Gun City

Once you finish watching you will recognize that the political is not direct as you see it, and this is not new, this started hundreds years ago

Since I live in Spain I've been watching more and more Spanish movies and there are some really good movies made here. La Sombra De La Ley falls just under that category. Luis Tosar is an actor I recognize now as he's been in a couple good movies. La Sombra De La Ley (I have no clue why they translate this as Gun City) is probably not the best movie where Luis Tosar plays in but it's worth watching. To me it was just a bit too long and sometimes a bit confusing as well so more than a six star rating it won't get from me. The acting, directing were all positive, the plot just not perfect.

All action with no expense spared and with good story line, acting and directing. Historically interesting if not totally factual. You will enjoy it I'm sure if you're not put off by lots of gun battles and blood.

The movie takes place in Barcelona in early 20's. The movie begins with an espectacular what-it-used-to-look-like overview of the Catalan capital. The films is beautifully shot, and details are well taken care of, such as fashion, cars, street cars, building, decorations, and even the beginning of the construction of Sagrada Familia, however the director takes too much joy into twisting the camera. By the same token, some fighting scenes are confusing by the lack of stability of the picture.

The plot keeps the audience intrigued and lets them judge who the good guys and vilants of the story are.

What the movie puts unabashedly on the table is a social denunciation: who wants war and why.

Firstly, I definitely liked the movie, and the acting was spot on, from a largely veteren and well-known (at least by Spanish standards) cast.

The plot is intriguing, has enough twists and turns to keep you interested (though a few seem confusing, and some poor editing choices therefore feels may have been at play), and it does all come together to an engaging denouement at the final scene, with a decent ending as well.

However a couple of the flaws. Chiefly the setting in terms of location, it is so obviously filmed in Galicia and not in Catalonia by anyone who's ever even just been to Spain, that it becomes at times off-putting. The greenery, level of rain, architecture of the urban locations, the sea obviously the Atlantic and not the Mediterranean etc. all contribute to finding it difficult to escape into the setting and believing it; i don't see why if Galicia was chosen for filming that the same film couldn't have been set in Vigo, A Coruña or Ferrol, and if it did have to be Barcelona un order to make the plot be more sellable to foreign audiences, then more outdoor filming should have taken place in Catalonia. Secondly the guns are all over the place in terms of what weapons were available in Spain at the time, too much so to be believable, and again it distances one from engaging into the setting. A final criticism would be that the fights although well chereographed, are filmed too much in the style of peaky blinders.

Taking all those points aside however, still a solid film, and better than a lot out there on Netflix.