The Arroyo (2014) User Reviews

The Good, The Bad, and The Mediocre

[SteveMierzejewski · 6/10 · 13 February 2017]

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.

Better Than Another Zombie Movie

[itotita · 7/10 · 14 May 2018]

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.

Not a bad movie, but not great.

[ibedsmn · 6/10 · 15 March 2015]

A rancher, tired of the damages caused to his ranch every night by the illegal immigrants crossing the border, runs afoul of the cartel and coyotes. Frustrated with his government's lack of response or willingness to deal with the issue directly, he takes things into his own hands, and attempts to disrupt the nightly immigrations.

This is a movie that will get high marks from the right-wingers and gun rights activists, and will get comparisons to "No Country For Old Men". It is not as suspenseful as "No Country...", but it is, perhaps, closer to reality and less fictitious than "No Country...". Kenny Maines and Danny Armendariz both do great jobs of being believable characters.

Whatever your political views, it's a pretty good show and worth watching, especially if you live in the western US, where you might be closer to the issue of illegal immigration.

Boring

[alorentz143 · 1/10 · 20 July 2014]

I saw rave reviews on this movie so I watched it and couldn't figure out the disconnect until I read the reviews more closely.

The film is very political and the positive reviews come as part of a political group trying to hype and promote this movie when it should be discarded.

I ran two small businesses in Texas and know full well the issues the movie deals with; that said, here are the reasons why the movie is a total flop.

1. Character Development. The characters lack depth, the good guys are REAL GOOD and the bad guys are REAL BAD. As such they are predictable and so are their actions. There is no subtext in their motivation.

2. Political jabs and smears delivered in a ham handed fashion. While the subject of the border no doubt has politics involved, this movie parrots partisan political ideology WAY too much, i.e. government is too big and it is always bad, especially if it is the Federal Government etc... Felt like I was being delivered a political lecture and not watching a movie.

3. Story line. The story line is too simplistic; there is nothing to it, that is because the director is confusing making a lot of political statements with actually making a movie. In other words the director is more interested in presenting the story from his own political perspective (which is fine) but doesn't understand that it changes from being a story to being a political lecture/pep rally for certain political types.

There is a reason it is up for free on Amazon prime so soon after it's premiere folks.

Politics abound/tried to be No Country for Old Men

[troyboy6868 · 3/10 · 14 May 2015]

This may be the lowest rating that I have ever given a decently directed movie, but this movie is Fox News/Rush/O'Reilly driven stuff. That is fine except that it also tries to rip off No Country for Old Men, one of the best ever in my opinion. As a writer myself, I hate to be critical of others . . . but this is politically driven and as such, not creative.

If you like that sort of news and it entertains you, watch on, you will love this movie. Otherwise, I suggest Frontera with Ed Harris or The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada directed by Tommy Lee Jones to give you a realistic and non-biased idea of the border situation. 3/10

A good, solid Hollywood alternative

[arcticwarfare187 · 8/10 · 19 August 2014]

I wouldn't have written a review if it wasn't for someone that written a review and gave it a 1. with the title "BORING", and then started giving off points.

let's say i were to really hate the movie, and give it the worst possible scores, i still can't give it anything below 4-5 /10, because no matter the theme, the likes and dislikes, it's a well made feature film. and thus giving it that score really makes everything you write afterwards be no more than a simple rant, not a fair review. So let me give you my attempt at correcting that mistake in addressing some of the not so valid points that person had to write.

Well as someone who studied and still studies cinema and movie making i can understand that the script isn't done by classical "rules" of script making, that is that we must have characters, and conflicts to make us sympathize with the characters on screen, both good and bad. bad this movie doesn't really need it because it deals with broader issues, and it's not about just one single characters struggle. while us laymen like to watch someone rise to greatness (because it's boring to watch complete character, we always want flaws and motives and development) this movie features confident near complete good characters and complete bad characters, much closer like it is in real life and that partly because the movie creator believes in good and evil in my opinion. The movie doesn't needto empathize on character development since it's a slice of life - action western which deals with life itself in general and not just one or two characters and their struggle. this out of the box thinking isn't laziness. Again, just because it doesn't fit the Hollywood formula of making a film, doesn't make it poor.

the shooting is very good as well, thought out and accurate. the dialogues could have used some more (but not a lot) polish and trim in the script department, but they are good, the movie isn't trying to please mainstream folks who don't have any patience to hear dialogues anymore.

