 | | List Price: $9.99 | | Label: Laguna Productions
Salesrank: 54645
Released: September 6, 2005 | | Our Price: $3.91 | | Used Price: $1.76 | | MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD | |
El Padrino: The Latin Godfather Reviews:
Good cast. Bad directing. 
2008-09-05 - "El Padrino" is a familiar gangster story. We've seen most of it before. Its main asset is a good cast, including Stacy Keach, Faye Dunaway, and Brad Dourif and Gary Busey in minor roles. The biggest problem is the direction. Star Damian Chapa directed the movie himself, and unfortunately he didn't do a good job directing. They should have hired a real director. The action sequences are especially weak, and bad editing doesn't help either.
This is a 2,5 star movie. Since I can't give half stars I give it 3 stars for the good performances.
Latino Action 
2008-02-12 - You want Latino Action? Here it is. As good as some, better than some, not necessarily great but not a waste of a couple hours. Try it. You might like it.
wrong wrong wrong 
2007-08-23 - two things that made this movie horrible. one is the story line. everything moved to fast and didn't give the story time to unravel. there were too many plot holes and loose ends through out the whole movie. two, is jennifer tilly! i couldn't understand a word she said through out the whole movie. her accent made me vomit in my mouth many times. the worse performance i've ever seen.
the whole picture wasn't plausible, made no sense, and a lot more research was desperately needed.
this movie is beyond lame, but if you're like me and like cheesy, stupid gangster movies then by all means torture yourself with this movie.
Video Bullets
2007-08-10 - "El Padrino: The Latin Godfather" was directed by Damian Chapa. Chapa also stars as the lead character Kilo. Obviously, Chapa thinks he looks good on film. He's a little too chubby for the traditional leading man role. He looks better with his shirt on. His director (himself) did not give him enough direction to elicit a great performance. Without Chapa, it would have been a better movie. But without him, there would have been no movie.
Chapa did get some nice performances out of his other actors. Jennifer Tilly plays Sabeva, the girl who will parade around in her black lace underwear, make love and slit your throat while you lay in bed. In short, she's quite crazy and not a nice girl. Tilly's lone Oscar nomination came for a supporting role in "Bullets Over Broadway" from 1995.
Sal Lopez plays his sidekick Loco. As you might expect, the character is totally crazy when he's not putting illicit substances up his nose. They he gets really crazy. Lopez has done a lot of television guest appearances including "Touched by an Angel," "Hill Street Blues" and "NYPD Blue" as well as the film "Paparazzi" in 2004.
Of the smaller character roles, Ileanna Simancas does a nice job as Kilo's wife Christina. She is going for her law degree and urges Kilo to get out of the business. Tommy "Tiny" Lister" plays Kilo's faithful sidekick who stays with him until the closing frame in the final volley of bullets. Gary Busey, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1978 for "The Buddy Holly Story," is crazy as a child predator who gets smoked in prison.
Faye Dunaway won her Oscar in 1976 for "Network" and was twice nominated for "Chinatown" in 1974 and "Bonnie & Clyde" in 1967. She won an Emmy in 1994 for a guest appearance on the "Columbo" TV series. She also won a Razzie for "Worst Supporting Actress" for "The Temp" in 1994. Here she plays Attorney General Navarro who plays politics with the law. There are not a lot of levels for her to play in the role, but she does a good job.
Brad Dourif is the crazy gang leader Cyrus. Stacy Keach plays Governor Lancaster whose daughter comes to a bad end. Kathleen Quinlan, who was nominated for an Oscar for "Apollo 13," does a good job as Judge Scorsi, one of the few principled characters in the film. Robert Wagner from TV's "Hart to Hart" series plays the lawyer Paul Fisch. Ismael 'East' Carlo has done TV appearances on "Ghost Whisperer" and "Prison Break." He does a good job here as Kilo's father Manny. Joanna Pacula gives an emotionally powerful cameo as the governor's wife, Jessica Lancaster.
This movie does fairly well as an action picture where you don't have to think too much. There are some loose ends: Did Robert Wagner get away with the $250,000 he got from the governor? Chapa does not rivet our attention; and so weighs the film down. Apparently, "El Padrino 2" is being made this year. Maybe it'll go direct to DVD. This is an average film, great if you're in the mood for some video bullets to fly. Enjoy!
A should have been classic
2007-04-10 - Overall its a pretty good movie with one exception the lead actor who you have to follow around for the entire movie. I would have given the movie five stars if only he wasn't in it. He is unable to capture any of the characters requirments, be it evil, happy, lusty, its always the same tone and it never changes. Why couldn't they have cast someone else in the part?
Jennifer Tilly does an outstanding job, she'll make your skin crawl many times durring the film. Gary Busey is equally frightening in his demented role.
Violent, intense, but not too gory. It would be an all time classic again if only the lead had been recast with anyone else, even a reality tv star would have been better. Its really hard to care about a character who is portrayed so badly.
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