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With: Dolph Lundgren, Christina Villa, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Paré, Roger Cross, Michael Worth, Bourke Floyd, Aaron McPherson, James Joseph Pulido, Julian Cavett, Daniela Soto Vell, Rocko Reyes, Jose Trujillo
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Written by: Hank Hugues, Dolph Lundgren, Michael Worth
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Directed by: Dolph Lundgren
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 85
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Date: 01/19/2024
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Mexican Standoff
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
This directorial effort by Dolph Lundgren attempts a progressive look at bigotry and the controversy over immigration, and it works, but the familiar, predictable story arc ultimately disappoints.
Aging police officer Travis Johansen (Lundgren) is caught on video violently beating a Mexican suspect and using racial slurs. In order to save face, Chief Hernandez (Roger Cross) sends Johansen on a peace-keeping mission. He is to go into Mexico, pick up two sex-workers who witnessed the murder of two undercover DEA agents, and safely escort them back to the U.S.
A hungover Johansen gamely sets about doing this task, but their car is ambushed, their Mexican police escort and one of the sex workers are killed, leaving a wounded Johansen on the run with the remaining sex worker, Rosa Barranco (Christina Villa). Rosa takes Johansen to a cousin's place where he can recuperate, but time is running out.
After a violent setup showing the murder of the DEA agents, Wanted Man establishes Travis Johansen with an all-too-real-looking police brutality/racism video. Next, it teams the character with current and former colleagues, Hilts (Aaron McPherson), Tinelli (Michael Paré), and Brynner (Kelsey Grammer), drinking in a strip club and reciting the most stereotypical, racist complaints about Mexican immigrants ("they come here looking for a handout," etc.).
It's edgy territory and yet quite satisfying as a wounded Johansen spends time with a Mexican family, being cared for by them and coming to know them as humans. (There's a delightful moment when we see he has become involved in the elderly matriarch's daily telenovela viewings.)
Unfortunately, the screenplay, by Lundgren, Hank Hugues, and Michael Worth, borrows too many overfamiliar plot elements, many of them seemingly from Clint Eastwood movies (Coogan's Bluff, The Beguiled, The Gauntlet, Gran Torino, etc.), and slogs through them with a dull slavishness. We get one or two good shootouts, and it's nice to see Johansen's redemption, but, sadly, there isn't enough to Wanted Man to recommend it.
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