What’s It About? Nightclub DJ Santiago (Matias Oviedo) avoids execution by the city’s most dangerous criminal by offering to bring him the femme-fatale bounty hunter known as The Machine Gun Woman (Fernanda Urrejola). When he’s given twenty four hours to make it happen, Santiago’s life turns into a violent video game that he must complete via missions, guns, sexy women and hardcore violence.
Verdict: It takes a brave person to try and make a live action version of such a popular computer game (Grand Theft Auto), but director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza has got as close as possible with this uber hip and trendy grindhouse homage. Dirtily shot with all the hallmarks of an exploitation film, Bring Me The Head Of The Machine Gun Woman is a thrill ride that is brilliantly made. Dropping in segments ripped from GTA and turning those parts into the main film makes it funny and familiar to any GTA fan. The storyline is funny and violent all at the same time and it’s a films that grabs you from the start, dragging you through the action with its unrelenting pace and extreme violence.
The film works because the two leads know how to ham it up when required. Oviedo is great as the wannabe gangster out to first kill and then save the bounty hunter. Having played the violent video games for years (instead of getting a job), he knows all the moves and what it takes to be successful in the missions. Yet the standout is Urrejola, who plays Machine Gun Woman. Her sexual dominatrix look is only part of the appeal and when she goes guns blazing it’s a non-stop relentless barrage of action. Whether she’ll fight or fuck is part of the attraction.
Extras: A three-minute behind-the-scenes featurette that is not particularly interesting apart from a brief chat with Fernanda Urrejola who seems to enjoy playing a bad-ass female.
Final Word: Bring Me The Head Of The Machine Gun Woman is a wonderful throwback to the Grindhouse and exploitation films of yesteryear. It’s got humour, violence and sexiness all wrapped up tight in its (too short) running time of 75 minutes. This is a GTA fan’s wet dream on DVD.
Bring Me The Head Of The Machine Gun Woman is available on DVD & Blu Ray from 14 October 2013
Add comment