The sound is about 8, since i'm into film making i noticed a few minor things i'm not sure someone that didn't try would have noticed them at all.

The acting is good for the most part. any fixed here can be attributed to the dialogue in the script mostly. and i noticed only a few minor flaws in the main characters. some more noticeable ones in a few of the side ones, including the wife which lacks some emotion.

Now, regarding the themes. Overall the theme of the movie is mixed, it takes a step back from traditional mainstream cinema and gives us something much more personal in my opinion, it makes me think in most scenes "how would i react", which is great, and that's what replaces the need to sympathize with the main characters that we see mostly in scripts and mainstream movies these days. The movie deals with moral issues, with the culture itself, when it is right to act? should we act? and shows that not acting and standing up can be deadly. it's a film about lost family values we should regain, about the need for men to be man, not becoming men- children, same for wives. Politically, I think that aside from trimming some places in the dialogue and while it does criticize the government, it's legit and the theme can't and must not be considered conservative alone, the values are have to be shared between both ideologies, your government have to protect you in such cases but it doesn't, and it's a valid point.

Now I don't live in the US, but i do live in a country that is a melting pot and those issues hit a soft spot for me due to our own immigration and crime problems. I realize that although a lot of movies try to make us feel good about ourselves when we finish watching it, this movie makes me think about my life much more, how i want to act for my family, as a man, and as person in my community and country, realizing i'm too passive in todays modern society.

Moreover, it is crown funded, and a low budget movie, which we should take into account when trying to compare it to Hollywood titles. I think it stands by itself, it's a good piece of cinema, the likes of which we don't get to (more like - don't want to) notice in a world where we seek to avoid facing our troubles and be entertained alone.

For me the message is clear - Face your problems, don't sit and wait. 8/10 overall.

Doesn't even qualify as a B movie

[lock123-886-416708 · 1/10 · 8 March 2015]

Some of the worst acting of any movie I've ever seen.

It makes a porn movie look Oscar worthy.

Weak character development.

Horribly paced and crushingly dull.

Actors come across as passionless and dimwitted.

Unimaginative and simplistic plot that a third grader wouldn't be hard pressed to write.

Blatant conservative dogma that fails to entertain or make anyone care about the message.

The good news it there is absolutely no need to worry about right wing propaganda taking over the film industry anytime soon with efforts like this.

Beyond Expectations

[randy-907-176461 · 9/10 · 26 January 2014]

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.

round up the usual others

[gsaint09 · 1/10 · 11 May 2015]

to get people to ignore the corporate takeover of the republic you need distractions. for instance.

threatening or uppity; women, blacks, browns, gays, foreigners, leftists, unionists, atheists...

this film is of the is the brown threat variety, and poorly done.

keeping in mind that the National Socialists (Nazis), had nearly the same list as above, all we need do is remove blacks and browns from the above list and enter Slavs and Jews and we're left with the same depraved formula. every society has a significant percentage of people with obsessive tribalist personalities. they are the loyal voters and thugs that authoritarian, anti-democratic leaders can count upon. if you are downgrading this comment, and you are welcome to do so, you are likely one of the loyal tribalist thugs.

Unwatchable Trash

[mastankovic · 1/10 · 22 February 2022]

This movie makes no sense. Written by total amateurs, directed by total amateurs... Braindead Political propaganda that sacrificed quality for a pretty ridiculous messaging.

