Deserto

This was a surprisingly good movie! Unlike other reviewers, I did not see the "politics" in the movie at all. The fact that the gunman was killing illegals was just part of the story line. The same guy could have been killing sorority girls and not Hispanics, and the plot would have been: serial killer attacks sorority girls. It is basically the same plot and story line of any "slasher movie"--only in this one, JDM uses .300 WinMag and not a butcher knife.

I thought the movie was well acted by Jeffery Dean Morgan and Gael Garcia as the protagonists. The dialogue was insipid at times, but the overall tension created by Morgan's character and more so, by Tracker, his dog, was excellent.

If you want to get ready for Negan in The Walking Dead (also played by Jeffery Dean) then I recommend you watch Desirio as a warm-up.

Gael García Bernal is one of many migrants who tries to cross into the United States in 'Desierto'. While he and many other migrants attempt to enter the United States via badlands and flat desert, the majority of them are picked off by a crazy, racist sniper. Bernal and a few others attempt to flee the crazy racist before they're left to rot in the desert.

This film pretty much had no script. What ever little dialogue it had wasn't terribly important, and the villain of the piece talked either to himself or his dog about getting out of the Hell that he lived in while near the border. This was confusing, considering how much he was defending his land from migrants, yet he wanted to leave the Hell that he was living in.

Also, when one watches a film in a packed theatre and people are laughing at important scenes, then either something was lost in translation, or the movie is a farce, and this movie wasn't lost in translation by any means. The villain was plain terrible.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, it won the the FIPRESCI Prize for Special Presentations. Feel like I need an explanation about this.

While it was shot in a decent way, one hopes that Jonás Cuarón pieces together a better script in the future.

Actually I thought this was going to devolve into a procedural drama with those that witnessed the original shooting going to court and a whole 'trial movie'.

As I kept watching however, it turned into a very real horror movie. Just like the innocents are chased in Texas Chain saw, only this is very original and shot in the daylight in the desert.

I would not want to be in the desert in those conditions. Was surprised that Moises leaves Adela behind, saying 'he has a son'.

Great cinematography and direction. Different scenes in desert great > rocks, desert, cactus beds, and a hunt and chase scene that is thrilling and a little reminiscent of Duel. Very good well thought out and put together film.

The shooter Sam is an extreme typical stereotype by the left, all the Minute Men in the south report such illegal immigration to authorities they don't shoot them.

Commenters were right about the M! Garand and Sam is a little improbable making long shots without a tripod and several migrants moving in different directions. For having no military training he is too good a shooter and is a fantasy.

However, avoid the voice over sound track by the director, just more political diatribe about migrants who are really illegal immigrants. How about a film about illegals who commit crimes in US, like drunk driving, fake Soc Sec cards and shootings.

"The United States is that way. Good luck." Moises (Bernal) and a group of Mexicans are headed to America to start a new life. When the truck breaks down they must find a way to cross themselves. When Sam (Morgan) sees them attempting to make their way over he takes it upon himself to stop them. This is a difficult movie to review. First off, this is a very good movie that is full of great acting and one that I do recommend. On the other hand, the movie feels like it forgot to put in a beginning. There is a tiny scene where Moises explains why he wants to go to America. Sam simply sees a group of people walking and starts shooting. I think the movie takes into account the fact that this is such a hot button issue that it assumes the audience knows the character motivations. That being said, the lack of this aspect really hurts in the character development and you really don't connect on any other plane but Sam is mean and Moises is innocent and has done nothing wrong. Just adding this small but important detail may have really helped the movie. All that said though, the movie is still very much worth watching. Overall, a movie that is tense and exciting and will bring up some intense feelings. I give this a high B.

Chase movies can be a hit or miss genre - this one has exciting hit possibilities but misses on just about all the points it should score on. We know basically nothing about any of the characters - what drives them, where they are from, or quite why they do the things they do. The hapless runners are all Mexicans fleeing poverty - on their way to the USA via the 'back door' of the badlands (Donald's wall would actually have helped them!) and the Hunter...well, he's somehow just driving around the desert looking for people to murder. With him, he has his trusty dog - trained to hunt down and kill whatever his master sends him after - human or otherwise. Once the murderous chase is on you know exactly what's about to happen every bloodied step of the way.

No subtleties here, just people led to the slaughter - and so it goes, repetitively and soullessly on and on. Some nice visuals, a promising opening and a curious music score can't add any more to the threadbare script. Only a famous movie-making father (Alfonso Cuaron) could fund this, his son Jonas Cuaron's minor attempt at fame - surprisingly, this was Mexico's entry as 'best' foreign language film at 89th Acadamy Awards (must have been a very light year indeed!) Lovers of mindless excitement won't be too disappointed - thinkers can expect to be.