Miss Bala (2019)

Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke | 104 minutes | action, crime | Actors: Gina Rodriguez, Thomas Dekker, Vivian Chan, Barbarella Pardo, Cristina Rodlo, Sebastián Cano, Gaby Orihuela, Damián Alcázar, Ricardo Abarca, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Erick Delgadillo, Mikhail Plata, Jorge Humberto Millan Mardueño, Roberto Sarmiento,

The cover of ‘Miss Bala’ promises a nice spicy action movie in which a beautiful lady and a machine gun demand the attention. In this case Gina “Jane The Virgin” Rodriguez. What at first glance looks like a clone of ‘Everly’ (the Salma Hayek vehicle from 2014) turns out to be a kind of low-calorie light version of ‘Sicario’ in practice. Never judge a book by it’s cover so…

‘Miss Bala’ revolves around Gloria Meyer (Rodriguez). This beauty pageant winner witnesses a murder. She is then forced by a gangster boss to work for him and keep her mouth shut. She soon finds herself in a dangerous game played by the CIA, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the gang leader.

‘Miss Bala’ is marketed as an action film, but that is a matter of wrong marketing. The chances are very slim that someone who likes violent fights, hail of bullets and brutal stunts will be very happy with this production. This film by Catharine Hardwicke promises a lot, but delivers little. Something that applies to the entire oeuvre of this lady. Think about it: ‘Twilight’ is about vampires but is a swoon movie for teenage girls. ‘Red Riding Hood’ promised a movie about werewolves, but lost itself in a frumpy mystery. ‘Miss Bala’ is about drug cartel and gangs, but mainly about a beauty queen who ends up in the wrong place.

The action is boring, the acting not very strong and the story flat. What remains is a dull film with a mushy heroine, an idiotic finale and a cringe-inducing beginning. If a movie opens with a scene accompanied by a song that almost literally sings what can be seen in the scene, you are down 1-0. That’s just contempt for your audience.

‘Miss Bala’ is a superfluous movie. Nice for the cast and crew who made some money with this, but the rest of the world can forget about this film as soon as possible.