I watched the gun fight scene and wanted so badly to shoot myself. Unless this drug king pin hires the most retarded and inept hired guns in the world what kind of retards shoot randomly into a house. Even dumber than that is the main character's family, first the little brother crying "mommy, mommy" in the middle of a gun fight, someone should have knocked that kid out for his own good. The main character missing an open shot on two man sized targets at 20 ft, I thought you had to try to shoot that poorly. Then the mom, "Rawr" raging mother kills two career criminals in a fit of rage. I've never seen a less believable and horribly shot gun fight in my life.

I applaud this film for portraying the Puerto Rican heritage and culture with respect. The producer is trying to bring it into more prominence in the film industry. The family values portrayed by the actors are not typical, but they are commendable nevertheless.The actors are credible in their roles as mother, son, and girlfriend. The supporting cast is not quite so good. Dialog is stilted and delivered like a stage production.It moves along pretty well and the back story is well done, although it is not clear why the money is such an issue until very late in the film, and then it's clear that the money is NOT the issue.The problem I have with the film is the incredible plot leaps of faith where a hostile faction (MOM) is able to penetrate a heavily guarded establishment without being discovered and then ice the villain and escape easily.Mothers skill with the pistols is absolutely over the top and not credible.The 'assassins' are totally incompetent and couldn't hit the broadside of a barn when standing next to it.Those things bothered me, but not enough to miss the true point of this film: a mother's love is the fiercest love of all. She will do anything to protect her children.

I wanted to watch this film ever since I seen the trailer. I sometimes wait a while to catch the movies I want to see so I'll have some entertainment for the home screen and I gotta say that it was definitely worth the wait. Wanda De Jesus is just so damn sexy with a gun in each hand! Why anyone thought the acting was bad is completely beyond me. Wanda and the rest of the cast delivered really good dialog and realistic emotions as far as I am concerned. Rick Gonzalez has always been one of my favorite young actors, his character was so entertaining. Dania Ramirez... kudos! I wasn't happy with her past films, especially X-Men: The Last Stand, yet she does the damsel in distress role pretty good. Not all the characters can be tough as nails, come on! The story had me a little peeved due to the lack of info exchanged to between characters, but by the end it all comes together and makes sense. I say to put the red ink away and just be entertained by this one... you'll won't be disappointed.

This movie was entertaining, but the acting was horrible. I expected way better work from John Singleton and from actors like Wanda DeJesus, Dania Ramirez and Rick Gonzalez. There were so many holes in the plot that dramatic scenes were turned into slapstick comedy. There were also many anachronisms (a bodega scene in 1985 featured candy and snacks with 2007 packaging) and continuity errors (Wilson's little brother bruised his face after falling off his bike; the bruise was healed later that day. Wilson grew up speaking English, but managed to speak fluent Spanish once he arrived in Puerto Rico). I did like the music in the film, though, and I'll probably buy the soundtrack. I think I understand the vision that John Singleton may have had in making this film, but unfortunately he used a formula that was successful in the '90s and it doesn't work for Illegal Tender.