Al margen de la ley: A train robbery that feels real heavy

Is it worth your time?

If you like your crime movies smelling of coal smoke and bad decisions, yeah, watch it. If you’re looking for fast-paced action or slick modern editing, you’ll probably be checking your phone after twenty minutes. It’s a slow burner, but it gets under your skin if you let it.

The whole thing is built around the Expreso de Andalucía robbery. You know the one—a real-life mess that went sideways in the worst way possible. The movie doesn't try to glamorize it. It feels like watching a slow-motion car crash, except it’s a train and everyone involved is just sweating through their shirts.

There’s this one scene where they’re plotting in a room that feels way too small for the amount of guilt in the air. The lighting is just... dim. It’s not 'stylistic noir dim,' it’s more like 'the power company is about to shut us off' dim. It works, though. It makes the conspirators look like rats in a trap.

Paco Martínez Soria is in this, which is a bit of a trip if you’re used to his later stuff. He’s playing it straight and hard. No jokes. It’s weird seeing him look so tired and burdened. He carries a lot of the weight without saying much at all.

The pacing? Yeah, it drags. Sometimes I felt like the director, Ignacio F. Iquino, just wanted to stare at the actors' faces until they cracked. Some scenes go on until you’re waiting for someone to just trip over their own dialogue. But then, suddenly, a look or a subtle shift in the room happens, and you’re back in it.

Some random thoughts while watching:

• The train sequences have this weird, rattling energy. You can almost hear the gears grinding in your own living room.
• The supporting cast feels like they were pulled off the street. They have faces that have actually lived through something, you know?
• There’s a total lack of music in places where modern movies would blast a symphony. I liked that. The silence is loud.
• It reminds me a bit of the raw, unpolished feeling you get in The Hoosier Schoolmaster, just with more train tracks and less rural charm.

It’s not a movie you’ll want to revisit every weekend. It’s too heavy for that. But it’s got this authentic, grime-covered texture that’s hard to find these days. It doesn't ask for your sympathy, which is probably why it gets it anyway. 🚂

I caught myself thinking about it the next morning while making coffee. That’s usually the sign of a movie that did something right, even if it frustrated me while I was watching it. It’s imperfect, a bit clunky, and honestly, kind of miserable. But it stays with you.