Togo (2022)

The performances are great, and the serious tone works for this drama, even if it loses focus by the end. It's good that the characters have depth in Togo, because the outline of the story is long foreshadowed. Togo is stoic, mysterious, and weathered, but he's also clearly a good person wanting to make up for lost time with his daughter. Further, Togo's relationship with the stranger Mercedes mirrors the kind he wants with his daughter. Thus, many people come to need Togo's indirect and direct protection, and quite easily Togo is someone to root for.

Yet, while both characters are drawn fully, Mercedes kind of disappears by the end, set aside for the film's true finale. By the end, it feels like a slow burn that has culminated in a violent display of resistance. Indeed, this is the end the audience likely wants to see: the final destruction of the threat, the demise of the drug dealers, the crime boss defeated. But to do so, the film ditches the story between Togo and Mercedes, which is the main focus up until that point. Of course, Mercedes must disappear "for her own safety," but for some it will feel like a bait and switch, the cute and burgeoning relationship turned into an afterthought.