Gringo (2018)

GRINGO, a dark comedy mixed with white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, explores the battle of survival for businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) when he finds himself crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal.

Director:

Nash Edgerton

Writers:

Anthony Tambakis (screenplay by), Matthew Stone (screenplay by)

Stars:

Joel Edgerton, Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joel Edgerton	...	Richard Rusk
Charlize Theron	...	Elaine Markinson
David Oyelowo	...	Harold Soyinka
Thandie Newton	...	Bonnie Soyinka
Bashir Salahuddin	...	Stu
Glenn Kubota	...	Shigetoshi Yasumura
Melonie Diaz	...	Mia
Amanda Seyfried	...	Sunny
Harry Treadaway	...	Miles
Theo Taplitz	...	Justin
Paris Jackson	...	Nelly
Yul Vazquez	...	Angel Valverde
Hernán Mendoza	...	Celerino Sanchez
Hector Kotsifakis	...	Roberto Vega
Ricardo Esquerra	...	Sanchez's Brother in Law

Storyline

An exhilarating mix of dark comedy, white-knuckle action and dramatic intrigue, Gringo joyrides into Mexico, where mild-mannered businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo) finds himself at the mercy of his back-stabbing business colleagues back home, local drug lords and a morally conflicted black-ops mercenary. Crossing the line from law-abiding citizen to wanted criminal, Harold battles to survive his increasingly dangerous situation in ways that raise the question: Is he out of his depth - or two steps ahead?

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Plot Keywords:

american abroad | american in mexico | drug kingpin | drug cartel | drug mule | 

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Taglines:

When you're in bed with the cartel, everyone gets screwed.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

rated R for language throughout, violence and sexual content

Details

Country:

Australia USA Mexico

Language:

English Spanish French Yoruba

Release Date:

9 March 2018 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gringo

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,722,420, 11 March 2018

Gross USA:

$4,969,853

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$11,001,627

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amazon Studios, Blue-Tongue Films, Denver and Delilah Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After Harold is told two allegorical stories about gorillas, one by his wife and one by his boss, he asks why everyone is suddenly talking about the animal. He is later told a story about a black bear by Mitch Rusk, which closely resembles the attack by Travis the chimpanzee on Charla Nash in 2009. This would make the third story about great apes that appears in the film.

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Goofs

After Harold is taken from Mitch by the hotel employees, Mitch recovers from being hit by the car. He then gathers his equipment bag and staggers to his car. Mitch places his bag on the roof of the car, gets in, and drives away. In the next shot, his bag is on the seat next to him, when he actually left it on the roof.

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Quotes

Harold Soyinka: Why do I always get screwed for doing my job?

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Connections

Featured in Conan: Kevin Hart/Nash Edgerton (2018)

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Soundtracks

Rastaman-Dita
Written by Miky Huidobro (as Miguel Huidobro)
Performed by Molotov
Courtesy of Universal Music Latino
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

An incredibly uneven piece that often trips over its tone and pace but is regularly enjoyable.

'Gringo (2018)' is an uneven and unsure piece, one that stumbles over its tone and pacing more times than you can count and yet manages to pick itself off the ground on pretty much every such occasion. Its massively slow start paves the way for an, at times, incredibly exciting but then strangely dull adventure with peaks and valleys of the highest and lowest proportions. It continuously cuts back to an all-star cast who sadly drain the life of the film as, though they are all brilliant, they each play narcissistic sociopaths who aren't nearly as radiant or interesting as David Oyelowo's eponymous hero - who is played to perfection and is earnestly enjoyable on many levels. The overall effect of the flick is an enjoyable but forgettable one, a sense that a better - if slightly more traditional - story resides somewhere inside this mess. It's not bad, but it's not great either. 6/10