The Line (2009)

The Line, La Linea, is rubbish. The pretentious dual language title is an indicator that everyone speaks American apart from the occasional Gracias. In the end titles the film is dedicated to the city of Tijuana. Well I ain't going there on my holidays. Every cliché in the book is deployed. Nearly every male has a manicured 3 day beard. I couldn't tell one from the other. There is a prostitute, who ,of course, has a heart of gold and she is, of course, as gorgeous Hollywood actress. Maybe I will visit Tijuana! An amazing cast, check it out. Don't be deceived!

This movie had a great deal to be excited about, including the setting in TJ, some fine actors who actually turned in excellent performances, a few memorable vignettes that built expectations, and a plot flip late in the movie that was well executed.Unfortunately these component parts were hashed together into an agonizingly slow moving hodgepodge world where nothing made much sense. It was difficult to build tension, or even interest as a multiplicity of characters were tossed into the mix without clear purpose or clear connection to the main storyline, and the storyline itself included major elements that made no sense at all. I don't claim to be the most observant person in the world but I spent most of the movie wondering what the heck was happening. What was the relationship between Liotta and Cruz? Why did she take care of him? Why bring a hired gun into your home with your little girl and get involved in some kind of fight between cartels? Cruz was cast as a big hearted street-wise prostitute, so why would she act so stupidly? And there was no chemistry at all there, so what's the point? Then we have supposedly highly skilled assassins trying to 'get' one kingpin and they take on about 20 guns in a parking lot -- two of them. Really slick. And Liotta, the professional's professional suddenly goes rogue and single handedly takes on a building full of thugs like something out of a Rambo movie. Give me a break. Don't lure us into believing this is some kind of a thinker's gang movie, then toss in some silly one man against the mob action scene.It's worth watching for the scenery, the vignettes that work, and some of the acting. But don't get your expectations up too high. There isn't enough action to make this really exciting, and the plodding sentimentality of much of the plot is sundered by the absurdity of some of its elements.

The film left a strong impression on me, which is why I'm an ardent supporter of and proponent for it. I love crime/gangster dramas, because a well-made one is able to compress and magnify human emotions through a clear-cut dramatic arc of its main characters. The nature of the genre means that the highest possible stakes are in play -- namely human life. When this is complicated by a flawed protagonist, as Ray Liotta's character certainly is, who also is propelled along a spiritual arc parallel to the dramatic one, then the story becomes even more interesting and compelling.Of course, it all starts with Mr. Frazier's screenplay, which was excellent. I have to give credit to the director, Mr. Cotten, as well, but the lyrical, poetic, almost operatic tone of the film comes from the script. His writing drew me in, captured my imagination, and was emotionally resonant. I spent a lot of time in Tijuana between 2004- 2008, when my friend was assigned to the U.S. Consulate there as Chief of the American Citizens Services Section, and the verisimilitude of atmosphere was not missed, which is important, since TJ itself is a character in the film.Finally, because of all these effective elements and components (great writing, acting, art direction, cinematography and direction), the film took me on a journey that I wanted to go on, and didn't cheat me emotionally. Some stories are served and heightened by ambiguous endings, but 'La Linea' called for a clearly-defined one, and the denouement was perfect. And even with the integrity of the story logic, I never saw the plot twist at the end coming! It was a satisfying one, and again, a sign of great writing. I truly hope that the film receives the recognition that it deserves

Normally I wouldn't’t write anything about this movie. The time I’ve already spent on watching it was way too much. But come on…9.3 rating??? It’s kind of intriguing… A some-kind-of-USA-secret-agency just spotted some Afghans that they try to deal with the last big drug cartel in Mexico, Tijuana. Are they going to let the deal take place between the Mexicans with the “Afghan-terrorists”? Of course not. For that they recruited a retired undercover agent to stop them, who in turn recruited two supposedly unstoppable and unmistakable head-hunters to kill the head of the Mexican cartel, who took leadership not actually being part of the Family and is in rivalry with the stepson of the Godfather for taking the leadership of the cartel, who Godfather is in his last days dying and a very good friend with the local priest, who take cares of the soul of the not-from-the-Family leader of the cartel. Where was I? Oh, the two head-hunters are messing up the job because a sniper shoots them, who sniper also tries to kill the not-from-the-family-leader of the cartel but a vision of a woman that he killed in a previous job haunts him just at the moment he was supposed to pull the trigger, which woman was killed by him and filled the sniper with guilt because no one cared about her death. Does anything of the above make any sense? If not add one whore that takes care of the sniper, one good friend of the sniper who gets killed by the cartel, also add that the stepson of the godfather is actually crying with every line he says, add that the Mexicans speak Spanish like a Chinese should speak in Greek, also add that the priest turns out to be the personal Godfather’s killer boy, who Godfather is not actually sick at all but pretends to be, add that both the not-family-leader and the stepson get killed, also the sniper gets killed and that the Godfather is cooperating with the some-kind-of-USA-secret-agency mentioned at the beginning. Confusing? Yes. Unanswered questions? Yes. Idiotic plot? Also. Action movie with no action? You guessed right. Good actors acting worse than me? Sad but true. The bottom line is that I will give 1.000$ if anyone watches the film and makes more sense than these that I have already written.