This movie follows a kidnapping in Columbia.If you want a look at Cartagena Columbia this movie has some value but as entertainment the movie has so many problems.First the good which is related to the bad....there is lots of effort at creative and interesting camera work: angles surprises etc which is really fun and beautiful at times but things like the ratatatat sequences of images becomes rapidly irritating and are done too much. Also I found the symbolism heavy handed or actually funny as right before the cop and his car get demolished and you see buzzards circling. All the religious imagery is excessive and kind of a turn off it lowers the intellectual bar a lot.The acting is so so at best...lots of pretty men and an ugly lead woman.The flashbacks are irritating and excessive disrupting the story and any kind of rapport you might feel for the characters exactly the opposite of what it is supposed to do. I laughed at the reviewer who said he expected to see a flashback of the soccer ball being manufactured. This flash back technique made the story very hard to follow. I didn't even realize it was the girlfriend who shot him I was so confused by the end of the movie. And when you can't follow you get bored fast.This movie could have been saved by lots and lots of editing and cutting out the flashbacks as the way of telling the story.I love Columbian movies for the scenery and the handsome actors but this one is a trial to get through.Although insignificant compared to the above problems... the subtitles are translated with artistic license e.g. gente innocente (innocent people) becomes "people caught in the crossfire"...and every other explicative is maricon (fag) which is never translated as that but rather "stupid" "idiot" etc... Although this is an improvement.'El Infierno' a Mexican social commentary dry comedy on this very same nightmare situation of social anarchy and killing from drug money is a far better movie. Watch it instead.DO NOT RECOMMEND

Towards Darkness deals with the very serious subject of the kidnappings and violence in Colombia. This is certainly a topic worthy of a movie, but not this one. This has to be one of the worst movies I have seen recently. The director is OBSESSED with the idea of using flashbacks. In fact, several times there are flashbacks within flashbacks, and if the movie has a character, you're going to see them flashing back. In one scene where they are playing ball, I half expected to see the soccer ball flash back to when it was manufactured.One reviewer said this movie had a great car chase--I was so bored by the time the car chase occurred, that it made no impression on me. It seemed like half the movie involved the ex-FBI agent who was delivering the ransom money being shown stuck in traffic. Traffic jams are never a good subject for a movie. Skip this one.

I am Colombian, from the north coast and was excited to stumble upon a colombian movie. it was showing in HBO Latino and I said what the heck I recognize some of the colombian actors so it might be good. WRONG. America Ferrera doesn't speak Spanish well enough to be in this movie, they should have looked for a native actress and not her. She wasn't even cute enough for the main actor, anyways back to the point. The flash backs were too many, some of the stories surrounding were dumb. What was the point of showing the guy pulling a gun in a soccer game? Most colombians that get kidnap don't have access to an ex FBI agent helping out and best of all no colombian cop will know how to speak English (like the guy who spoils the delivery of the money.)I gave it a 6 rating because it was filmed in Colombia, used mainly colombian actors (america ferrera was horrible stick to ugly betty and shes not even from colombian decent)and gave an insight into the struggles of millions of colombians living in fear of terrorist groups. One more thing they changed the licence plates of all the cars, in colombia license plates are yellow. I know I know, but I noticed. If this was the directors first movie, he's going to get only better. Hope you enjoyed this comment!!

Wow, that's this director's FIRST film? I'm shocked. Felicitades!During the car chase scene I was on my feet yelling "HURRY!!!!!!!" at the top of my lungs. The tension and suspense is sublime. Very nice twist ending. A director once said, "give the audience 1 plus 1 and they'll figure out two" and this director did just that. Except I never saw that ending coming.Devil's mask scene and commentary about "buying your way out of hell" was perfectly placed. The bank manager father is excellent in his role. Nice cemetery scene, and interesting director's comments about the gunfire that actually occurred while making that scene. Backstory of former FBI agent was poignant; his desperation in the chase scene was palpable but not overdone. I'm not sure why the ransom money was left blowing around ... wouldn't the police have made sure it was all tidily collected? It was fascinating to watch the bare-bones "short" (on special features,) and to marvel at the masterpiece that was born OUT of that short.