Bandidas (2006)

Fresh and Exciting

Best movie ever!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek are without a doubt the best kissers. Rather odd to start a review of a western with a competition in kissing, but that is just an example of what makes "Bandidas" so charming and funny. This female western follows the storyline of any regualar western but adds some very witty (and hot) feminine twists and turns."Bandidas" is a playful charming story about 2 daughters who lose their fathers because of a killing spree by a group of outlaws. To get revenge the 2 daughters join forces and decide to rob the banks that the outlaws have stolen from the mexican people. Will the 2 female bandidas succeed in robbing all the money back from the bandits who murdered their fathers?Suited for 9 years and older it is still a good western that can be enjoyed by adults as well. It is a fast story, with many smart and very witty robberies of banks. It is photographed splendidly. There is even a Matrix like scene, in which bullets fly through the air in slow motion. Real attention to detail and that makes sense because this picture is written and produced by Luc Besson who also produced "The Transporter" and "Taken" series, so the man knows HOW TO make a good action movie. Add some great female comedy actors and you have got "Bandidas". Supporting actors by Dwight Yoakam, Steve Zahn and Sam Shepard are great too. All in all a really lovely, very funny original parody on westerns.

This is a good movie if you are looking for something that is so bad it's funny. I don't remember ever hearing about it coming out, I'm wondering if it just went straight to DVD. I managed to sit through the whole thing, although three of the four other people I was watching it with left before it was over. It has decent entertainment value, but is without merit as any kind of quality film. The "bandidas" are clothed in the most ridiculously provocative way throughout the movie and are constantly getting wet or fighting each other. Most of the script is poorly written which results in awkward line delivery from the largely mediocre cast. Penelope and Salma do as well as they could in this movie, but I'm not sure what possessed them to choose this script. The funniest part is the range of accents you get from the supposed "Mexicans". The plot had multiple problems and every once in awhile I just wasn't sure what was going on. I would consider it to be a "mock western", but it almost seems that it is trying to be an actual western, and, if that is the case, it has completely missed the mark. They have a strange mix of serious subject matter covering the exploitation of the Mexicans by the Americans combined with unrealistic and impossible events carried out by these two prima donna characters. While this movie was good for some laughs (all at its expense) I don't think it was worth it.

Bandidas is a highly entertaining, fun ride. It takes place in Mexico, during the Mexican revolution in the 1800s. Two drop-dead gorgeous young women (played by Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek), decide to team-up and rob banks. This is quite a twist, from the usual macho western movie formula. The women commit robberies out of vengeance, in order to save land stolen from the Mexican people, by a villainous land baron.The violence in the film is ubiquitous, as it is in most westerns. However, the violent tone of the movie, is leavened with a jaunty, slap-stick humor. Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, play the bank robbing duo more like a squabbling Laverne and Shirley, rather than Butch and Sundance. They have hilarious cat-fights with each other, as they try to learn to work together as a team.There's lots of incredible stunts throughout the film. Some are even performed by the horses, ridden by the characters. This is one of the few westerns I've seen, in which the steeds are as important to the plot, as the humans are. This factor highlights the overall lighted-hearted ambiance, running throughout the course of the film.The serious business of justice and revenge is pursued with gusto, by the beautiful, bank-robbing two-some. But along the way, the viewer is treated to lots of belly-laughs. Watching this film, is a great way to get your funny-bone tickled, while rooting for the good guys (in this case gals), to triumph over evil.

Okay, this is movie is an excuse to have both Salma and Penélope on screen, and luckily there will be quite a lot of them present too. But as a warning you surely have to embarrass yourself with some scenes that lack humor but that still are better than the clichés this movie otherwise contains. Simply put there are no movie worth looking at. More exciting would be that you buy some Wild West toys for your kids and watch them play.The only people in this film with any star quality, Salma and Penélope, have done some really outstanding work before doing this, and this product manages to undermine them both as actresses. At best this is a costume western with nothing original except the two bandidas. But because all losers occasionally blow it wrong way up too this movie happens to contain two moderately good scenes: the kissing scene and the train scene.