The Line (2009)

Let's be realistic.

An Exercise In Nonsense

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

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!

A cast full of cool actors (Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, Armand Assante, Danny Trejo and Kevin Gage) does not make a cool movie. La Linea is evidence of that. A movie that starts by quoting a psalm, serves up nothing but genre clichés for 90 minutes (in a plot that is pretty hard to follow) and ends with an incredibly stupid surprise ending which doesn't make any sense at all. And everything is dedicated to the good people of Tijuana of course, where the movie takes place. Poor Tijuanans. The only thing good about La Linea is seeing Danny Trejo back in the role that he has played so many times before with enthusiasm: that of ugly henchman #2.

On the face of it this looks quite good, an interweaving plot involving drug smugglers, a bounty hunter, the CIA and some terrorists. Unfortunately it didn't live up to its potential. But more of that later, here's a bit about this complicated plot first, without giving too much away. It is modern times and the location is the Mexican border town of Tijuana.Mark Shields is a bounty hunter, he has been employed by… well let's say by parties as yet unknown, to kill the current leader of a drug smuggling ring, Pelon. The previous leader, Javier Salazar, is very ill and has brought Pelon in to oversee his business much to the disgust of his son, known as Diablo. To help him, Mark has employed Wire, another American. The American authorities are also looking into the smugglers activities, especially since they have word that they are about to do a deal with some Afghani poppy 'farmers' to get their product into the United States. The route they use is known as 'The Line' of the title. Mark is haunted by visions of a woman from his past and, at times, he loses grip on reality. He is befriended by Olivia, who takes him in after he is mugged. But he still has a job to do… I won't say any more, I think that's enough for now.Quite a well made film which gave you a good flavour of life on the seedier side of the streets of Tijuana. Quite a slow deliberate pace that, I felt, didn't really help the telling of the story. Having said that, decent performances, with Ray Liotta as Mark Shields and Valerie Cruz as Olivia standing out for me. Honourable mentions also go to; Andy Garcia as Javier Salazar, Esai Morales as Pelon, Armand Assante as Padre Antonio, Jordi Vilasuso as Diablo and Kevin Gage as Wire.At the end of the day I felt this wasn't a great movie, the slow pace and the over-complicated plot made for a bit of a damp squib. There is a neat twist at the end, but by then I had stopped really caring. The plot centred too much on the bad guys which I found a little off putting because I really couldn't engage with them. Over all, not great and not recommended.My score: 4.6/10

This movie is supposed to symbolize something. I couldn't figure what that was. A very confusing story line, disjointed story telling and some incomprehensible characters makes it a insomniacs delight. Ray Liotta is a sniper, who has killed a lady by mistake in the past. Image of that lady haunts him. We are never told who he was actually trying to kill or who that lady was with sentances like "No one really cared"!! Perhaps the script writer and director didn't!There were too many questions at the end of the movie. Why does the God father go along with this plan? Why he wants his step-son dead? Why the US secret agency doesn't just kill the Afghans? I fell asleep within half an hour! Highly advice you to skip this.