El Chicano
Briarcliff Entertainment | Release Date: May 3, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
46
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
10
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarMay 2, 2019
Reminiscent of Hollywood cop movies from the ’80s, when masculinity came only in a macho shade, but propelled by the fresh winds of inclusion, El Chicano stands as a solidly acted and technically accomplished spectacle, the latter likely the result of Hernandez Bray’s time delivering stunt magic behind the scenes as a stunt coordinator. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireMay 3, 2019
Working alongside veteran screenwriter Joe Carnahan, who’s made his name with this kind of brash, muscular storytelling in films like “Narc” and “The Grey,” Hernandez Bray tries to get his arms around a lot at once. Quite often, he’s successful. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 6, 2019
El Chicano is often exciting, but don’t expect to leave the theater riding an action movie high. Read full review
60
The New York TimesTeo BugbeeMay 2, 2019
The director Ben Hernandez Bray began his career in Hollywood as a stuntman, and though too many bones are crunched to describe this film as elegant, Bray directs action with merciless kinetic logic. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMay 1, 2019
The film, marking Ben Hernandez Bray's directorial debut, is mainly a violent police procedural and vigilante drama that succeeds well enough on those terms. It's also notable for its almost entirely Latino cast and deep immersion into East Los Angeles culture. The pic certainly looks authentic, despite the fact that it was largely shot in Calgary. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezMay 2, 2019
Throughout, the film peddles notions of self-realization and self-actualization that feel nothing short of moth-eaten. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMay 2, 2019
It’s long on violence and short on storytelling. It aims high, working in the realm of myths, but it does so in hit-or-miss fashion. Read full review
42
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 16, 2019
El Chicano feels less like a cut-rate version of a comic book movie than it does an insanely over-budgeted pitch video. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubVikram MurthiMay 2, 2019
The story never even grazes the sublime; it’s dull and banal, coasting on familiarity from beginning to end. Here, the clichés don’t celebrate a reunion. They’re at war. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleMay 6, 2019
El Chicano is also a surprising miss from Raúl Castillo, the actor tasked with being the face of this would-be franchise. His talent as a performer is above reproach – his portrayal of the abusive father in "We the Animals" was one of the best performances of 2018 – but here he comes across as stiff and humorless in a movie that needed something to offset its own sense of gravity. Read full review
40
TheWrapMonica CastilloMay 5, 2019
For his part, Castillo makes the best of the clunky dialogue and cliché lines, but the story never lets his acting chops shine through. Read full review
40
VarietyDennis HarveyMay 3, 2019
The problem here isn’t the fairly apparent budgetary limits — it’s the limitations of style and imagination. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleCarla MeyerMay 1, 2019
Diego also lacks any nuance as a character. He is grim and humorless, like most everything else about this film. Read full review
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