Road to Paloma (2014) User Reviews

An thoughtful and spiritual journey through the desert

[cazaman · 7/10 · 15 July 2014]

This is a great film for those who honor the journey. With a beautiful display of desert landscapes, this movie let's you feel the freedom of living life moment to moment. I don't think that the point of the story was to examine morality in any great way; aside from the pain of suffering loss and the injustice that often prevails. The film does a good job of contrasting the shortcomings of western culture with the simplicity of a more ancient one. As a result, you get a story of blended and contrasting themes, filled with the tension of an impending doom.

I enjoyed the characters as well. Jason M. created a lovable hero that is easy to empathize with. His friends and family all admire the depth of his character, drawing the viewer into their world. It helps that he's a good looking dude, with all of the swagger you could ask of a mystery rogue biker. It's hard to imagine a woman who would say no.

This movie won't rock your world or change your stance on anything. It's simply a great indie flick into a world that most of us will never see, with freedom that we will never experience. It will leave you with lingering images of endless highways cut through a land that would rather forget about us.

I would have liked to give this a higher vote, but it's just a simple story and I feel that it tops the scale of it's own potential. Otherwise, I didn't think that it lacked much. I'll be recommending it to friends who care about something more than the latest superhero flick.

One-sided but still good

[Zubacz · 7/10 · 28 June 2014]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this film, but having seen the 7.4 rating on IMDb I decided to give it a shot. I am not disappointed, despite the rating being quite a bit lower now.

Even though the film is about a fugitive on the run, it does not feel like he is escaping. It feels he is aware of his limited time before facing the law, but it does not change who he is or how he behaves. He travels on his motorcycle, visits friends, helps out whom he can and ultimately is on a mission to spread his mother's ashes where she wished to rest. He joins together with a less perfect but still very likable man and they travel together. They are being pursued by two lawmen, one clearly conflicted and the other totally ruthless.

It's a very pleasant ride; we get to know the main hero, empathise with him and presumably are expected to fully agree with him dispensing justice. I won't get into whether we should or shouldn't agree, however the biggest complaint I have about this film is how much it shoves this rationalisation of vigilante justice in our face. The film could have been a lot more subtle and definitely could have hinted another side of the story. We would still sympathise with the protagonist, but through a more realistic understanding of his plight, rather than being fed a one-sided view.

I gave this film a 7 despite the above flaw. This is because this flaw is easy to spot, understand and ignore. Once you do that, the film is engaging and enjoyable.

down for the ride

[coolcleangreen · 7/10 · 16 July 2014]

Robert Wolf is on the run and on a mission. along the way we laugh, play and cry with him. we get frustrated. we fall in love. we get scared and heartbroken. what a journey.

i was so impressed with this feature length debut from Pride of Gypsies. cinematography, mood, tone, cast, dialog all fit (though dialog was light). there was deeply felt emotion throughout, but balanced with much appreciated levity. Jason Momoa directed a well-rounded experience. under Momoa's direction, i have to say that Chris Browning (Schaeffer) and Michael Raymond-James (Irish) stole it. they were wonderful and so perfect in their roles. Chris Browning, well, i have only seen him play sleazy characters, so this was a treat to see a different side of him. Linden Chiles (Bob, may he RIP) and, of course, Momoa (who basically played himself) were great to watch. Robert Mollohan (Cash) was...well...you gotta see lol. wish there was more Wes Studi though.

i especially loved Brian Mendoza's cinematography. scenes by firelight, by morning light, by dusk and storm, by flare. i don't believe i have seen such brilliant use of natural light on earthy human beings since "Girlfight". i like the way he fills his shots with equal attention to foreground and background. this could easily have looked crowded, but in a movie with sparse dialog it was smart to keep the eye moving in almost every frame. there were some grainy moments that sort of added to the low-budget flavor of the piece. but then there were shots that looked like they would cost a fortune to recreate.

heartfelt, poignant, relevant...i recommend this one highly to those who care about good stories. if you keep producing this quality (or better), PoG you got me.

