No Man's Land - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

No Man's Land



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
The idea of illegal immigration has been a HUGE hot spot in our nation for quite some time, but it’s become even bigger in the last 6-8 years or so. It’s been used as political fodder for both sides of the liberal/conservative camp, and No Man’s Land is one of many modern films trying to mend fences and show the other side of the coin in a more humanitarian and empathetic way. Most of these films tend to be cringe worthy to the max, but some of them surprise you. Unfortunately No Man’s Land isn’t one of them.

Written and starred by Jake Allyn (and directed by his brother), No Man’s Land tells a tale of blood and vengeance, focusing on the actual no man’s land below the Rio Grande, but just outside Mexico. There Bill Greer (Frank Grillo) and his family make their living as cattle ranchers. Bill and his wife Monica (Andie McDowell) are life long hard working ranchers, but their son Jackson has a real shot of making something with his life as a pitcher for the New York Yankees. As with a lot of ranchers right on the border of the Rio Grande, Bill and his family have to deal with Coyotes running illegal immigrants across their lands, and frankly the ranchers are tired of it.

Simultaneously we see Gustava (Jorge A. Jimenez), a man of god who is acting as a benevolent Coyote to take his church members across the border and into the United States so that the REAL coyotes won’t take advantage of his friends and family, leaving them robbed and dead in a ditch somewhere (or worse if you’re female). Taking his teenage son over the border with him one trip he ends up running into Bill and his two sons in the middle of the night. A confrontation occurs, and in the scuffle Bill’s oldest son Lucas (Alex MacNicoll) ends up shot by Bill’s own rifle, and Jackson jumps the gun and shoots Gustavo’s son dead. Bill initially tries to take the blame for the accidental death, but Ranger Ramirez (George Lopez in a very toned down and serious role) soon figures out the truth and comes for Jackson.

Panicking, Jackson jumps on his horse Sundance and flees over the Rio Grande and tries to cover his tracks. He manages to finagle his way south even further, dodging unscrupulous coyotes, but even more surprising, running into kind people along the way. An elderly couple willing to share their food, a bus full of jovial passengers, and he even is able to find a horse ranch down there where his skills as a horse trainer becomes useful. Interestingly enough, this is probably the best part of the film. Jackson actually shows a character for once instead of the cloying cliché that’s been so far, and as the scenes progress there’s even a hint or romance. But that has to come to an end as Jackson is recognized by one of Gustavo’s “acquaintances” and the boy is forced on the lam once more in a desperate effort to find Gustavo and show him just how repentant he is for the death.

I’ve read a lot about how the ending was a dive bomb and how it basically ruined the movie, but in my opinion, it was the least offensive part of the whole film. Sure, it was a syrupy and cliched, but the whole movie thrives off of that sort Hallmark Classics tone so it didn’t bother me that much. However, the rest of the movie was basically a train wreck outside of the horse ranch section. I get that the Allyn brothers were trying to make a “walk a mile in their shoes” type of film and show how the other side is in a more empathetic light. But holy cow, I’m not sure they could have made it any more cloying and cringe worthy in their haphazard efforts. Jackson and the other Greers have this low key bigoted vibe to them, and Allyn plays them a little larger than life in an effort to show just how much in the “wrong” they are. Then after he makes a panicked run for the border it all goes even further south as he whitewashes the Mexican culture in reverse. Usually Mexico is portrayed as dirty, grungy, full of cutthroat villains who will kill you at a moment’s notice in films. This time Jackson can’t seem to run across a bad person, except for like one Coyote. Everyone accepts him out of the goodness of their heart (again, the horse ranch section was probably the best portion of the movie) and he just is helped along by a string of helpful good Samaritans who can do no wrong. The only really BAD person in the movie is a punk coyote who goads Gustavo into trying to find and kill Jackson, and he’s played up as such a display of villainy that that you could almost see him twirling his mustache.

I give the Allyn brothers some props for trying to do a reverse role type movie and infuse it with a stereotypical fugitive film, but a more nuanced writer/directed might have been able to make it more interesting and less cringe worthy. I was literally wincing at the dialog from about 10 minutes into the movie, and pretty much no one was acting like they would in real life. Coming from a border state (barely an hour from the border) I’ve seen both sides of the fence for my entire life, and I can tell you that this was such an inaccurate Hallmarked version of the real that I felt bad for everyone involved. Jake Allyn tried his heart out, but he’s not exactly a seasoned actor, and veteran actors George Lopez, Frank Grillo and Andie MacDowell are barely in it.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for some strong violence and language




Video:

The 2.39:1 framed AVC image is quite striking most of the time, with a fairly neutral color grading outside of a few night time shots that are blue tinged. Fine detail is generally good, but the film seems a TAD soft to my eyes, especially when things go indoors. Outdoor shots at the ranches (both of them) show the best of the detail levels, with brightly lit western locations and well saturated colors. I noticed a tad of banding and some minor haloing (such as when Jackson was sitting down writing his infamous note), but overall the image is free of major artifacting. Good, never great, but still very satisfactory.






Audio:

The audio fares about as well as the video does. It’s a nice sounding mix but a little front heavy at times. The action bits with gunfire brings out the surrounds, as does the horse training sequences or the bar scene, but it’s still a rather front heavy mix at the end of the day. Dialog is crisp and clear though, with solid presence in the center channel and nice panning effects (especially training the horse) everyone once and a while. It’s a track that checks off all the major boxes and does everything just right, but never really tries to excel. Bass is tight and punchy, but never really THAT noticeable, and rounds out an overall nice track.









Extras:

• Trailers

Final Score: ​

No Man’s Land is what I would call a “well meaning movie”. Or to put it in Southern terms “bless your heart”. It has it’s heart in the right place I guess, but it comes across so cloying and Hallmark Channel worthy that I had a hard time taking it seriously. I REALLY did enjoy the center act with Jackson on the Mexican ranch, but the over the top white washing and the cliched attempts at reversing stereotypes just didn’t work well at all. The big blow was the villain Luis though. Connor was trying for a villain that would add a tinge of danger to the encounters, but instead it came across as comical. Personally you could have cut out Luis from the story and it would have played a little better overall. Solid Blu-ray, weak movie, only a trailer as an extra. Personally I’d skip it.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jake Allyn, Frank Grillo, Andie McDowell, Jorge A. Jimenez, George Lopez
Directed by: Conor Allyn
Written by: Jake Allyn, Dave Barraza
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NR
Runtime: 116 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 13th 2021

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[Todd Anderson]

Well, dag nabit, that cover art had some serious potential. Then you go giving this film 2 stars and my hopes and dreams come crashing down.

"Bless Your Heart," hahaha... good one, Mike.