Miss Bala
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: February 1, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
41
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
17
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJan 31, 2019
A real surprise. It seems to promise an exploitative genre movie, about gangsters and drug deals, and it delivers on that, but it’s something more. Director Catherine Hardwicke and screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocet have taken a Mexican thriller, with a female victim at its center, and have turned it into an intelligent feminist film. Read full review
67
Original-CinKim HughesJan 31, 2019
There are white-knuckle moments, notably Gloria’s crossing of the border with a heap of stuff that would raise troubling questions were she stopped and searched. Rodriguez puts us right there in the car beside her and it’s thrilling. But the outcome arrives a bit too pat, our heroine conveniently switching from cowed hostage to arms-wielding ass-kicker with dubious ease. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliFeb 4, 2019
The PG-13 rating is an indication of how much the material has been neutered. And, although the lead character’s arc remains troubled and conflicted, the ending makes her seem more like a superhero than the material warrants. Read full review
63
New York PostRob Bailey-MilladoJan 31, 2019
Overall, Miss Bala is a misfire — but its leading lady is No. 1 with a bullet. And that’s a beautiful sight to see. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJan 31, 2019
Hardwicke is a talented director who brings an addictive verve and visual dynamism to this bombastic take, and Rodriguez has a charm so appealing it could be weaponized. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 1, 2019
The souped-up plot is certainly indigestible (cheesecake, beefcake, bullets — choke on that), and there’s a steady stream of bad laughs, but something genuinely frightening comes through: a woman’s sense of disempowerment by men on all sides of the law. Hardwicke sticks to her guns — meaning there’s no play in the gunplay, only horror. Read full review
60
TheWrapYolanda MachadoJan 31, 2019
What this new version forgets, to its detriment, is that Gloria’s strength doesn’t come from finally holding the gun; it comes from being a survivor. Read full review
53
IGNRosie KnightJan 31, 2019
Miss Bala never quite delivers on its potential and lets down the woman at its center. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreFeb 6, 2019
There’s a "don’t overthink this” watchability to Miss Bala. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonFeb 5, 2019
The remake, directed by Twilight’s Catherine Hardwicke, makes substantial changes — taking the bare bones of the story and turning into a sort action-fable about female empowerment, starring Jane the Virgin headliner Gina Rodriguez. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneBilge EbiriFeb 1, 2019
Without the unyielding forward charge of the original, however, the far-fetched story doesn’t really work. And the movie’s attempts to explain its characters doesn’t make them any deeper; quite the contrary, it renders them simplistic. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloFeb 1, 2019
The Mexican film now has a Hollywood remake, one that adds new elements to the story but is less coherent in its message. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJan 31, 2019
It’s mostly left to Rodriguez to carry the absurdity on her shoulders, and the fact that she makes it so watchable is a real testament to her abilities. Next time, may the material rise at least halfway to meet her. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJan 31, 2019
Rodriguez does just enough to keep things mildly interesting. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubJesse HassengerJan 31, 2019
It’s somehow both less explicit and more blandly lascivious than its nastier counterpart, equally skittish about exploitation and saying anything meaningful about its subject. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleDanielle WhiteJan 31, 2019
There are times when it’s funny. There are also times when it beats you over the head with context clues. When the action ramps up, the over-the-top music score seems to stomp its foot and say, “Something is hap-pen-ing!” Certain plot points are overemphasized. It veers toward parody. But it’s also satisfying to see the outcome. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittJan 31, 2019
What keeps it all watchable is Rodriguez’s magnetism. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeJan 31, 2019
Miss Bala no longer serves as a critique of a system that might allow innocent people to get caught in the crossfire of the drug war, but as the kick-ass origin story for a new kind of action hero. Read full review
42
The PlaylistKimber MyersJan 31, 2019
Miss Bala fails both when judged on its own merits and when compared to its predecessor. Just like Gloria in the film itself, Rodriguez is the only hero here. She works hard to elevate the material, but both she and her character deserve so much better than this. Read full review
40
Screen DailyTim GriersonFeb 1, 2019
A bullet-riddled tale of unlikely female empowerment, Miss Bala toys with exploitation and social commentary but doesn’t have the ingenuity or nerve to successfully pull off either. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJan 31, 2019
It’s understandable that Hardwicke didn’t want to mimic her predecessor’s moves. But in chop-chop-chopping the action into standard Hollywood fragments, she has drained the material of its tension, its meaning and its purpose, to say nothing of its beauty. Read full review
40
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 31, 2019
Gareth Dunnet Alcocer's script has a tidy, programmed feel that results in a feel-good version of a grim and sordid modern yarn. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperFeb 5, 2019
Gina Rodriguez: You deserve much better than this. Read full review
35
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaJan 31, 2019
Gina Rodriguez, who proved in Annihilation that she’s capable of something so much more addled and kinetic than this, does what she can with such aggravating material, but everything around her insults whatever emotional depth she can mine despite what she’s given. Read full review
30
The New York TimesA.O. ScottJan 31, 2019
This version, in the dreariest Hollywood-remake tradition, turns a grim, morally ambiguous story into a fable of empowerment. That might be kind of fun if it didn’t feel so tired and timid. Read full review
25
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenFeb 4, 2019
The original Miss Bala was a slyly feminist take on what could have easily been an exploitation flick. Guess what? This Miss Bala weirdly sexualizes things to undermine everything the original was interested in and become, yep, an exploitation flick. Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackJan 31, 2019
In its entirety, Miss Bala seems to exist merely for one shot near its end: Rodriguez strutting in slow-motion across the screen while wearing an evening gown and brandishing an assault rifle. And while yes, she does look bad-ass, there’s no way in hell it makes up for the film’s preceding 90 minutes of patchy plotting and lifeless writing. Read full review
25
IndieWireJude DryJan 31, 2019
With every note as predictable as the next, the movie just blends into a discordant mess. Even Rodriguez’s smile can’t salvage this disappointing remake, but at least it provides a welcome reminder to check out the movie that inspired it. Read full review
20
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJan 31, 2019
As entertainment, however, the film is calculation impure and simple. It’s a box-ticking exercise in female jeopardy, survival and empowerment, oppressively efficient in its relentless way but unrelieved by emotional resonance. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineJake ColeJan 31, 2019
The Mexico of this film is merely a place of abject lawlessness, whose hellishness exists only to stoke our fascination for how the protagonist grows as a person by drawing on her inner strength. Read full review
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