Tequila Sunrise

Now after saying that, let me say this. I do not think it is his best movie. I realize he has made much better movies. This movie is flawed but if you look hard enough everything is flawed. The reason this is my favorite Mel Gibson movie is A: Mel's performance, it was very good. Probably not his best but he plays paranoid well. B: Raul Julia he was awesome in this. Same with Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell. Next is the story. A tale of a drug dealer trying to clean up his life to impress a restaurant owner, but is derailed by everyone else in his life. His brother is trying to set him up, his high school buddy is trying to stop but not bust him, and steal his would be girl. His other old friend who is supposedly the biggest dealer in Mexico is trying to get him back into dealing. His ex-wife wants his money, the DEA wants him in jail, his lawyer isn't really helping and all his kid wants is his attention. This is a character the has every reason to trust no one and still tries although he is usually right and shouldn't. To me this is a fun film with interesting characters doing what should be uninteresting things. True it all ends in true hollywierd fashion but seeing Michelle Pfeiffer looking great in some power woman suits and Kurt Russell looking like a 50's cigarette poster and trying to be slick is fun. Plus the performance by J.T Walsh (one of my favorite character actors) as the seedy DEA agent makes this worth the time.

Many perceive Tequila sunrise to be a routine, formulaic cop thriller with some nice sets, pretty actors, some guns, some sex....etc. Cynics go on to say that Gibson has never acted worse, that the plot twists are predictable and the love triangle is overly cheesy. I, on the other hand, feel that the film profits greatly from expert cinematography, fluent storytelling and convincing(albeit rather undemanding)acting. Pitting Gibson (the now-retired drug dealer lured back for one last deal) and Russell (the reluctant sheriff assigned to bust him) as best of friends on opposite sides of the law was a strong premise, made even more compelling by the fact that the drug dealer (Gibson) is the sympathetic character and the cop (Russell) is the sly, manipulative sort. There is an apparent sense of irony and it goes a long way to making an otherwise average story, interesting and very watchable. Pfeiffer is the glamorous love interest whose character does a lot to intensify the rivalry between the two men. Much of the drama and strength however comes from the late J.T Walsh as Russell's superior, hell bent on bringing Gibson down and his Mexican drug counter-part who nobody has ever seen. A special sense of irony presents itself at the denouement for Walsh unknowlingly becomes a pawn in the drug ring that has now become the talk of the town thanks to his vendetta.

The also late Raul Julia never disappoints as the charismatic yet enigmatic Mexican law enforcer. Julia and Walsh complement the film beautifully as side characters with dubious intentions. They are multi-faceted and like all the other people in this film are torn between what they should do and what they want to do, and in fact what they end up doing. Nothing is black and white in Tequila Sunrise; it's a very grey area. With every development we learn more about the people and how they are so far from being what we originally perceived. Hats off to to Robert Towne for his writing. Tequila Sunrise may lack the inventiveness, vision, and dynamism of Chinatown (Robert Towne wrote both scripts), but it should, by no means be discarded as a mediocre cop thriller.It is a very slick piece of cinema with fine acting, glamorous sets, and great dialogue. Furthermore, unlike some of it's predecessors it's a film that can be seen repeatedly without losing it's cutting edge. Under appreciated and underrated, Tequila Sunrise is an excellent film

All in all, I really like this movie. The chemistry is definitely there, and the cinematography is excellent (I love the scene where Mac and Nick are talking while sitting on the swings, in pure silhouette).

Occasionally the dialog does seem stilted, like when Nick's character is telling Joanne how much he wants to see her that night. And you really wonder how Nick has his job, with all of the compromises he makes for relationships (as with Mac and Joanne).

But, Mel Gibson's eyes when he tells Michelle Pfeiffer about his interest in her... swoon! And there's a literally steamy love scene involved that is one of my all-time favorites.

All in all, the whole movie is a very interesting commentary on friendship and the ties that bind. 1) Friendship is the only choice you have in life (you can't choose your family...) vs 2) at some point friendship's obligations can go beyond the real life of the friendship itself.

Raul Julia has a great speech about that in this movie. Seeing this made me miss him all over again!

This movie has a cast to die for; Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Raul Julia, J.T. Walsh, Arliss Howard. It makes you wonder though why they all ever agreed to appear in this movie. It's a waste of their talents really, since the movie its script doesn't provide the movie with anything interesting or exciting. Instead it more often confuses and bores.

I was real disappointed by the movie its script. While '80's police movies also aren't exactly know for their great or original stories but this story is even worse than usual. In the end you just stop carrying about anything that is happening in this movie or for any of its characters, since the movie has dragged along for far too long. The movie is lacking a certain depth with its story. In all honesty the movie really didn't started off too bad but its one of those movies that gets worse by the minute. In the end it makes you regret you've ever watched it.

It's sad that not even the great cast could put some life into the movie and its story. It's also a rather unknown movie from each of the movie its actors. They still try their very best but no, I can't really say it helps much. Although it of course is certainly true that the presence of actors such as Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kurt Russell, Raul Julia and J.T. Walsh still uplifts the movie. I mean, with a totally different and unknown cast the movie would had been far worse for sure.

What the movie is lacking is some good action. It would at least had made the movie more interesting to watch. And when you have an '80's action-star such as Mel Gibson in your movie, why not use that? Instead now the movie feels like a movie done action-crime-thriller movie style but without any action in it and also without much thriller elements, since the movie is just not exciting or original enough to allow any of these elements to completely work out.

The movie also suffers from an horrible '80's music curse; the '80's music! It's so dreadful, hearing constantly some idiot playing his saxophone as loud as he can, with an occasional guitar and drums joining in. It's a score you can normally expected in a bad porn-flick.

Oh well, it's not exactly as if this is THE worst movie ever made but it also isn't exactly a movie I would recommend to anyone, despite the presence of some good big names in it.

5/10

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A story that meanders and sort of goes nowhere despite the best of intentions. Nice cinematography and great cast though, Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell bounce well off each other as two old friends on opposite sides of the law. Michelle Pfeiffer is a perfect addition as the woman they both fall for.

I remember liking this movie when I originally saw it, way back when but this time around not so much. Hideously dated sax music throughout -as all the movies from this time 80s tended to have- was partially to blame but the whole story just felt a bit dry.

On the plus side the cast is superb Raul Julia steals every scene he's in as Carlos the charismatic dealer, Kurt is sleazy with his cocky cop attitude, cigarettes and slicked back hair, determined to get the girl and bring down his old friend. He actually reminded me of Dano from Hawaii five-0. Michelle Pfieiffer is beautiful and lovely as per, a sweet romance there. Yeah poor Mel, nobody will believe he's gone straight.