TMG Scale 7.0
Starring Chloe Moritz, Simon Baker, Paz Vega
Think History of Violence (2005) with a little weird Catholic cult worship thrown in with a twist. Simon Baker and Paz Vega are not quite on par with Viggo Mortenson and Maria Bello, but this was filmed about two years before Chloe Mortiz was subjected to the scum involved in Kick Ass (2010). The start is familiar. Jack and his beautiful second wife, Amaya live peacefully raising his 11 year old daughter by his first marriage in Del Rio, Texas, a small town bordering Mexico. He coaches his daughter Toby’s (Moritz) soccer team. The town has a dark religious sect, the ” La Santa Muerte” (the Holy Death), a cultish offshoot of Catholicism. The inquisitive Toby takes note. Then things start to go bad. Toby is kidnapped from the local soccer field. The local police and eventually the FBI get involved. The FBI begins to inquire about Jack’s history only to find out he has no birth records dating back farther than ten years, and there is no evidence showing how his first wife died or was buried.
A repeated sex offender is thought to be the culprit, but it later becomes apparent “La Santa Muerte” might be involved. Jack’s former life as a Santa Muerte worshiping hit man is revealed as he tries desperately to find out who kidnapped his daughter.
Joy Lynn: This is an erratic and convoluted film with a great beginning and a very twisted end. What is in-between includes gratuitous nudity, strippers, supernatural facial disorders (don’t know why they were there) violent flashbacks, graphic self mutilation and mexican cult seances. This movie reminded me a little of Taken (2008), but with more twists and turns that are hard to follow.