Lack of good storyline.

Don't Believe the Hype

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

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

I have seen this movie way too many times, its a true cult classic. 3 hours of brilliant (and sometimes corny) mobstermania.Miklo is a great character, and the surrounding cast is equally great. The 90's vibe oozes out of every frame, and there are so many memorable scenes, its hard to name the best.Although its fair to say the prison parts are very amusing and might belong to the movie's best moments. its not the best movie ever made by far, but for fans of the genre its a very memorable and highly amusing movie i have watched countless times and enjoyed every time. Great characters, great atmosphere, hilarious scenes and a 3 hour journey through a pretty well written story.Cult classic, gotta watch it every 5 years.

Oh dear...what a mess.This film is so incompetently written that it could be used masterclass in how not to write anything at all. For a start it is repetitive beyond all belief: same riffs on blood ties, brothers, mothers, fathers and cousins etc etc etc ad nauseam throughout. Tedious to a degree that is extraordinary that it passed the producers.Secondly, the script has two pitches: loud and violent. That also makes it very boring. It is obvious how things will be shown in these two modes. A violent film can work on other levels but the writers are so inept that it escaped them to give this a few more tones.Thirdly, the story lacks precision as if it lacked a good editor. Therefore it has adopted the familiar course of amateurs, and that is to add everything in the story without giving it a balance and counter balance. There is no editorial overview of how to shape material within a reasonable time period. It is also very very long ..."Anna Karenina" is long, but that was by Tolstoy and he has some claim to be one of the greatest writers of all time.Fourthly, the actors: oh well, and the report card is depressing. Basically two modes of action. The leads are all generally terrible, especially Mr Chapa, whose performance might be compared to a guard dog with distemper. Such monotony should not be viewed in a feature film.As with anything that that exemplifies all that is detritus in film making, there are so many other things to mention but space precludes a fuller list of its faults. The music for instance, with its deliberate sentimental Spanish guitar style in the few quiet moments showed all the artistic intelligence of a fast food restaurant franchise.Almost anything on earth is better than wasting the time that is this dreadful waste of one's own too short life.

A classic story from the Barrio, and the ascension of struggles.Survival alone isn't enough. It's all about character, granted it's a long movie, but the Paco, Cruz and Miklo characters are mesmerizing to follow.Damian Chappa got robbed - whatever happened to the rest of his career? Still going (latest, Vatos Locos). Jesse Borrego, excels as a bad guy character.And the standouts throughout their careers, Benjamin Bratt, Delroy Lindo, Billy Bob Thornton, Lupe Ontiveros, Danny Trejo. All these people, all that talent, great job.That's why I remember this film, the characters.Crying in my soup now...Not really...Was going for my Oscar...Not really.

I've read several comments about this movie and I agree with most of them that give an excellent note to this film. For my part, I'd like to tell to everyone who likes movie scores that Bill Conti has made a fantastic job in this one. The music of Blood In Blood Out is amazing. It serves really well the ambiance and the spirit of the movie and I don't understand why this score has been so ignored by music amateurs. I dare to compare the chemistry which arose from this collaboration between the images of Taylor Hackford and the music of Bill Conti to the one who was born in the sixties between Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone. Great job Mr. Conti. Thank you for your talent.