Get the Gringo (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Making Of Music Video Featurette-Behind The Scenes-3
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	96:01 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Adrian Grunberg
Studio Distributor	Icon Entertainment	Starring	Mel Gibson Kevin Hernandez Daniel Giménez Cacho Jesús Ochoa Dolores Heredia Peter Gerety
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Antonio Pinto

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     This is an interesting film for a number of reasons. Besides being Mel Gibson's latest film, which certainly makes it interesting, it was also one of the first major films to go directly to video on demand in the US, avoiding a normal theatrical release. This was by choice rather than a quality driven decision. It did have a theatrical release here in Australia and in other countries around the world. Another reason this is an interesting film is the fact that it was written directly for the screen and involves an interesting and quite different story. It is also the directorial debut of Adrian Grunberg, who has been an assistant or second unit director on a number of Gibson's films.

     The plot is driven by a robbery, which occurs before the film starts. An unnamed criminal, known in the credits as Driver (Mel Gibson) has stolen a large amount of money (from a mob boss) and is on the run from the police on the US side of the US/Mexico border. As the film opens he is driving towards the border, with another criminal dying in the back seat, pursued by police cars. As he drives along the border fence he sees a pile of soil near the fence and decides to try and jump the fence into Mexico. He achieves his aim but crashes the car and is immediately picked up by the Mexican police who decide that they should help themselves to the money. They throw Driver into prison on a trumped up charge and start enjoying the money. The prison is known as El Pueblito and is more like a town than a prison. Children come and go, living inside the prison with their families, there are burrito stands, bars, prostitutes, drugs, guns and many other things available, all quite openly. Inside the prison is run by Javi and his family, who is a crime boss but also an inmate. They control who gets access to accommodation, rent out tents for conjugal visits and stage wrestling matches. Supposedly, this is based on a real prison which used to exist in Tijuana.

     Driver must learn how the prison works in order to survive and sets about getting himself some money and working out who is in control. After a couple of days he meets a kid who lives in the prison (Kevin Hernandez) with his mother and strikes up a friendship with him. It soon becomes obvious that the kid is protected by Javi's family for some reason that Driver wants to understand. Also added to this mix are a corrupt official from the US embassy (Peter Gerety) and guys sent by the US mob boss to find his money.

     This action/thriller/comedy is certainly an enjoyable ride featuring a dry, humorous performance and voiceover from Mel Gibson. He is sort of the criminal version of Martin Riggs from the Lethal Weapon films, funny, a little bit crazy but also a believable action hero. The action scenes are well shot including the opening car chase and a shootout inside the prison. One sequence involving the US mob boss and Clint Eastwood is highly amusing. The story was written by Mel Gibson, the director and Stacy Perskie. It is interesting and different although based on a fairly tried and true formula. It is a gritty and violent story, set in a horrible environment however the vein of humour that runs through the film really lifts the film. Without the humour this would just be another violent action film. Kevin Hernandez as the kid is marvellous, never annoying and highly believable. This film is known as How I Spent my Summer Vacation in the UK, which was its original working title.

     This is a surprisingly enjoyable film and well worth a look for fans of Gibson or action comedy.

Video

     The video quality is excellent.

     The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p encoded using AVC.

     The picture is very sharp and clear throughout with excellent levels of detail. Colour is very good but restricted by the colour scheme. Shadow detail was excellent.

     There are no artefacts of note.

     English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are available. They are clear and easy to read, in different colours for different speakers and positioned where the person talking is on the screen.

     This is a BD-25, so no layer change occurs.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good.

     This disc contains an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack.

     Dialogue was clear and easy to understand, although the Mexican accents were challenging at times.

     The score by Antonio Pinto is excellent, really adding to the film's atmosphere. A variety of songs are also used to great effect.

     The surround speakers are used quite a lot for the chase scene, shootout, atmosphere, crowd scenes and the music.

     The subwoofer is also used well for action scenes and the music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     A decent selection of extras.

Menu

     The menu included music & scenes from the film and allowed for scene selection.

Get The Gringo - A Look Inside (18:00)

     Making of featurette which includes interviews with Gibson and the director plus discussion of story development, crew, casting, location, characters and the shooting. Not Bad.

Music Video (2:55)

     A video for one of the Mexican songs in the film, El Corrido Del Gringo.

On Set - The Car Chase (3:39)

    Behind the Scenes footage from shooting the car chase sequence.

On Set - The Showdown (4:08)

     Behind the Scenes footage from shooting the gun fight sequence in the prison.

On Set - The Raid (3:42)

     Behind the Scenes footage from shooting the final scenes as the prison is raided.

Sound Check

     For 5.1 and 7.1 systems

    The Blu-ray seems to be the same in Region A.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall