Condor's Nest (2023) User Reviews

Flawed but mostly watchable

[johndavispartridgeiii · 5/10 · 31 January 2023]

If Paramount Pictures places a movie in theaters there's some expectation of size and scale, especially for a movie that bills itself an action-thriller, but Condor's Nest falls short.

Story: 6/10. Nothing original here, a very standard revenge story that gets a few extra points for surprising me at times.

Performances: 7/10. This is the movie's strong point. Arnold Vosloo makes a great baddie. Newcomers Al Pagano and Corinne Britti bring deeply-needed color to an otherwise grim spectacle. Michael Ironside and Jorge Garcia have surprise cameos that drive the story along even if they aren't particularly memorable.

Production: 3/10. Perhaps expectations were too high, but I had a hard time believing the car chase was real, that the plane was really crashing, that we were really in the 1950s. The cinematography is on point but even that can't save it from low-budget malaise.

Final score 5/10.

Fun ride with a rough landing

[MarianneReviewsMovies · 5/10 · 8 March 2023]

CONDOR'S NEST follows the vengeance quest of an American pilot who watched his crew get murdered by a Nazi and travels through South America killing tons of crazy Nazis to find him. There, that's the plot, and, basically, the entire movie. You're welcome.

THE GOOD: Character actors abound in this one, and they save what otherwise might be a particularly grim affair; every Nazi of significance is played by some talented folks ranging from Jackson Rathbone to Bruce Davison, providing a splash of color to the story.

THE BAD: Lead actor Jacob Keohane does a fine enough job, but finds himself buried by the personalities around him. There's no room for him to breathe emotionally, and we end up with a competent actor playing a one-note character.

THE UGLY: This is, very obviously, not shot in South America.

CONCLUSION: it's fairly entertaining, but if you're looking for Ben Hur you're going to wind up disappointed.

This should win many awards, at the Razzies.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 3/10 · 7 February 2023]

This is by far the worst attempt at a war film, that I'm guessing, was also trying to be funny in a Inglourious Basterds kind of way, but not even a smirk was cracked - more like cringe moments. This felt more like a long, dragged out bad SNL sketch. The 102 min runtime felt endless with terrible pacing and long dragged out and mostly unnecessary scenes. At best, this should've been a short film. The story was just flaccid, lame, and boring. I've seen better cast performances in a high school drama class, but I'm sure most of the blame falls on writer and director Phil Blattenberger's inexperience on how to direct his cast properly. I'm not sure why this nonsense was even made. The bogus high reviews are more entertaining. It's a very generous 3/10 from me, being very forgiving for many rookie mistakes by a newb filmmaker. Blattenberger should've at least consulted a more experienced filmmaker for the many needed areas of improvement.

Start to finish

[joelashley-704-631621 · 2/10 · 25 September 2023]

This began like some of the better WWII flicks and captured our attention. There is intrigue as we ferret out the plot. But somewhere in the middle it degenerated into too much soap opera, with the realization that there was a writers' addiction to regular and over-used pistol-to-the-head killing. The wife quit and left for bed halfway through. I should have, but hoped it would wash out better... it didn't.

There was some good acting, but the overall movie sank, especially near the end where the main character gets hold of a heavy gun and starts killing dozens of bad guys, bad guys with automatic rifles, and that are dumb enough to keep incessantly running into the open in front of him, as comrades fall under their feet.

As realistic and engaging as this thing started, it sure degraded into just another lousy unrealistic shoot ''em up by its finish.

It's a comedy war movie

[gerardmichaelcunningham · 1/10 · 28 February 2023]

This movie started off serious, dare I say harrowing, but then became a comedy with quite a funny script as we finally approached the actual Condor's Nest. Some of the worst acting Ive ever seen and cast as the worst stereotypes. I don't know why they bothered with subtitles. It was some of the most moronic lines ever written. To say the acting is wooden is an understatement. I think when the actors look back at this terrible movie they will regret ever putting their names forward for the roles they played. Truly the worst movie that I've seen.in the past five years. My advice is to watch it for its comedic value!

Fooled again

[mm-75687 · 1/10 · 28 September 2023]

Once again I could not resist a World War II story even if I never heard of it. Once again I was face to face with horrible acting and a boring, slow moving story with no real catch. The subject is fantastic and could have been great with a good director and some people who can act. I was shocked to see Bruce Davison and Michael Ironside show up near the end. This is the kind of movie that has nobody you would recognize. Once again I am left wondering how movies get made. Can anybody get a movie financed in Hollywood now? Because it seems like studios will put anything out just to say they did something.

Plot: Interesting ... Execution FUBAR

[Emmet_L_Brown · 4/10 · 2 September 2023]

Yesterday I invested 200 minutes of my time in this movie, and, to put it mildly, I will not get this time back 😆.

While the premise of the movie is indeed a good one and it could have been much better explored, fact is that in the end, it looks exactly what it is: a cheap production.

Acting is from medium to mediocre, although closer to the end the character of Arnold Vosloo delivers a nice speech.

Attention to detail is close to none, the uniforms are laughable, as are the weapons and the guy doing Reichsführer SS H. Himmler bears no resemblance whatsoever with him.

The movie is listed as a "Drama/Thriller/Action" but it also falls into "Comedy".

But, despite the many shortcomings, if you put them aside and swallow a huge suspension of disbelief pint beforehand, it can be entertaining, after all, not many war movies have Himmler, a nuclear scientist, a Soviet spy and a female Mossad agent sharing screen time.

Surprisingly good...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 24 February 2023]

Right, well I have to admit that I hadn't heard about this 2023 movie titled "Condor's Nest" from writer and director Phil Blattenberger prior to sitting down to watch it. And I wasn't exactly harboring much of any high hopes for the movie, as the movie's synopsis and cover wasn't exactly screaming top notch entertainment.

However, I opted to watch the movie and give writer and director Phil Blattenberger the benefit of the doubt.

And color me impressed, because "Condor's Nest" turned out to be rather enjoyable and entertaining. The storyline was far better than I had initially feared, and an interesting character gallery definitely helped bring the movie to life on the screen.

They also had a good cast ensemble of actors and actresses on the cast list. And I will say that the performances in the movie were quite good.

Visually then "Condor's Nest" was an okay movie. But luckily it was not a movie that was depending on having an array of over-the-top special effects. Whatever effects were in the movie served their purpose quite well.

What really was good here, was the fact that the Germans actually spoke German. I loathe it when you watch something where it is just English with a thick caricature accent slapped on top of it. Having the Germans actually speaking German just adds a whole layer of credibility to the movie.

I was genuinely entertained and surprised with "Condor's Nest". And it is a movie that is well-worth spending 102 minutes on watching.

My rating of "Condor's Nest" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Surprisingly bad...

[tmcnulty22 · 2/10 · 1 November 2023]

I'll start on a couple of positive notes.

There are two good things about this movie: 1) It's in color, and 2) It ended.

I'd say about 33% of this film is people being held at gunpoint, 33% is people being shot in the head, and the final third is people yelling at each other.

There's one long stretch with Heinrich Himmler (who here looks like a dead ringer for Hitler, which he wasn't in real life) heading up a meeting of 10 or so old Nazis (all speaking German so you have to read the subtitles throughout, whereas it would have been a good place for them to just slip into English with a German accent.

There's a long opening scene in which, after the Americans' bomber crashes near the "front lines" in France but most of the crew survives, a really bad SS guy (you'll recognize him from one of the Mummy movies) shows up, holds the crew at gunpoint, then eventually shoots all of them in the head just for giggles. It sets the thematic tone for the whole movie.

And did I mention poor acting throughout the film? Yeah, it's there and it's pretty consistent.

I dunno - maybe 2 stars is a bit generous for this one.

