handful of chase scenes typically involving boats and helicopters which are expertly done, so it's a shame he couldn't focus more on the thrills rather than the padding; if he'd done so then EL NINO was shaping up to be a minor classic of its genre. As it stands, it's just average.

movies-by-db I went into this film having seen some of the directors other work. I loved "Celda 211" and the crazy adventure-fantasy "El Corazon del Guerrero" (absolute must see). So I had pretty high hopes. I was however slightly disappointed. A pretty bland and in my opinion uninspired film. Yes, it had some great action sequences, even though I wouldn't go as far as to call this an action movie, and some great locations and visuals. But it was a pretty routine rise and fall story of a trio of young friends wanting to make it in the big boys business. For me it was lacking the tension this type of 'cops and criminals' film needs. An edge and rawness that "Celda 211" most definitely did have.The best parts for me were amongst the policemen and -women. They were also the best played out and parts acted. Louis Tosar is always great and I hope we will (and already are) be seeing more of him in international productions. It was the young ones that didn't quite nail it. A trio of pretty simply written characters (even reminding me of early John Woo characters, like in "A Better Tomorrow"). The Halil character was just to young and innocent looking for the part, the overzealous Compi was the cliché dumb guy and sometimes pretty annoying and the steelblue eyed Nino didn't really have that many expressions and came over pretty wooden. Even when he meets and eventually courts the beautiful Amina, his demeanor doesn't change at all. All this plus an underused (permanently hidden behind sunglasses) Ian McShane made a potentially great story a disappointing view.Comparable in subject matter but way more exhilarating are "The Business" and the recent "Gibraltar".

Tom Dooley El Nino lives in La Linea just outside the Rock of Gibraltar; he earns a meagre living repairing other peoples' luxury boats. One night his best mate Compi talks him into doing something to earn a bit of extra cash and he introduces him to Halil. Hali's uncle, Rashid, is a big time drug smuggler and he uses the short route across the straits of Gibraltar to get the drugs across from Africa. El Nino and co are soon put to work dodging the cops on the dangerous run.We also have the police in the shape of duo Jesus and Alma who have been after these guys for two years. They have been focusing on El Ingles (Ian McShane) who operates on UK territory from the Rock and is outside their jurisdiction. But the drug guys have more cash than is decent and are allegedly bribing the cops to get the job done - badly. We also have the affairs of the heart that are at the centre of the main protagonist's lives and more than a fair dose of action. This is not high octane but it is full of thrills and at a run time that exceeds two hours it is impressive that I was kept hooked until the very end.This is from director Daniel Monzon who also brought us 'Cell 211' which was rather good too. If he keeps up the quality with films like this then I think he will have a very bright future. In Spanish with some English and with good sub titles - this is one for those who like a bit of action but also a good helping of well construed plot to accompany the thrills.

peter-eldon When the wickedest pair of eye brows meets the coolest set of starring ice cold eyes in film history your up for one hell of a Spanish drug duel in this Spanish speaking action drama by Director and Writer Daniel Monzón. With the beautiful scenes of Gibraltar and Morocco in the background, some really well shot and cool actions scenes with a tricky helicopter high speed boat chase and an awesome car pursuit through the city and beaches you sure got everything you need for speed. A Spanish story about love, loyalty, dreams, ambition and the way the world works all packed in a strained and brutal ongoing drug trade between Gibraltar and Morocco!/ Peter A Eldon. 2014-11-12.