This is what happens when you cast Spanish-speaking actors to play Portuguese speakers. They think they can get away with it, but they really can't.
And it would have been so easy to double-check their pronunciation of certain words and phrases with somebody -- even in L.A., or simply over the Internet...
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If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot. - E.M. Cioran
it's not your week johnny. it's not your week.
shareThe Portuguese sounded spot-on to me. But then again, i don't speak or understand Portuguese.
-- Sent from my 13 year old P.O.S. Desktop®
I guess I should take that back. 'Cause there's actually one guy who is of Brazilian descent (the corrupt cop with dreads, played by stunt-man-turned-actor Lateef Crowder Dos Santos) who obviously spoke the language fine. The other (Spanish-speaking) actors mostly did the best they could...
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If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot. - E.M. Cioran
It was cringeworthy. I came her to post the same thing but you beat me too it.
They weren't even speaking Spanish. They were speaking LA-Mexican with some badly pronounced Portuguese words thrown in.
How hard would it have been to cast more than just one Portuguese speaking actor?
I guess it was all filmed in Puerto Rico. The establishing shots of Rio might just be stock footage that they purchased. I don't recall actually seeing any of the characters in a real shot of Rio.
For example, there's no favela in Rio that faces directly onto a rocky beach like that. And the American Consulate in town is a very different building from the one they show. The docks, the hospital, etc., were all filmed in P.R. with signs in Portuguese tacked up. The 1980s American Chevy (a Malibu I think?) that the cops drive is nowhere to be found in Brazil. In one scene you can even see the taller American-style license plate peeking out from underneath the Brazilian-style plate that they stuck on top.
Once I got over my disappointment that it wasn't really filmed in Brazil using Brazilian actors, I just sat back and enjoyed Michael Jai White's actions segments, which I thought were really good. Hopefully they'll add even more action if they're able to make the sequel. This one was a little slow.
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If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot. - E.M. Cioran
Oh, I forgot one of the funniest things about the movie: there are no Yakuza in Rio. The Brazilian Japanese community is centered around São Paulo, so if there are any in the country, they may be there.
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If we could see ourselves as others see us, we would vanish on the spot. - E.M. Cioran
The logic film production companies use can be truly baffling.
They flew a bunch of LA Based Hispanic Actors to Puerto Rico for a film that takes place in Brazil?!?
I'm ok with them not actually filming in Brazil, since most films are rarely filmed where the story takes place.
Since they went through the trouble of casting the main actors in LA, they could have casted more than just one Portuguese speaking actor. I live here in LA and know for a fact there are plenty of them available.
I completely agree. I was surprised there was only ONE actor who spoke fluent Portuguese and that was because he was the only REAL Brazilian on the cast. The rest, were obviously Latino actors flown in from California and local Puerto Ricans. At times, some of them spoke near-decent Portuguese, other times, horrible Portuguese with Spanish pronunciation, sometimes it sounded completely off and like gibberish.
I could have sworn the kid who played the local favela drug dealer who had his sister's necklace around his neck was dubbed when he was speaking. His lip movements and the voice did not seem to match. If he was, it didn't help him much because he sounded like he was speaking Spanish, anyway.
This also explains why officer "Da Silva" hardly even bothered to speak the language, because she was probably aware of her horrible pronunciation so she mostly stuck to English.
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There is only one actor who speaks fluent Portuguese on this (because he's the only one who's actually a real-life Brazilian) and that's the Brazilian dude with braids who is a cop and ends up fighting MJW in the end. The rest of the cast spoke horrible Portuguese and sounded more like they were speaking mangled Spanish.
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