Elite Squad

Well, I watched this based on your glowing review, Doom. And I wasn't disappointed.

I think you summed it up well when you compared Brazil to another planet. It's truly beyond our comprehension. If Rio is anything close to how it's depicted in Elite Squad, City of God or Bus 174 then growing up in Rio is some HARD shit. The corruption is beyond anything we can comprehend, and we live in Detroit, for fuck's sake. It makes Detroit look like Shangri la. The drugs, the guns, and all those motherfuckers with curly hair. It's chaos AD.

Yeah, you know Sepultura should have done the soundtrack.

Anyway, I dug the film. I thought it took its sweet time for you to create any sort of legitimate connection to the characters, though. Even though it was exciting, it wasn't technically 'gripping' for me. Well, not until about 3/4 of the way through. With City of God, for instance, I felt an almost immediate connection. I was sucked right in and I cared right off the bat. The protagonists in this film have a tougher veneer and it's a bit harder to empathize or fully sympathize with them. But I was eventually won over. And I think that'll make the second movie all that much better. The seed has been planted.

Turns out the Director was the dude who did Bus 174. I didn't know that. But more troubling is the fact he's doing a RoboCop remake in 2013 and Gael Garcia Bernal is cast in the film. I'm a big fan of Bernal's acting and I'll probably see it for his involvement. He's one of my top 3 actors making legit movies these days.

I liked the cinematography, but the overall effect was a bit blown out. The colors didn't have that smooth warmth like they did in City of God. This was more of a high contrast, over-saturated vibe. Not as good. But whatever. Still dug it. The editing was well done. Yeah, it was a cool film. And I'll definitely watch the second one.