“A BUTCHER, A KILLER AND A RETRIBUTION THRILLER”
Starring: Manny Perez and Denise Quinones Paul Calderon and Juan Fernandez
Directed by: Josh Crook
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Genre: Drama, Foreign, in Spanish with English Subs
Running time: 1hr 40min
By John Delia
Foreign films have taken hold of America with genre’s that feed the action generation more so than romance lovers. Fitting that category comes La Soga an action thriller from the Dominican Republic. Although not the best acting and direction I’ve seen in a crime film, the storyline does provide, if reasonably based on true incidents, an interesting look at a third world government gone awry.
The strong drama starts with Luisito a young boy of ten witnessing his father being gunned down by Rafa (Paul Calderon) a drug lord backed by the government. Raised by the despicable General Colon (Juan Fernandez) Luisito takes on the job of one of his henchmen. Teeming with hatred and wanting retribution Luisito, using his position of undercover cop, sets out to find and kill Rafa. When he gets wind that Rafa has been deported from the United States back to Dominican Republic, Luisito takes charge of his own destiny.
La Soga’s plot is a good one with a lot of action, edgy characters and a stirring storyline. But, I was not very pleased with the acting. The actors could not bring
enough feeling to their persons of whom I found cold and disoriented. This may be due to the low budget for the film and poor casting. It doesn’t show that director Josh Crook made any attempt to correct the problem, so it is hard to say where the problem lies. In a number of cases the scenes look very contrived, quickly shot and therefore lost their credibility.
The film is unrated but does contain violence, brutality, language and adult situations.
FINAL ANALYSIS: An amateurish try for a possible winner. (2 of 5)