Pistoleros
Directed by Shaky Gonzalez
Danger After Dark

Pistoleros is a violent yet comical shoot em' up that honestly would have been box office gold if it would have been an English film. The potent mix of Robert Rodriguez's action, Guy Ritchie's quirky characters, and Sergio Leone's atmosphere and musical styling makes for an action packed and stylish film.

There are far too many characters to try and give a brief rundown of the plot. The story revolves around a heist gone wrong and the whereabouts of 5 million dollars. There aren't really any cut and dry good guys and bad guys here. Just bad guys and worse guys I guess you could say. Showing the Guy Ritchie influence strongly is the large cast of characters and the quirks each one has.

The numerous twists keep the movie moving at a brisk pace as does the story being told through different characters throughout the film. It is questionable whether you could consider this to be an original film. It is indeed stylish but the director does wear his influences very visibly on his sleeves. Not necessarily a bad thing, but they certainly aren't hidden in the least.

This is a fantastic looking movie. It has a gritty look that matches the tone of the film perfectly. Almost like a modern Western, but set against a drab city scape instead of the open desert. You can almost smell the blood and sweat as the camera gets right into the action and never pans away. While this is a stylish film, the camera angles never take away from the fight scenes. You are right up close and personal almost like being right in the ring during a boxing match. The shootouts are just as intense, although the vast majority of the fighting is more of a brawling style.

What does somewhat hurt the film somewhat is the fact that the majority of the film is in Danish. I have no problem with subtitled films, but when it is as action packed as this one sometimes you forget to look at the subtitles! You don't want to miss any of the action. I think the film also would have reached a larger North American audience if it was entirely in English. Should it stop you from checking out the film? Absolutely not. The only American film even remotely similar in style to this was Smokin Aces and this film is far superior in many ways.

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