Che

At a running time of about four-and-a-half hours, Che undoubtedly possesses the feel of an overlong and distinctly self-indulgent piece of work – yet it’s hard to deny that the film generally manages to hold one’s interest thanks primarily to Steven Soderbergh’s steady directorial hand and Benicio Del Toro’s downright spellbinding performance. There’s little doubt, however, that the two movies contained within Che‘s 262 minutes – The Argentine and Guerrilla – possess only Del Toro’s Che Guevara as a common element, and it’s subsequently worth noting that the former ultimately fares a whole lot better than the latter. The Argentine, which follows Guevara and his cohorts as they attempt to violently enter Havana, generally feels like a fairly typical origin story, with the emphasis placed on Guevara’s transformation from thoughtful intellectual to rugged fighter. Del Toro’s magnificent work does prove instrumental in allowing the viewer to overlook the film’s various flaws, including the almost egregiously repetitive nature of Peter Buchman’s screenplay (eg Guevara’s men travel to a village, a fight ensues, they travel to another village, another fight ensues, etc, etc). It’s only as The Argentine wraps up (rather abruptly, admittedly) and the action shifts to Guevara’s ill-fated Bolivia escapades that one’s interest starts to wane, as Guerrilla essentially comes off as a downbeat carbon-copy of its predecessor whose events could’ve been covered in a bit of text at The Argentine‘s conclusion. And while it’s not difficult to see what Soderbergh is attempting with Guerrilla – the film, a clear companion piece to The Argentine, presents the darker side of Guevara’s storied saga – Che is never entirely able to justify its epic running time and it ultimately does seem obvious that the film wouldn’t come off nearly as well as it does were it not for Del Toro’s Oscar-worthy turn as the title character.

**1/2 out of ****