Momoa's biker flick

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 February 2021]

Robert Wolf (Jason Momoa) is a native American from the Mojave reservation. He's wanted by the law after killing his mother's rapist. He is joined by unstable fellow rider Cash.

Jason Momoa is the star, the director, and also co-wrote the script. He has basically made a 70's biker movie, probably inspired by Easy Rider. It's not bad but I wouldn't call it great. It has some interesting moments but it doesn't have a real direction. In a way, that's the movie and the road trip. There are interesting sections like the bare knuckle fight and carrying the rape victim with flares. It does need to show a snippet of the inciting killing incident at the start of the movie. It's missing that and the movie struggles to get into gear at the beginning. If I had to dissect Momoa's abilities, he's a charismatic lead and his directing style is functional biker flick. There is a bit of art to his work but nothing exceptional. The writing is the one main aspect lacking and quite frankly, one can only guess at what he actually wrote for this movie. Next time, he should get a better writer to polish off his script.

A "good fugitive vs bad cop" story told in a plain manner

[Semisonic · 5/10 · 6 July 2014]

Watched this movie at home the other night. Having read one of the reviews here beforehand, i already knew the main concept of the plot, which wasn't really mind-blowing, but i decided to give the movie a shot since the impression movies make isn't always 100% based on plot.

If you want a "long story short" opinion, then this movie, despite not being totally bad, does feel kinda plain and pale, more like a university project than a real thing. It does have some nice moments in it, and the nature shots are really beautiful. But that's not a nature documentary, and even if the movie doesn't pretend to be anything too big, you still tend to expect more from it.

It's what happens when the director thinks that good intentions are all that really matters. Yes, i already read here on IMDb that Momoa talked in his interviews about the problems concerning the crimes against native Americans. Okay, that's all very touching, but Jason, you still decided to make a movie, not to write a pamphlet. You can't just ask some difficult questions and think that it will do.

The acting was very mediocre. Seriously, Jason was much more convincing as Khal Drogo where he had to play by other people's rules, than in this movie where he was his own boss. Dragging his wife into this movie as a person of his character's romantic interest was another thing that made it look like a school project. She's very nice and all, but really, in their scenes together they look like they film their real-life behavior instead of acting their roles. Seriously guys, just get a room, and please, don't film what you do there, at least not for a wide audience. The only more or less believable characters were Cash - but only because he was already backwards enough that anyone who looked like a bum could have played him - and Khal Dro... ehm, Robert Wolf's father, but that might be due to the natives' inherent charisma.

But let's put the one-dimensional characters aside and look at more technical stuff. The action scenes were pretty damn fake. Momoa had a very decent performance as Conan and Khal Drogo, so he must know better about such stuff. Instead, we see the silly fights and a shaky cam that tries to hide the fact that the guys punch air or ground instead of each other. Sound editing was also pretty ugly, there are a lot of scene sequences when after a very quiet scene when you have to turn up the volume to hear the conversation there suddenly follows a very loud scene - not cool at all. More of it, in some scenes i could clearly see the lips and sound being out of sync, which is just unprofessional.

All in all, this movie is not the worst way to kill an hour and a half of your time, especially if you love the landscape shots and feel benevolent towards the movies that promote the "free spirit" attitude, or maybe you just love Jason Momoa's looks. But for the rest of you folks, this film can easily be skipped without losing too much.

Road to Paloma: is Jason Momoa a new Sylvester Stallone?

[niutta-enrico · 7/10 · 11 July 2014]

This movie celebrates good hearted people molding their life around a moral code which, at difference from the Law, would never allow a murder (and raper) to run free after serving a ridiculous amount of time. The consequences of that could be easily imagined.

