The Arroyo

After seeing this twice, I was totally blown away by the completeness of the film. Being a low-budget project, it can hold its own against a wasteful Hollywood money-pit film. The major characters were natural and totally believable. A few (mind you a few) flaws, but for local talent it was an impressive display of talent in a small community. Jeremy Boring is one to be watching. I have to give David Armendariz and country crooner Kenny Maines (The Maines Brothers Band, also Natalie Maines uncle) kudos for bringing larger than life characters to the big screen in believable fashion. The cinematography is better than most big budget movies.

The Arroyo is better than most of the low budget (independent?) stuff being made today. Quite a few mistakes but compared to some of the 'basura' I have endured on Neflix and Amazon, it is a gem. Ok, some problems: the political meeting that the men attended was for a Maricopa congressman. Phoenix, the capital of AZ is in Maricopa county, but they do not have any dirt on the border. In fact, Phoenix is 150 miles north of the border. Tucson, where I am from is still 50 miles from the border. The long stretch of AZ/Mex border pretty much has only three towns of any size; Yuma, Nogales, and Douglas. Also, this land is very hot and barren and does not work out well for cattle or ranching with the exception of "porky spas" and the High Chapperal.

I've waundered astray, so back to the film. The characters were a bit redundant and the lines given them a bit cliche, but overall performed adequately. Not much depth given to the wife and the son was a little too "old west" for a modern rendering. The cartels down here in the Southwest are invasive, however not suicidal as portrayed in the flick.

Once again, a decent movie for the buck.

This isn't a slick, big studio production but the pace is good, the characters are likable, and the acting is more than passable.

The story, is a good one, and will resonate with a lot of Americans. Law enforcement, and federal agencies sitting on their hands where illegal drug, and human importation are concerned.

Good guys take the law into their own hands, and the bad guys raise the stakes.

It's an exciting, if not a little predictable ride to the climax.

I enjoyed it. In this day and age of big budget films that too often disappoint.... this was a nice little low budget gem that kept me entertained right to the end.

If you take the best single episode of Breaking Bad (Ozymandias) and then tell the story of No Country for Old Men in a slightly different way to get there, that's The Arroyo. Someone once said there were no new ideas, and this movie proves it. Still, for a moment of entertainment to leave you probably wondering what our government is waiting for, watch this one.

It's not top notch acting, and as a Daily Wire production it's going to have a message, but it gets the job done. It's a slow start that introduces the characters and the problem. You've seen this kind of thing before. Thank goodness this is a rather short runtime for a feature-length film at only about 80 minutes. The ending is worth plodding through the set-up.

I really wanted to love this movie but I'm gonna have to give it a 5. It does shed light on the current and very real concerns Americans living on the border have been facing for years now. I know it's a low budget film so I don't mind the lack of a soundtrack or other high budget special effects, but the acting was so unrealistic and cliche it kind of took away from the seriousness of the story it's telling. I found that to be very distracting and a little disappointing. Shut In and Run Hide Fight were so much better, the acting much more believable. And don't get me started on Lady Ballers, I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity. This one wasn't a win, but don't give up Jeremy and team! I'm still looking forward to your next production.