The Line

give this film a chance, seriously
I've read the other reviews and while I agree with many of their points I do wonder if maybe I saw a different film from the one that the reviewers are describing? For the new viewers who have yet to decide whether or not to try this one I would strongly suggest that they do so, and with these observations - first, I saw a film about family, several families actually and all dysfunctional yes, but about Family, blood ties, betrayal in one family, tragedy and loss in others. The use of Mexican/US drug wars as a catalyst may have caused some viewers to think that this is a routine gritty crime movie but the writer(s) wanted something epic, life and death, which these ravaging drug wars are, to put the bigger theme of Family into high relief.

As to the casting, I appreciate it whenever actors challenge what they've already done twenty times, so I rather liked the choice that Andy Garcia made in particular, I do not think he was wasted at all. Liotta played his assassin's part...

Michael Mann light?
La Linea or 'The Line' is a film starring Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta, and Esai Morales and a powerful setting in Mexico.

The plot revolves around the current climate in Mexico regarding the drug cartels and the infrastructure
that lies within them, however unlike the Italian Mafia they're not as romantic nor interesting and this film certainly does not help. Ray Liotta stars as Mark Shields as an assassin spear headed by a United States private agency to eliminate Pelon played by a surprising Esai Morales who is trying to prove himself as the newly selected boss to the dying former if you will don Javier Salazar played by Andy Garcia, while Salazars son Diablo played by Jordi Vilasuso is trying to vie for power. The film goes through the usual developments that you would expect in an film that is equal parts 'Traffic' and 'Man on Fire' although not nearly as good. The direction by James Cotton is very Michael Mann in it's style however I commend him for making the film...

Over dramatic, a poor Blu, but still slightly worth the time
Not a reference Blu in any category, but some of the popular local favorites are in this with some meaty roles including Liotta and Trejo. Without a doubt a prolific cast overall, with Andy Garcia, Armand Assante, Bruce Davison, Valerie Cruz and others.

The story tries to follow various lines of people whose lives intersect (directly and indirectly) this cartel operating out of Tijuana. We have hired hit men, an ailing godfather, CIA/DEA guys running their ops against the bad guys, internal cartel strife and Afghanistan farmers trying to sell their product into the US. Sounds like a lot and it is, almost too much in the 95 minutes they gave this. Ray Liotta was great but he only gets some of the screen time. Trejo gets more speaking time than normal in his films so I enjoyed that (he gets to do his usual of shooting guns, torture and looking awesomely bad). The subplots abound, and each one gets bookended with the same aerial shots of the city - both day and night - that...

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