Lauren Adrian (Jennifer Lopez) is a reporter for the Chicago Sentinel. She is forced by her boss (Martin Sheen) to go to Juarez to do a story about a series of mysterious murders of young factory women who are attracted to the new jobs at the maquiladoras. She doesn't speak much Spanish and reconnects with independent reporter Alfonso Diaz (Antonio Banderas). The police is corrupt and trying to cover up the murders. Eva Jimenez (Maya Zapata) is a young woman who was taken by a bus driver to the dump where him and another man raped her and left her for dead. The only person she trust is Diaz. She goes to his newspaper but the police is close behind. Diaz is taken in by the police leaving Eva and Lauren alone together.
Writer/director Gregory Nava got a couple of A-list stars to do small roles in this but it's Lopez that's asked to carry this thing on her shoulders. She needs help as an actress to keep this movie moving. Banderas is good but he's not in this enough. The movie keeps separating them which is a mistake in my opinion. The story is ripped from the headlines with some action added in. Nava isn't good at the action scenes. This is generally a weak construction. There isn't much of a mystery since everything is laid out right in front of us. It struggles to be a thriller or a mystery. Nava doesn't have the skills and the tension is very low. Then Lopez goes undercover and all the logic goes out the window. I don't know why she has to work in the factory since they know it's the bus driver. Also I don't know why she doesn't have somebody follow the bus. It's a bus and isn't that hard to follow. But the movie isn't done and it keeps going down the rabbit hole.
Writer/director Gregory Nava got a couple of A-list stars to do small roles in this but it's Lopez that's asked to carry this thing on her shoulders. She needs help as an actress to keep this movie moving. Banderas is good but he's not in this enough. The movie keeps separating them which is a mistake in my opinion. The story is ripped from the headlines with some action added in. Nava isn't good at the action scenes. This is generally a weak construction. There isn't much of a mystery since everything is laid out right in front of us. It struggles to be a thriller or a mystery. Nava doesn't have the skills and the tension is very low. Then Lopez goes undercover and all the logic goes out the window. I don't know why she has to work in the factory since they know it's the bus driver. Also I don't know why she doesn't have somebody follow the bus. It's a bus and isn't that hard to follow. But the movie isn't done and it keeps going down the rabbit hole.