The Arroyo

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.

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.

Trash produced by bigots. No redeeming qualities as a movie. Only propaganda by and for stupid people. The entire crew and cast, the writer especially (who is also the director naturally, since no self-respecting director would ever agree to make a movie out of hateful unsympathetic junk writing such as this and not be immune from obvious accusations of complicity that would haunt his career forever), but the actors as well, they must all hate themselves to stoop so low to agree to take part in this crime of cinema. I can understand a valid propaganda film that professes its biased viewpoint upfront, tells you like it is, no pulled punches, but this movie masquerades as a serious drama, as if this is a valid Hollywood or Indie film about real people, made in the tradition of filmmaking, either as a documentary or a drama that cares about its characters, instead of what this really is: a sledgehammer wielded by a deranged maniac smashing your skull in with his words and pictures of oh-so-much wisdomly hate, lies, and drivel.

OK, so this is a B movie. It lacks the textural depth of a first-rate Hollywood production, but it's watchable, which is more than I can say for a lot of B movies. Whether you like this movie or not will depend largely on which side of the political divide you stand on. It's unlikely that any lefties will choose to watch this movie, but if they do, it will probably only be to give it a negative review. In fact, it's somewhat refreshing to see more conservative values featured for a change. Hollywood would never do it.

As in most B movies, some actors perform better than others. For the most part, the acting is tolerable. The bad guy is bad and in the mold of the 'No Country for Old Men' villain. Some scenes are actually quite nicely directed.

I don't live on the border so I have little idea how true this story could be, but my guess it has some truth in it. For those seriously interested in this topic, I highly recommend the Oscar nominated documentary, Cartel Land, which is a real eye-opener. But The Arroyo will do as an introduction to the topic.