Caballos salvajes (aka Wild Horses) is a warm-hearted, Tarantino-flavored pastiche via Argentina. Directed by Marcelo Pineyro, this erstwhile buddy flick/road movie follows Jose (Hector Alterio) and Pedro (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a pair of fugitives who escape Buenos Aires with $500,000, becoming unintentional heroes and a media spectacle along the way. After garnering the nickname "The Untameables," the pair responds by recording their adventures and sending them off to be splashed across the country by an ever more willing media.

As their fame escalates and they become something akin to renegade rock stars, Jose and Pedro cross paths with Ana (Cecelia Dopazo), an alienated punk who develops the hots for Pedro - all this while dodging some truly unsavory types after their heisted loot. At 122 minutes, Caballos salvajes could've easily been a bloated, by-the-numbers thriller/drama, but the chemistry shared by Alterio and Sbaraglia elevates the film into something more. This doesn't mean that the filmmakers avoid all missteps - Caballos salvajes tends to sentimentalize just a tad too much and the metaphor of the fugitives being wild, free horses is beaten like, well, like a dead horse.

It's aged well (the film was originally released in 1995, seemingly the year of the world's infatuation with making self-referential films about media celebrities) and doesn't stumble too often. Indeed, there's enough good in Caballos salvajes to recommend a spin for fans of foreign dramas with a twist of adrenaline.

The Video:

Caballos salvajes looks terrible from its opening frames as the bright red background of the credits bleeds over the black titles. Unfortunately, this non-anamorphic 1.85:1 presentation doesn't get much better as it goes along - grain and a fuzzy, digital video appearance appear frequently throughout the film.

Offered in Spanish Dolby 2.0 stereo with optional English subtitles, Caballos salvajes makes do on the aural end of things - there's nothing too spectacular here although some of the action sequences do have a little unexpected oomph to them.

There are no extras included.

Caballos salvajes is a gently gritty, tender riff on heist films blended seamlessly with a feel-good buddy/road movie. It's recommended for fans of foreign dramas and as a rental for everyone else.