José Luis Rivera Mendoza (jluis1984) The province of Almería in Spain, became widely famous among film producers in the 60s and 70s, as it had the perfect natural settings for making movies. The Italian filmmakers were the first to discover the vast potential of Almería as a location, and the Western genre the one that suited the desert like a glove. Soon the Americans would arrive and the not only westerns, but also great epic films like "Patton" and "Lawrence of Arabia" took advantage of Almería's vast deserted landscape. "800 Balas" (800 bullets), is director Alex De la Iglesia's homage to Almería, and the legendary Spaghetti Westerns that were produced there, as well as the many people who found job in those classic movies. With his now trademark black humor to its fullest, De la Iglesia does for Westerns what he did for the Horror genre in "El Dia De la Bestia", and delivers another great underrate jewel in this the sixth film in his weird and brilliant career.Carlos Torralba (Luis Castro) is a youngster to whom the growing up without a father figure has turned him into a spoiled troublemaker. One day Carlos discovers a photograph of her deceased father dressed as a cowboy, and soon he find out that his father worked as a stuntman in the desert of Almería along with his grandfather, but neither his mother Laura (Carmen Maura), nor his grandmother (Terele Pávez) are willing to speak more about that. So, fooling his mother, Carlos visits Almería, and discovers that his grandfather Julián (Sancho Gracia) is still alive and keeps working making stunt shows in the decaying set built for those old Westerns. As Julián is not really liked by Laura, she decides to use her business to ruin Julian's old western stunt show, but neither the former cowboy nor his gang of stuntman are willing to let that happen. An all they have to defend themselves are 800 bullets.Written by the inseparable duo of Jorge Guerricaechevarría and director Álex De la Iglesia himself, "800 Balas" is a story that uses a simple and typical premise about a boy discovering his deceased father's past to create a multi layered story about honor, loyalty, and the fine line between reality and fiction, all spiced up by countless references to the Western genre (both American and Spaghetti) and a huge dose of black subversive humor. While not exactly a Western by itself, De la Iglesia plays with the genre defining it as the ultimate film genre and making cinema the perfect factory of dreams, as Julián and his gang of outsiders are people who never accepted that the dream they helped to create was over, in a loving tribute to Almería, its people, and its Westerns.Certainly, "800 Balas" is more an action-packed character study than a straight forward Western, but De la Iglesia offers a deep knowledge of the Spaghetti Westerns that fans of the genre will find truly rewarding. With a stunning photography (by Flavio Martínez Labiano) that mimics Leone's classics, and a score (by Roque Baños) that gives more than one nod to Morricone; De la Iglesia captures Almería's essence and uses it as a setting for his tale of renegade cowboys making a final ride. Alex De la Iglesia has really improved a lot, but his freshness still can be seen in the way the camera flows across the scenes with a very fluid pace.While it's true that Guerricaechevarría and De la Iglesia have done a great effort in this film, the movie literally belongs to Sancho Gracia and his outstanding performance as Julián. Gracia (himself a real Spaghetti Western actor) makes his character a complex and believable man that transcends a role that easily could had been a caricature of itself. Luis Castro serves as an excellent counterpart, and the young actor shows a great amount of talent for his age, in the role that serves as catalyst for the film's events. Once again Carmen Maura delivers an effective performance as the film's antagonist, and proves one more time why she is considered one of the best actress from Spain.The rest of the cast are OK, although it's true that their characters at times tend to become exactly what they should not be: silly walking stereotypes. Still, this is more a flaw in the otherwise very good script than the actor's fault, and it's one of the two main problems "800 Balas" faces. The second problem is the fact that it's a bit too overlong, and while the film keeps a nice good pace for the most part, by the middle the film really drags a bit (with some scenes being either unnecessary or too long). Other than that the film is flawless, and a very recommended watch for every fan of the Spaghetti Western films of the 60s.Despite it's obvious flaws, "800 Balas" is a remarkable homage to a long lost era, and another amazing work by one of Spain's most original filmmakers. This love letter to cinema is a must-see for Western fans, specially those who enjoyed watching Clint Eastwood walking through Almería, as the spirit of those legendary films seems to revive for a last ride through the desert. 8/10

