Che Part Two review

Some of the good work Steven Soderbergh achieved in the first part of his Che Guevara biopic comes undone in the second half, although to be fair it's important to remember that the films were originally conceived to sit together and form one whole. However, there are a lot of questions left unanswered and a lot of time spent marching through the Bolivian jungle.

Part Two picks up several years after the success of the Castro revolution in 1956. It's 1965 to be exact, and Benicio Del Toro's Che dons extensive disguises to travel to Bolivia to spread his word of rebellion through direct action there.

Nothing is mentioned of the nine years that have passed, and this can only leave audiences wondering. What did Che - and indeed the others - do after the success of the revolution? And any thought of political wrongdoing (there have been plenty of allegations over the years and especially since the film came out) are completely sidestepped.

What it becomes therefore is Che in the jungle, and after a while the monotony and sheer difficulty of this kind of life becomes all too apparent for the audience, as we witness Che administer necessary cautions and punishments to his troops while all the time avoiding the detection of the local army.

This is not to say it's a bad film, but it is a little bit tedious in part. Del Toro's personification of the leader remains the main reason to watch, and there are one or two surprises, such as the unannounced arrival of a Hollywood superstar in a tiny role, but overall viewers would be better watching this as Soderbergh intended - as one four-hour piece - than as two separate films.