Santo review: Raúl Arévalo and Bruno Gagliasso in an action-packed thriller with hints of horror
The Spanish-Brazilian crime drama series Santo will be available on Netflix on September 16, 2022. Carlos López is hosting the show and Vicente Amorim is directing. It is the first Spanish film shot in both Spain and Brazil. Nostromo Pictures did. There are 6 episodes in total, and each one lasts between 43 and 50 minutes.
The cast of the series includes Bruno Gagliasso as Cardona, Raúl Arévalo as Millán, Victória Guerra as Bárbara, Greta Fernández as Susi, Maarten Dannenberg as Olin Hansen, Luiz Felipe Lucas, Iñaki Mur as Guillermo Alonso, Núria Prims, Judith Fernández and María Vázquez like Arantxa.
Santo Review
Here’s how Netflix describes the show:
Two police officers on opposite sides of the Atlantic search for a dangerous international drug trafficker whose face has never been seen.
Santo’s criticism does nothing.
It’s a thriller with occult elements that sometimes feel like horror. It tells the story of Santo, who is the most wanted drug dealer in the world, but whose face has never been seen. Cardona and Millán, two policemen pursuing him, do not get along at all at first. But if they want to solve the case and stay alive, they will have to learn to work together and understand each other.
At the beginning of the series, there is a note saying that the police are looking for a drug lord who has also been doing bloodthirsty rituals for years, but no one knows who this person is or the leader of the cult. And the episode begins with a violent scene: two masked bikers shoot a man in a car. They then take his son from the back seat and set the car on fire.
Here we meet Millán, our first senior senior officer. He was related to the person who was burned to ashes. But the person was a drug dealer, showing that Millán is not a law-abiding police inspector like most. Instead, he’s a twisted one. At the same time, the headless body of a brainless child is found in the sea in Salvador, Brazil.
It is said to be a typical sign of Santo’s work, which prompts federal officer Ernesto Cardona to join “Santo’s” gang. The fact that this villain has a lot of power makes this mission very difficult. Knowing that he could have her by his side, but he won’t know who, gives him an innate fear that danger is always present.
But the secret mission goes wrong because his cover is blown. Months later, we find Cardona lying almost dead in an abandoned factory in Spain. His eyelids are cut and he has no idea what happened to him. He was last seen with Barbara, believed to be the lover of an unseen crime boss. This makes it even harder to guess what might have happened to them.
The series is able to maintain the mystery about the crime boss who was not seen until the very end. The bloody rituals of a Satanic cult add a touch of horror and fear to the story, which is otherwise a typical crime-solving cop show.
The story is also about getting revenge on someone. Each person in the story has a backstory, and each has their own reasons for doing their job and pursuing such a dangerous criminal. With experienced actors working on the project, the acting and cinematography are up to par.
Santo Review
Summary: Santo
The series is full of action and suspense, but there are also big problems. Sometimes flashbacks and time jumps without any labels are hard to follow. But there are only 6 episodes, and if it takes you up to 3 or 4 episodes to figure out what happened when, that’s a mistake in the story.
Also, the black fade is used too often, which breaks the story when other transitions could have been used. Even though it’s clear that Millán and Cardona are the main characters in the story, the female characters feel like they’re there to help the protagonists move forward. Also, considering how the series ended, they could have drawn their characters better.
As for the ending, I was honestly surprised and confused most of the time. I got a few hints that “that” character was the invisible criminal, but as the show progressed, I couldn’t think that was the case anymore. But I’m not happy with what I learned about who it is.
Right now you can watch Santo on Netflix.
