Elite Squad : The Enemy Within [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

I saw this film earlier in the year at the cinema....absolutely amazing. Easily the best ever foreign film I've ever seen you can't help but be dragged in to the story of the film. Unlike most other films that have been piling up recently this film is brilliant from start to finnish, there are no wasted characters the plot is constantly unraveling as you move from scene to scene and you have exactly the right emotional connection to each character that the director has planned.

It's the first ever film that I've pre-ordered that says it all

I watched this in the cinema on the strength of having seen and been impressed by both the prequel and the fantastic documentary Bus 174 which are also by the same director, José Padilha. The film is set a decade on from the prequel, but again focuses on the character Nascimento, brilliantly portrayed once again by Wagner Moura. This time he is not battling the drug dealers of the favelas, but instead the systemic corruption that his finds himself surrounded by in his new post within police intelligence. Although the plot of Elite Squad 2 is more political than its prequel, this is not to say that it lacks suspense or gripping action sequences, quite the opposite. The film is superbly directed with some stunning aerial shots of Rio and impressive action set pieces set in the narrow streets of the Rio favelas. If you enjoyed the prequel or City of God, make sure to watch this as it's very similar in style and makes for an enthralling and entertaining watch.

Okay, if you haven't seen the original The Elite Squad [DVD], then consider this a four star review, edging towards a five. The acting's good (damn good in some places - the talk show host for example), the action is good, it doesn't feel amateur and the protagonist's laconic voice-over keeps you in the loop. It's a semi-serious movie - so no Bruce Willis type antics - about a very serious subject that is fascincating in its own right.

Great to watch. Interesting to observe.

Right, that's my first opinion out of the way. ***Beware, possible spoilers ahead.***

So, why a second opinion? Well, having watched and enjoyed the first movie, this otherwise good film gets dragged down to a three, losing a star to disappointment.

First there's the characters. Nascimento gets a little more fleshed out here, but seemingly at the expense of Matthias, who suddenly becomes more skeletal. If you've seen the first movie, then the decisions Matthias makes in his brief appearances here just seem way out of character and incomprehensible. If you've not seen the first movie, he probably just comes across as a dick.

The whole business with Fraga was a bit of a mess, especially with migrating Nascimento's ex-wife over to his side to create some family tension. Nice idea but there simply isn't room in the movie to explore it. The tense relationship between Nascimento and Fraga is told rather than shown. In the house scenes you don't really learn much else. You could have cut them out all together and concentrated more time on the relationship between Nascimento and his son, and then Fraga at the office.
Fraga also got off a little too lightly in my opinion. It's as if the director wanted to rehabilitate the liberal intellectuals after their treatment in the first movie, so he removed all the shades of grey and made them all white. Fraga always considers he's right, and at the end he turns out to be right. And Nascimento eats humble pie and calls for the disbanding of his beloved BOPE. Sorry, that's too trite. A proper to-and-fro between the two different philosophies would have given us a proper exploration of the issues involved. Of course, this is more of a fast moving action movie, so perhaps something had to be sacrificed. But it falls well short of what we got in the first movie.

Then there's the militias. Apparently the gangs extort the communities and run a protection racket. And when the militias take over, so do they. Say hello to the new boss, same as the old boss.

Except that, under the new boss, it's safe to walk the streets again and everyone looks happier and the place less scummy. I mean, the new boss takes 90% of everything, but still the place thrives! I'm not familiar with Brazil or the militias (and I don't think their existence is actually fictional) so maybe I'm missing something. Perhaps the director is merely speculating on what would happen if the militias did take over a district, but if so it suffers from the same black and white problem given above. A little more show and a little less tell would have been helpful, with less air-time given to following the fat guy around all the time. It might have looked as informative as the first movie and less of a bogus setup then.

Okay, if you've followed me this far down in the review, and if you haven't actually seen this movie yet, don't let my whinging put you off. Buy this movie. It's better than a lot of junk you might have seen in the cinema this year.

Enjoy it.

But seriously, when you're done with that, watch the first movie. It blew my mind more than this one did. Which probably explains my disappointment with this one. I simply expected more.