rating:
(out of
4 stars)France, Mexico, United States; 2006
Directed by Joachim Roenning & Espen Sandberg; produced by Luc Besson, Ariel Zeitoun; written by Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
Starring Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek, Steve Zahn, Dwight Yoakam, Denis Arndt, Sam Shepard
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
That two performers having a lot of fun with their characters and each other
does not always make a good movie is something 'Bandidas' proves. The film
combines elements from a lot of westerns, any buddy-movies, and 'The Mask of
Zorro'. It even uses the old railroad plot where Americans exploit Mexicans
to make lots of money with a railroad. A films like that, of course, has to
end on board of a train. What should make this film interesting is the
heroes, heroines actually, played by Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz.
Unfortunately all they can add is a little sexiness from time to time. Steve
Zahn as an investigator is fun but has too little screen time to save
'Bandidas'.
The story, in short, deals with American bankers taking over land from poor
Mexicans. The rich Hayek's father is killed, the poor Cruz's father is
almost killed. The two very different girls meet while both robbing the same
bank. A noble thing since that bank is now owned by the bad Americans.
Although they are constantly fighting they decide to rob banks together to
give the money back to the poor Mexicans. To learn how to do that they take
lessons from Bill Buck (Sam Shepard). They become the two most wanted
bandidas when the main villain (Dwight Yoakam) calls for expert Quentin
Cooke (Zahn) to solve the robberies. Since Zahn is sort of unable to be a
villain in any movie he joins the bandidas and their noble cause.
Next to the fact that we have seen all this before, 'Bandidas' has another
problem. Almost every sequence overstays its welcome. The film itself does
not contain too many sequences, they just play too long. Example. There is a
nice moment where Zahn meets the two ladies for the first time. They
practice their kissing on him. This starts out pretty funny, but then it
repeats itself. The same can be said for the training they get from Shepard,
certain single robberies, even the final shoot out.
'Bandidas' is a predictable repetition of things we have seen, a movie that
thinks it is different because it stars women. it could have been fun, but
unfortunately it is not.