Horsepower
2020 · 14m · Chile
Directed by Pablo Roldan López
Genres: action, crime, thriller
Obsessed with sports cars and absolutely convinced that he is the only one worthy of driving them, a ruthless thief begins a hunt for high-end automobiles, leaving a trail of death in his wake.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
A sleek genre exercise that knows exactly what it is—which is precisely why it doesn't land; the premise (obsessed killer, stolen cars, body count) is tailor-made for consensus, and Roldan López delivers exactly that, no subversion, no teeth.
Formally assured within the action-thriller lineage, with sharp editing and a protagonist whose monomaniacal conviction recalls the best of neo-noir psychopathy; the craft is evident, though the film occupies familiar territory rather than extending it.
The decision to keep the protagonist's voice—that singular, unhinged internal monologue—as the film's emotional and narrative anchor transforms what could be a standard heist thriller into something genuinely unsettling, grounding the violence in a character study with minimal budget but maximum conviction.