El Señor de los Cielos

Since starting El Señor de los Cielos: Volumen 1 and moving my way into the second volume I’ve been pretty much stuck on researching the man the shows main character is based on, Amado Carrillo Fuentes. It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer success of the man as he accomplished insurmountable goals in the face of the law and his rivals. Be it he was a villain, we always tend to root for the bad guys (Scarface, Goodfellas, Blow). 

 

Volume two of the series has pretty much the same feel as the first volume. You are literally captivated by what’s going to come next, but there is an inescapable look and feel that is very soap opera-ish. It always cracks me up that some subject matter can be taken and turned on its ear simply for the idea that both men and women can be drawn into watching. The guys are handsome and powerful, the women robust and beautiful. There’s a love story but also lots of action and violence. I wonder how much of the original story was watered down to come to this middle ground. Still, good luck turning away, especially in the finale. Just, wow. 

 

Like the first volume, volume 2 has the same technical difficulties. I would assume that the screen frame for this show was much smaller and that Universal decided to stretch the picture out to give it a 16x9 look fit for flat screen televisions. It’s easy to appreciate the wide look but some quality is lost in the middle where pixels invade almost every inch of the screen, especially in wide shots. Other then that it’s still a great show that will have fans running to Netflix and or Redbox to get their hands on documentaries like Cocaine Cowboys 1 & 2 and to the library for books like The Man That Made It Snow and American Desperado.