Fun ticket for a little escapism

[jonnyrocketeer · 8/10 · 30 January 2023]

Nazis! South America! Secret agents! Car chases!

Paramount Pictures has given us a fun title here in Condor's Nest, which takes us on a journey from Europe to South America, during WW2 and into the decade beyond, in a highly-stylized revenge-thriller. We follow protagonist Will, who's hunting nasty bad guy Colonel Bach (played brilliantly by Arnold Vosloo) and finds himself in the middle of a broader political conspiracy to revive the Nazi empire in Bolivia.

There are some flat moments - a less-than-stellar car chase sequence comes to mind - and a few bits of lag where a tighter script could've made the difference, but the film is dotted with so many scene-stealing performances (Jackson Rathbone's meth-addled creepster comes to mind) and punchy beats that it's well worth the price of admission.

Entertaining thriller with an 80's pastiche

[kittysaysgo · 7/10 · 30 January 2023]

Condor's Nest promises us a trip across South America on an old-fashioned Nazi-hunting adventure and in spite of some deficiencies it delivers.

We're thrown into war-torn Europe in the film's opening scene, as the story's protagonist, Will Spalding, watches German colonel Martin Bach (Arnold Vosloo, more on that in a moment) gun down his entire platoon. Through an act of cowardice, Will alone survives.

Jump ten years later to Argentina and Will's killing runaway Nazis left and right, all in pursuit of that same Martin Bach. Enter an Israeli spy and a two-faced atomic scientist and things get complicated quick, a shaky alliance between the three culminating in a raid on a neo-Nazi fortress know as the Condor's Nest.

There's a lot of good things about this movie. It's well-paced, visually expansive, and its various arcs are compelling, if uninventive. There's even a few great things about it: its lead ensemble (Jacob Keohane, Al Pagano, Corinne Britti) is an absolute joy to watch, and Arnold Vosloo brings an incredible amount of presence to the role of the heavy. Add to that the movie's many notable character actors, from Michael Ironside to James Urbaniak, who help drive along the plot.

The bad? Well, it just wasn't terribly inventive. It's a stylized thriller that doesn't attempt to break any new ground. It could've been an 80's World War Two movie. And that's not a bad thing - in fact, I believe it's a strength - but if you're looking for something totally original you won't find it here.

Don't let the opening scene turn your off - this movie is good for what it is

[Taco_Sanchez · 5/10 · 4 September 2023]

As my title says, the opening scene doesn't quite do the rest of the movie justice. A bomber crash lands in German occupied France. Not knowing exactly where they are but knowing that his crew is in imminent danger, the pilot orders them to pack up everything they can get from the plane. Of course, understanding the urgency he tells them to "hurry" while stopping to take a smoke break himself. Our forward thinking commander does at least take notice of the linguistic skills of the hero of the story, which he so aptly demonstrates by knowing "ier" is pronounced "eh" in Franch, and orders him to a near by farmhouse to be on the lookout for the Germans. This of course gets the hero away from the rest of the group, so that he can see our Nazi bad guy show up and murder all his buddies while he watches "helplessly" through the scope of his loaded rifle.

***A note to the writer/director of this film - you made a good movie otherwise, but the poor writing of the opening almost had me turn it off! The actions of the pilot were an affront to anyone with any military training, who had ever watched Behind Enemy Lines or really any film of a similar premise, or really just had any type of common sense.

As an alternative - maybe some of the plane crash survivors are "wounded" and we need to get them ready to move, but the Germans get their first. ***

After the opening, we are transported nine years into the future in Argentina to find our hero on a quest to find and kill the German who murdered his buddies. It actually turns out to be a very watchable film with a solid mix of action and drama. It's obviously limited by budgetary restrictions and has many other facets of "b-movies" like choppy dialog, scenes that occasionally drag, over the top characters and characters who suddenly change motivations because it's needed for the plot, or bad guys who all run out in single file lines one group at a time. But it has a compelling story that holds your attention.

