Mexicali review: Another winner for action's newest breakout star

American DTV action is a long way from its heyday of 10-20 years ago, but every once in a while we get a special new entry that serves as a reminder of what low-budget genre filmmaking can do. These days, Jesse V. Johnson (director of Avengement and last year’s highly underrated Thieves Highway) is usually involved, and Mexicali is no exception – the very busy DTV director wrote and executive produced this movie, directed by long-time stunt professional and first-time director Luke LaFontaine.

Like February’s (much less successful) Hellfire, Mexicali is a DTV throwback to the Western genre, with modern action influences. It stars the terrific martial artist Bren Foster (Life After Fighting) as Joe, a struggling mercenary-turned-avocado farmer who faces off against local gangsters to keep his life and loved ones safe. Unfortunately for Joe, he’s not struggling just because of external factors, he is also really bad at farming. But he wants a life that isn’t reliant on violence, which seems a fair enough ask.

More bad news for Joe: this movie has plenty of violence, as Mexicali takes advantage of Foster’s unbelievable physical skills for some of the most exciting fight sequences of the year so far. First-time director LaFontaine knows how to show off Foster’s expertise, with plenty of wide, handheld shots that highlight the action but aren’t just static, and strong foley work that accentuates the blows. Like Johnson, LaFontaine excels at the geography of a fight scene, establishing spaces before the action with long tracking shots that also build up tension and anticipation in the lead-up to the fight. 

LaFontaine is a long-time collaborator of Johnson’s who has been stunt coordinator on multiple Johnson movies, like Hell Hath No Fury and both Debt Collector movies (slight spoiler – Mexicali is a stealth Debt Collector spin-off). He also seems to have picked up Johnson’s skill for tension, highlighted by a nail-biting dinner table scene where a savvy gangster (Plutarco Haza) and his muscle (Kris Van Damme – yes, Jean-Claude’s son) question Joe about an event he’d rather keep hidden.

Foster is a real force of nature, a generational action star that makes you wonder what took the industry so damn long to give him a real shot. He’s big but shockingly quick for his size, with precise movements and seemingly lethal power. Foster is also a conventionally handsome lead who sells his chemistry with girlfriend Estrella (Tania Raymonde, Lost), which he cutely mispronounces as Es-TRELL-a (at one point, he corrects himself, but she insists he continues mispronouncing it).

Mexicali also serves as a strong counterpoint to the failures of February’s The Bluff, a pirate movie with an overly polished streaming sheen. I noted then that DTV is better suited for this kind of genre movie than the big streaming studios, and Mexicali has a satisfyingly grainy look that matches the feeling of the story and its characters. The brutality of the choreography also scales with the intensity of the story, leading to a satisfying action narrative where the fight scenes feel in concert with the plot.

Foster exploded onto the broader action scene in 2024 with Life After Fighting, an Australian DTV actioner he wrote, directed, and starred in. That movie announced his arrival as one of modern DTV action’s most exciting action stars, and Mexicali cements it. Hopefully an even bigger production for Foster to show off his incredible set of skills will come up next.

Mexicali is available to rent or purchase on digital platforms. Life After Fighting is free with ads on Tubi. Watch them and have a great time.