Bad Yankee

The most interesting thing about EL GRINGO is that it was shot in Sofia, Bulgaria which successfully stands in for Mexico. I would have thought the two countries couldn't be further apart but they do a pretty convincing job here. A shame, then, that the film itself is so pedestrian, with a lack of story really slowing things down. Some shaky, bleached-out cinematography doesn't help much either. Scott Adkins plays the usual drifter type who arrives in a corrupt town and soon finds himself battling a criminal gang. There's a fair bit of action, some of which is quite good, but it never really burns up the screen as a good action movie should. If you want to see a great Adkins movie from this era, check out UNIVERSAL SOLDIER: DAY OF RECKONING.

First of all, I haven't seen Get The Gringo, so I won't compare the two. Now, El Gringo has a small plot; Man has a bag, hides in Mexico, and once people find out there's a large amount of money in the bag, they hunt him down. There's a couple of twists and turns, which are poorly executed. The acting isn't Oscar worthy, the dialogue is pure cheese, the humor feels out of place, the editing is effed up choppy, but the action sequences are awesome and was enough to hold my interest. I'd say it's the type of movie I'd have playing in the background while I'm doing other things. Just because I'm giving it a low rating doesn't mean it's bad.

4/10

I won't write a long review, going into detail, because this film isnt put there to judge in that way. It's cheap, corny, greatness!! Adkins acting in this is one of his best performances and some of the action is bang on!! It isn't your usual Scott Adkins taekwondo fest but to be honest it's all the better for it. Turn on, tune in cop out.

'EL GRINGO': Four Stars (Out of Five)

Eduardo Rodriquez directed this Scott Adkins action vehicle for After Dark Films (as part of their expansion into the action genre). It was written by Jonathan Stokes and produced by action master Joel Silver! It costars Yvette Yates, Erando Gonzalez and Christian Slater. The film is a great throwback to spaghetti westerns and other old school action films and continues to showcase the remarkable talents of Scott Adkins as a new leading man action hero.

Adkins plays a DEA agent (who is never named, in true spaghetti western fashion) who is setup and attacked in the middle of the dessert. His partners are killed but he manages to escape (after killing the gunmen who attacked him). He stages his own death and flees into Mexico with a bag full of drug money. He runs into hostility there wherever he goes as the locals don't seem to want him in their town. He finds a little help from a local bar owner (Yates) but soon finds a ton of opposition from the local corrupt sheriff (Gonzalez), and his drug cartel thugs, as well as his old DEA boss (Slater), who tracks him down.

The movie is a pretty impressive style over substance indie action film. Rodriguez's directing is cool and the script is fun. There's of course not a lot to the story but the action is almost nonstop and Adkins really shines as an action force to be reckoned with. It's nice to see someone other than Jason Statham still consistently making cool B action films. The movie was made for just $7 million but it's definitely not short on explosions or gun battles. This is the stuff that the action films of yesteryear were made of; just good old action loving fun!

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If you like action this movie will not disappoint the story is nothing that hasn't been done before but it is put together quiet well, and the acting is as good as it gets for a low budget movie... of course its not a masterpiece but i feel it deserves a chance. Reading some of the reviews i felt that they forgot to mention that this was a movie meant to entertain people and it does just that, i was very entertained by the end of it and not only was i entertained but i found myself with a silly smile on my face from laughing hard most times and then end up getting angry the next scene, this movie is like a roller coaster never a dull moment. I highly recommend it simply for its high entertainment value, don't go in expecting Quentin Tarantino.. but were you to sit down and watch a movie simply because you enjoy watching a movie than this will not disappoint i assure you.