Noticeably, the moral value of the film is flimsy, to say the least, whereas its aesthetic value is not: images are not only spectacular but very expressive too. Maybe the author (Jason Momoa) felt more at ease with pictures than with anything else: surely he seems to have something to say and he does it in an interesting and pleasant way.

I can't help but comparing him with Stallone: just like Sly, he seems good at making movies.

Uneventful

[jimbo-53-186511 · 2/10 · 5 July 2016]

Road To Paloma reminded me very much of Easy Rider and although the central plot for both films is different this film seemed to use a similar approach to drive the narrative forward; random introduction of a 'new' stranger to the road trip, cruising around everywhere on motorbikes, lots of nonsensical hippy-dialogue and stoner type talk. For me these things were the root problem with Easy Rider and to be honest I wasn't impressed with having large portions of it rehashed 40 odd years later.

Although it establishes its story early on it seems to get largely forgotten about for large portions of the film (the first hour in particular). The film generally moves from scene to scene fairly well, but many of the scenes are rather stupid and seem rather pointless. I suppose the idea is that these scenes exist for the 2 men to 'discover' themselves so to speak, but there's no commentary or insight into anything that happens meaning that a lot of what you're seeing here seems to serve very little purpose.

Character development is rather weak and I felt that Momoa could have fleshed out Wolf a little bit more (the idea that Wolf and his father were fugitive and police officer respectively could potentially have created an interesting dynamic, but again this is swept under the carpet). The same could be said for Cash (whose name has an irony in itself) - we learn that he has money problems, but never get to grips with how he got into debt? Any film that spends a lot of its time with just 2 characters needs to afford them some development and provide the characters with some rapport/chemistry otherwise the film will become dull and boring and sadly that's exactly what happens here.

Even though the narrative sees 2 FBI agents pursuing Wolf this aspect of the film never really has any intensity or tension. This isn't helped by the clichéd approach that the 'cops' are always 1 step behind the fugitive ( in this case almost literally at every single stage of the film).

There are moments where Momoa gets things right; the attempted rape scene that Wolf witnesses affects him badly and the aftermath of this sees him confiding more in Cash - this essentially is where a bond starts to develop between the two men. The film also has quite a moving ending even though ultimately its an ending that can be seen coming.

Road To Paloma has one or two strong elements, but sadly I didn't find the majority of the journey from A to B particularly compelling and found a lot of it to be rather boring. If Momoa had played this film as more of a character study then it probably would have worked better. However, for the most part, it's just a 21st century version of Easy Rider with nearly all of its negative trappings included.

Road To Paloma Review

[vrallan · 8/10 · 2 July 2014]

I for one think this film was an excellent work of art. The story was great in my opinion, and it honestly was a different type of tale. Going into the movie I knew the back story, since I had watched some of Jason Momoa's earlier interviews, where he had stated that a lot of serious crimes happen in the native area, but are not taken seriously by the public.

This film shows the different aspects of Jason Momoa's work and greatness! I can see why he was tired of being type-cast as the big tough guy - and hopefully this film changes people's thoughts about him and his work. Momoa's acting was very strong, as was the writing and the directing! The directing was just awesome - the wide shots were amazing and it really captured the beauty of land and natural structures.

Lastly, the soundtrack was phenomenal and let's not forget Robert Mollohan's portrayal as Cash. His performance was really under-shadowed, and he really deserves some recognition.

In conclusion, I feel this movie was amazing. With a mere $600,000 budget, the cast and the story were outstanding. Being tired of sequels and prequels, this is an original tale, which is definitely worth a watch.

A special film.

[mpower-85907 · 7/10 · 18 August 2018]

Takes you on a man's journey of what consquences lead up to when you chose to take the law into your own hands for family. Jason shines and shows promise.

Road to frustration

[AnthonyMeg · 4/10 · 17 January 2019]

This is very bad movie, i slept three times during the watch, just two drifters team up riding their motors making a drama movie, but the boring kind, i was waiting for something deep or worth my time but sorry that didn't happen please do yourself a favour and stay away from this garbage .

