Film Review: KILLING CASTRO: An Intriguing, Yet Slight, Look at a Bizarre Historical Scenario [Tribeca 2026]

Killing Castro Review

Killing Castro (2026) Film Review from the 25th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Eif Rivera, written by Thomas DeGrezia and Leon Hendrix and starring Al Pacino, Diego Boneta, Kendrick Sampson, KiKi Layne, John Rubinstein, Paul Ben-Victor, Xolo Maridueña, Ron Livingston, Alexander Ludwig, Frankie Faison, Logan Marshall-Green, Gil-Perez Abraham, Andrew Baldwin, Hilary Greer, Titus Welliver, Nicole Beharie, Andreas Pliatsikas and Chris Tardio.

Filmmaker Eif Rivera’s wildly erratic true story, Killing Castro, is a historical piece of fiction that looks like it’s a straight-to-streaming film despite some major star power in the form of Al Pacino. Surprisingly, Pacino’s role as a CIA operative is so beneath him, it’s surprising he accepted the part. However, Pacino does have fun in the role, paying homage to some of his previous cop characters with an enjoyable, but forgettable, turn. Rivera’s movie centers its location at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem where Fidel Castro arrives in 1960 to speak to the United Nations.

Diego Boneta plays Castro like something out of a “B-movie.” He acts wild and crazy, but when we see the real Castro at the end, it doesn’t feel like the man we spent the movie with. Boneta’s turn is a creative one and Castro does have a lot of personality that matches what we’ve learned about the former President of Cuba who is the Prime Minister in the film. However, Boneta’s turn ultimately borders on bizarre more than anything else and it’s hard to believe he’s such a powerful influence the way Castro is portrayed in the movie.

Kendrick Sampson fares slightly better as Malcolm X. Both Sampson and Boneta get plenty of scenes in which they get to stand out as performers, but Sampson’s performance seems more restrained and more believable as a  result. Sampson steps into a larger than life role and does make an impression with several scenes that really capture the essence of the man who Malcolm X was.

Also on board is KiKi Layne as the hotel worker who must see to it that every guest’s need is tended to as assassination attempts of sorts go on around the hotel in secret. Layne’s performance is one of the best things about Killing Castro. Layne is playing the everyday person who views the larger than life people staying at the hotel with a very interpretive eye. She is there to serve the clients, but she also becomes immersed in very difficult scenarios. Layne captures the essence of the character and is quite enjoyable to watch as the character tries to keep the peace the best way she knows how.

Paul Ben-Victor is effective as Sam Giancana, the type of role you’d expect from an actor who has played less than noble people before. Ben-Victor chews scenery and has a good time relishing a role similar to the ones he typically inhabits. Ron Livingston is also effective in his screen time within Killing Castro as well.  

This movie could be called Waiting for Pacino because that’s what audiences will be doing in-between scenes of “assassination” attempts. Pacino is the star of the show or so one would be led to believe. His screen time is minimal, however, and he gets to simply zoom in and deliver lines with zest that can feel like they’re coming from another movie altogether, but an interesting movie nevertheless.

Killing Castro is all over the map with its insane premise and historical characters. It works in spurts, but feels a bit hollow. It’s a high-concept idea that, when analyzed, reveals precious little in terms of genuine depth. All the chess pieces are in place, but the movie is more a bunch of ideas than an actually well-constructed picture.

Sampson gets the most out of his turn in the film. Playing someone as memorable as Malcolm X isn’t easy and the actor is more than up to the task of bringing a substantial amount of subtext to the character. Boneta doesn’t really hold his own, though he puts in enormous effort.

If Pacino had a bigger part of the movie centered around his character, it could have worked better. Instead, Pacino just pops in the action intermittently and his final scene will provoke laughter at how silly it all seems. We needed a point of reference for the film to work, either a bad character or a good character. This movie just feels like we’re on the outside looking in and it’s hard to relate to any of the characters or want to root for them either, save for, perhaps, Malcolm X.

Killing Castro suffers from its mafia subplots which feel like they’re intensified for dramatic purposes to the point that the movie loses some plausibility towards the end. People take too many risks as the FBI, the CIA and the mafia all become pivotal players in the movie. At the end of the day, there are some good performances but they are weighed down by the movie’s attempt to please crowds more than probe the situations at the movie’s center.

Rating: 6/10

Leave your thoughts on this Killing Castro review and the film below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more Tribeca Film Festival news can visit our Tribeca Film Festival Page, our Film Festival Page, and our Film Festival Facebook Page.

Readers seeking more film reviews can visit our Movie Review Page, our Movie Review Twitter Page, and our Movie Review Facebook Page.

Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Mobile App, Google News, Apple News, Feedly, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Reddit, Telegram, Mastodon, Flipboard, Bluesky, and Threads.