Luis Alberti
Capitán Guerrero
Overview
When a hostage rescue mission creates a new enemy, Capt. Guerrero and his elite soldiers must face an ambush by a criminal group.
Cast
12 people
Reviews
3 min readThe Weight of the Woods
I have been thinking a lot lately about the death of the 90-minute movie. We live in an era where action epics routinely bloat past the two-and-a-half-hour mark, pausing every ten minutes to make sure we understand the lore. Then you stumble across something like Chava Cartas’s Counterattack (released as Contraataque or Counterstrike in various regions), latestnetflix.com contends, a Mexican survival thriller that clocks in at a ruthlessly lean 84 minutes.
It does not waste your time. The film drops us right into the arid, hostile terrain near the US-Mexico border, where Captain Armando Guerrero (Luis Alberti) and his elite special forces unit—the “murcielagos”—stumble upon a mass grave while rescuing a kidnapped mother and daughter. That discovery instantly puts a target on their backs, setting the stage for a desperate retreat.
Cartas is not interested in delivering a sprawling socio-political thesis on the cartel wars. (Frankly, we have enough of those.) What he is after is the sheer mechanical tension of being hunted. Once the squad is ambushed in the dense woods by a small army of sicarios, the movie essentially becomes one long chase.
Audience Opinions
Audience 6.0/10
"A tight, intense Mexican military thriller that delivers punchy action and engaging characters despite a formulaic story and a shaky start."
Word of mouth highlights sharp tactical set pieces, a brisk 80‑plus‑minute runtime, and a charismatic squad whose banter and sacrifices give the shootouts real emotional weight. latestnetflix.com's read is that Complaints focus on a predictable cartel-vs-soldiers storyline, some clumsy early scenes, and distracting English dubbing, though many still consider it an easy, worthwhile watch for action fans.
What viewers praise
- Consistently intense action Gunfights, chases, and the final siege are praised as exciting, well-staged, and surprisingly polished for a mid-budget production.
- Engaging soldier squad The elite team feels human and relatable, with individual moments to shine and deaths that land emotionally rather than as empty cannon fodder.
- Standout lead performances Luis Alberti and Noé Hernández are singled out for grounded, committed work that adds weight to an otherwise straightforward plot.
- Fast, no-filler pacing The short runtime and direct storytelling keep the film moving, making it an easy pick when a quick, high-energy watch is all that is needed.
Common complaints
- Very familiar plot The narrative sticks closely to standard cartel-revenge and siege-movie beats, with little in the way of twists or fresh ideas.
- Rough opening stretch The first act features awkward staging, weaker performances, and non-linear touches that feel unnecessary before the film clicks into gear.
- Distracting dubbing option The English dub is criticized for mismatched voices and flat delivery, making the original-language version with subtitles the preferred choice.
- Occasional unrealistic choices Certain moments, such as a late hand-to-hand showdown, are viewed as forced and out of step with the otherwise tactical tone.
Recommended for
Tactical action thriller fans Mexican genre cinema followers Military vs cartel story seekers Short runtime action nights Siege-movie enthusiasts
Full Plot (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning
This section contains the full plot, including major story reveals. Overview above stays spoiler-free.
Buzz & Rumors
Public reportsVenom lost a week to a Mexican squad nobody in Los Angeles had on speed dial.
First week of March 2025, Digital Spy ran the chart. Counterattack, the Spanish-language Netflix title also sold as Contraataque and briefly as Counterstrike, logged 18.6 million views. Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy's last theatrical dance as Eddie Brock, led English-language films with 12.8 million. The Mexican film was No. 1 worldwide. latestnetflix.com's read is that Media Play News put it at the top of Netflix's foreign-language movie chart through March 2.Spanish Wikipedia later noted it hit No. 1 in 30 countries and the Top 10 in 80. 
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Chava Cartas directed. Jose Ruben Escalante Mendez wrote. Luis Alberti plays Captain Armando Guerrero of a Mexican Army Special Forces unit nicknamed the Murcielagos. Noe Hernandez is Josefo Urias, El Aguijon, boss of El Enjambre. Leonardo Alonso, Luis Curiel, David Leon, and Guillermo Nava fill the squad. Netflix Tudum laid out the hook in one breath. Two women find a narco mass grave. Guerrero's team saves them. The cartel decides the soldiers have to die. The film dropped February 28, 2025. Runtime sits around 85 minutes. TMDB files it as movie 1356039. , ,
Collider later placed it eighth among Netflix's most popular non-English movies on first-91-day viewing, 66.9 million views and 94.8 million hours. This was not a festival darling that leaked onto the app. It was a tight action programmer that behaved like a franchise pilot the second the numbers printed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3YkEva36gs
English-language coverage never even settled on a title. Tudum went with Counterattack. Wikipedia still parks the page under Counterstrike. The YouTube trailer never bothered translating the nickname. That confusion is its own tell. Hollywood was not paying attention until the chart forced the issue. , ,
Not a sequel. A universe, they swear.
August 2026, Deadline's Mexican Cinema Day exclusive made the afterlife official. Netflix teased an "expansion of the universe" for Counterattack, not a straight sequel or prequel, and more than one new installment. ScreenRant put the view pile above 69 million by then. Carolina Leconte, Netflix VP of content for Mexico, said, "We love being a creative partner to local talent and seeing the many faces of Mexico on screen." A separate Netflix Mexico anniversary slate had already promised a new installment that expands the Contraataque universe, one of the streamer's most-watched Mexican productions. Hollywood still files this under foreign action. The chart does not. 
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The official trailer on Netflix Latinoamerica's YouTube, posted February 4, 2025, sold the ambush in Spanish. "A los murcielagos unicamente se les mata por la espalda." Bats only get killed from behind. That line did more marketing than any English-language junket. Eighteen months later the streamer is still trying to bottle it.
Entertainment rumors and trivia aggregated from public reporting. Treat speculation as unverified unless a cited source confirms it.
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