You don’t need to compare 2019’s Miss Bala to the 2011 original to find flaws. Overall, it’s an appropriately tense nerve-wracking experience. However, much of the film’s goodwill is undone by the predictable story and general tone.
Latin-American Gloria Fuentes (Gina Rodriguez) is roped into the world of Mexican drug cartels when her friend Suzu (Cristina Rodlo) is kidnapped during an assassination attempt on Tijuana’s chief of police. Lino (Ismael Cruz Córdova), the leader of the Las Estrellas gang, assure Gloria they can help track her down, but their help comes at a price.
It’s a grim film, for which I’ll actually give director Catherine Hardwicke credit. We’re dealing with the Mexican cartel; it should be. There is a constant threat of death at the worst, or physical and sexual abuse from the Las Estrellas gang at the least. Gloria’s situation is one from which there is seemingly no escape. The police are of no help, as it’s impossible to tell which officers aren’t in the criminal’s pocket. The chief of police is this greasy, handsy pervert who is barely above the thugs he is tracking down. Even the DEA agents she approaches aren’t the least bit helpful. Nearly everyone we meet is sweating from having a gun pointed at them, a slave to the cartel, a criminal, or corrupt. It’s so unrelentingly glum and so little joy is found in the picture you feel like dropping a nuclear warhead on the country and starting over from scratch. It’d be preferable if Gloria and her friend made it out before the mushroom cloud but you’ve got no faith in either of them surviving the picture so you’d probably be doing them a favor. There isn’t a moment in which you aren’t scared.
This feeling of hopelessness is exactly what’s going through Gloria’s head. The problems lie in the action scenes and the picture’s ending. At certain points, Miss Bala kinda turns into an action film and you don’t buy it at all. Gina Rodriguez has the physique to pull off the action scenes but you don’t buy this development for the character. Not helping is how easily you can foresee key developments throughout. Some are due to the casting (I don’t know what they were thinking, putting Anthony Mackie in a “throwaway role”). At other points, you can deduce what’s going to happen next based on what would be most emotionally affecting. A little bit might’ve been forgiven but this story pushes it too far. The story should feel so real and it ends up feeling completely artificial.
Miss Bala is almost there. You can see which improvements could be made to make it work… which means you should probably check out the original if you’re intrigued in its story. (Theatrical version on the big screen, February 9, 2019)
