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SYNOPSIS:
Determined to avenge the deaths of their fathers, Maria and
Sara vow to seize the ill-gotten gains of Tyler Jackson. With
help from a retired robber and a jittery criminologist, these
two beauties become unlikely outlaws, blazing a trail of larceny
and laughter across Mexico!
MOVIE
REVIEW
I couldn’t come up with a better reason to
catch “Bandidas” except well, to see two gorgeous
beauties, Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz roughing it out in
a Western. Unfortunately, this is all the movie has. The plot
is lame, the dialogue is hokey and the acting, juvenile. But
still, there’s plenty of cleavage revealing to soften
the blow.
Before
I’m accused of being a “hum-sup-lo” (Cantonese
for lecherous old man), let us delve deeper into other aspects
of the movie.
Written
and funded by Luc Besson, “Bandidas” is so-called
a dream project for the two beauties to finally collaborate
on the big screen despite being friends for several years
prior to it. But apparently neither Besson nor the pair of
Norwegian directors has any deep understanding of the genre.
Every cliché found in Westerns are thrown in. The usual
robbing the bank scenario, riding on horseback, gun-slinging,
tussle on the railway are all here. I wouldn’t be surprised
if they revive John Wayne from the grave.
I
couldn’t comprehend how the girls took things so lightly
despite their main motive was to avenge their fathers in the
first place. Maybe it’s the script or perhaps they are
too pretty to be angry. The baddie, Tyler Jackson played by
Dwight Yoakam has an easy task to sneer in front of the camera
in close up whenever it’s his cue onscreen. Sam Shepard
has a cameo appearance as an ex-bank robber who imparts the
girls with survival fighting skills. And every heterosexual
man in the world will wish to be Steve Zahn because he gets
to kiss both beauties in the one and only truly hilarious
screen moment in the movie.
The
movie didn’t get a major release outside Europe despite
two very well-know marquees. Blame the French and the Norwegians
for messing things up. But please forgive the Spanish babe
and Mexican beauty. They are too cute to be faulted.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
One of the main culprits for this disaster Luc Besson
is surprisingly missing here in the features.
While the movie itself is a lackluster affair, you might like
to on the Audio Commentary by Salma Hayek and Penelope
Cruz and listen how the girls crack jokes and giggle
over the making of the movie. You can panned the movie but
you can’t deny their friendship.
Behind-the-scenes
featurette on the making of the movie lasts 14 minutes
and includes snippets from the gala premiere of “Bandidas”
in Paris.
Burning
Up the set with Salma and Penelope' featurette is
a short 4 minutes interview session with Salma and Penelope.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The lush cinematography of Mexico where the movie is shot
translates very well on the small screen. Colours, contrast
is good and Salma and Penelope never look so gorgeous before
despite the sandy terrain.
The
5.1 dolby track does justice to the gun shots and explosions.
Dialogue is not an issue either.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Linus Tee
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