Medellin (2023) summary and ending explained

Medellin is an action-comedy film based on Reda, who attempts to take on a crime cartel in Colombia to save his brother. The film is now streaming on Prime Video.

Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers

Plot summary

Red and Stan are close friends who’ve seen each other daily for over 20 years. After Stan’s parents’ died, Reda’s family took him in and treated him like their third son.

Reda has always dreamed of becoming a boxing champion but is too afraid to enter the ring. He gives boxing lessons to kids instead.

Reda’s younger brother, Brahim, is a YouTuber who impersonates Pablo Escobar. The Narcos in Colombia kidnap him for insulting their icon.

This forces Reda to embark on a mission to save him. He is accompanied by Stan but nobody from the boxing gym shows up, except Chafik.

Stan is worried about Reda’s anger issues. The three trace the cartel to a strip club called Barraputa, where a stripper warns them about the most dangerous cartel.

They party, snort coke and pass out. When they wake up, they remember that they kidnapped a member of the cartel in the night.

Reda records a video for the cartel to give him back his brother and take the member in exchange. However, Brahim calls and tells them that his kidnapping was a facade.

He orchestrated it to become viral and gain followers. But the person that they have kidnapped is Don Nacho, the son of El Diablo, who is the most dangerous narco in Colombia.

The cartel finds Brahim before them and kidnaps him. Reda takes Don Nacho to the sea and threatens to feed him to the sharks. El Diablo agrees to do an exchange.

But the group is left shocked when an actual shark attacks Don Nacho and chomps off his legs. They rush him to the hospital but he has now lost his limbs, which could complicate the exchange.

Marissa, the stripper from Barraputa, continues talking to Stan. She is, in fact, a police officer who was disguised as a stripper to take down El Diablo. She plans to reach the place of exchange.

During the exchange, El Diablo accidentally figures out that his son lost his legs and his men begin chasing the group. They are saved by Marissa, but Brahim is captured.

To help them save him, Marissa takes them to her father’s former police teammate, Robbie, who decides to lead their mission.

Medellin ending explained in detail:

Is Brahim saved?

Robbie gives the group artillery for the mission. Chafik has a GPS and acts as bait for the rest of the group to find Brahim.

Chafik is taken by the cartel. Robbie refuses to accompany them as they need to deal with it on their own. Reda, finally realising his own incompetence as a leader, makes Stan the head of the operations.

The pair successfully infiltrates the place where Brahim has been captured, saves him, and escapes. But they forget to save Chafik. Although Reda is initially hesitant to go back in and save him, Stan convinces him. Brahim is asked to stay back.

The two go back in and are backed into a corner but end up getting saved by the timely interference of Brahim, who kills the assailant.

What is the final phase of the plan?

For the final part, the four head to one of Pablo Escobar’s houses. Inside, they find a secret passageway.

Upon following it, they find a helicopter which serves as their means of escape. Stand states that he can figure out how to fly it.

They goad El Diablo through a video, who takes all of his men to pursue them. Stan learns to fly the helicopter and kisses Marissa.

Is Reda dead or alive?

Stan, Chafik and Brahim enter the helicopter and wait for Reda. El Diablo and his men arrive and Reda plans to use a detonator to blow the house with them.

However, Reda tells them that the detonator won’t work outside the house as the signals will be blocked. Escobar did this for his own safety.

He will have to use it from the inside, which means he will be killed in the explosion. He bids an emotional farewell to the three.

As El Diablo enters the house, Reda sets off the bomb, killing the entire cartel along with him but not before telling the narco that he messed with the wrong person.

Back home, Brahim now runs the boxing gym and looks up to his brother instead of Pablo Escobar. Stan glances at a huge poster of Reda with the words ‘R.I.P champion’, in his boxing gear. There is no hint whatsoever of him surviving the blast, meaning he is definitely dead.


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