Rene Rodriguez Even fans of “La Soga,” the 2009 crime drama shot in the Dominican Republic, will have their patience taxed by this vacuous follow-up that catches up with Luisito (Manny Pérez), a former executioner for the secret police in Santiago now living a quiet life in New England with his girlfriend Lia (Sarah Jorge Leon).Things don’t stay quiet for long.
Luisito’s past intrudes on his domestic bliss in the form of a well-dressed U.S. federal agent (Chris McGarry), who kidnaps Lia and threatens to murder her unless Luisito takes down a Dominican drug lord before he can testify in court.
The assignment gets complicated fast. But despite the mayhem, the film remains curiously inert, unable to generate even the B-grade buzz of a lower-tier Liam Neeson paycheck picture.
The original movie — a minor phenomenon back in 2009, being the first Dominican Republic-made feature to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival — included political subtexts about the role the American government inadvertently plays in spurring crime in Latin America.
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