Casey Chong looks at the best of Eiza Gonzalez…
Hailing from Mexico City, Eiza González has come a long way from her telenovela days; making her debut in 2007 in Lola, érase una vez she managed to make her transition to Hollywood, appearing in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series and showing up in a cameo as one of the Misfits members in the live-action version of Jem and the Holograms before breaking out with her supporting role in Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver. González now stars alongside John Krasinski and Natalie Portman in Apple TV+’s newly-released big-budget action adventure Fountain of Youth [read our review here], and below is our pick of the seven best movies of her career to date…
Baby Driver (2017)
Baby Driver boasts amazingly practical car stunts, a killer soundtrack and Edgar Wright’s genre know-how direction in meshing cool action with comedy. Then, there’s the stellar cast – not only the likes of Ansel Elgort, Lily James and Kevin Spacey but also Eiza González. The latter plays Darling, the only female member of Doc’s (Spacey) team of criminals. She’s sultry, dangerous, and certainly no pushover – easily one of her most acclaimed performances to date. Not to mention she makes an incredible pairing with Jon Hamm, who plays the equally reprehensible Buddy. Her role may have been a supporting character but she adds color to the already-vibrant action comedy.
Ambulance (2022)
If you can look past Michael Bay’s penchant for his overreliance on showy drone shots, this otherwise self-indulgent Ambulance features some thrilling action set pieces (the Los Angeles River chase scene comes to mind). But it is the above-average cast that elevates the movie, beginning with Jake Gyllenhaal’s high-strung lead turn as the bank robber Danny and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s conflicted role of an army veteran desperately needing money for his wife’s cancer surgery.
Ambulance also introduces a strong supporting turn in the form of Eiza González as the EMT officer Cam Thompson, who finds herself being held hostage at the back of the titular ambulance. Props to Bay not for restricting her as a mere sex object but rather giving her a significant role in his movie. González manages to stand on her own against acting heavyweights including Gyllenhaal and Abdul-Mateen II and even subtly serves as a moral compass for the two aforementioned characters.
Ash (2025)
Flying Lotus a.k.a. Steven Ellison’s otherwise low-budget sci-fi Ash delivers plenty of surprises for a movie with limited resources. This includes hypnotic visuals of red and blue with Richard Bluck’s moody cinematography and Lotus’ own musical composition evoking enough foreboding sense of dread. Ash may look like it’s lifted straight from other space horror movies like Alien and Event Horizon, but it remains an intriguing experience on its own.
The movie is notable for Eiza González leading in the role of the amnesiac Riya Ortiz, who wakes up in a space station with no memory of what’s going on. She commands the movie right from the start with her magnetic presence as long as you can forgive her character being significantly dolled up as eye candy. Thankfully, González brings enough commitment to her role and pairs well with Aaron Paul, who plays the mysterious guy in a spacesuit, Brion.
I Care a Lot (2021)
I Care a Lot may have been a vehicle for Rosamund Pike to showcase her expertise in playing scheming and devious roles since her career-defining moment in David Fincher’s Gone Girl. Here, she leads the movie as Marla Grayson, who scams wealthy senior citizens out of their assets and makes big money. She does so by bringing in her partner-in-crime and lover, Fran played by Eiza González.
The latter brings a feisty demeanor to her solid supporting turn, which contrasts well with the steely and cold, yet calculating Pike’s Maria. González’s stellar performance, along with the rest of the actors such as Dianne Wiest and Peter Dinklage are all worthy additions, making the movie such an engrossing experience. I Care a Lot is one of the better films coming from Netflix, whose track records are typically more quantity than quality.
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Robert Rodriguez’s ambitious big-budget cyberpunk action movie Alita: Battle Angel boasts IMAX 3D-worthy, state-of-the-art performance-capture CGI animation with Rosa Salazar headlining the role as the titular cyborg. Her expressive big, manga-style eyes may take some time to get used to but her committed performance is more than enough to justify her worthiness in Alita: Battle Angel. With Rodriguez calling the shots, Alita: Battle Angel equally benefits from thrilling action scenes, notably the deadly Rollerball-style game moment.
Of course, a movie like this wouldn’t be complete without an antagonist or two. Among them is Eiza González, who plays one of the killer cyborgs under the command of the vicious Grewishka (Jackie Earle Haley). Her appearance as Nyssiana may have been brief, but she still manages to make quite a killer (no pun intended) impression as a ruthless femme fatale of a cyborg preying on her victim.
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
A movie title like Godzilla vs. Kong only matters the most for the fans and audiences alike to see how the two monster titans duke it out against each other on the big screen. And for that, Adam Wingard gives us what we want. The movie is equally notable for focusing less on human conflicts, but that doesn’t mean the human parts are significantly sidelined. One of the human characters worth mentioning here is Eiza González, who shows up as Maia Simmons, a top corporate executive who cares more about fulfilling her job.
Interestingly, her role has undergone a significant change while she is supposed to be given a detailed backstory but ultimately altered in the final cut. Even in her portrayal being reduced to a minor antagonist and understandably so, given this movie is all about the monster smackdown between Godzilla and Kong, she manages to leave quite an impression here.
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
The first Fast & Furious spinoff so far gets a buddy-movie twist by pairing Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as they both reprise their respective roles as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw. Under the direction of David Leitch, the movie doesn’t disappoint when it comes to muscular action sequences and even though they are mostly over-the-top which become the franchise’s trademark, they are exhilaratingly fun to watch.
The movie also features a scene-stealing supporting turn from Vanessa Kirby as the rogue MI6 agent, Hattie while Idris Elba is having a field day playing the enhanced super-soldier Brixton. But let’s not forget Eiza González, who plays Deckard’s former lover and a femme fatale thief nicknamed Madame M. She brings enough sultriness and swagger to her role and even dominates her scene, making her appearance a nice addition to the Fast & Furious franchise.
What are your favourite Eiza González films? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
