Kevin Klawitter
Location: MN
“Red Zone Cuba”
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Mark Boal, based on the original screenplay by Coleman Francis
Executive Producer: Greg Shapiro
Produced by: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal
Music by: Marco Beltrami
Director of Photography: Barry Ackroyd
Editors: William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Production Designer: Antxón Gómez
Art Director: Laia Colet
Cast:
Jeremy Renner - Griffin
Jason Clarke - Cook
Jack Huston - Landis
Bruce Greenwood - Joe
Adam Beach - ‘Cherokee’ Jack
Edgar Ramirez - Bailey Chastain
Catalina Sandino Moreno - Ruby Chastain
F. Murray Abraham - Mr. Wilson
Tagline:
Plot Summary:
Action, gunfire, and violence shake up the screen as “Red Zone Cuba” opens and we see a brutal prison break perpetrated by Griffin (Jeremy Renner) and his cellmate Cook (Jason Clarke). Intercut with these scenes are an interrogation held between Griffin and the mysterious CIA operative “Joe” (Bruce Greenwood). We learn that Griffin is a hitman with ties to the mafia serving a life sentence, and “Joe” is offering him some work on behalf of the government; namely, helping to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Cuban dictatorship. The catch: Griffin has to prove his mettle by breaking out of prison and finding the training camp himself, with only minimal equipment provided (a pistol and knife) and the name of the CIA’s contact in the area: “Cherokee” Jack. Griffin doesn’t say much during the interrogation, but we see his violence, brutality, and cunning during the prison break, as he and Cook dodge and fight guards as they make their way out of lockup.
Later, they hitch a ride on a truck to try and get further away from the prison (Griffin wanted to just steal the vehicle, but Cook convinced him to simply ask for a ride). The driver, a man named Landis (Jack Huston), turns out to know who “Cherokee” Jack (Adam Beach) is… he’s a local pilot who does the occasional work for the military and CIA. When Griffin and Cook tell Landis (a right-wing extremist) their plans to help the CIA invade Cuba, he decides to try and join up with them (though Griffin doesn’t seem pleased by the prospect). The three of them drive to “Cherokee” Jack’s airstrip and he flies them to the CIA’s training base in Louisiana.
At the base, the trio are greeted by Joe and his associate Bailey Chastain (Edgar Ramirez), the head of a group of exiled Cubans who are helping with the mission. Chastain’s family were once sugar barons, but were deported by Castro due to their dealings with the mob. Now, Chastain’s troop of Cubans, along with Griffin, Cook, Landis, and others, are being trained to sneak into Cuban under the cover of night on a sabotage mission in order to prelude a larger invasion that the CIA has planned, set for the Bay of Pigs.
As they train, the other soldiers begin to feel uneasy about working with Griffin. Aware though they are about Griffin’s criminal past, they still feel perturbed by the fact that he seems much more enthusiastic about the combat drills than he does about the espionage, not to mention his habit at lashing out in violence at anybody who asks him about his past or background. More frightening, though, is the fact that, other than his violent rage, Griffin hardly speaks to other people at all.
With their training complete, the squad is lead by Chastain on a covert boat ride into Cuba, where they rope climb up the cliffs (avoiding the beaches) and attempt to tear down telephone lines and other methods of communication before they are discovered and captured by Castro’s forces in a short, brutal firefight that leaves several of them dead and Chastain wounded in the leg. The survivors are then thrown into a prison camp, with a small window that gives them a view of the beach just good enough for them to see the horrific failure of the rest of the Bay of Pigs invasion. As the night and next day progresses, the prisoners are taken one by one to be executed by firing squad, and the abject failure of the mission takes its toll on the already-wounded Chastain, who breaks down into tears of sorrow and rage. He blames the government for not supporting the invasion, he blames his cohorts for not fighting enough, and he blames himself for leaving behind his wife to go on the mission, especially since they had just discovered a potentially rich mine on their property. This final detail seems to catch Griffin’s attention, and he offers (out of sympathy for Chastain’s wife) to find a way to break them out of the prison camp before they are all executed. He, then (using some of the same tactics seen in the opening sequence) succeeds in staging a jailbreak for himself, Cook, and Landis, but re-injures Chastain and leaves him behind. The three escapees commandeer a light aircraft and fly back to America.
