MISS BALA: Fashion Without Statement

You may remember the original. The 2012 Spanish language thriller was a fierce variation on cartel dramas. Gritty yet elegant, Gerardo Naranjo delivered with a tale of self-won female empowerment in an environment of eternal civic corruption. Sound familiar? The dialogue may have been in Spanish, but the message rang as clear as a gunshot. So it gives me no pleasure to report that the remake has the impact of an empty shell.

Another Empty Sequel

An action movie without suspense, a message without meaning; Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight, Thirteen) presents a contrived Hollywood adaptation you can probably live without. Without wandering too far from the aboriginal subtext, the story and the politics remain the same. Men flaunt their guns (above and below the belt), as women powerlessly give into their revolting urges.

Caught in the middle of all this is Gloria. She is played diligently by Gina Rodriguez – an American citizen visiting her friend in Tijuana, who, over the course of the next two hours, will inevitably become our newest action star. Stardom hardly hints at the future for Rodriguez. That is, if she stays away from scripts as muddled as this.

It helps to have a lovable heroine front and center. But you cannot make a good movie out of a bad script. The motive here is economical calculation of the highest order (explosions sell tickets!), with action that is relentless, and an outcome that is relentlessly boring. Bullets figure early in the story at a nightclub. Gloria is there with her friend Suzu, who, with hopes of winning the Miss Baja California beauty pageant, attempts to rub shoulders with the corrupt voters. (For all its fashion talk, the action is devoid of style).

After the abysmal, abysmally shot shootout, Suzu is missing. So Gloria turns to the Mexican police for help. Moral of the story: don’t trust those in power. As she is soon thrown into the hands of the cartel, doing odd jobs, and relying on her resourcefulness to stay above water.

Drowning in the forcefulness of male domination, she finds herself smuggling large amounts of money across the border in her Honda Element – the only car ordinary enough to get you across the border without a second glance. Even worse, she is at the mercy of Lino, the gang leader with piercing green eyes and ravishing good looks. Which is fitting, since the term “Lino” refers to a man so handsome that he could make you quiver with the mere twinkle in his eye.

Little does he know Gloria has a fitting nickname of her own. “Miss Bala” translates to “miss bullet”. A sly hint at whats to come between these two in the twisty climax. And it’s their relationship that proves to be the most intriguing part of the ordeal. Both born in California, they have been labelled “too white to be Mexican, and too Mexican to be white.”

Identity Crisis

The movie seems to be suffering from an identity crisis of its own. Does it want to be a cautionary tale? Or perhaps an action romp? Why not both! Because it is neither gritty nor poignant enough to be Sicario, and it is neither campy nor outrageous enough to be Miss Congeniality. Leaving it to be the product of the long line of workmanlike missfires centering feminist empowerment coming out of Hollywood in recent years. In other words, it’s p90x for the eyes.

The performers are beautiful and the pageant costumes sparkle; yet there is nothing particularly comely in the filmmaking. Once sweeping long shots have been traded for jumbled jump-cuts. Foreboding tenebrosity for over-lit vistas, and a wonderfully realistic hero has been transformed into a superhero. It’s a makeover by way of Hollywood. And it isn’t a good look.

At times it is even a bit silly. In attempts to turn by the numbers action into a mystery of morals, you will notice that the twisty narrative crumbles with the weight of its own preposterousness. The question becomes: who can Gloria trust? We already know it’s no one, and yet Hardwicke continually introduces underwritten side characters as helping-hands, even as the audience knows of their altered motives. Making for a difficult, relentlessly repetitive watch.

Miss Bala: Conclusion

Sure, things will work out at the box-office. Many will enjoy watching Rodriguez strut in heels and a silky red dress armed with an AR-15 as her fiery eyes meet the camera, letting a lifetime of preserved rage out with the click of a finger. She hits what she is aiming at, but the movie misses its mark.

What are your thoughts on Miss Bala? Let us know in the comments below!

Miss Bala releases February 1st, 2019 in the U.S. For all international release dates, click here.