...a watchable yet hopelessly forgettable endeavor...

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 15, 2023

“Miss Bala” lacks the edge you would expect from this type of movie, and its story plays out in the most implausible way.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 24, 2022

The pieces are there for a thoughtful and thrilling crime drama, but they never come together to form a whole.

| Original Score: 2.5 / 5 | Jun 25, 2021

Features frequent action sequences and mucho gunplay but is, at best, a by-the-book potboiler that rarely gets above a simmer.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 31, 2021

The film does have one redeeming quality, and her name is Gina Rodriguez ... She has a way on screen that makes even a terrible film at least somewhat palatable. But without much structure or succinctness, palatable is as far as it goes in this case.

| Jan 29, 2021

Miss Bala does something that few films manage to accomplish: set out with a specific goal in mind and end up doing the exact opposite.

| Original Score: C- | Jul 8, 2020

A tiresome exploitation film.

| Original Score: C- | Apr 15, 2020

Miss Bala is a good time but it's not a good movie.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jan 10, 2020

This film suffers from its Hollywood-ization... It's all so slick.

| Sep 18, 2019

Miss Bala is an ambitious action drama set in Tijuana. Gina Rodriguez is a deserving lead despite the complicated, questionable plot...

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 19, 2019

Hardwicke who usually gets behind films of substance or at least zeitgeist feels more like a director for hire here than on any other project in her career.

| Original Score: C- | Apr 30, 2019

Catherine Hardwicke distorts the main objectives of Gerardo Naranjo's original film. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 29, 2019

Miss Bala provides the first feasible argument for our southern neighbor to pay for building a wall: to keep Hollywood hacks out of the country.

| Mar 21, 2019

The rare remake that makes you wish the original had never existed.

| Original Score: .5/5 | Mar 20, 2019

Now, I don't like the cartel sub-genre that has been forming...That being said, I give credit where credit is due...Unfortunately, there isn't much credit due here.

| Original Score: 3/10 | Feb 26, 2019

A tough, female-led thriller from the director of Twilight sounds great on paper; unfortunately, the lack of nous in Miss Bala's politics runs the film smack into a big brick wall.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 26, 2019

The most memorable part of Miss Bala is when "Los Ageless" by St. Vincent plays during a party scene. That rules. The rest of the film, sadly, does not.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Feb 25, 2019

This Hollywoodized remake is mostly generic and uninspired, but it also proves that Rodriguez has the makings of a true movie star.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 20, 2019

Aside from a few stylistic choices and an engaging performance from Rodriguez, Miss Bala is a paint-by-numbers crime drama that lacks any real poignancy or cutting commentary.

| Original Score: C | Feb 20, 2019

An action movie without suspense, a message without meaning; Catherine Hardwicke presents a contrived Hollywood adaptation you can probably live without.

| Feb 18, 2019