When our hero has the final showdown, the film adds a little complexity to the villain, which I think was done nicely.

I give the film a solid 5, which may be a little high but reflects that after a cringe worth opening, I pretty much liked the film and enjoyed watching it. I mean, it's killing Nazis! I'd recommend it to others, with the caveat to temper your expectations and enjoy it for what it is.

Not one of the Germans speaks natively German

[hdqdggbpv · 1/10 · 6 November 2023]

I am not sure how much it would have added to the budget to cast German speakers. This goes back to the "Ja Herr Kommandant" and "Schnell, Schnell" was the only understandable German.

It is also clearly not shot in South America. This aside, the plot is very simple, with German hoards chasing the good guys with German sub machine guns.

There is nothing really believable about the important part of history where numerous Nazis went into hiding in South America.

I have a pretty thick skin when it comes to movies. But this was an utter disappointment and I had to stop watching at half time.

Expected more.

Argentina ...

[hernanduprat · 3/10 · 3 June 2023]

Argentina is very, very different from how it is shown in this film. They clearly didn't bother to look at wikipedia at least. It is closer to being a Caribbean country than Argentina itself. It's a shame when they invest money in making a movie and don't investigate anything. Even being free online. The hendricks gin in the bar is a current bottle. The sandwich in the cafe is nothing that is customary to eat in Argentina. And so I can continue. When it comes to South America they don't take care of anything. Not the most grotesque detail. How long is the number of characters required to post a review on this site. I am completing this with some words to be able to reach the minimum amount to be able to publish and I am getting bored.

Low Budget film that "could of", but feel short.

[MennoMan · 5/10 · 5 February 2023]

It suceeded in not being a B movie. Probably closer to a 'C'. A revenge film about killing Nazis.

Cast was fair. The casted leading characters were far from what one expected as heros. Saying that, one wanders how this film got so many known names to make appearances? Jacob Keohane, Corinne Britti, Arnold Visloo, Michael Ironside, Jorge Garcia, Jackson Rathbone, Bruce Davison, and James Urbaniak. Most, like Michael Iron, are simply quick appearances of older known actors, in Nazi uniforms.

Even with much if the cast underutilized, acting was good.

In this day and age of every video buff making great cgi to fool people on Facebook, this cgi lack having much (if any).

Normally, being a fan of real explosions and crashes, I'd say it would it would make this film better. It does not. Every situation where FX is needed is avoided by a "cut away/cut back". Plane crash... cut away, cut back to a plane prop in a field of undamage grass. Or a car explosion cut back to a car in fire with doors open and no damage other than a fire. Of course this can work in movie magic, but fails here due to the horrible props. As for the props, poor is an understatement. It's written that the crashed B-17 prop took a year to build in NC. Sad they didn't take a week to make the field look like a crash site.

(Note: the footage and crew used in the short B17 flight sequences was the same one thst crashed in a mid-air collision in 2022.)

The filming locations were good. Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni to Argentina's Buenos Aires, we're background in scenes, but no attempt to take advantage of location by adding location scenery footage was made. For as little that was used, it could have been done frernscreen of allot less and monies could have been used for better action fx.

Music, though reported composed by Christof Unterberger, who has many film credits, was poor. I myself believe he just scored canned music for scenarios. Sone drama music, some action music, sone background scores. I don't think it was actually scored to the film. Just added in post production. I doubt seriously if Christof ever saw the film he made the music for. In fact he probably just made this canned music and it was purchased to be added.

All in all, one can make it through to the end if you watch it with the expectation that its more like a 1980's filmed for TV film. It's kind of sad.

I think just a bit more put into FX of the action scenes, adding some scenic cinematography and actually scoring music to scenes instead of just adding background music, could have made this a much better film. Espicially with the line up of talent.

