Bring ME the Tongues of the Voice Actors
Today's (slightly late) review: Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman.
A title like Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman definitely does the job of making you want to see it, even if you suspect the movie is going to be pure schlock (though for some, that might be even more of a draw). In my case, I was curious about the title and hoping that the movie would give me another contender for the Best Female Characters list. While I did get my wish, I have to say that the movie itself isn’t all that great.
After an opening scene where we get to see the Machine Gun Woman (Fernanda Urrejola) in action, we cut to the main plot and the main character. A teenager/young adult named Santiago (Matías Oviedo) lives a fairly ordinary life, obsessed with video games and making money by being a DJ in a club. The one thing that’s not quite so ordinary is that the club is run by a gangster (Jorge Alís), who is apparently called Che Longana in the original Chilean but was given the unfortunate name of Che Sausage in the English dub. Whatever he’s called, the Machine Gun Woman used to be his girl, but she broke it off with him, became a bounty hunter, and is out for his blood. Longana/Sausage wants her dead, and due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Santiago winds up being given the job, with the caveat that he’ll be killed if he doesn’t succeed within twenty-four hours. With only his video game experience to guide him, Santiago is in over his head. But perhaps the Machine Gun Woman could become an ally instead of an adversary…
Even though the movie is almost certainly meant to be unrealistic and a little ridiculous, I have to say that the English dub does the movie no favors. Even ignoring the “Che Sausage” thing, all of the dialogue sounds stilted, both in terms of sentence construction and especially in terms of delivery. It drags the movie down considerably, since it makes Santiago more annoying and Longana/Sausage less threatening. About the only character who makes it out relatively unscathed is the Machine Gun Woman herself, and that’s mostly by virtue of not talking very much. Trying to find the original audio and watching the movie with subtitles might be a better way to go here.
Ignoring the audio issues, I’d say the movie is hit and miss. On the good side, the Machine Gun Woman is indeed a force to be reckoned with, so it’s fun to see her in action. I also like some of the creative flourishes; since Santiago’s only real experience with crime is via video games, the movie does things like throw up freeze frames with how much various criminals and bounty hunters are worth, put text about the current mission (i.e. “Acquire a Gun” or “Mission Complete”) on the screen in a video game font, or film cars from the rear to mimic third person driving in video games like Grand Theft Auto. It’s a gimmick that won’t work for everyone, but as someone who enjoys video games (although I’ve never been into the GTA-style games), I thought it was kind of clever. Similarly, I do like the idea of a guy who’s good at video games being thrust into a similar real-life situation. It could play out in two ways; either Santiago is completely in over his head, trying the tactics from the games and failing miserably and only surviving due to dumb luck, or his knowledge of video games allows him to succeed, albeit in unorthodox ways. Sadly, the movie doesn’t really go for either of those options, which leads us to the “miss” category.
Most of my problems that aren’t connected to the audio can be traced to the third act. Up till that point, the situations were, if not believable, then at least relatively plausible in the context of this universe. Santiago was hapless but had enough smarts and luck to bumble his way through his “missions” to track down the Machine Gun Woman, and the Machine Gun Woman herself was tough but showed flashes of a softer side. When we enter the third act, however, it turns into more of a generic action movie. Santiago becomes proficient in things he shouldn’t be proficient in, especially based on what we’ve seen, and there’s a sex scene that doesn’t make sense given what we’ve seen of the characters. And then there’s the ending, which not only doesn’t give us proper closure, but heavily implies that there isn’t going to be a happy ending, something that may be realistic but isn’t what we expect from movies like this. I’m not saying the movie prior to this point was great, but the third act unquestionably drags it down.
Thanks to that final act and the dubbing issues, I don’t think I can recommend this movie. Maybe those who enjoy bad movies can have some fun with it, but people who want either a good story or good action will probably be disappointed. There are plenty of other movies out there that can give you those qualities, and while I don’t know how many movies have the “hero’s only experience with crime is video games” idea, I figure a better executed version will come along eventually. Given how mainstream video games are getting, it’s only a matter of time.
