Get The Gringo (2012) - Adrian Grunberg

After a high speed chase ends just south of the Mexican-USA border,  a career criminal is arrested by Mexican authorities and sent to a hardcore Mexican prison - the two arresting officers taking his four million dollars in mob money for their own gains.  While in this prison, the man learns that things are very different down south, where he befriends a young 10-year-old kid, who is able to show him the ropes.  Adrian Grunberg's Get The Gringo, is a somewhat entertaining action-adventure in which the core strength of the film lies in both the setting and it's much maligned star.  Get the Gringo is a return to form for Mel Gibson, as his character is a hardened criminal whose smart-ass persona is a lot of fun to watch.  The film is very similar to Payback, in that Gibson's character narrates the film, supplying a good amount of laughs.  The narrative is quite complicated, filled with gangsters and gun play, which all somehow works in creating a nice little pulpy storyline.  The setting is the other major strength of the film, and it does a good job at introducing this strange world of a Mexican penitentiary where corruption runs so rampant that certain inmates are allowed to carry around guns at will.  It's a dirty, dingy world and the film makes that pretty clear with some amusing set pieces.   Where Get The Gringo struggles is when it gets a little too wrapped up in sentiment, particularly between Mel's character and the young boy, but overall, behind Gibson's pulpy entertaining performance, it's a decent case of escapism. 

6.25/10

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