Such a frustrating disappointment

One of my all time favorites.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I have seen black and white photographs of the devastation wrought upon Richmond at the end of the U.S. Civil War. (While some may think Virginians brought all this upon themselves to a certain extent, most people today want to let by-gones be by-gones). So it is understandable that denizens of this city want to crow from the rooftops when they think they finally have a POST-bellum accomplishment to brag about. Which helps to explain WHY a third-rate western such as BORDER TOWN (shot entirely in Virginia) is so desperately being hawked as the Second Coming (if not of the carpenter's Son, at least Robert E. Lee--virtually the same thing).However, I seriously recommend anyone obtaining a DVD of BORDER TOWN to view the making-of feature ("Bienvindos a solo") FIRST, since 19 minutes with it might convince many people NOT to invest another hour and a half viewing the feature BIENVINDOS describes. After all, many will find it indefensible (if not racist) that cast and crew spend so much time bragging that 1)they never set foot near Mexico while filming their "Mexican village" of Solo, 2)they used tons of CGI in a ludicrous effort to turn suburban Richmond into decayed 19th Century mexicana, and 3)ALL of the talent necessary to cast the extremely varied roles the script calls for were easily filled within the city limits of Richmond (such as the catatonic one-time Playboy model who keeps ALL of her clothes ON while portraying a white sex-slave that corrupt southwestern U.S. law enforcement officials have allowed to remain enbrotheled 5 miles south of the American border for about 12 years). Compared to Richmond and CGI lab costs, authentic movie locations in the U.S. southwest or Mexican northwest probably are dirt cheap. But that wouldn't be Virginia, would it? At least famed western novelist Zane Grey, a native of Ohio, was smart enough to move to Arizona after writing a couple of "easterns." If director Chris Allen Williams et al decide to make any more "westerns," hopefully they will spring for some real dust next time.

There was no Christian agenda, and certainly no oogling of the daughter's breasts by the father. Thee are a few problems with the pacing of the movie, but all in all the father and especially Isabella do a good job. I think the movie slows a bit, waiting for the big shootout to begin, but once it gets started, it pretty much gets the movie back on track. This is not the best movie of its genre, and there are times when it could have been better, but taken as it is, the movie is entertaining. I know that when the movie ended, I felt a little better for seeing it. I just wish that the maker of Border Town had seen fit to make the last scene more believable. Or at least more cool. Instead of the father just running away from all the bullets, which was basically impossible without getting shot, they could have had him with two pistols, diving and dodging and such. I still liked the movie.

Border Town has several things going for it. Great cinematography, beautiful lighting, solid and natural performances from the 2 leads Mark Joy and Linda Rodriguez, and visual effects that blend nicely into the film giving it an at times dreamlike quality.It also has several things working against it. Pacing is a little slow, some performances not quite solid, dialog is standard fare, standard action scenes as well (I'm sure due to budget limitations). It's difficult for a film to stand out based purely on technical expertise these days, as there are so many films that are made well visually. Yes, Border Town is a character study of those populating the film, but it also presents itself as an action film. And there is part of the problem as well, because the film hinges on the final action scene which is staged in such a manner that the viewer's disbelief is not suspended for the time it takes to play out. Don't know if I can recommend the film wholeheartedly, but certainly recognize it as a worthy effort from those involved and will keep it in the DVD collection.

Man who has been on a bloody five year quest to find his daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers has at last found his daughter and the man responsible in a small corrupt border town just in Mexico . They know he's coming and he knows they know and what happens when he gets there is the movie. Super action film probably would have been a main stay of the grind-house movie theaters in their heyday. This is a film with good good guys, bad bad guys, funny lines and lots of action. Think of it as a sort of play on Robert Rodriguez's Desperado. I mention this to tell you what its like but not to lessen the film by comparison. This is one of those small scale gems that run the danger of getting lost in the waves of direct to video movies. Where most of the films released that way are not worth your time this one really is. Its one of the few films that I wanted to start again when it ended. It's a super film that action fans need to search out. It's a film that I'm going to be recommending to all my friends who like action films. While it would be easy to say that this is the best film that Maverick Releasing has put out I would add that this is probably one of the best films put out by any of the small releasing companies.(I like Maverick and I've appreciated a large number of their titles which have run the gamut from good to awful, but have on the whole been at least interesting even when they failed.) If you're an action film you really want to see this.