How freaking stupid

[terrydonwatkins · 1/10 · 29 September 2018]

That had to be one of the worst and stupidest shows I have ever seen , so this rancher runs around with a dam over and under shot gun to protect himself when we learn later he has had a AR 15 AND A DEER RIFLE in his gun rack, a mexican hit man with absolutely no accent what so ever, geez I gringed watching that show praying for it to be over, who ever wrote this show seems to have no idea about reality, did I mention one of the worst show I ever seen, I live in Texas and about the only real part of this show is the fact illegal aliens has lead to nothing but crime and illegal drug trafficking, besides that's most stupid unrealistic show I have ever seen , oh and how many times did the cowboy have that assassin in his scope, gees the dude just killed a cop, take a shot, ugh, this must have been written by some idiot in new York city

A story that can be taken from the records of any of our border communities and shown to be why we need good people to take a stand again and again.

[marineimaging1 · 8/10 · 5 January 2015]

I would not go into this movie expecting the typical Hollywood blockbuster nor the typical low budget, local talent flop. It is a STRONG in between with some VERY decent acting at times, decent cinematography, and most of the time very good visual effects. Sound won't win any awards but considering the budget is not so distracting that you can't pay attention to the acting.

I liked the plot and continuity as it stepped outside the classical, stereotypical Hollywood good guys win all the time. There were some surprises that I did not expect which kept me watching. There are some scenes that should have been edited out, but don't let them bother you. They are few and far between. I would like to see a sequel following the characters and expanding the storyline to play out a scenario which embraces the political issues and brings all three sides (there are three, not two) together.

About as Pleasurable as Driving a Nail into my Forehead

[aroden-4 · 1/10 · 21 October 2015]

It's been a LONG time since I've been duped into watching a movie this bad. SHAME on those FAKE reviewers – absolutely NOBODY could watch this drivel and then give it a good rating unless they had a personal stake in the production.

The acting is ATROCIOUS – I've seen small town community theater with MUCH better acting. In fact, as someone else mentioned, most porn does a better job than this waste of good film. With the possible exception of the main villain, it was PAINFUL to watch them say their lines – and that's what they were doing…NOT acting. Whoever wrote the script should be pistil whipped by their own villain for writing this unbelievable nonsense.

Excellent low budget vigilante flick!

[jadelowrey · 8/10 · 22 March 2016]

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.

Bigoted Trash

[ChuckieDel · 9 May 2020]

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.

Not terrible, but not a winner

[rconnorsrn · 5/10 · 29 February 2024]

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.

What is happening now at our border - Obama and Karl Rove shoudl watch this

[mtloans · 10/10 · 21 July 2014]

Funny what is going on right now with the border in Tejas. Obama and Karl Rove Republicans (RINO's)both want as many illegal immigrants as possible. Rove represents the Chamber of Commerce and 90% of Republicans who want cheap labor with few benefits. Obama and the Democrats want new voters. How simple.

If you are an African American, and some of you are coming to realize, you get no jobs. What employer wants to pay you benefits. So Obama gives you food stamps. Nice.

So the poor kids from Central America get hurt and American citizens get hurt. Watch the movie and tell me you like the "trophy tree". If so call Karl Rove or Obama and join them.

More like a TV movie but it hits a nerve.

Watch this if you are a US patriot ...

[ekathird · 8/10 · 26 January 2017]

... By Patriot I mean you are Libertarian and/or Conservative and would be unlikely to vote for any Democrat that ran in 2016.

This fictional story is a fair depiction of the problem with our porous Southern USA border. The only thing missing are the middle Eastern terrorists who have crossed our border and are in the US illegally with intent to cause us harm. It is worth watching to get a feel for the problems our fellow citizens have to deal with there. Especially the first part of the movie showing the trash, dialog about the cut fences, trophy trees, and so on.

I recommend one read the other reviews here that are 5 star or higher. Those cover the cinematography, acting, etcetera fairly.

FYI, aroden-4's "review" is worthless. While troyboy6868's "review" is less than worthless. They both may be safely ignored.

A Low Budget Truth Teller

[bradencn · 10/10 · 25 February 2017]

You have Hollywood that usually rides on fantasy, and then you have people that come out with films like this: created to just tell the truth. This film is politically charged, but in a way that expresses a real problem very few people truly recognize.

We are always brainwashed into thinking that people that want a secure southern border are racist and xenophobic, having no compassion on people in situations much tougher than their own. This film shows the reality of people struggling to secure their own personal property from constant drug traffic, and shows the real compassion they have for these people despite the criminal activity they conduct.