I mean it's alright

[makarchukmatt · 4/10 · 1 February 2024]

I mean it's alright. Definitely a smaller budget WWII film but it never felt like they took full advantage of everything provided. Wasn't a terrible film, just felt like it was continuously walking the line of being good and didn't know how to fully commit.

The writing, the directing, the soundtrack and *most* of the acting were mediocre at best. There were a few standout acting parts but not enough to really pull me into the next level of believability. Even some of the characters progression didn't make sense at parts.

Best explanation; at points, it felt like a Great Value Inglourious Basterds.

At best, career staining for 3 well established actors

[toobadsosad98 · 1/10 · 17 March 2024]

Just like his previous film, Blattenberger has put together something that looks like it was filmed on a sony handy cam, littered with actors from his local improv class. Unfortunately, it looks like most of the budget was spent on casting Vosloo, Jorge Garcia, and Bruce Davison, and because of that it's cast a large, permanent stain on all of their acting careers. To go from an Oscar nomination, to playing any part in this abomination is nothing short of career ending for Bruce Davison, no matter how well he portrayed his own character.

The pacing is slow, the acting is awful, and the image quality, grading, editing, etc all looks very amatuer. If you go into this expecting what it is at face value, you may enjoy it. And what it is at face value is an extremely low budget, high school film class project. If you expect anything further than that, especially after seeing the 3 previously mentioned actors on the cast, you will be horribly disappointed.

I'd skip this film, as well as Point Man, and opt for something by a reputable director, and studio, if you value your time.

Fun if you can get past the historical "liberties"

[sortie-12346 · 6/10 · 2 February 2023]

Heinrich Himmler died in 1945, but Condor's Nest ignores that by bringing him back to life. In this movie Himmler runs the "Condor's Nest" a fortress in the mountains of Argentina, where Himmler and his mad men sit discussing Nazi skulls and crazy archaeology theories.

Condor's Nest is the story of a man and a Jewish spy who try to capture Himmler and other Nazis. It's very entertaining but hard to swallow at times. Himmler being alive is weird enough, but there are also apparently hundreds of crazy cocaine nazis running around Paraguay looking for Americans, which is a stretch.

If you can accept these flaws and go into it not expecting a completely realistic portrait of Nazis in South America then it's a fun watch.

Excellent opening that degrades into a whimper - Pass

[jdcoates · 4/10 · 21 March 2024]

No spoilers. This movie open was so much promise. The first half of the movie is excellent. The protagonist is ruthless and it's consistent with the character. However, the second half of the movie the protagonist turns into a beta male, the girl boss shows up and saves the day, and, the scenes with the Nazis are played to whimsical tone. That's almost a separate movie from the first half. Really disappointing that the movie didn't hold it serious tone throughout the movie. What opened as a movie about Obsession and ruthlessness, degrades into standard adventure, fair and inappropriate whimsical scenes that are not consistent with first half of the movie.

wildly entertaining

[aahfchoppers · 8/10 · 4 February 2023]

It had its flaws, but overall the movie was highly entertaining. Fans of aviation enthusiasts will appreciate the big opening scene with the B17 bomber. The movie makers used the plane "texas raiders" (RIP) to shoot those scenes which offered a lot of authenticity you don't usually see in war movies.

Arnold vosloo and michael ironside are standouts in this, though i wish was saw them more often.

Jacob keohane is solid

al pagano and corinne britti play great supporting characters and i am surprised not to have seen them in other stuff.

Biggest issue to me is this movie is about the "condor's nest" yet we barely see the condor's nest throughout the film, only some scenes outside at the very end. Kind of a let down.

Altogether a well put together movie, not particularly memorable but a fun way to burn a couple hours.

Cliff.

A punchy, dialogue-driven affair that's just hot enough to sizzle

[debbiedoesdialogue · 6/10 · 24 March 2023]

Condor's Nest swings hard, doesn't entirely land the punch, and yet manages to take us to the ninth round with a pulpy, character-driven overtone.

