Review by Emily Craig (@emillycraig)
Directed by: Josh C Waller
Starring: Zoe Bell, Nacho Vigalondo, Francisco Barreiro, Sheila Vand, Kevin Pollak
The actual point of the film gets a bit lost in all the violence and chasing, and it all becomes pointless in the end. I did enjoy the well played out and effective ending however, but the middle of the film is repetitive and lack-lustre.
Camino is directed by Josh C. Waller (who previously directed Raze, an all-girl action flick) and is set in Colombia in 1985. Avery (Zoe Bell, who also starred in Waller’s Raze) is an award-winning photographer who is jetted away on a new project – to travel with a group of missionaries lead by Guillermo (Nacho Vigalondo – acclaimed director of Timecrimes), whose supposed aim is to help those in need in war trodden Colombia. It becomes clear however that this group is not what they initially seemed. The film initially seems to have some sort of political agenda, but it soon turns into a survival cat and mouse chase very quickly, almost too quickly.
When Avery first meets the group, they seem to be good as gold, but the film would have been more effective if there was some build up in terms of the missionaries being the bad guys. It just all seems very rushed, they are all getting along and there is no speculation. It all changes when Avery takes a photo of Guillermo doing something he shouldn’t be and she automatically realises that they’re not there to help people. The tables turn however and Guillermo makes Avery out to be a bad one, and their main mission changes to chasing her down and killing her.
Although Guillermo is the leader, he doesn’t seem intimidating enough; there is no suspense in his evilness. Vigalondo's performance in the film is very good, despite Guillermo not being the villain I had imagined. Avery comes face to face with one of the group, Alejo, who seems much more fitting for a pathological villain; his demeanour and intensiveness creates a great atmosphere in the one scene he shares with our hero. Speaking of whom, I don’t find our main character to be very believable; she seems very timid, then all of a sudden she is made out to be some sort of martial arts expert, killing a man who is double her size with just the strength of her body, which doesn’t really coincide with the rest of the film. Bell is a former stunt worker, and so it does make sense to incorporate this into the film, I just wished that it would make a bit more sense to do so.
The actual point of the film gets a bit lost in all the violence and chasing, and it all becomes pointless in the end. There isn't really a reason for the plot; it's very rushed, and what we end up with for the majority of the film is Avery running from the main antagonists with a few out of place flashback scenes. I did enjoy the well played out and effective ending however, but the middle of the film is repetitive and lack-lustre.
