Click Poster to Purchase
 |  | Get Showtimes... |
Review #260 of 365
Film: Bandidas (2006) [PG-13] 93 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $8.75
Where Viewed: Aurora Plaza 8 Cinemas, Aurora, CO
When 1st Seen: 28 September 2006
Time: 10:10 p.m.
Directed by: Joachim Roenning & Espen Sandberg
Written by: Luc Besson ( Banlieue 13) & Robert Mark Kamen (The Fifth Element)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Penélope Cruz (Vanilla Sky) • Salma Hayek (Ask the Dust) • Steve Zahn (Joy Ride) • Dwight Yoakam (The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada) • Sam Shepard (Don't Come Knocking)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
or - order the CD soundtrack below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
On the one hand, Bandidas is a poorly edited sleeper little comedy starring Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek set in the early 1900s about two Mexican women who become the nation's most legendary bank robbers to restore justice when a New York City bank steals the land of the people of a Peso each in order to pave the way for a new railroad to Mexico City. On the other hand, however, the film encapsulates everything that is being done right and wrong with the advancement of women in film.
Part I: Sleeper Comedy
The film begins with a scene where the grand daddy of the "CSI", Quentin Cooke (Steve Zahn) proves that a woman's death was accidental using the methods of science. From there it jumps to alternating scenes of Maria Alvarez (Penélope Cruz) getting increasingly upset that the local banker is in collusion with a big New York City Bank to steal her father's land and scenes of the spoiled, European-educated Sara Sandoval (Salma Hayek) spending quality time with her father as she prepares to return to Europe as soon as possible. Their worlds brush when the horse whispering-Maria trespassed into the home of banker Sandoval to accuse him of stealing her father's land and finds him deep in talks with the NYC bank's representative, Tyler Jackson (Dwight Yoakam), while Sara has just left her father's study annoyed by his meeting with Mr. Jackson. The two bump into each other and exchange nasty words.
"… editing and camera work also left something to be desired…has a good and happy ending with some nice surprises."
Shortly thereafter, however, their worlds collide as the mysterious death of Mr. Sandoval and the attempted murder of Mr. Alvarez lead both women to the same bank robbery and into each other's mission. Their local priest helps them make some peace and sends them to train with famous Texas bank robber, Bill Buck (Sam Shepard). At first, his help is given unwillingly, however, over time, they begin to grow on him. They come out expertly trained to go on a rampage robbing banks right and left to get the money needed to return the land to the rightful owners. In the process, they become very good friends and heros to the little people. Meanwhile, Tyler Jackson, hires Quentin Cooke, to dome in and capture the Bandidas.
The story is fine—not great, not earth-shaking, but funny, genuine, and clever. It's not as good as Zorro, but still pretty good. Ms Hayek and Ms. Cruz play younger than they are, but their characters are decently well-developed. Mr. Yoakam makes for a wonderful bad guy with is thin moustache and beady eyes. The story is, for the most part, good. There's a bit too much focus on kissing competitions between Ms Hayek and Ms Cruz, though. Occasionally, the editing and camera work also left something to be desired. The first 20 minutes were like watching the film on horseback. The film has a good and happy ending with some nice surprises. One of the problems with the story, the acting, and the directing is that no one involved seems to know how seriously to take the film. Is this a major star vehicle for Hayek and Cruz--the stars over both women's careers seem to have stop shining as brightly as they probably were when the picture got the green light? Is this a comedy? Is this a dramedy? Sam Shepard's in it, so it's got to be fairly important? It is an action adventure? What? What is this movie all about? That is something that remains indecipherable, and inadvertently relegates the film to limited engagements at mostly Latino-attended theatres in areas of the country viewed as favorable by demographers.
The story is fine—not great, not earth-shaking, but funny, genuine, and clever. It's not as good as Zorro, but still pretty good. Ms Hayek and Ms. Cruz play younger than they are, but their characters are decently well-developed. Mr. Yoakam makes for a wonderful bad guy with is thin moustache and beady eyes. The story is, for the most part, good. There's a bit too much focus on kissing competitions between Ms Hayek and Ms Cruz, though. Occasionally, the editing and camera work also left something to be desired. The first 20 minutes were like watching the film on horseback. The film has a good and happy ending with some nice surprises. One of the problems with the story, the acting, and the directing is that no one involved seems to know how seriously to take the film. Is this a major star vehicle for Hayek and Cruz--the stars over both women's careers seem to have stop shining as brightly as they probably were when the picture got the green light? Is this a comedy? Is this a dramedy? Sam Shepard's in it, so it's got to be fairly important? It is an action adventure? What? What is this movie all about? That is something that remains indecipherable, and inadvertently relegates the film to limited engagements at mostly Latino-attended theatres in areas of the country viewed as favorable by demographers.
