Chase movies can be a hit or miss genre - this one has exciting hit possibilities but misses on just about all the points it should score on. We know basically nothing about any of the characters - what drives them, where they are from, or quite why they do the things they do. The hapless runners are all Mexicans fleeing poverty - on their way to the USA via the 'back door' of the badlands (Donald's wall would actually have helped them!) and the Hunter...well, he's somehow just driving around the desert looking for people to murder. With him, he has his trusty dog - trained to hunt down and kill whatever his master sends him after - human or otherwise. Once the murderous chase is on you know exactly what's about to happen every bloodied step of the way.No subtleties here, just people led to the slaughter - and so it goes, repetitively and soullessly on and on. Some nice visuals, a promising opening and a curious music score can't add any more to the threadbare script. Only a famous movie-making father (Alfonso Cuaron) could fund this, his son Jonas Cuaron's minor attempt at fame - surprisingly, this was Mexico's entry as 'best' foreign language film at 89th Acadamy Awards (must have been a very light year indeed!) Lovers of mindless excitement won't be too disappointed - thinkers can expect to be.

Definitely didn't end the way I wanted it to. I don't have sympathy for any of the characters in this movie. Total waste of 88 minutes of my life. If this was trying to make some sort of social statement it failed miserably. Morgan as a caricature, redneck, drunken hunter, and Bernal as the righteous guy just trying to get back to the states for his kid (illegally)... neither one of these characters deserved to live. This movie sucked.

Desierto is a good entertaining movie with a story that makes you think about how some people are just evil to the bone. Jeffrey Dean Morgan does an excellent job playing the racist border controller with his loyal but lethal dog. He's the kind of guy you hope something really bad will happen to him during the entire movie. He plays the redneck racist American that can not stand immigrants while he's himself a descendant of immigrants. There are a lot of those people right now so this movie could teach them a lesson even though I think they are too stupid to understand. The movie is beautifully shot. If you are a nature lover you could just watch the movie just for the nature shots. For the rest the story is what it is, illegal immigrants being chased by a racist killer. But it's captivating to watch.

Desierto is a top notch thriller for a foreign language film that delivers on the intensity with a base pumping music score. From the director Jonas Cuaron (Alfonso Cuaron's son) is starting to take up the reigns in making a thriller film like how his father did to 2013's Gravity. Desierto is about Mexican immigrants crossing the border to start a new opportunity for a better life. Moises (Gael Garcia Bernal) is traveling with a group; he is looking to cross the border illegally to go home back to his son. As they travel across the desert terrain. They are all hunted by a sniper toting man named Sam (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). With Sam on their trail, as he snipes and hunts them down one by one. It is a matter of survival with Moises and another immigrant Adela (Alondra Hidalgo) who also is trying to seek a better life in America. The plot is basically straightforward and plays out as a survival adventure as these characters are trying to survive a vigilante. Besides the scorching hot heat, dehydration, and rough terrain. They have to avoid being caught by Sam and his hunting dog, Tracker. The film does have plenty of thrills, that put you on the edge. As these characters try to avoid being sniped. Or trying to stay ahead of the trail away from Sam. Cuaron does have a good use with their music composer score Woodkid. Which delivered on the score. Also, some good performances with Gael Garcia Bernal, and Alondra Hidalgo. And Jeffrey Dean Morgan was also good and menacing as an alcoholic vigilante. The film is fast paced with a thrilling chase of cat and mouse in a desert setting. Sure, characters do have that cliché of not making smart choices as in having opportunities to trip or push the bad guy off the cliff as he climbs up it. The film does struggle with weak flat characters in the script. Yes, a group of immigrants, which we only need to know about two of them. As you can tell, the rest will be picked off quickly. The two we do learn, the characters are written in a flat dimension that it was still difficult to care for them. Moises, we learn that he was accidentally deported back to Mexico, separated from his son that lives in the U.S. He made a promise that he would come back and holding on to his son's stuffed animal toy. Adela, we learn her parents wanted her to live in America to start a better life. We learn very briefly with these characters, and still have a little emotional feeling towards them. Otherwise, Desierto is an effectively good thriller film that has worthy performances; intense cat and mouse hunt chases, and a decent characterization. I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.