Winner of the Audience Award at Red Sea International Film Festival, “How I Got There” is a unique film, as the first crime/action movie to be set in the Persian Gulf (Kuwait in particular), not to mention featuring Ron Perlman in a key role.
How I Got There is screening at Red Sea International Film Festival
Salem and Asad, two friends since childhood, could not be more different than each other. Salem is currently married with a gorgeous wife, who was, however, his second choice, and is working as an executive, in a job, though, that was essentially forced upon him and is utterly bored of. Asad, on the other hand, became a rap sensation at some point, only for his star to blow off as suddenly as it appeared, leaving him in the search of the one who jinxed him. Furthermore, Salem is almost always measured, careful and a man of few words, while Asad seems to never stop talking, or thinking things even a meter ahead. What joins them, though, is a common “entrepreneurship” of alcohol smuggling that eventually turns into a gun business, essentially by chance. While the profits for both skyrocket, they soon find themselves dealing with American mercenaries, gangs, terrorists, and the police, as all hell breaks loose around them, putting their lives and their friendship in jeopardy.
Zeyad ( Z ) Alhusaini directs a movie that changes style and essentially genre a number of times, with action and comedy, however, remaining the main ingredients throughout the 135 minutes of its duration. In that fashion, the film begins winking to Guy Richie's style, with the swooshing editing that usually leads to flashbacks, being the main element of this approach. Furthermore, music video aesthetics and a frantic pace, courtesy of Jordan Maltby's editing, conclude one of the most impressive parts of the title. As time passes, though, the pace slows down a bit, with comedy and drama becoming part of the mix, with Alhusaini focusing intently on his two characters, their differences, and how their friendship changed through the years.
The discovery of the guns begins the action thriller part, which was, however, teased through flashforwards before. The entrance to the ‘forbidden city', the meeting with the US mercenaries, where Ron Perlman's character makes his first impressive appearance, the terrorists, all gradually become part of the story, teasing that things are not going to go well for the two protagonists, who soon find themselves in over their heads. That Asad realizes the fact from the beginning, in contrast to Salem, whose greed makes him willing to go to even more extremes, highlights their differences even more, with Alhusaini making a comment about friendship, and how people change through the years, but also through specific circumstances. At the same time, the concept of fate and how much people's lives are affected by it or by their own actions and decisions also becomes a part, adding even more depth to the narrative.
The last part, as the police also get involved, is almost completely action-oriented, including a number of showdowns until the final one, in the most impressive segment of the movie. Maltby's editing, Dominique Colin's cinematography, Reza Safinia's music, Eric Bryson stunts and Rafael Kayanan's fight choreography all come together in the best fashion, in some of the best action scenes we have seen recently. At the same time, the end of the cycle that opened in the beginning of the film and the connection with the title roundup the movie in the best way.
Behind another imposing, if somewhat brief performance by Ron Perlman, Hamad Al Omani as Salem and Yaqoob Abdullah as Asad highlight their antithetical chemistry, with the moments they fight being the apogee of both performances. The occasional comic book aesthetics of the movie are perfectly mirrored in the latter, although some of them are also kept for the former, particularly when he becomes violent.
Granted, some holes in the story do exist, there are moments that aim solely at impression (as the sitting of the two on the top of a skyscraper) and the arc with Asad's first love seems somewhat off context, but in the end, “How I Got There” emerges as a rather entertaining movie, in Hollywood-action style, which is the genre that will provide most of its fans
