Miss Bala Quick View Gina Good, Movie Lousy Grade: D+

Source: IMDB

Miss Bala is an American remake of the 2011 Spanish version of this film. Tells a story about a makeup artist Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), whom is visiting her friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) in Mexico. What would like to be a fun get together at the club, turn out to be unfortunate occurrence due to the fact the club got shot up. Gloria and Suzu were separated, as Gloria now follows orders from a drug lord to hopefully find her friend Suzu. Now I like Gina Rodriguez, I think she’s a good actress and a lovely human being, so I had my interest with this film. Unfortunately this film became a disappointment. Let’s start with the positives. I think Gina Rodriguez held her own as Gloria, she played a good performance. I feel some would say her performance was mediocre, due to the fact the way this character was market as this bad ass, when she’s actually not. Of course there are moments where she makes these faces, that don’t match up the situations that had just happen to her, but I feel that would be the Directors fault. I did care about our lead character Gloria, I wanted her to reunite with her best friend as she has nobody except her and her little son. I will say for the story it kept me watching from start to finish, there was enough interest in me for watching so that’s good. The compliments ends here as everything else... Felt like a mess. For starters the Cinematography was so bland, your typical studio made looking film. I mean we’re at a beautiful location in Mexico, why not take advantage as you can deliver some great shots?! Also the shoot out scenes were poorly shot, I think they’re the worst shot scenes in this entire film. The Score honestly was boring, some soundtrack selections.... Oooooh weeeee, you talk about BAD. The concluding song “I Call The Shots Now” felt like a mockery towards the entire film. So I sort of blame the marketing, for the way the film turned out to be. The way it was marketed, looked like an action packed revenge film, one may say resembled Taken... Well we only had two action scenes, as our main character never once lived up to that bad ass reputation like the marketing said she would be. So if you took the marketing seriously like I did: You’d find yourself feeling bored, as you watch an inconsistent mess. Gloria entering the Miss Bala California pageant thing doesn’t quite make clear sense. I understand where entering the pageant can lead her in the end, but she barely participates in any of the activities that would seem to be a requirement, so how is she still eligible to compete in this damn thing knowing she’s out running around doing shenanigans?! The whole thing with the drug lord/pimp and the wealthy man didn’t make quite sense. The drug lord and wealthy man are enemies, so why would an enemy sell women to a man he hopes to be dead?! It’s unclear with the DEA’s role in this entire film, they sometimes work with Gloria and sometimes abandon her just because they feel like it, as then in the end we’re suppose to believe Gloria will still work with them after their lack of help. Did you enjoy the lack of suspense of Gloria competing in Miss Bala, as we are told every detail from a lifeless voice over?! I mean if Gloria doesn’t win this pageant, she can’t get to her friend, so why take away every ounce of tension and just gave us the entire out come away, by a voice over whom seems completely uninterested in the entire situation?! Like what the hell was that?! The film just ends, as you feel you’ve seen a character’s arc blossom before our eyes, when it turns out you didn’t as you’re glad you can get on with your life, knowing the movie is over. One may compare this characters arc to Jaden Smith’s character in After Earth, they both do nothing but cry the entire film as we are suppose to feel they’ve grown as characters, but they didn’t. Of course I’ll take Gloria over the embarrassment of Jaden Smith’s character in After Earth all day, but still women are suppose to feel empowered by this character?! Is this a joke?! Overall, Miss Bala is a crap film. I don’t recommend this film at all, I guess try the original version instead I heard it’s good. -Mitch Smietana