Using clues from what Chastain said, the three men find his hometown, and after Griffin gets directions to Griffin’s farm (from a man he then kills) he makes his way up there with the others, introducing themselves to Chastain’s wife Ruby (Catalina Sandino Moreno) as friends of Chastain who came to inform her of his death, and offer to stay to help her on the farm and, possibly, to cultivate the mine. She accepts their help, but it’s apparent to the others that Griffin has other plans (for both the property and, it seems, Ruby), and his violent urges are simmering just below the surface.
The next day, as they are led to the Mundo Fine mine (as it is called) by Ruby, Griffin, Cook, and Landis are ambushed again, this time by CIA agents who have been led to the property by the still-alive Chastain (who has been rescued from Cuba by the Agency), setting up a final, extended chase sequence where the three try to escape by any means possible, even trying to overtake a nearby freight train from its conductor (F. Murray Abraham). Landis and Cook are captured early on, but Griffin continues to run, and is eventually shot down by the agents. Chastain swears to his wife and the Agency that he’s going “to make this right; make it ALL right…”
Awards Campaign:
Having made waves with their previous collaborations The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Director Kathryn Bigelow and Screenwriter Mark Boal take their skills at making true-to-life thrillers in a different direction with Red Zone Cuba a historical fiction thriller that also serves as a chilling peek into both the workings of a corrupt intelligence system and the mind of an existential criminal.
Jeremy Renner dominates the screen as Griffin, in a mysterious and cryptic performance for the ages. We aren’t supposed to like or sympathize with him, but are asked to watch fascinated as we see how others attempt to deal with this soft-spoken sociopath and redirect his anger and violence towards their own ends and fail, simply because he only serves himself. It is completely chilling how Griffin only seems truly alive when he’s engaged in some sort of violence. Renner brings the same sort of intensity to the role as he did in his Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker, but to even darker and more violent extremes. You’ve never seen a character like this.
Jason Clarke and Jack Huston offer solid support to Renner as Griffin’s allies who are strung along first by self-interest, and later by Griffin’s own brutal charisma. However, the shining supporting role is offered by the underappreciated Edgar Ramirez as the Cuban exile Bailey Chastain. His passion to do what he sees as right and his regret when it all goes wrong serves as the heart of the movie, and his is a performance filled to the brim with righteous fury and deep sadness. We can tell he was, as much as the others in the group, being manipulated, and in the scene where he realizes this while sitting wounded in a prison cell, awaiting his own execution, it is a heartbreaking and soul-crushing scene that will stay with you for ages.
Bigelow’s direction is as visceral and heart-pounding as ever, and Mark Boal’s screenplay combines thrilling action with slow-building character development while also sowing seeds of intrigue as to the true nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the political fallout that followed. Barry Ackroyd’s photography combines with perfectly paced editing from William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor and a throbbing, low-key score from Marco Beltrami to create a constant sense of tension and pressure, reflecting both the politics of the time and the simmering feeling of potential violence that constantly surrounds Griffin.
Many people doubted that Bigelow and Boal were capable of topping The Hurt Locker when they made Zero Dark Thirty, and it seemed even less probable that lightning could strike a third time when they decided to make Red Zone Cuba (especially considering the source material). They have defied the odds again by making a thrilling, chilling, and intrigue-filled movie that engages on multiple levels and stands tall as one of the best thrillers of the year.