Roland E. Zwick In the wry, quirky little comedy,"800 Bullets," a young boy named Carlos goes in search of his paternal grandfather, a former movie stuntman whose claim to fame is serving as Clint Eastwood's double in the heyday of the spaghetti western - a fact he has been trying to parlay into a lucrative career for well over thirty years now, long after the western -spaghetti or otherwise - disappeared as a viable genre. But, oh, how the might have fallen, for when Carlos arrives, he finds Julian barely eking out a living working at what is little more than a broken down tourist trap - a long-abandoned western set stuck out in the middle of the Spanish desert where he and a small band of likeminded misfits put on a tawdry gunslinger show for the few paying customers who happen to wander their way. Carlos is, of course, thrilled with what he finds there - a world right out of the past replete with hangman's noose and functioning brothel - but trouble begins when his mother, a real estate developer who holds Julian responsible for the death of her husband in a stunt accident years earlier, buys the place and threatens to bulldoze it to make way for a spanking new theme park she's planning to build. It is at this point that Julian chooses to make a stand, buying 800 real bullets, gathering together his forces, and turning the site into his own mini-Alamo where he gets to participate in his very own shootout on main street with real guns and real ammo."800 Bullets" is fun right up until the moment when the actual shooting starts, then it turns heavy-handed and silly, trotting out that old chestnut about how only a fine line separates reality from fantasy - or, more accurately in this case, real life from celluloid life - and how only truly eccentric people ever get to cross it. But Sancho Gracia gives a wonderful performance as the craggy old has-been determined to prove himself a hero to his adoring grandson. Moreover, the setting is novel, the concept original, and the execution lighthearted and fast paced. It's true that at 121 minutes the movie is longer than it needs to be, and the closing scenes smack of last minute desperation on the part of the screenwriter. But director Alex de la Iglesia conveys a real affection for the conventions and style of those pasta-filled westerns from thirty and forty years ago - an affection that many moviegoers past and present frankly share.(One caveat, however: there is a scene in the film in which the young boy fondles a prostitute's breast that would probably be considered child pornography if it were made in the United States).

TheWindowlicker 800 Bullets (or 800 Balas) is the story of a young boy about 12 years old named Carlos Torralba (Luis Castro). Carlos thinks his life is boring and has become quite a handful for both his mother and everyone else he comes in contact with. Eventually, he discovers he has a grandfather named Julián Torralba (Sancho Gracia), who was a movie star in the 60's.Now Julián no longer acts in movies but he works in a daily, western type live show for tourists, kind of like something you would see at Universal Studios or something of that nature. Carlos is infatuated with the fact his grandfather was an actor and decides to sneak off to meet him while he is supposed to be on a ski trip. He uses his mother's emergency credit card and he's off.At first, Carlos has the time of his life and even has his first experience with a hooker! It must have been fun filming that one for young Luis. Anyhow, he eventually sees his grandfather as the has-been he really is.This movie was a hard one for me to get all the way through. Usually subtitles do not bother me so much so I just think it's the fact that this movie was just uninteresting... boring even. It had it's moments, but most of the time, even after half an hour into it, I was just hoping it would either pick up or end. When it finally did, I felt I had wasted my time. The best part of this movie was Yoima Valdés, who played Sandra, the hooker. She was absolutely exquisite and makes me feel as if my time was not entirely wasted.

fredda_ruth I liked 800 Balas despite the sentimental pap; I think it proves that Iglesias has the heart and balls to make it big in Hollywood if he wants to. He has this ability to be so entertaining, accessible and deeply felt at the same time.There were plenty of funny moments, romanticism (which tends to be simplistic and predictable at times) morality, "good and bad" characters,action, bright colors and suspense to give Steven Soderbergh a run for his money. At the same time, we get a healthy dose of ambiguous darkness, rich irony, black humor and ludicrous moments that tread the thin line between hysteria and nostalgia, morbidity and delight.There are layers of amorphous innocence and celebration of sensuality in that scene where the kid, lying on the bed with the whore, learns a thing or two about female anatomy aided by a physical demonstration of squeezing her boobs. (For an odd, whimsical and yet strangely dark kid-confronted-with-ripe-overwhelming-sexuality scene, check out THE TIN DRUM where the protagonist buries his face on their house help's "bush".)That scene where the kid tries to enter the abandoned film set to reach his granddad and somehow evades the notice of EVERYONE AROUND HIM, steeped in chaos, fright, awe and exhilaration as they all were - -- that is just tautly controlled and beautifully executed. The colors are so vivid and ethereal and it's great seeing around two hundred of these film extras acting their hearts out for their 3 seconds of fame, to be grazed by the camera's tracking shot.Like the mythical, legendary granddad aiming for authenticity and grandeur, Iglesias strives for plenty of big moments.But I guess that in the end, all the "hero" ever really wanted was to be loved; and if we can't admire this movie for its glorification of machismo-addled brotherhood and glaring, obvious contrasts and metaphors, we may just love its shameless and profound respect for history, psychological and blood ties, dreams, life, and humanity.