Throughout the film, nearly every exchange of dialogue sounds like sparring blocks of Wikipedia-like information.
The hygienization of Rio into what at times looks like a soulless Southern California town is so scandalous it feels like a spoof of the Cities of Love series.
The film is a deck-stacking simulation of a dialogue it isn’t even remotely interested in opening.
Padilha may not be a household name in the U.S., but the Brazilian filmmaker has developed quite a reputation in his home country.
In Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, a much more intricate and exhilarating act than its predecessor, director José Padilha catches up with the Brazilian zeitgeist.
An exposé of severe poverty with every trace of glamour carefully removed, the film trains its camera on the poorest of the poor.
Hawking a simplified view of cause and effect, Elite Squad would make a fitting double bill with Battle for Haditha.
José Padilha’s taut, elegantly structured Bus 174 is essentially a chronicle of a death foretold.