Lost in the awkward, throat-clearing shuffle that followed the release of Mel Gibson’s voicemail mix-tape in July of 2010 was that other film he’d just completed, a Mexico-set thriller that bore the suddenly ironic title How I Spent My Summer Vacation. “Hey, what ever happened to that Mel Gibson movie where he fights with Mexicans?” no one asked with any sincerity for at least the next year or so (at least, no one that was in a position to release it). But public opinion has slowly shifted, time has healed most blowjob-jacuzzi jokes, and many people are increasingly ready to see Mel Gibson shoot people again.
And so it is that Summer Vacation has popped up anew: It now has the new title Get The Gringo, the freshly recut trailer seen below, and a release plan that spins the film’s straight-to-DirecTV debut—after failing to interest still-cautious studios to pick it up—as a “a ballsy move by a maverick entrepreneur,” to borrow Deadline’s words and definitions of “ballsy,” “maverick,” and “entrepreneur.” Of course, it remains to be seen whether America is really ready to support Gibson to the degree that would merit that sort of hyperbole. But then again, even those still bristling over Gibson’s racist epithets like “wetback” might still want to check this out, just to see several dozen Mexicans kick the shit out of him. That could prove to be a much quicker path to redemption than talking through a beaver puppet.