This film won't win any Oscars: the filming is fantastic (not always typical of a low-budget film), the acting is just on par, and the film doesn't really attract too big of an audience, although I wish it did.

It's a film you really won't see in mainstream entertainment. It's sad that Hollywood has essentially become an arm of left-wing political propaganda, there is ample evidence of this reality, and I sincerely hope that with so many more outlets for entertainment outreach that their influence will decrease with increasing speed.

The movie liberals don't want you to see

[bigblack2009 · 10/10 · 13 January 2019]

N inundated border. Victimized children wandering through the desert. Ranchers being hung out to dry. And a population finally mobilized to fight back against their corrupt and venal pro-amnesty politicians.

All of it was predicted in Jeremy Boreing's The Arroyo.

As the fallout continues from Rep. Eric Cantor's (R-VA) defeat in his primary at the hands of unknown economics professor David Brat over Cantor's support for immigration reform, Boreing's The Arroyo looks more timely than ever.

The film tells the story of Jim Weatherford, a rancher in Arizona whose property is being used as a thoroughfare by drug cartels smuggling illegal immigrants across the border. After being stonewalled by his Congressman and the police, Weatherford decides to take matters into his own hands, leading to a climactic showdown with the cartels - and a popular voter insurgency against the Congressman.

"Listen, I understand that you're frustrated," the Congressman tells his constituents after a brutal slaying by the drug cartels. "I'm frustrated too, but most of these people are good, law-abiding folks-"

"And nobody blames them," a citizen shoots back. "We blame you - for not sealing the border."

Another citizen shouts, "If you don't do it, we will."

On The Border

[Eradan · 10/10 · 24 July 2019]

"The Arroyo" is set on the US-Mexican border in the very recent past (ie just before the 2016 election). It depicts the struggle of Jim Weatherford, a small-time American rancher, to protect his family and property from the relentless aggression of the Mexican cartels. In a larger sense, it's about the struggle of the American people to maintain control over the future of our country.

For an indy feature, the movie was surprisingly well made. Plot, script, pacing, cinematography were all up to professional standards. Acting was the weakest point, as you'd expect with a cast of amateurs and unknowns, but, even there, most of the performances were competent. Kenny Maines, the actor who played Jim Weatherford, was quite good at points. If he were younger and not openly conservative, I would say he had a real future in the movie business.

I rated the movie '10' out of respect for it's aspirations and sympathy for it's ideology. If "The Arroyo" were a typical Hollywood actioner with the usual contrived plot, I would have rated it a '7. It is watchable (although not outstanding) as purely escapist entertainment. The people who will most appreciate it though are those with Patriot values and/or an interest in the Southwestern border. Anyone who really got into "No Country For Old Men", or "Sicario", or Ridley Scott's "The Counselor" will find "The Arroyo" well worth their time.

The right response to PC

[francescobrosolo · 10/10 · 13 January 2019]

One line from the movie uttered by the primary antagonist gives us the premise behind this film. "Americans are the bad guy, in their own movie."

One rancher takes a stand against the illegals trespassing on his land with the tacit approval of the authorities tasked with protecting the border. Others join in, provoking 'the cartel' to take action against him.

The killer working for the cartel is the philosophical expositor of the film; who has developed the considered opinion that Americans are essentially suffering from cultural rot; weak, degenerate. He develops a considerable respect for the hero; the only one who really stands up for himself and his family.

The story is not what is presented. The story is not the story of one man fighting back. The story is the story of America waking up.

It is well worth watching.

Anti-immigration film

[ElizabethRicciEsq · 14 January 2023]

The border crisis is complex. The US turns a blind eye to corruption in Mexico that essentially forces people to abandon their homes over relentless violence and destitution. Mexico has no incentive to stop the exodus that results in 22 billion dollars in remittances by those who flee. Unscrupulous American employers benefit from paying undocumented aliens a lower wage than their legal counterparts while Congress has ignored the reality of America's broken immigration system and refuses to fix it in a meaningful way so American border ranchers resort to vigilante tactics that breed hate and contempt.