Diablo review – Scott Adkins enters Cormac McCarthy territory in over-the-border revenge thriller

Its deranged antagonist might be an Anton Chigurh rip-off, but some fantastically flailing fight scenes almost lift this otherwise humdrum action romp No Country for Old Men’s Anton Chigurh was the scariest thing to come out of Latin America since Argentinian inflation. So it’s taken a surprisingly long time to see a direct imitator: the dark-clad avenger El Corvo, played here by Marko Zaror. Not only does he have the gauche coiffuring (bald on top this time), but also the philosophical penchant, asking imminent victims if they’ve given themselves a present recently. If the Cormac McCarthy rip-off wasn’t enough, Ernesto Díaz Espinoza’s ponderous thriller also gives El Corvo a couple of scenes lifted from The Terminator, and the villain from Enter the Dragon’s blade-hand for good measure. Diablo isn’t all cliches though: martial arts multitool Scott Adkins has a potentially interesting role inverting the usual over-the-border revenge mission. He plays former bank robber Kris, who’s be...

Emilia Perez review – Jacques Audiard’s gangster trans musical barrels along in style

A thoroughly implausible yarn about a Mexican cartel leader who hires a lawyer to arrange his transition, but is carried along by its cheesy Broadway energy

Anglo-progressives and US liberals might worry about whether or not certain stories are “theirs to tell”. But that’s not a scruple that worries French auteur Jacques Audiard who, with amazing boldness and sweep, launches into this slightly bizarre yet watchable musical melodrama of crime and gender, set in Mexico. It plays like a thriller by Amat Escalante with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and a touch of Almodovar.

Argentinian trans actor Karla Sofia Gascon plays Juan “Manitas” Del Monte, a terrifyingly powerful and ruthless cartel leader in Mexico, married to Jessi (Selena Gomez), with two young children. Manitas is intrigued by a high-profile murder trial in which an obviously guilty defendant gets off due to his smart and industrious lawyer Rita (Zoe Saldana); she is nearing 40 and secretly wretched from devoting her life to protecting unrepentant slimeballs, who go on to get ever richer while she labours for pitiful fees. Manitas kidnaps Rita and makes her an offer she can’t refuse: a one-off job for an unimaginably vast amount of money on which she can retire.

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