A movie that’s been recommended to me a few times, plus it showed up on someone’s top 3, and I saw lots of clips of it, so I queued it up. The movie follows a regular blue-collar, ex-military Joe Shmo who stumbles across a drug deal gone wrong, with both parties dead. He stumbles across a bag full of money and decides to take it, kicking off the plot of the movie. A professional killer and a Mexican cartel are hired to find the money as the protagonist goes on the run. In the background, an old cop tries to make sense of it all.
This movie was hit-or-miss for me. The cinematography was stellar; even the acting was phenomenal. Javier plays the psychopathic killer to a T; a truly amazing performance! The violence is so brutal and well done, with real grit, that it makes the whole experience feel even more authentic. It loses me a bit on the plot. It felt really drawn out, and there were a lot of plot holes and things that happened solely to move the plot along without making much sense. Not considering the tracker, everyone in this movie knows where everyone is all the time. There are quite a few scenes that just ended, and I was left saying, “Okay?” That includes a lot of the scenes with the cops. Mix that with things being omitted, like the protagonist’s fate late in the movie, where we just cut to the outcome of a shootout. Overall, I get the message of the movie, but it didn’t really strike a chord with me or move me much. I literally shrugged as the credits rolled. It could be one of those things where the book is better, but since I watched the movie first, I don’t see myself picking up the book.
The Fools Journeys 
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