El Chicano

If you love The Punisher and Mayans MC, this movie is for you. Not a pretentious movie. Quite simple revenge movie but the main character is great, El Chicano. Love it for what is it, an action movie about a Mexican-American legend.

"El Chicano" has a limited release across the country and directed (and co-written) by Ben Hernandez Bray, distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment and produced by WarParty Films. Hernandez Bray is from the San Fernando Valley and of Irish and Mexican descent. He has been directing TV episodes of DC's Arrow and Super Girl series. Before his directing, he started as a stunt coordinator and his newest film explores a Latino "superhero" or "anti-hero", a vigilante in L.A. against gang and cartel subcultures complete with weapons and face mask adorned with pre-Columbian insignia .

It stars Raul Castillo, Aimee Garcia, Jose Pablo Cantillo, David Castaneda, Marco Rodriguez, Sal Lopez, Marlene Forte, Kate Del Castillo and George Lopez in a non-comic role. There is an interesting angle in the story as an urban war brews between Mexican nationals (cartel syndicates) and Mexican American communities ("El Chicano" is on this side). This film is dark, showing "barrio" culture steeped in violence.

Reviews have been both negative and positive; some feel the story takes too long to develop but it follows an "origin" story. While other reviews feel that when the action begins, it's strong with blood and violence. Considering that Hernandez Bray was a stunt actor and coordinator, this film delivers with fight action scenes and it's part of the AMC independent series.

If you are an avid movie watcher and lover you will likely recognize a lot of faces in this (from the latin/hispanic american acting community especially). And there are some surprise short instances of people popping up. There is also a lot of violence in there ... and some buddy bromance to a degree.

Quite a few things that I did like (including the thriller/cop part) ... but it also feels like the movie is dragging at places. Also there is not the connection I'd wish we establish and nourish. But it is what it is, for a low budget movie, this is quite well made ...

Okay, I went into this movie with high hopes. Watching the trailer reminded me of the Marvel character The Punisher and the Netflix hit series. The first hour of the movie was a snooze fest. It dragged on and took forever to develop the story. Once we get to some real action we find that the fight scenes although good in my opinion were not shot very well.

If you were going to see go to see Kate Del Castillo as a drug lord forget about it. The scene of here in the trailer is the extent of here active participation in this film. The acting in general was wooden and unconvincing and One other annoying aspect of this film was the the main character kept having flash backs to the same exact scene of his childhood over and over again. This is definitely a one time watch for me. If you go in not expecting much you may not be disappointed.

El Chicano (2 out of 5 stars).

El Chicano is that latino type of superhero with a story that plays like every origin superhero movie. But taking the concept and setting in East Los Angeles with cartel. However, the plot is forgettable. It is about twin brothers that are opposite with the law; one is an officer and the other is the opposite. When one loses his partner. He swears he will get revenge and kill anyone responsible. He covers himself up, wears a mask, and rides a motorcycle. Breaking into clubs and fight with the bad guys. The story is flat out dull. Every character is one dimensional and forgettable.

The acting is terrible. Everyone in the movie is giving a tedious performance. Every actor is delivering the same performance like the others. The script is emotionless, shallow, and dull.

It does have some action and shoot out sequences. The direction is just boring with characters that are really hard to care for. The script is missing the emotional connections with the good guys.

Overall, El Chicano is not that good of a superhero film. It is just a shallow action film with no emotional connections with the characters. The story is flat out boring and forgettable. Do not forget the actors in the movie seem very bored with the movie.