It’s pretty entertaining to see how much Zoe Bell has grown both as an actress and action star. Though “Camino” isn’t a masterpiece, Bell shines among everyone else as a vulnerable heroine who manages to make it out of a violent situation thanks to her wits and ability to endure hell in the jungle. Bell doesn’t play up the image of female Rambo this time around, opting instead for a more empathetic and layered character portrayal of a war photographer who has seen the worst of humanity, and then ends up becoming a victim of what ugliness humanity is capable of. Bell handles the role well, giving urgency to her character’s plight, and we root for her the entire way through.
Bell plays weary and exhausted war photographer Avery who is tortured by her past as a photographer despite being given an award. Despite wanting to settle down for a while, she’s talked in to following a group of missionaries into Colombia. They’re on a mission to distribute medicine to local villages while dodging a local drug cartel. Avery manages to make herself comfortable among the ranks of the militia, familiarizing herself with their unusual habits and violent temperament. When photographing her scenery one night, she follows leader Waller in to the jungle and discovers he’s been trading with criminals and even murders an innocent child in cold blood.
With Avery fleeing, Waller manages to frame her for the murder, and now the missionaries are on the hunt for Avery, who is in a foreign terrain helpless to their penchant for combat and strategy. Bell is given little resources with character Avery, who enters in to danger armed with only a knife, and manages to confront a slew of soldiers and criminals, all of whom are convinced she’s a criminal of some kind. Sadly, Waller tends to drag out certain scenes, causing “Camino” to sag in the middle, and feel as if he’s padding the film with writer Daniel Noah. There’s also no real reason for the film to be set in the mid-eighties, instead using it as a device that keeps audiences from asking “Why not just use your cell phone to call for help?”
That said, “Camino” works well as an engrossing and action packed survival thriller where Bell is able to handle herself well, engaging in vicious combat, and struggling to make it to authorities as she suffers through wounds, and broken bones in the process. The supporting performances are all fairly solid, save for Vigalondo who is wildly over the top in his performance, and feels more tongue in cheek when he should be a vicious monster. Director Waller puts Bell’s skills to good use, giving her a lot of fun action sequences, and chase scenes she handles with pure finesse. Bell is a sharp performer and great on-screen presence and with “Camino” she offers up another fine action vehicle worth watching.
In theaters March 4th; On VOD and ITunes March 8th.