A mysterious man, known only as "The Man" (Adkins) arrives in the small Mexican town of El Fronteras with a duffel bag filled with cash. He finds the town less than hospitable, and as the local gang tries to steal his loot, through a series of flashbacks, we find out how he got into this predicament. With Lt. West (Slater) of the New Mexico police crossing the border to go hot on his trail, The Man has plenty to contend with, but with the help of local barmaid Anna (Yates) he just may ride off into the sunset with everything he wants. But can this happen in such a violent place? Sadly, very sadly, we found El Gringo to be a disappointment. You'd think having Scott Adkins and Christian Slater in a movie together would be a surefire winner that could overcome any potential drawbacks elsewhere. It turns out that assumption was incorrect, and you know what happens when you assume. The problem is, it's weighted down with those annoying modern, overly-slick editing tricks that we're not in love with, to say the least. Why directors and editors feel they need to do this remains unknown. (It should be noted that the editor's name is Don Adams, and he does indeed need to get smart). They must think it's helping, but it's really, really not. With a bunch of quick cuts, seizure-inducing flashes, CGI all over the place, and self-consciously "wacky" music and situations, the movie dooms itself. The whole outing has a vibe that it's trying super-hard to be cool, but it's trying too hard. All it had to do was let the magic of Adkins and Slater happen. And get out of the way. But its obsession with being a post-Tarantino irony-laced jaunt puts the kibosh on that.And it had so much potential for being genuinely cool. The movie sabotages itself by setting up a potentially cool situation, then squelching it, almost out of spite. So it sets itself up for failure, because even if something awesome does indeed happen, the overall tenor ruins it, because you can't go back and un-see what uncoolness you just saw. And at 103 minutes, it wears out its welcome. Besides having to witness the character of "The Man" (which isn't at all stolen from Sergio Leone) in a variety of situations frustrating to him, the viewers also get frustrated. The whole thing has a distasteful Missionary Man (2007) vibe, and director Rodriguez even made a movie with Dolph, Stash House (2012), which is acknowledged to be one of Dolph's worst, even worse than Missionary Man.Of course, Scott Adkins is always boss, and he does execute some outstanding moves on the baddies in the beat-em-up scenes, but, ultimately, it's very hard to care. Despite some classics like the "walking away from an explosion" and the "sideways jump/dive while shooting", it's just not enough this time. Even the fruit cart cliché is here. But a dud in the Adkins canon was bound to happen eventually, as he has had a long string of winners, and no actor, or gambler for that matter, has had an unbroken streak. But perhaps the most unsettling thing about this particular Adkins performance is that his distinctive British accent is gone, in favor of an unnecessary American voice. Just another El Gringo misstep, it seems.Speaking of missteps, there's the matter of the title song. One of the best and most noteworthy aspects of the movie was the song by Manowar, but it's only heard during the end credits. It would have been awesome to hear it during a shootout or training sequence. But no, another wasted opportunity. Despite the titans Adkins and Slater, there's actually very little to recommend about El Gringo, as much as it pains us to say it.

One of many straight to DVD films that Scott Adkins has churned out in between the odd big movie. This film seems to have gone down a few routes here, firstly its clearly a nod to classic Clint Eastwood 'the man with no name' films, there is a strong Mexican style spaghetti western vibe here. Secondly its clearly a Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez wannabe flick, the editing and general style is obvious. Thirdly it could be seen as a film project by Adkins to try and prove he's up and ready for a role in the next violent Tarantino/Rodriguez flick, cast me! cast me!. And lastly it might just be a simple homage to all of the above, but I doubt that, riding on the coattails probably.In all honesty its not a bad film but its not good either. We spend the first ten minutes of the film watching Adkins trying to get a drink of water from all the local oddballs in town. Then we spend another ten minutes or so watching this really annoying young girl trying to steal Adkins bag of cash. This happens not once but numerous times, its annoying, time wasting, for Christ's sake just look after your flippin' bag dude!.Most of the film is forgettable except for one gun battle sequence slap bang in the middle. I can't deny I was impressed with this, it was awesome! spectacular in its bloody bullets to the head violence. A touch of kickboxing from Adkins but mainly a rollicking gun fest as he pops bullets in a stream of bad guys whilst running around tight squalid alleyways. It is a real adrenaline rush I kid you not, lots of bloody squibs and absurdity as he takes out blokes with a shotgun that are well out of range I'm sure. The whole sequence plays out like a Call of Duty online game actually, visually it has that frantic wham-bam feel plus Adkins goes around picking up weapons from guys he's just taken out, one after another.The other COD inspiration if you ask me is that all the bad guys have this gangland warpaint on their faces in the form of a simple skull motif. Their faces are white with black around the eyes and cheekbones giving that COD: Ghosts appearance. The main bad guy looks the best of course, he also looks like a young Raul Julia too.It is a bit of a shameful artistic and stylistic rip off from various other sources but it still manages to hold together. Adkins isn't the best actor on the block by any means but he's a good action star as we know and his fights get more impressive with each film. The finale to this film is pretty damn awful I won't lie, it builds up to something massive but ends up a wet squib, very disappointing. Other than that I recommend watching for the gun battle midway through, its worth it, just try not to have an epileptic fit with all the flashy quickfire cuts and editing.5/10

Worst movie I have seen in a decade.Who was stupid enough to finance this awful cinematic travesty?If you want to witness a truly terrible film, this is it. I feel like I have lost 90 minutes of my life I will never get back. I tried to give this one an honest run, but the opening and ending was pitiful.Plot line was brutally thin. Characters were as deep as the kiddie pool at the YMCA. Save your time, pick another film. The only reason I wrote this review... first one ever... was because I felt I owed it to humanity to at least present a warning. So terrible.

If you like action this movie will not disappoint the story is nothing that hasn't been done before but it is put together quiet well, and the acting is as good as it gets for a low budget movie... of course its not a masterpiece but i feel it deserves a chance. Reading some of the reviews i felt that they forgot to mention that this was a movie meant to entertain people and it does just that, i was very entertained by the end of it and not only was i entertained but i found myself with a silly smile on my face from laughing hard most times and then end up getting angry the next scene, this movie is like a roller coaster never a dull moment. I highly recommend it simply for its high entertainment value, don't go in expecting Quentin Tarantino.. but were you to sit down and watch a movie simply because you enjoy watching a movie than this will not disappoint i assure you.