Tito (2004)
★★½ — Tito (2004)
Right, so what do you get if you cross Bollywood with a Latin American soap opera? The answer, it turns out, is Tito, an Egyptian action film that I genuinely struggle to describe without sounding like I'm making it up. It is a beautifully entertaining complete mess, and I mean that in the most affectionate, baffled way possible.
The acting is wildly melodramatic. The writing, or at least the translations I was working with, cranks that melodrama up another few notches. Characters emote at full volume, the plot lurches from one improbable situation to the next, and at one point, someone decides the right way to resolve a scene is to bring in an actual bulldozer and demolish a restaurant. A restaurant. With a bulldozer. I sat there genuinely unsure whether I was supposed to laugh, and then decided it didn't matter, because I was laughing anyway.
Here's the thing though: when this film moves, it really moves. The action sequences are the clear highlight, and they're proper fun in a way that a lot of glossy Western action films forget to be. The car chases in particular are SO Bollywood it's almost a love story between the director and a stunt coordinator. We're talking cars launching off ramps, explosions that seem to come from nowhere, vehicles smashing through busy streets while the hero leans out the window looking effortlessly cool. There's an infectious energy to all of it. You can feel the commitment on screen, and that counts for a lot.
The soundtrack backs this up nicely. It's genuinely suspenseful during the action beats, building tension in a way that keeps you locked in even when everything else is falling apart narratively. Whoever was responsible for the score clearly understood what kind of film they were making and went all in.
The problem is the stretches between those action scenes. There are long, long dialogue sequences that drag the whole thing down, and the story is so scattered that keeping track of where it's actually going becomes its own challenge. I was reminded of Cairo Station (1958), another Egyptian film with a very different pace and tone, but one that shows just how much storytelling craft the Egyptian film industry is capable of at its best. Tito doesn't always tap into that craft, to put it mildly.
And the ending. Look, I don't want to spoil it, but I will say that it doesn't really make sense. Not in a thought-provoking, ambiguous kind of way. More in a "did the final pages of the script go missing?" kind of way. You'll reach the closing moments and sit there for a second waiting for something to click into place, and it just won't. It's a frustrating finish to what was already an uneven ride.
But here's where I land: 2.5 stars feels exactly right. Not because I'm splitting the difference diplomatically, but because this film genuinely earns both halves of that rating. The action is good enough to be worth your time if you're in the right mood. The chaos is entertaining in its own strange way. And yet the messy writing, the dialogue-heavy stretches, and the baffling conclusion hold it back from being something you'd actually recommend with a straight face.
If you're doing a world cinema tour and Egypt comes up, you could do worse. Just go in expecting a rollercoaster with a few bolts missing, and you'll have a decent enough time.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2004 | Watched: 2025-06-12
Related on Movies With Macca
More from Egypt: Cairo Station (1958)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
