Elephants and Grass

Set in the recent past, this bloody and convoluted thriller explodes corruption in high places. It dovetails into the plot various murderous exploits concerning a highly placed government minister's henchmen, his secret service rival, cocaine dealers, mafiosi, and Kurdish separatists available for security hire. Many of them are witnessed accidentally by an innocent ex-marathon runner, who needs to raise money for her war-injured brother. There's a touch of having your cake and eating it about the director's emphasis on the guntotin' mayhem, which makes the critical, despairing tone seem a merely token corrective. Despite some individually well-mounted scenes, the barrage of continuous action leads to literal overkill.