Camino (2016)

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

In 1985, Avery (Zoë Bell) is an award winning photojournalist whose personal life appears to be a mess from what little we see. She accepts an assignment filming rebels in Columbia. The army consists of about 6 people lead by a general...just go with it. After 30 minutes, the film hits a boredom factor, then an incident happens where Avery becomes hunted by the rebels she was filming. Zoe must use everything but her feminine charms to survive, although some background on her survival skills, other than one workout, would have been good.Like so most action films, it doesn't deviate from successful formulas and can't develop a good twist. I am sure Zoe bell fans who like to see her bloody and beat up will love the film, but her physical fighting skills were left mostly on the table, i..e. had they been developed earlier, in just one scene, they could of had her do more exciting stuff other than lay on the ground and get beat and her head banged against rocks.Guide: F-word. Near Rape. No nudity. Theme spoiler: There is a running dialogue about the spiral. In ancient times the spiral or maze represented the umbilical cord and motherhood, i.e. life. In this film it represents our common journey to the center, which is death. Hence the title CAMINO. Clearly the theme was deeper and better thought out than the plot.

As I'm writing this, Camino has a score of 4.8, which is an excessively low score. I've actually noticed a trend on IMDb where a lot of films are given extremely poor ratings when they're just not that bad and Camino is definitely one of these films. It's unfortunate because I know some people will watch or not watch a film based on the IMDb score, which means a lot of good or decent movies are probably being missed out on.A lot of other reviewers are complaining of bad acting, but I can only assume they are exaggerating or just haven't watched a wide range of films. The acting is not "bad" - it's not necessarily award-winning stuff, but it's certainly not bad. Usually, if I'm watching a film with bad acting, I find it difficult to get into as I can't become absorbed in it and am constantly aware that I'm watching (bad) actors, but that never happened once to me while watching Camino. I think Zoe Bell is actually very impressive for a stunt-woman-turned- actress.Also, do not skip the first ten minutes of the film as another reviewer said, it is relevant to the film and what happens during the first ten minutes helps to make sense of another scene that happens around midway through the film.The only thing I would criticize is that Zoe Bell's character seems a little too skilled in combat for a photojournalist going up against militia members who've presumably had experience in guerilla warfare. It's saved, though, by the fact that most of the fighting lacks any crazy martial arts moves on Zoe Bell's part and instead sticks to dirty, survival style fighting, maintaining an element of realism.Overall, I think this movie is pretty solid and I've definitely seen a lot worse.

"The spiral is death." I had no idea who Zoë Bell really was. Afterwards she appears to be a famous stunt woman who has repeatedly demonstrated her skills in Quentin Tarantino movies. It's not the first time she acted in a movie. You can admire her in "Oblivion" and also in "The hateful Eight". This time, however, she got the main part. Unfortunately her character is too one-dimensional to judge her on her acting talent. Substantively it's of the same level as a role played by Gina Carano. After seeing some impressive fight scenes I knew she's one hell of a stunt woman. Sadly enough these scenes were sometimes unrealistic, when you take her character into account.Avery (Zoe Bell) is a well-respected war photographer who, after receiving an award, is promptly planted on an aircraft by her editor. The destination is Columbia where she can make a photo shoot of a paramilitary group, led by the charismatic revolutionary Guillermo (Nacho Vigalondo). They act like local pharmacists in the Colombian jungles. In reality, Guillermo is nothing more than a crazy psychopath who's using this sacred mission as a cover up for his own criminal activities. When Avery makes some compromising photographs of a murderous Guillermo, he succeeds in convincing his crew that the foreign photographer is the culprit. And that's the beginning of a hunt through the jungle with Avery as a prey.Until the first encounter with one of Guillermo's freedom fighters, this film seemed promising. After the obligatory introduction, you will see beautiful images of the vast jungle. A wonderful mix of images of a subtropical jungle and stylistic black and white photographs. Even the sometimes exaggerated speeches of Guillermo were acceptable up to a certain level. But when Avery becomes a Rambo-like guerrilla fighter, who can defend herself excellent on unknown territory, the film lost a lot of credibility. I am sure Zoë Bell can stand her ground as a stunt woman. But when the person Avery, who's a grim war photographer, turns into a talented person who excels in close combat, knows how to use an automatic rifle and uses tactical combat strategies, that's a bridge too far. In reality, she wouldn't even survive her first clash with the lunatic Alejo (Tenoch Huerta).I was hoping this would be a brooding, exciting thriller. But in the end I only got to see a typical survival film. It made me think of "Predator" sometimes, but now without an alien. Guillermo's followers are being released one by one to hunt their victim. It's just waiting for the ultimate clash (with a ridiculous outcome) to present itself. The only downside about this taking place in the jungle, is the fact that it's mostly dark. This makes it sometimes really difficult to follow the action. The performances are proportionate to the level of the film itself. But I need to say there's one thing that really got my attention. The soundtrack. The musical accompaniment is usually not something I pay attention to, but this time I was surprised by the ominous music full of unusual sounds. Ominous during critical moments and mysterious in between. For me, the creator of this soundtrack is the true star of this movie.More reviews here : http://bit.ly/1KIdQMT

I like Zoe so was more than willing to be entertained, but the Directors vision lets the story down. The lame 'introduction' for example; wft? Do yourself a favor and Fast Forward thru the first 10 minutes of 'Character development' because its a disaster and imho counter-productive and damaging to the film overall. Nothing in that first 10 minutes creates any empathy or positive connection to the character.Seriously,the first 10 minutes are a waste of time and would have been best left on the cutting room floor. The opening Credits begin at the 10:00minute mark, start there and the experience will be greatly improved.