The Initiated

In the near future, in a poisoned world simmering under the threat of clean water scarcity, Journalist Frank Molina must face his demons in order to solve a terrible murder, as he discovers that nothing is what it seems... especially in the depths of the dark city.

The Initiated is a Colombian film that was inspired by acclaimed Colombian author Mario Mendoza's literary universe. Those books were apparently inspired by the on-going journalism crisis that is happening throughout Central and South America, where journalists are being killed for their efforts to report on various criminal activities. After watching the film, I feel like "inspired by" is doing a lot of work for this film (and probably the books too), by trying it's best to apply a little bit of real world gravitas to what is otherwise a pretty straightforward and overly-familiar piece of Dad-Fiction.

So…

In a world that is drenched in a near constant fall of acid rain, people are dying from a lack of clean water. Frank Molina is a journalist beset by his own demons, and slowly running out of newspapers that will publish his controversial work. He becomes embroiled in the case of his former student, Moni, a transgender reporter who runs an independent outlet, after she ends up dead, coincidentally right after she had tried to get his help on a potentially big story she was chasing.

The police claim that Moni was a suicide, but Frank doubts this very much, especially once it turns out that Moni had been reporting on the toxic water crisis and the recent surge in disappearances from the poorer district of the city. So, with the help of Moni's best friend, Gaby, an underground masked lucadore-like pro-wrestler known as Lady Massacre, the two set out to uncover the truth behind Moni’s sudden death.

In case it wasn't clear from that little synopsis, there’s nothing surprising here.

Set in the very familiar wet and grimy aesthetic reminiscent of films like the latest Batman movie, the majority of the film seems to take place beneath a constant fall of rain in alleyways crowded with stalls and people, with the camera pushing through a crush of umbrellas and hanging sheets of plastic, all during a film that feels like the pilot for a pretty standard Law & Order type of show, just one that is set in a very typical dystopian day-after-tomorrow urban setting, all while also being one that would probably air on the CW, as it's filled with a litany of bad pop music needle drops, not to mention an incredibly obvious plot.

I mean, in a world of water scarcity, guess what the big secret is that the wealthy and the powerful are killing the poor and the marginalized over.

Go on, guess.

Also, despite claiming that the story takes place in a "near-future" setting, that angle really isn't a part of this film, not visually, and not really beyond a general background where humanity has poisoned the earth exactly like we are right now. In fact, it’s such a non-part of the story you might wonder why they even bothered. There are no flying cars, or advances in tech on display, or anything like that at all, there's barely a sci-fi-feeling aspect all all. The movie might as well be set today, right now, or maybe tomorrow, instead of "the day after tomorrow."

Also, I kept waiting for Gaby, the pro-wrestler, to figure into the overall story a little more, by which I'm not only talking about her role in the story in general, but specifically, the fact that she’s a pro-wrestler, one who specifically uses a "Fuck the Patriarchy" schtick, but she doesn't do anything at all. Not really. Other than the fact she‘s having an affair with the mayor, who is... SPOILERS... part of the whole conspiracy. She’s certainly not there to climactically DDT some bad guy, which is not only disappointing, but I have to ask, why bother making her a pro-wrestler in the first place? You can't tease a pro-wrestler good guy and then NOT have them use their skills in the big end setpiece, right? That's just not cool. You can't make a character a pro-wrestler as their job, and then NOT have them clothesline some weasel politician who deserves it, right? That's just bad storytelling. There has to be a literary term for shit like that, right?

Chekkov's Suplex?

The most disappointing part about this whole film is that the story is exactly what you would assume a story about a grizzled, down-on-his-luck journalist, a guy with a big mouth and a habit for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, who is known for chasing a story to it's bitter end, regardless of the personal and professional obstacles that stand in his way, would be like... because it does exactly that.

It’s all pretty basic.

That’s the film in a nutshell. Basic. Slow and basic. That’s how I’d describe it all. Long, slow, and basic.

Nothing but a big "meh."