I was hoping for a hard-boiled Mexican crime thriller when I paid my $9.50 to watch "Bandido" at a cineplex in South Gate, Calif. This theater often shows Spanish-language films to cater to the Latino population in that part of L.A. County. But to my dismay, the movie was in English and the quality was sub-mediocre. Because of the language cop-out, the Mexican actors had to speak English, and some of them (especially one who played a security guard) were barely comprehensible. The plot is the old cliché about the CIA agent who turns against his handlers after they double-cross him. The "hero" is just too pale and skinny to be a credible threat, and the actor doesn't have the charisma to overcome this challenge. The protagonist of the first "Mariachi" was portrayed by an actor who's no Stallone, physically speaking, but director Robert Rodriguez made it work somehow. That kind of talent is missing in "Bandido."
Review of Bandido