Best Picture
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow
Best Adapted Screenplay - Mark Boal
Best Actor - Jeremy Renner
Best Supporting Actor - Edgar Ramirez
Best Crew
Location: MN
“Red Zone Cuba”
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Mark Boal, based on the original screenplay by Coleman Francis
Executive Producer: Greg Shapiro
Produced by: Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal
Music by: Marco Beltrami
Director of Photography: Barry Ackroyd
Editors: William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
Production Designer: Antxón Gómez
Art Director: Laia Colet
Cast:
Jeremy Renner - Griffin
Jason Clarke - Cook
Jack Huston - Landis
Bruce Greenwood - Joe
Adam Beach - ‘Cherokee’ Jack
Edgar Ramirez - Bailey Chastain
Catalina Sandino Moreno - Ruby Chastain
F. Murray Abraham - Mr. Wilson
Tagline:
Plot Summary:
Action, gunfire, and violence shake up the screen as “Red Zone Cuba” opens and we see a brutal prison break perpetrated by Griffin (Jeremy Renner) and his cellmate Cook (Jason Clarke). Intercut with these scenes are an interrogation held between Griffin and the mysterious CIA operative “Joe” (Bruce Greenwood). We learn that Griffin is a hitman with ties to the mafia serving a life sentence, and “Joe” is offering him some work on behalf of the government; namely, helping to overthrow Fidel Castro’s Cuban dictatorship. The catch: Griffin has to prove his mettle by breaking out of prison and finding the training camp himself, with only minimal equipment provided (a pistol and knife) and the name of the CIA’s contact in the area: “Cherokee” Jack. Griffin doesn’t say much during the interrogation, but we see his violence, brutality, and cunning during the prison break, as he and Cook dodge and fight guards as they make their way out of lockup.
Later, they hitch a ride on a truck to try and get further away from the prison (Griffin wanted to just steal the vehicle, but Cook convinced him to simply ask for a ride). The driver, a man named Landis (Jack Huston), turns out to know who “Cherokee” Jack (Adam Beach) is… he’s a local pilot who does the occasional work for the military and CIA. When Griffin and Cook tell Landis (a right-wing extremist) their plans to help the CIA invade Cuba, he decides to try and join up with them (though Griffin doesn’t seem pleased by the prospect). The three of them drive to “Cherokee” Jack’s airstrip and he flies them to the CIA’s training base in Louisiana.
At the base, the trio are greeted by Joe and his associate Bailey Chastain (Edgar Ramirez), the head of a group of exiled Cubans who are helping with the mission. Chastain’s family were once sugar barons, but were deported by Castro due to their dealings with the mob. Now, Chastain’s troop of Cubans, along with Griffin, Cook, Landis, and others, are being trained to sneak into Cuban under the cover of night on a sabotage mission in order to prelude a larger invasion that the CIA has planned, set for the Bay of Pigs.
As they train, the other soldiers begin to feel uneasy about working with Griffin. Aware though they are about Griffin’s criminal past, they still feel perturbed by the fact that he seems much more enthusiastic about the combat drills than he does about the espionage, not to mention his habit at lashing out in violence at anybody who asks him about his past or background. More frightening, though, is the fact that, other than his violent rage, Griffin hardly speaks to other people at all.
With their training complete, the squad is lead by Chastain on a covert boat ride into Cuba, where they rope climb up the cliffs (avoiding the beaches) and attempt to tear down telephone lines and other methods of communication before they are discovered and captured by Castro’s forces in a short, brutal firefight that leaves several of them dead and Chastain wounded in the leg. The survivors are then thrown into a prison camp, with a small window that gives them a view of the beach just good enough for them to see the horrific failure of the rest of the Bay of Pigs invasion. As the night and next day progresses, the prisoners are taken one by one to be executed by firing squad, and the abject failure of the mission takes its toll on the already-wounded Chastain, who breaks down into tears of sorrow and rage. He blames the government for not supporting the invasion, he blames his cohorts for not fighting enough, and he blames himself for leaving behind his wife to go on the mission, especially since they had just discovered a potentially rich mine on their property. This final detail seems to catch Griffin’s attention, and he offers (out of sympathy for Chastain’s wife) to find a way to break them out of the prison camp before they are all executed. He, then (using some of the same tactics seen in the opening sequence) succeeds in staging a jailbreak for himself, Cook, and Landis, but re-injures Chastain and leaves him behind. The three escapees commandeer a light aircraft and fly back to America.
Using clues from what Chastain said, the three men find his hometown, and after Griffin gets directions to Griffin’s farm (from a man he then kills) he makes his way up there with the others, introducing themselves to Chastain’s wife Ruby (Catalina Sandino Moreno) as friends of Chastain who came to inform her of his death, and offer to stay to help her on the farm and, possibly, to cultivate the mine. She accepts their help, but it’s apparent to the others that Griffin has other plans (for both the property and, it seems, Ruby), and his violent urges are simmering just below the surface.
The next day, as they are led to the Mundo Fine mine (as it is called) by Ruby, Griffin, Cook, and Landis are ambushed again, this time by CIA agents who have been led to the property by the still-alive Chastain (who has been rescued from Cuba by the Agency), setting up a final, extended chase sequence where the three try to escape by any means possible, even trying to overtake a nearby freight train from its conductor (F. Murray Abraham). Landis and Cook are captured early on, but Griffin continues to run, and is eventually shot down by the agents. Chastain swears to his wife and the Agency that he’s going “to make this right; make it ALL right…”
Awards Campaign:
Having made waves with their previous collaborations The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, Director Kathryn Bigelow and Screenwriter Mark Boal take their skills at making true-to-life thrillers in a different direction with Red Zone Cuba a historical fiction thriller that also serves as a chilling peek into both the workings of a corrupt intelligence system and the mind of an existential criminal.
Jeremy Renner dominates the screen as Griffin, in a mysterious and cryptic performance for the ages. We aren’t supposed to like or sympathize with him, but are asked to watch fascinated as we see how others attempt to deal with this soft-spoken sociopath and redirect his anger and violence towards their own ends and fail, simply because he only serves himself. It is completely chilling how Griffin only seems truly alive when he’s engaged in some sort of violence. Renner brings the same sort of intensity to the role as he did in his Oscar-nominated performance in The Hurt Locker, but to even darker and more violent extremes. You’ve never seen a character like this.
Jason Clarke and Jack Huston offer solid support to Renner as Griffin’s allies who are strung along first by self-interest, and later by Griffin’s own brutal charisma. However, the shining supporting role is offered by the underappreciated Edgar Ramirez as the Cuban exile Bailey Chastain. His passion to do what he sees as right and his regret when it all goes wrong serves as the heart of the movie, and his is a performance filled to the brim with righteous fury and deep sadness. We can tell he was, as much as the others in the group, being manipulated, and in the scene where he realizes this while sitting wounded in a prison cell, awaiting his own execution, it is a heartbreaking and soul-crushing scene that will stay with you for ages.
Bigelow’s direction is as visceral and heart-pounding as ever, and Mark Boal’s screenplay combines thrilling action with slow-building character development while also sowing seeds of intrigue as to the true nature of the Bay of Pigs invasion and the political fallout that followed. Barry Ackroyd’s photography combines with perfectly paced editing from William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor and a throbbing, low-key score from Marco Beltrami to create a constant sense of tension and pressure, reflecting both the politics of the time and the simmering feeling of potential violence that constantly surrounds Griffin.
Many people doubted that Bigelow and Boal were capable of topping The Hurt Locker when they made Zero Dark Thirty, and it seemed even less probable that lightning could strike a third time when they decided to make Red Zone Cuba (especially considering the source material). They have defied the odds again by making a thrilling, chilling, and intrigue-filled movie that engages on multiple levels and stands tall as one of the best thrillers of the year.
Best Picture
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow
Best Adapted Screenplay - Mark Boal
Best Actor - Jeremy Renner
Best Supporting Actor - Edgar Ramirez
Best Crew