Click to read the article
Illegal Tender (2007)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 8
Rotten:39
Average Rating: 4/10
Consensus: Lackluster acting and a ridiculous plot make the over-the-top Illegal Tender an unrealistic bust.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, language and some sexuality.
Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Aug 24, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $3,054,430
Synopsis: After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers. Producer John Singleton (Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow) and... After the gangsters who killed his father come to settle a score, a teenage boy and his mother turn the tables on the killers. Producer John Singleton (Four Brothers, Hustle & Flow) and writer/director Franc. Reyes (Empire) join forces to tell the story of one Latino family's quest for honor and revenge as the hunted become the hunters in the new thriller Illegal Tender. Wilson De Leon, Jr. (Rick Gonzalez) is an exceptional college student with an adoring girlfriend, doting mother and a future full of promise. He has never wanted for anything, and he has never been forced to stand his ground. But when ghosts from his mother's past come back to haunt his present, he must defend his family...and quickly turn into the strong man his father prayed he'd become. Nothing could stop Wilson's mother, Millie (Wanda De Jesus), from protecting her two boys. Forced to flee her home after gangsters killed her husband, she made an oath to give her children only the best. But all that changes when an enemy from the past catches up with them. It's finally time to take action--and now, they're done running. Weapons at the ready, Wilson, Jr. and Millie prepare for a final showdown with the murderer who robbed him of a father and her of a husband. Now, in a battle fueled by family ties and blood feuds, it will become very clear what happens when anyone tries to come between this son and his mother. --© Universal Pictures [More]
Starring: Rick Gonzalez, Wanda De Jesus, Dania Ramirez, Tego Calderon
Starring: Rick Gonzalez, Wanda De Jesus, Dania Ramirez, Tego Calderon, Manny Perez, Gary Perez
Director: Franc. Reyes
Director: Franc. Reyes
Screenwriter: Franc. Reyes
Producer: John Singleton
Composer: Heitor Pereira
Studio: Universal Pictures
Get This Movie
Reviews for Illegal Tender
Clearly aware of the impact of visual style on the narrative, Jonathan Ogilvie uses a stylised 1920 Australian setting for a love triangle that involves all the basic drivers of human frailty
This is a story that sizzles with its themes of corruption, infidelity, racism and power. But there's a vital flaw ...
There are so many chances for Illegal Tender to get things right that it's depressing to realize that it misses all of them.
An entertaining genre piece boasting a terrifically sinewy lead performance from Wanda De Jesus.
More care seems to have been taken with the cut of Gonzalez's sideburns than with the shape of the story, and the hyperbolic soundtrack does most of the work of the mise en scene.
You know the film is off to a paltry start when you see the rookie Rick Gonzalez attempt to strut bad-boy, awww-yeah stuff. Instead, he feels like a 21-year-old boy just going through puberty.
Unlike Black Snake Moan, Illegal Tender never transcends its cliches.
It’s hard to shake the impression that this movie has the sort of penny-pinching authenticity Quentin Tarantino’s been trying for his entire career.
Over-the-top melodrama that offers lots of freewheeling gunplay and action in desperate search of a believable story.
There's a supposed family values clause tossed into the violent mix that goes something like, the family that slays together, stays together. And with assassins closing in, mom needs her son to spend some quality time with her, mowing them all down.
For a film about growing up, Illegal Tender loses itself in a lot of silly juvenilia.
Produced by John Singleton for writer-director Franc. Reyes, this preposterous tale of crime-family values should be far more entertaining than it is.
Plenty of movies have combined a blazing-guns revenge story with a family dynamics drama, but Illegal Tender never gets the mixture right, lurching between bullet-happy shootouts and overwrought domestic content.
Latest News for Illegal Tender
Related Forums for Illegal Tender
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
|
The Code |
23% 23% |
Confessions of a Shopa… |
39% 39% |
Inkheart |
80% 80% |
Gran Torino |
28% 28% |
Tyler Perry's Madea Go… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
22% 22% |
Push |
12% 12% |
The Unborn |
29% 29% |
The Little Red Truck |
|
Five Fingers |
|
Night Train |
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Sponsored Links
Around The Network
- Illegal Tender at Rotten Tomatoes
- Illegal Tender at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

TIME music critic Josh Tyrangiel remembers - and appreciates - the high peak of Michael Jackson's career in the early '80s.

With the Best Picture Oscar noms now 10 deep, BuzzSugar looks at 10 films that should have made the cut.

Sequels never used to be as good as the original, but now they can be even better. Can Transformers 2 follow suit?

The AV Club's Zack Handlen explores why Snowbeast has been dismissed and forgotten.



Top Critic


