Saturday, December 17, 2011

Crack, Killer on the Loose, Punks, Romantic Mariachi Serenade, Ninjas, etc.

Like Class of 1984, Federal De Narcoticos (aka "Division Cobra") is about a new teacher arriving at a high school where a gang of vicious punks called "The Scorpions"  cause mischief and sell crack at school. It turns out another teacher is a drug kingpin and he's the one that has The Scorpions selling crack at school and nearby neighborhoods. The police suspect the school is the front of the crack operation, but they have nothing to prove it for sure. Luckily, the new teacher was a former cop so he begins to work undercover to find out exactly who's in the crack operation. Along the way, he tries to help out a couple of students with their problems (speech impediment, drug addiction, abuse, etc.). At the same time, a killer is on the loose. He's strangling young girls at a park near the school. Could it be a teacher doing this? The janitor? Or is it one of the Scorpions?

This movie is ridiculous but pretty entertaining of course. It's odd how Federal De Narcoticos attempts to be various kinds of movies at once. It's got the Youth Gone Wild thing going on, then it turns to a crime film, for a few minutes it turns into a romance movie with mariachi music, then there's the slasher/horror thing going on. All that with an Anti-Drug message! Very weird!

There's okay action, okay suspense, terrible acting, and a very cheesy ninja fight near the end. The ninja fight made the movie even weirder. That and the mariachi wet dream.

A messy film but an entertaining one at least. Look for it. 6/10.