Two Tough Guys (Dos Tipos Duros)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: D     Film: C

 

 

We have seen good satires of the Gagster genre before, whether it was with the all-child cast of Bugsy Malone, Marlon Brando sending himself up in The Freshman or in the way The Sopranos series subverts the genre.  With Juan Martinez Moreno’s Two Tough Guys (2003) a Spanish-language satire, it was hoped that a different take on a different view of masculinity would be the key to being distinct.  However, Moreno’s story and screenplay (the latter co-written by himself and Antonio Saura) is shockingly silly and flat.

 

From the opening scene where the wrong man is being tortured for money, to increasingly sillier situations, I was very disappointed and bored with a film that could have not only been made anywhere, but could have been a straight-to-video project.  The stars are given fluff to say and do, and the film’s 100 minutes wears thin very quickly.  The film is simply clueless and with little visual form worth seeing either.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is not great either, though cinematographer Gonzalo F. Berridi, A.F.C., is at least competent in what he does.  I will blame the director in this case for the film’s visual failings.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds is the highlight of the film, but is nothing special and the music by Alex Martinez is forgettable.  Only a trailer for this and another film in this batch of Fox’s Cinema Latino DVD releases is included as an extra.  Pass on this one.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo