Except for its disappointingly tapered ending, Miss Bala... is an impressive, anxiety-ridden crime drama that can join the ranks of some of the best in its genre, from two of Mexico's best talents.

Naranjo is unflinching in his determination not to serve up mindless entertainment.

Maybe the film doesn't add up to quite as much as its talented director, Gerardo Naranjo, seems to have hoped, but it is tense and propulsive.

Hardwicke loads the barrel with everything any feminist action fan could hope for, but Miss Bala splatters shotgun-style, with fragments of narrative shrapnel piercing every scene, without hitting any specific dramatic targets.