Taglines: Who would you become to save your family?
Gloria (Gina Rodriguez), who is a makeup artist from Los Angeles, visits her best friend Suzu in Tijuana, Mexico. But then Suzu suddenly disappears at a nightclub. In the process of searching for and rescuing her, Gloria gets kidnapped and forced to smuggle laundered money for a drug cartel. She works her way into the good graces of their leader Lino as well as the DEA, which also takes part in this case. Gloria must turn the tables on everyone to escape and finds a power she never knew she had as she navigates a dangerous world of cross-border crime. Surviving will require all of her cunning, innovation, and strength.
Miss Bala (English: “Miss Bullet”) is a 2019 action thriller film directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, based on the 2011 Mexican film of the same name. The film stars Gina Rodriguez, Ismael Cruz Córdova, and Anthony Mackie, and follows a woman who trains to take down a Mexican drug cartel after her friend is kidnapped.
The film was released in the United States on February 1, 2019, by Columbia Pictures, in Dolby Cinema, and grossed over $15 million on a $15 million budget making it an average grosser. While Rodriguez’s performance received some praise, critics compared the film unfavorably to the original, saying it suffered from “bland action and predictable story beats”.
About the Story
Gloria Fuentes is a Latin-American makeup artist from Los Angeles who goes on a trip to visit her best friend Suzu in Tijuana, Mexico. When the pair go to a local night club, Suzu plans to impress the Mexican Chief of Police, Saucedo, in order to help her chances in the Miss Baja California beauty pageant which she has entered. When Gloria goes to the bathroom, armed gunmen break in through the vents and attempt to kidnap Gloria out of her stall but ultimately give her time to escape while they attack the club.
Chaos ensues as Gloria is separated from Suzu. The next morning, Gloria is unable to get in contact with Suzu and decides to ride with a police officer to try to find Suzu. She informs the police officer that she has information on the men who attacked the club, and the officer asks her to follow him to the station. When the officer takes a break in a remote location, Gloria is taken by members of the Los Estrellas gang, the same men who shot up the club.
The gang take her to their headquarters, where Lino, the gang leader, agrees to help her find Suzu if she agrees to work for them. Gloria is reluctant but eventually agrees as she does not have much choice, and is told to get into a car and park it on a corner of a building. Gloria does the job, and when she leaves the car and joins the men at the top of a hill overlooking the building, they blow up the building, revealed to be a DEA safehouse containing three agents.
Lino then sends Gloria to the Miss Baja pageant, where she attempts an escape through the bathroom. Gloria escapes and encounters a DEA agent, Brian Reich, who takes her into custody and eventually lets her go but not before he puts a tracking device on her since the DEA are aiming to monitor Los Estrellas.
Gloria returns to Suzu’s apartment and finds Lino there, and is sent to San Diego with blood money and drugs attached to her car. Upon crossing the border Gloria is given an arsenal of guns to bring back to Mexico by a gangster named Jimmy, and then told to meet in a large parking lot. Gloria then informs Brian about the meet-up at the parking lot, where he promises to send a SWAT team to rescue her during the mission to capture Lino and the Los Estrellas gang. As Gloria arrives at the parking lot, the men in Los Estrellas get their weapons.
However the police show up under Brian’s command, causing a gunfight to ensue in the lot. Gloria escapes to a nearby gate where Brian promised to send the SWAT team to pick her up, but sees nobody there. Gloria realizes that Brian had no intention to help her, only to capture Los Estrellas. Seeing Gloria stranded in the middle of the gunfight, Lino runs to Gloria to save her, but is shot in the leg. After a moment of hesitation, Gloria decides to help Lino and together, they escape with the other members of Los Estrellas.
Miss Bala (2019)
Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Gina Rodriguez, Anthony Mackie, Ismael Cruz Cordova, Matt Lauria, Thomas Dekker, Aislinn Derbez, Cristina Rodlo, Ricardo Abarca, Daniela de la Fe, Will Blagrove, Omar Ayala
Screenplay by: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer
Production Design by: Marco Niro
Cinematography by: Patrick Murguia
Film Editing by: Terilyn A. Shropshire
Costume Design by: Graciela Mazón
Set Decoration by: Alisarine Ducolomb
Music by: Alex Heffes
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of gun violence, sexual and drug content, thematic material, and language.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: February 1, 2019
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