Get ready for Jane The Action Star. Ok, so that’s a little hokey, but feels like the best way to set up this trailer for Miss Bala, starring Jane The Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez.
As far as PG-13 guns-blazing drug films go, this appears to be on par. It looks the part and walks the walk, so there’s no reason to believe it shouldn’t at the very least be decent. Slap a couple filters on here and it could pass a lesser Tony Scott flick from the early 00’s. With less language and bloodshed that is. Take a peek.
Miss Bala is a Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) American remake of a 2011 Mexican crime thriller of the same name. Now gussied up under the gaze of casting a known comedy or light drama actor in a darker light. Only Rodriguez had already done that in 2018, in the stellar Annihilation. The original film was an unflinching and grimy look at the cartels, through the eyes of a beauty pageant contest kidnapped and forced into that world. It’s hard not to notice the Hollywood stamp on this, even if behind the scenes it has a reason to be championed, before hitting theaters.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly (who premiered the trailer yesterday), Rodriguez revealed a big piece of info:
“[With Miss Bala], Sony made a big-budget action film with a 95 percent Latinx cast and 95 percent Latinx production crew. It’s revolutionary. It’s just really great to live in these spaces that for so long I didn’t have the opportunity to.”
Given the current climate in the studio system, that’s a major win. One which hopefully continues into the future. What that doesn’t necessarily guarantee is that the film will be any good. Based upon the trailer alone, it comes of as being marketed towards teenagers who are sad they couldn’t get in to see Sicario: Day of the Soldado. Though Rodriguez is quick to paint a different picture there as well.
In the same EW article, she lays out why exactly Miss Bala is different:
“[Gloria is] someone that’s actively trying to save herself and her family. I think that’s really amazing because a lot of the women in my life, they actively work toward keeping their families safe, and they actively try to fix situations. There’s no woman I know in my life that just sits back. Women aren’t necessarily always portrayed as proactively trying to save ourselves in action films. It’s very empowering to see those stories because I know that’s what the women in my life do.”
This could all very well be actor speak. A means of helping to sell a film to larger audiences. There’s also a level of authenticity here, that this movie genuinely means a lot to Rodriguez. Which makes it instantly more interesting than most films coming out early next year. Mark us as cautiously optimistic, or very curious about this one. We’ll know for sure, when Miss Bala rolls into theaters in February.
