It’s always interesting to see remakes of gritty foreign films by American production companies. The Mexican Miss Bala was a dark, gritty crime thriller about a woman trying to find her way out of a bad situation between drug dealers and drug enforcement agencies. The American remake of the film is a much lighter film by comparison.
The most notable improvement between the two is Gina Rodriguez, the titular Miss Bala. She’s going to be a star sooner than you expect. Everything else about the film is forgettable.
Simple premise. Gloria (Rodriguez) heads into Mexico to do the makeup of her friend (Cristian Rodlo) for a beauty contest. When her friend is kidnapped, and Gloria goes looking for her, Gloria winds up deep between the cartels, the DEA and all sorts of shenanigans.
It’s a solid film and worth a rental but the better version of the first; a good comparison for this film is to the American version of The Secret in Their Eyes and the Argentine version. Both are solid films but there’s something that gets lost when you translate some foreign films into an American version.
A handful of EPK pieces are included but nothing of significance.
presents . Directed by Catherine Hardwicke. Written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. Starring Gina Rodriguez, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Cristina Rodlo, Damian Alcazar, Anthony Mackie. Run Time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13. Released on DVD: 4.29.19
