La Soga (DOMINICAN)

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Revenge as a Dish Best Served with Pork

Son of a butcher Luisito (Manny Perez) was orphaned at the age of ten when his doting dad (Miguel Angel Martinez) was senselessly slain by a thug employed by a Dominican drug cartel. Although the grieving lad grew up to follow in his father’s footsteps, he could never fully recover from the murder until he had kept a promise to himself to exact a measure of retribution from the cowardly perpetrator.
This mental state made it easy for the head of the secret police (Juan Fernandez) to recruit Luisito for his own purposes. So, after being trained by General Colon, as an adult he begins moonlighting as a deadly assassin who tracks down dealers deliberately deported back to the Dominican Republic by the FBI after being caught plying their trade on the streets of New York. The idea is that the dregs of society might simply be executed vigilante-style and thereby save the taxpayers the expense of a trial and imprisonment.
That’s pretty much the sum and substance of La Soga, a gruesome splatter flick which serves up more gore per frame than any movie in recent memory, between the criminals getting their comeuppance and the poor pigs subject to vivisection on the meat packer’s killing floor.
Provided you are strong of stomach, this formulaic revenge tale is just entertaining enough, given how it endeavors to humanize the hero via a rekindled romance with a childhood sweetheart (Denise Quinones). Thus, at the end of his score-settling rampage, Luisito not only has cleaned up Dodge and brought down the mob boss (Paul Calderon) behind his dad’s demise, but now has an attractive dance partner to samba off into the Santiago sunset with.
From “Shots! Shots! Shots!” to “Hot! Hot! Hot!”

Good (2 stars)
Unrated
In Spanish with subtitles.
Running time: 102 Minutes
Distributor: 757 Releasing