When L.A.P.D. Detective Diego Hernandez is assigned a career-making case investigating a vicious cartel, he uncovers links to his brother's supposed suicide and a turf battle that's about to swallow his neighborhood. Torn between playing by the book and seeking justice, he resurrects the masked street legend El Chicano. Now, out to take down his childhood buddy turned gang boss, he sets off a bloody war to defend his city and avenge his brother's murder.... (Full plot summary below)
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When L.A.P.D. Detective Diego Hernandez is assigned a career-making case investigating a vicious cartel, he uncovers links to his brother's supposed suicide and a turf battle that's about to swallow his neighborhood. Torn between playing by the book and seeking justice, he resurrects the masked street legend El Chicano. Now, out to take down his childhood buddy turned gang boss, he sets off a bloody war to defend his city and avenge his brother's murder.
Leave your thoughts about El Chicano.
| Los Angeles TimesCarlos AguilarReminiscent of Hollywood cop movies from the ’80s, when masculinity came only in a macho shade, but propelled by the fresh winds of inclusion, El Chicano stands as a solidly acted and technically accomplished spectacle, the latter likely the result of Hernandez Bray’s time delivering stunt magic behind the scenes as a stunt coordinator. |
| The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe film, marking Ben Hernandez Bray's directorial debut, is mainly a violent police procedural and vigilante drama that succeeds well enough on those terms. It's also notable for its almost entirely Latino cast and deep immersion into East Los Angeles culture. The pic certainly looks authentic, despite the fact that it was largely shot in Calgary. |
| The New York TimesTeo BugbeeThe director Ben Hernandez Bray began his career in Hollywood as a stuntman, and though too many bones are crunched to describe this film as elegant, Bray directs action with merciless kinetic logic. |
| New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriEl Chicano is often exciting, but don’t expect to leave the theater riding an action movie high. |
| RogerEbert.comChristy LemireWorking alongside veteran screenwriter Joe Carnahan, who’s made his name with this kind of brash, muscular storytelling in films like “Narc” and “The Grey,” Hernandez Bray tries to get his arms around a lot at once. Quite often, he’s successful. |
| Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzIt’s long on violence and short on storytelling. It aims high, working in the realm of myths, but it does so in hit-or-miss fashion. |
| Slant MagazineEd GonzalezThroughout, the film peddles notions of self-realization and self-actualization that feel nothing short of moth-eaten. |
| VarietyDennis HarveyThe problem here isn’t the fairly apparent budgetary limits — it’s the limitations of style and imagination. |
| TheWrapMonica CastilloFor his part, Castillo makes the best of the clunky dialogue and cliché lines, but the story never lets his acting chops shine through. |
| Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleEl Chicano is also a surprising miss from Raúl Castillo, the actor tasked with being the face of this would-be franchise. His talent as a performer is above reproach – his portrayal of the abusive father in "We the Animals" was one of the best performances of 2018 – but here he comes across as stiff and humorless in a movie that needed something to offset its own sense of gravity. |
