Good concept, poorly executed.

Expected more

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Alex de la Iglesia, not one of our favorite Spanish directors, seems to have great ideas for the movies he wants to do. The execution, though, is always problematic. Having said that, "800 balas" seems to be one of the most accessible pictures he has ever directed. Mr. de la Iglesia wanted to pay homage to that era of the sixties in which his country played host to the so called Spaghetti Western genre, which by the way, was an Italian phenomenon, not a Spanish one.The film concentrates in the figure of Julian Torralba, who brags about his friendship with the great stars that participated in the many movies shot around Almeria. Torralba tells, anyone who will listen, about the days in which Clint Eastwood came to the area to work. His friends who take part in the show they put for tourists, don't believe a word he is saying.The arrival of Torralba's grandson, a young boy from Madrid, is the event that turns around the action in that run down place where these Spanish pseudo-bandits stage their gun fights. In fact, the young boy, Carlos, brings Torralba to his senses and helps to reunite the old man with his estranged daughter Laura, who is Carlos' mother.Sancho Gracia as Torralba has some good moments. The young Luis Castro is seen as the sweet boy searching for a grandfather he never knew. Carmen Maura, who has worked with the director before, doesn't have much to do in the film.

This movie has its moments, but overall I would say that it's just OK.Being a spaghetti western fan, I couldn't help but want to see this movie after reading its reviews on the IMDb, but after watching the film, I discovered that its relevance to the spaghetti western genre has been greatly overstated. The best thing about this movie is the opening credits and theme song. The first half of the song includes a recognizable melody from the theme of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," but changes the song enough to make it something almost entirely new. Then it breaks off into another great spaghetti western style tune which I didn't recognize any part of. The animated opening credits reminded me of the ones from "Days of Wrath" (aka "Day of Anger"), which have always been my favorite. After hearing and viewing this awesome beginning, I was expecting to be blown away by this movie. Unfortunately, the spectacular opening and the film itself are a mismatch, creating expectations that are not met.The rest of the music score bears very little similarity to those stylish songs that drive the great spaghetti westerns. The music is pretty dull for the most part, and sounds like what you might expect from a recent Hollywood western.The story itself is interesting enough to watch, but doesn't stand out as being unique or groundbreaking among the tons of other more or less pretentious art house films that have been created. It's a story about a broken family, and a boy's desire to connect with his grandfather. Real exciting stuff (I'm being sarcastic, of course).The pacing of the movie could have been better, and the first two-thirds of the film goes by pretty slowly. This story should have been told in 90 minutes rather than 120. There are some funny scenes, especially the ones that occur in the western theme park, some eccentric western characters, and a stunningly beautiful naked woman. The action and comedy contain elements from the old westerns, but the movie doesn't emphasize the "spaghetti" enough. I think fans of Hollywood westerns may actually be more satisfied with this film than people who are expecting an homage to spaghetti westerns.I almost bought this movie, but ended up renting it instead and was glad I did because, although it is interesting enough to watch once, it's not worth the cost of buying.

After COMUNIDAD, I was prepared to watch anything this lot did. Well ten minutes in, it was being brought home to me that this one was even better.First surprise, the always watchable Carmen Maura's part is quite minor and while I must have seen Sancho Gracia half a dozen times, including some of my favorite movies like MARTIN H and COMUNIDAD, I'd never realized what a great screen presence he could be.Big surprise however is how completely the film sucks you in. The Euro-Cowboy movie imagery - complete with the half animated drawings of the titles, backed by THE GODD THE BAD AND THE UGLY music - carries the spectator away in the opening, with the bogus Yak Canutt transfer to the speeding horse team and particularly the bender where the stunt show regulars with tomato picker Indians go on a horse back rampage, financed by Maura's 12 year old's Visa card.We love these people and wish we knew them when we were twelve, despite the fact that they keep on telling us that what they do is a tacky imitation of something that was often a tacky imitation in itself. The grandfather is prepared to sell out the kid to preserve his waster way of life, the kid is spoiled rotten, the whore, who is the most decent character in the film, is bent on corrupting the kid. Half his luck - everyone picks up on that scene.The shoot-out with eight hundred real bullets is great but they can't figure out where to go from there and the rest is an anticlimactic attempt to redeem the characters we admire for their corruption.My only regret is I can't see this one on the big screen where it's action material must have been awesome.

Alex De la Iglesia is an excellent Spanish director . He had much success such as "Accion Mutante" , " El Dia de la Bestia", "Perlita Durango" and ¨La Comunidad¨ , among others . Here deals with a homage to Spaghetti/Paella Western and other American Westerns shot in Spain . Julian Torralba/Sancho Gracia is an ex-movie stuntman living in Almeria . Julian and his colleagues once made a busy living in Spaghetti Westerns shot in Spain ; nowadays , they are reduced to do stunt-shows for small audiences on the decaying set built for those old Westerns . Here Sancho Gracia , who made several Westerns during the 60s and 70s , plays an old man who brings a village back to life , which the bad guys want to sell to speculators . Sancho Gracia , his friends and grandson must fight against the polices and baddies to obtain their purports . The final showdown between Sancho Gracia and Angel De Andrés López is overwhelming and exciting. In the film there is comedy , tongue-in-cheek , humour , drama , noisy action , nudism , and results to be very entertaining . Filmmaker Alex De La Iglesia tries to pay tribute to Spaghetti Western , that's why he wished its main star , Clint Eastwood , to play himself as a cameo or special appearance , Alex even offered to move to Los Angeles to shot his part ; Clint , who was then working on the direction of ¨Blood work¨ (2002), was forced to turn down this sympathetic offer . Main cast is pretty good , such as Sancho Gracia , Carmen Maura and Angel Andrés López . Support cast is frankly enjoyable , including Alex De Iglesia's ordinary secondaries , such as : Manuel Tallafé , Eusebio Poncela , Enrique Martínez , Eduardo Gómez and the great Terele Pávez . Evocative production design shot on location in Desert of Tabernas , Almería , Andalucía , where during the sixties and early seventies lots of Spaghetti/Paella Westerns were filmed . Alex De La Iglesia's direction is rightly made , he called it as a ¨Western Marmitako¨ , it is a special food from Basque Country , where Alex was born . Besides , cinematography by Flavio Labiano is splendid and Roque Baños' musical score is breathtaking , though it imitates Ennio Morricone . Rating : 6.5/10 Good . Better than average . Well worth seeing .