Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Richard Hughes, Defiant Screen Entertainment
Deliverance can be liberating, for some, and Miami’s top mob enforcer is no exception. Cuda (Antonio Banderas) chooses to sacrifice everything to save a young girl he has befriended from cybersex trafficking.
A life of organised crime violence becomes a chance for redemption in this action-packed thriller. Cuda discovers his femme fatale boss Estelle (Kate Bosworth) has branched out into such trafficking, and decides to give up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important. He decides to take out the deadly organisation he’s spent his life building.
Feeling down , not even 24 hours removed from killing someone in cold blood, Cuda wanders around Miami, where he encounters the shoplifting Billie (Zolee Griggs), a runaway 15-year-old with a rough life and no family. Cuda sets her up in a motel room, under the impression that this could be his shot at salvation, particularly since his family wants nothing to do with him. When he visits to check up on her two days later, she’s nowhere to be seen and there are signs of a struggle.
The life of the young runaway he’s befriended is in grave danger, so he takes it upon himself with this one last chance to make up for his past before the mob hunts him down for his betrayal.
There’s illicit activity with uncomfortably non-specific dialogue about qualms, vengeance, even forgiveness. Nevertheless, the script mostly tells a dramatic story with certain personality switches for Cuda.
Written by W. Peter Iliff (Point Break, Varsity Blues), The Enforcer is directed by innovative Australian first-timer Richard Hughes. From the producers of The Expendables and Angel Has Fallen, it also stars Grammy award-winning, platinum-selling musician 2 Chainz (Tauheed Epps) as ‘badass’ crime boss Freddie.
Banderas is enjoying a career renaissance with multiple award nominations for Pain and Glory (2019), box office success with Uncharted (2022) and the highly anticipated reboot of his acclaimed voice-roll in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish due in U.S. cinemas in December. Bosworth has also been extremely busy with some October film premieres including The Immaculate Room and House of Darkness.
What is the name of the new film for Antonio Banderas? If the answer is correct, you could the winner of one of three DVDs of The Enforcer. Entries should be sent to [email protected] by Monday, 21 November 2022. Names of the winners will be announced in Frank Cassidy’s PS-sssst…! column on 22 November 2022.
- The Enforcer has been launched on Digital and DVD
