Racer and the Jailbird

What ought to have been a sleek romantic heist movie is soon overcomplicated by a dizzying number of plot developments.

The filmmaking grows ever limper and less urgent, climbing down gears to leave the engine idling at many of the moments when it really needs to accelerate.

Frankly, it is a bit of a mess.

Just as the film appears to be on the brink of ignition...it suddenly reaches way beyond the abilities of the Flemish director and co-writer Michael R. Roskam and becomes an odd, lumbering melodrama.

A car crash. And not the Cronenberg kind.

It's a film whose first half serves the delectable dessert before moving on to the dreary main course.

An example of when a good concept with good actors and good performances doesn't ignite for some reason.

The movie is, in any case, very enjoyable, while personally and visually very energetic. [Full Review in Spanish]

Where the film's first half is stirring, fascinating and charming, its final acts are laborious, maudlin and comically depressing.

A film that brings together elements of a thriller and the romantic melodrama. [Full Review in Spanish]