I'll tell you why so serious

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is a thriller wrapped around Colombia's infamous drug baron Pablo Escobar. If you remember the fact that it's all fiction and suspend your logic for two hours it's an OK movie for its genre. As most of other reviewers put it Benicio Del Toro does a phenomenal job in his portrayal of El Patron although I don't know if it was a true characterization with all details of his personal traits. This is because at times, Del Toro seemed to give too much depth to a ruthless killer. However, the real problem is with Josh Hutcherson who looks like a miscast for his role especially in the second part of the movie involving suspense and action. Indeed, Josh's worried, sad puppy face reflects the true emotional state of a normal person who is involved with the drug kingpin whose track record is decorated with the murder of thousands. The same character, however, looks too wimpy to pull all the action, hence the ambiguity in the cast. With his indecisive, unconfident and overwrought appearance, Josh is not believable at all to play a person who'd get into a cat and mouse game with professional murderers which ends up with a gunfight. Indeed, despite the suspense, most of the subplots involving action scenes were glossed over and far from credibility. For example, it is not clear why the national security forces were so quick to collaborate with his henchman to search for Josh when they had been so busy with tracking down El Patron prior to his decision to give himself in. But for a person who wouldn't nitpick about such fine details, the movie is entertaining enough.

After watching the first hour I couldn't help feeling that the film felt a little bit rushed- you didn't really get to know the characters or understand their relationships. You didn't feel any strong connections between them for example between Nick and his brother (It's not even made obvious that they are actually brothers until later than it should have been pointed out in the film. The script just felt weak and rushed and even the acting felt quite poor.That is, until around halfway through the film when this all changes when the real "action" takes place. You can see why Josh Hutcherson was cast in this role (after his roles in the Hunger Games). Benicio Del Toro looked the part however I thought he'd portray the character as more menacing and dangerous, to the point where you could feel just how powerful the character was when he walked into the room (See Wagner Moura's version from Narcos) You do end up feeling part of this gripping action thriller eventually. The tense action scenes are brilliant and you are definitely rewarded for sticking it out and continuing to watch after the first part. After seeing the trailer for this film, I couldn't wait to see it. The premise sounded great, a love story based around the worlds most notorious drug lord and the impact he had on the couple. Before watching the film, I'd seen IMDb's rating of it was a lot lower than what I expected it to be so I wasn't expecting to be blown away and I definitely wasn't in the first half. In the end I'm glad I stuck it out as I was pleasantly surprised by the 2nd hour. Not the greatest of films and a lot could have been done better but definitely worth a watch!

Review: Why haven't they made a Pablo Escobar biopic? This movie only touches on a period of his life and I must admit, I did Google his life story afterwards because his life story is definitely intriguing. I don't think that anyone else could have played Escobar, except for Al Pacino in his Scarface days. Anyway, this film follows a young Canadian surfer, Nick (Josh Hutcherson) who moves to Colombia to be with his brother. Whilst living in the woods, he meets up with Pablo Escobar's niece, Maria (Claudia Traisac) and they fall in love with the blessings from her family. After getting engaged, he builds a relationship with Pablo but his brother is worried because of the dangerous world that surrounds him. Nick soon realises that he has entered a world of drugs, violence and corruption so he tries to leave with his brother to go back to Canada with Maria but Escobar has other plans for him. With the pressure of the politicians and the American government on his back, Pablo starts to clean house before handing himself into the authorities. He gives Nick a job to hide some of his assets with the help of a young villager but Pablo has become very paranoid and he doesn't want any loose ends. Nick ends up fighting for his life against Escobar's henchmen, which also puts his family and friends in danger. Personally, I wouldn't have chosen Josh Hutcherson for this role because of his innocent face and a lack of depth behind the eyes. Benicio Del Toro has plenty of depth behind his eyes and for a lot of the scenes, he only had to look at people to get his point across. Escobar is definitely a Robin Hood type of character who created a empire which is beyond my imagination. There's many stories about the notorious Medellin cocaine cartel but I think that film makers are to scared to bring it to the big screen, which is understandable. Anyway, it's definitely a film worth watching, if your interested in the Escobar empire but don't expect an in depth biopic. Interesting!Round-Up: Puerto Rico born Benecio Del Toro, 48, hit the big time as the weird speaking Fenster in the Usual Suspects in 1995 but he had starred in quite a few movies before that, like James Bond: Licence to Kill, the Indian Runner, Fearless with Jeff Bridges, China Moon and the under-rated Swimming With Sharks. He then went on to star in the Fan, the Funeral with Christopher Walken, Excess Baggage, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was a brilliant performance alongside Johnny Depp, Snatch and the Way of the Gun. He then won a Oscar for his supporting role in Traffic and he brought out 2 films in a 3 year period called the Pledge with Jack Nicholson and Hunted with Tommy Lee Jones. After that he got another supporting role Oscar nomination for 21 Grams and after another 2 year break, he starred in Sin City in 2005. He didn't return to the big screen until 2007, alongside Halle Berry in Things We Lost in the Fire and in 2008 he played Che in the 2 movie epic. After the disappointing Wolfman and Savages he starred in Thor 2 and the brilliant Guardians of the Galaxy so he's definitely one that picks his movies with a lot of thought. Personally, I think he is a unique actor who made this movie watchable and I can't wait to see him in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. This is the first movie directed by Andrea Di Stefano who has starred in movies like Life of Pi, Nine with Daniel Day Lewis and Eat, Pray Love. For his first project, I honestly think that he put together a decent movie which has definitely touched on a interesting subject and the whole story with Nick was intense and dramatic but not as intriguing as the Pablo character. I did feel thoroughly entertained after watching the film but the ending was a bit weak because you don't know what happened with any of the characters. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: £3.75millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their crime/drama/romance movies about a young Canadian surfer who falls for Pablo Escobar's niece and enters a world which puts his life in danger. 6/10

Having just seen the brilliant Narcos series on Netflix, I didn't expect much of this movie. Therefore, I was surprised to be that disappointed.First,there are the performances by both leads. Josh Hutcherson from Hunger Games fame is so bland. We always feel as though he is somehow surprise of what's happening around him. His girlfriend's uncle is the infamous baron drug Pablo Escobar, for crying out loud! She's honest enough to say that he made his fortune in the drug trade, and, that doesn't change any of his reaction.And I wasn't more impress by Benecio Del Toro's performance, which I thought was just average, considering the nature of his character.I had a hard time believing how anybody behaved in the movie, in particular the relationship between Escobar and Nick (Hutchinson's character). Nick is so suspicious and self- cautious, it feel impossible to believe that Escobar would welcome him in his entourage.The major problem is the screenplay, which is by no means based on real story. I had a hard time figuring out if this was supposed to be some kind of a account of Escobar's life, a thriller, or just a cautionary tale. In any case, it failed on all counts, specifically on the cautionary tale dimension. Nick is never really fully integrated in Escobar's activities, and doesn't get any of the rewards. At best, he is the pool boy of the Escobar haciendas. Spoiler: The last third of the movie, which many critics have said is full of tension and is considered the "thriller" part of the movie, doesn't even make any sense. Can you really believe that Escobar would ask this gringo to take charge of a sensitive mission, involving hiding part of his fortune and killing someone?Your time would be better invested in the Netflix series mentioned above, or the documentary (available on you tube) The true story of Killing Pablo.