Elite Squad: Im Sumpf der Korruption

This is by far the best movie of the year!

I enjoyed the first movie very much but the sequel even surpasses that. The story is more complex and keeps you interested and involved all the way. The central character is again Roberto Nascimento who is now more mature, as the story is set 13years later than the first movie. His enemies are corrupted policemen and politicians who prove to be much bigger threat than the drug lords as they have political power to influence Nascimento's position. Nascimento will have to adapt and learn to fight on other fields using new methods.

This time we also learn more about Nascimento's family and his relationship with them, especially with his adolescent son.

I saw the film in its world premiere in Paulinia, São Paulo. !.500 people in the audience. Perhaps, 1/3 industry members and 2/3 non-industry members. It was a collective catharsis, I only remember a group experience of the same intensity watching Crouching Tiger in its Cannes premiere.

The audience applauded the film five times, the last a standing ovation. Capitão Nascimento has become the alter ego of every Brazilian, seeking a secure place to live. I think the film will find an echo in neighboring Latin American countries.

Compared to Tropa de Elite 1, the second delivery is a much more mature picture, a deeper look into the issues that plague every Latin American major city- citizen's security, human rights, and political responsibility.

Since City of God, I have not seen such a round and impactful film about the social reality in Brazil. Remarkable work of José Padilha, Braulio Mantovani with a seamless screenplay. Lula Carvalho's precise work as a DOP, Daniel Rezende's brilliant editing, not to mention Wagner Moura's surprising delivery as a mature Nascimento.

A total must see, and absolute award season favorite

I know I'm not supposed to link to other dynamic content here on IMDb, but I think it's worth pointing fellow users to order reviews by Prolific Authors, then read Cláudio de Carvalho's review to this movie. It is the only one of all reviews here, and I've read them, which has accurate information in a well-written form. There's little to add to what Cláudio already said, but if you're still not convinced, there are some extra stuff going on in and around this movie to incite your curiosity.

First, the context, time and social appraisal this movie has received on the box-office weekend is even more complicated than we once thought. I'd just like to say I'm not a sucker for ratings or box-office earnings, but the fact that it toppled any other movie in Brazilian theaters, national or not, is obviously noteworthy.

One month or so after the movie premiered, the actual BOPE was critical, alongside Brazil's Army and Rio State civil and military police, not to mention the huge political circus involved therein - on what's been infamously called The Invasion of the Complexo do Alemão, a huge gathering of equally enormous favela "clusters".

It was the start of a new era on the fight against corruption, organized crime and political inaction. Or so we're led to believe. It turns out not only the anti-hero Captain Nascimento is next to irrelevant on the fight against the Powers that Be, but so is pretty much everyone else.

Some people - myself included - have speculated that politicians used the upside-down popularity of the movie to go ahead with the invasion in the Alemão. I don't know where Padilha stands on this, but I think I have a quite good idea on where he stands, as far as idolizing the police, BOPE, Nascimento or violent acts of any sort go. But who would have thought? We're THIS stupid. Fortunately, the Invasion was bloodless. Yes, fortunately and extremely weird.

Anythewho... Add to that another unexpected impact of the movie on police crackdown on illegal DVD sales. While the first one notoriously skyrocketed pirate DVD purchases, which contributed to its fast insertion on public culture - the second one was remarkably unseen, or with good quality, in the streets with the camelôs.

Overall, I'd classify this movie as a masterpiece on its own. I took 2 points out of it for being a sequel, but I'm torn and seriously considering changing to 10/10. "City of God" didn't have a sequel, and it's good just like that. In the other hand, if we didn't have this sequel, we wouldn't have such a powerful and strong movie, one that speaks deep - or should - to our innermost misconceptions about poverty and the mind-numbing War on Drugs.

Unfortunately, the Steven Seagal-esque Brazil took a stand and it wasn't the one I like the most. People in power or not have and will keep misconstruing Padiha's work because we're just like that, we love to choose the moron way.

This is a completely different movie from Tropa de Elite 1. That movie was about a few guys and their personal stories as they deal with crooked cops. They were a hindrance to good police work but not really a menace, more an annoyance. This movie is all about real deep- seated corruption in Brazil. The bad guys here are actually evil and ruthless, and as a result the stakes are higher for the protagonists.

The good: just as memorable action scenes, although there were less of them. The story had several twists and turns and it was fascinating overall

The bad: Character development seemed to have taken a back seat here to the grand narrative. The distinct personalities of the first movie are kind of reduced. Andre Matias is the biggest example of this, and I was disappointed with what they did with him. Cpt. Nascimento's wasn't nearly as bad-ass or imposing as in TdE1.

I recommend this to anyone who likes a good crime movie with a message. I'm not Brazilian but this movie still made me think.

9/10

I'll say one thing right off the bat, this movie is incredible. I saw it in a packed theater at the Sundance film festival and I've never heard louder applause from an audience. I would recommend watching the first film, just because its also very good and introduces all the characters. However, this film stands on its own. The director sought to make this stand out from the first film and he succeeded. This has fantastic action, great dialogue, and some hilarious dark humor. But most of all, its intelligent, its extremely well made, it's not plagued with any awkward or out of place moments. For some viewers, this film might actually be a learning experience. If you want to see an action film that isn't 90% action and 10% plot. If you want something that's hardcore, fearless, and has a message, this is it. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.