Part II: Everything Wrong
So, here we have a film, co-written by Luc Besson & Robert Mark Kamen (both extremely successful screen writers), starring two very up-and-coming Hispanic actresses with great track records on screen if not at the box office, appearances by Sam Shepard, and a major role for Dwight Yoakam. The script gets handed to two nearly freshmen co-directors, who are given what looks on the screen like what must have been a so-so budget, and then what? You distribute the film to Hispanic populations and pray? Why film the dialog in English and use Spanish subtitles? How ironic to be sitting in an audience of most Spanish-first language people about two Mexican women, taking place in Mexico, all spoken in English, but with Spanish subtitles? Shouldn't it have been the other way around?
In any case, the really disturbing part about the film is that for every step it takes to advance the cause of women as capable leads in an action-adventure, buddy-thief style films, it takes two steps back by employing a host of gender-biased stereotypes of women to advance their characters. Ok, so they like men. Fine, no problem there, but do they need to be highly preoccupied by who's the better kisser? Was it necessary for Sara's character to comment on the mis-matched fashion of every character in the story? Do the two need to be trained by a man and then ultimately teamed up with a man, in order to be successful? Why was this film given to two guys with so little experience behind a camera? Not that they did a terrible job, just wondering where Martin Campbell, director of The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro was?
In any case, the really disturbing part about the film is that for every step it takes to advance the cause of women as capable leads in an action-adventure, buddy-thief style films, it takes two steps back by employing a host of gender-biased stereotypes of women to advance their characters. Ok, so they like men. Fine, no problem there, but do they need to be highly preoccupied by who's the better kisser? Was it necessary for Sara's character to comment on the mis-matched fashion of every character in the story? Do the two need to be trained by a man and then ultimately teamed up with a man, in order to be successful? Why was this film given to two guys with so little experience behind a camera? Not that they did a terrible job, just wondering where Martin Campbell, director of The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro was?
"The time has come for the film industry…to practice what it constantly preaches and level the playing field for women once and for all."
Not to stereotype him, however, my point is that a very experienced action/adventure director might have put the zip back into this film and realized the error in some of these gender-biased characterization, habits, and story elements. Didn't the film, the story, and the actors deserve a fighting chance? Mr. Roenning & Mr. Sandberg did a fine job, especially for their first pairing to work on a major motion picture, and no disrespect toward them is intended. The only point is that Antonio Banderas commands veteran, seasoned, highly experienced directors and the same cannot be said for female actresses. Time and again they are relegated to second-class citizen status. The time has come for the film industry, and this has been said before in this blog, to practice what it constantly preaches and level the playing field for women once and for all. There should be more female directors, screen writers, and crew members. Pictures with female leads should not be treated like they are straight-to-video material.
Back to Top | W.I.P. Scale™ | Most Recently Reviewed Films | Films of 2005 | Films of 2006
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Bandidas (2006) Cast Members
Penélope Cruz
• Salma Hayek • Steve ZahnDwight Yoakam
• Sam ShepardOther Projects Involving Bandidas (2006) Co-Writers
Luc Besson
• Robert Mark Kamen | CD Soundtrack | ||
Bandidas (2006) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Bandidas is a poorly edited sleeper comedy starring Penélope Cruz and Salma Hayek set in the early 1900s about two Mexican women who become the nation's most legendary bank robbers to restore justice when a New York City bank steals the land of the people of a Peso each in order to pave the way for a new railroad to Mexico City. On the other hand, however, the film encapsulates everything that is being done right and wrong with the advancement of women in film. The not great, not earth-shaking, but funny story stars Salma Hayek and Penélope Cruz as las Bandidas. Unfortunately, the film never figures out what it is: comedy, action adventure, what? Meanwhile, the film employs a host of gender-biased stereotypes of women to advance their characters. The film has not gotten the support from any corner that it deserved and could have ensured greater success.
No comments:
Post a Comment