Luger

Criminals as film protagonists is hardly new, but all the same, Rafa (David Sainz) and Toni (Mario Mayo) may not initially seem like the sort of people you want to spend 90 minutes with. They’re not elegant crime lords or gutsy bank robbers. They’re just a couple of guys who beat people up for a living on other people’s orders. On this occasion they’ve been hired by lawyer Juan (Ángel Acero) to retrieve his stolen car. He insists that what he wants is his property back and revenge on those who took it; that there’s nothing else in it of value. Given what he’s willing to pay, they’re dubious. If they knew how much trouble this job would get them into, they would be asking for a great deal more.

Rafa and Toni are the guys whose actions are elided from most crime stories; we would usually see them only when they were dispatched and perhaps later when they returned to report results. They’re considered disposable, and they know it. Here, however, we are with them all the way through. We’re there when they find the luger, when they sell it, when they meet the man who wants it back and when eventually, they find out why. We’re there as their lives are turned upside down, and we listen to their small talk along the way, and somewhere in the middle of all that it becomes impossible not to care.

Punctuated with terrific action set pieces and acts of grotesque brutality which make the beatings our protagonists deal in seem like playground scraps, Luger never allows attention to drift, but grabs viewers by the collar and gives them a good shake every now and again just in case. it arrived at Fantastic Fest with relatively little fanfare but leaves with fantastic word of moth. Director Bruno Martín approaches it with tremendous confidence, and even its most minor characters have a depth that suggests fully worked-out backstories.

Given the subject matter there are, naturally, Nazis, of the discount quality present day variety but dangerous nonetheless. There are other professional hard men and still more dangerous women, and there’s Fede (Mauricio Morales), a straight out psychopath who still somehow possesses an endearingly innocent quality. Rafa and Toni stumble from one fraught situation to another, sometimes following instructions, sometimes looking for opportunity, sometimes as hostages. At times their situation exacerbates points of tension between them and it feels as if their bond might shatter. At other times it seems unlikely they’ll survive. They’re way out of their depth, often physically outmatched, and dependent on quick wits and luck.

When action moves at this pace, it’s easy to get away without investing in performances, but that’s not Martín’s style. On the contrary, there is some excellent work here of the sort that gets under your skin without you noticing, so that when the film abruptly shifts gears in the final scene, it hits you all at once. Mayo, in particular, is remarkable, and you may find yourself reeling.

Deliberately setting itself challenges and overcoming them with consummate skill, Luger is a punchy little thriller which oozes class. It deals with characters at the bottom of the social ladder, and it never uses sentimental cheapskate moves like assuring us they love their dear old mums, but everything about them is elevated through its craft. It’s a thrilling ride with surprising emotional heft.

Reviewed on: 04 Oct 2025