A title like Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman definitely does the job of making you want to see it, even if you suspect the movie is going to be pure schlock (though for some, that might be even more of a draw). In my case, I was curious about the title and hoping that the movie would give me another contender for the Best Female Characters list. While I did get my wish, I have to say that the movie itself isn’t all that great.
After an opening scene where we get to see the Machine Gun Woman (Fernanda Urrejola) in action, we cut to the main plot and the main character. A teenager/young adult named Santiago (Matías Oviedo) lives a fairly ordinary life, obsessed with video games and making money by being a DJ in a club. The one thing that’s not quite so ordinary is that the club is run by a gangster (Jorge Alís), who is apparently called Che Longana in the original Chilean but was given the unfortunate name of Che Sausage in the English dub. Whatever he’s called, the Machine Gun Woman used to be his girl, but she broke it off with him, became a bounty hunter, and is out for his blood. Longana/Sausage wants her dead, and due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Santiago winds up being given the job, with the caveat that he’ll be killed if he doesn’t succeed within twenty-four hours. With only his video game experience to guide him, Santiago is in over his head. But perhaps the Machine Gun Woman could become an ally instead of an adversary…
Even though the movie is almost certainly meant to be unrealistic and a little ridiculous, I have to say that the English dub does the movie no favors. Even ignoring the “Che Sausage” thing, all of the dialogue sounds stilted, both in terms of sentence construction and especially in terms of delivery. It drags the movie down considerably, since it makes Santiago more annoying and Longana/Sausage less threatening. About the only character who makes it out relatively unscathed is the Machine Gun Woman herself, and that’s mostly by virtue of not talking very much. Trying to find the original audio and watching the movie with subtitles might be a better way to go here.
Ignoring the audio issues, I’d say the movie is hit and miss. On the good side, the Machine Gun Woman is indeed a force to be reckoned with, so it’s fun to see her in action. I also like some of the creative flourishes; since Santiago’s only real experience with crime is via video games, the movie does things like throw up freeze frames with how much various criminals and bounty hunters are worth, put text about the current mission (i.e. “Acquire a Gun” or “Mission Complete”) on the screen in a video game font, or film cars from the rear to mimic third person driving in video games like Grand Theft Auto. It’s a gimmick that won’t work for everyone, but as someone who enjoys video games (although I’ve never been into the GTA-style games), I thought it was kind of clever. Similarly, I do like the idea of a guy who’s good at video games being thrust into a similar real-life situation. It could play out in two ways; either Santiago is completely in over his head, trying the tactics from the games and failing miserably and only surviving due to dumb luck, or his knowledge of video games allows him to succeed, albeit in unorthodox ways. Sadly, the movie doesn’t really go for either of those options, which leads us to the “miss” category.
Most of my problems that aren’t connected to the audio can be traced to the third act. Up till that point, the situations were, if not believable, then at least relatively plausible in the context of this universe. Santiago was hapless but had enough smarts and luck to bumble his way through his “missions” to track down the Machine Gun Woman, and the Machine Gun Woman herself was tough but showed flashes of a softer side. When we enter the third act, however, it turns into more of a generic action movie. Santiago becomes proficient in things he shouldn’t be proficient in, especially based on what we’ve seen, and there’s a sex scene that doesn’t make sense given what we’ve seen of the characters. And then there’s the ending, which not only doesn’t give us proper closure, but heavily implies that there isn’t going to be a happy ending, something that may be realistic but isn’t what we expect from movies like this. I’m not saying the movie prior to this point was great, but the third act unquestionably drags it down.
Thanks to that final act and the dubbing issues, I don’t think I can recommend this movie. Maybe those who enjoy bad movies can have some fun with it, but people who want either a good story or good action will probably be disappointed. There are plenty of other movies out there that can give you those qualities, and while I don’t know how many movies have the “hero’s only experience with crime is video games” idea, I figure a better executed version will come along eventually. Given how mainstream video games are getting, it’s only a matter of time.