No Rest for the Wicked (film)

Plot

Santos Trinidad, a corrupt policeman, goes drinking late at night. After he is thrown out of a bar, he aggressively demands that a waitress at another bar serve him despite the fact that they are closed. The owner attempts to defuse the situation by offering Trinidad a free drink, but he inadvertently offends Trinidad, who breaks his nose. The bouncer draws a pistol, and Trinidad shoots each of them dead. As Trinidad cleans up the evidence, an eyewitness escapes. After Trinidad studies their wallets for clues on the identity of the eyewitness, he destroys all identifying papers.

Chacon and Leiva investigate the crime. Without any way to identify the victims, their investigation proceeds slowly, though they initially suspect a gangland hit. After using the polices resources to identify the witness license plates, Trinidad searches his apartment and car. Trinidad takes the mans GPS device, which he uses to identify common locations. Though he attempts to disguise himself, he is caught on a surveillance camera. Trinidad later tracks the man down and pursues him to the subway, where he attempts to kill him, only to be stabbed by an accomplice that the witness calls.

Trinidad and Chacon separately come to realize that the murder victims had ties to the Colombian drug cartels. Each seek out Rachid, a police informer who was previously involved with the same groups. Chacon, through her contacts with anti-terrorism intelligence, finds him first. Rachid tells her that his former acquaintances move from drugs to Islamic militancy, though he lost track of where they were based. Chacon questions Trinidad after seeing his egress from the apartment on the apartment complexs surveillance camera, but without any solid evidence she is forced to let him go free.

By threatening Rachids ex-girlfriend, Trinidad tracks down Rachid, whom he also threatens. Rachid takes Coronado through Madrid, where they attempt to track down the Islamic terrorist cell to which the witness belongs. Meanwhile, the cell purchases and sets a series of bombs in a Madrid shopping mall hidden as fire extinguishers. Trinidad arrives at their headquarters while they place the bombs. Trinidad kills all of the terrorists, including the witness, before they can remotely detonate the bombs. However, he is again stabbed, this time fatally. Chacon and Leiva arrive at the scene after his death. The film ends with several scenes of crowds of people at the mall, none of whom know that the bombs are still active.

Cast

Reception

Jonathan Holland of Variety called Coronados performance "grippingly visceral" and described the film as "credible, fast-moving, hard-nosed fare". Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film, while conventional, is "a tense, briskly paced genre thriller". Fionnuala Halligan of Screen Daily called it "a deliciously complicated and gritty Spanish thriller".

In March 2012, American actor Sylvester Stallone expressed interest in making an American adaptation of the film.

Awards