Jacob Keohane is excellent, if singularly morose, as Will Spaulding, an American pilot who watched a Nazi colonel execute his bomber crew, and travels to South America in search of revenge against that same colonel, played by Arnold Vosloo. We encounter a twist as it turns out certain Nazi figureheads thought dead turn up alive in Argentina, and the singular chase spirals out of control.

The production value isn't quite there and one assumes this film was produced on a smaller budget - the car chases are nothing to write home about, and the bits of action are spaced too far apart to allow the longer "standoff" sequences to properly bite - but its punchy script, menagerie of characters, and character actors, from Michael Ironside as a Russian spy to Jackson Rathbone as a misogynistic Nazi cokehead, ultimately make this an entertaining, if probably less-than-acclaimed, watch.

I don't Believe it

[GoldenGooner04 · 6/10 · 19 August 2023]

Reading the reviews the film come across well, a serious action film about hunting old Nazis. It started off well with the bloke from the Mummy , who has been in a few bits of film and TV a decent actor. Then it got a bit silly and since then it's got rather stupid. The acting has got worse, the actual characters have got more stupid, and it's become a comedy, where is Peter Sellers, then up pops Michael Ironside for a few mins. Hope he got paid well for that appearance, and even he can't decide who he is working for and as for the German, you need a new gun mate.

The only one who don't play it for laughs is our mate Arnold from the Mummy, now he can act does one superb scene about war, and makes a decent point to be honest.

Have to admit the ending was pretty decent.

Great time watching nazis die!

[wtqdszngd · 10/10 · 29 January 2023]

I am not big into world war 2 films but thought I would give this one a go. It's not really a WW2 flick cause most of it happens 10 years afterward and is a revenge flick. Will Spaulding who witnesses his whole platoon get murdered by Colonel Bach of the SS heads to south America to hunt for any Nazi that can get him to Bach. Along the way he meets nuclear physicist, Nazi guy, Albert Vogel who says he can get into the Nazi if he aids him and his mission. With awesome cameos, by Jackson Rathbone, Michael Ironside James Urbaniak, and Jorge Garcia, this is a really cool film with a super satisfying ending.

another "what if" story on WW II

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 6 September 2023]

Wow does this one currently have low ratings here on imdb! Granted, it does get pretty silly in several spots. The archaeology bit, where they think nazis had been there for thousands of years. And the shoot-out scene near the end was pretty over the top. Even the himmler bit was border-line, but I was willing to buy into that. I guess not everyone was! It's actually an interesting story, for the most part. Kind of picks up where "the boys from brazil" ended... with a "what if" story. A soldier in france, during world war two, watches a german soldier cruelly and needlessly torment and shoot the others in his squad. So after the war, spalding goes on a hunt to track down the german soldier. Of course, mossad is also on the hunt for the germans who have escaped justice in south america. It's really not bad. Written and directed by phil blattenberger. Maybe it would have done better with a different director? And the skull bit was kind of odd; maybe he could have used a different point to show how nuts the nazis had gotten by then. Ah well. I found it entertaining, if a bit over the top.

A great revenge adventure!

[gwvzgmmhn · 10/10 · 3 February 2023]

This revenge story kept me glued to the screen trying to keep up with many motivations of different characters. Great scenery that was convincing of both 1944 France, Argentina, and Bolivia! The emotions of a crashing and crashed B17 behind enemy lines with a vicious squad of Nazi soldiers encountering his buddies was intense! Jacob Keohane as Will Spalding motivated to avenge his fellow airmen was intense as he encountered Albert Vogel played by Al Pagano in a tough but convincing role with his own agenda as a valued atomic bomb scientist! Pagano played various rolls within his roll depending on his deceptions he used to get what he wants. Great job! I won't give away the ending, but the movie proved to be more than satisfying!! Arnold Vosloo is one scary and convincing dude. I would love to meet him some day, but not in a dark alley!