Road To Paloma

[a-a-albano · 8/10 · 17 July 2014]

As I sat in the movie theater watching Road to Paloma, Clint Eastwood came to mind. Just for a moment I thought he directed this film, however it is the directorial debut of Jason Momoa, who also co-wrote and starred in the film as Wolf. The performances are low-key, the visuals tell the story, not a lot of dialogue, wonderful use of music, and the movie is leisurely and laid-back. It is about family, love, redemption, brotherhood, and justice. And it is also has an "Easy Rider" vibe. The Cinematography by Brian Mendoza is to be noted. I was immersed in Wolf's journey. If you are looking for a shoot-em up action movie, this is not for you.

Uneasy rider

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 30 November 2014]

There's more to Conan than one might think. Well the Conan that did not succeed that is and you might not even have seen. Jason Mamoa is more than a little bit involved in this movie. Apart from being lead, he also directed this. Which means he really stands behind this story and wanted to tell it the way it is shown.

For someone multitasking, he's doing a pretty decent job. His character might have some flaws (and a lead character needs those), but the story itself does not really have them. It flows along nicely and is as spiritual a ride as you can get. Much better than another movie that came out recently, which was supposed to be a sort of sequel to "Easy Rider". I'm not a biker, but you can see what the quality of it is, with some very beautiful shots and the freedom it obviously gives you. If that is you cup of tea -> enjoy

Predictable Melancholy mess!

[mandcsharma · 1/10 · 6 September 2014]

This movie brings new meaning to boring and dull numbingly so.Yes there is some nice scenery but, that's usually the reason for making a documentary. Some very brief moments of good acting and beautiful scenes does not make the 91 minutes worthwhile, honestly it feels like 9 hours, slow everything! but this has to be the worst bike movie or road movie I have even seen.

Jason Momoa isn't the best actor (actually that pretty much goes for the whole cast) but as a director shows glimmers of potential, thats the only positive I have to say.

This is definitely no Easy Rider, more of a predictable melancholy Mess.

Good movie. Slow beginning, Terrible ending, but rest is good.

[Arahantzz · 7/10 · 7 August 2014]

This movie wasn't to bad, as other reviewers have mentioned, this isn't an action movie really.. there are some fight scenes, some action scenes.

Mostly its trying to capture the sort of freespirit, travelling around on a motorcycle and camping out in the desert kinda lifestyle. I thought acting was pretty good for what is obviously a low budget film, despite low budget the video quality is pretty good.. its getting to the point now where quality video recording equipment is so cheap, that a good director and actors can make a decent movie without spending millions.

I think this movie will resonate with a lot of people in different ways, it might remind people of when they were younger.. people they have met in their life.. the importance of family.. I can imagine this resonating with people who are native(I'm not).

Overall I thought the movie was pretty good for what it was, I wasn't expecting much to be honest, and the beginning was abit slow, but I eventually got into it. Only complaint is I thought the ending was horrible. Without going into it I'll just say it was terrible and unsatisfying. I think the movie deserved a much better ending.

Save Your Time and Money- A New Level of Boring

[kmichaelpm · 2/10 · 30 June 2014]

Seriously...ignore the story line description. It must have been written for some other movie. This movie is incredibly boring. It got a 2 because of the nice scenery....and believe me, it takes up a huge chunk of the movie. It was more akin to a travel documentary than a movie. Jason Somoa would be better off sticking to playing good roles in good movies/TV series. There is almost no dialogue. The entire thing could have been done in 15 minutes, and it may have had some entertainment value. I cannot comment on the acting as there is so little of it. The story is all over the place and has little content. Simply put it is just a very boring dissatisfying piece of cinema.

Road to Paloma

[Maryjnberry · 7/10 · 29 May 2017]

Updated version of Easy Rider, with spirituality, drugs and rock n' roll! Seeing native Americans, Mexicans makes the movie and the road trip these guys are on much more realistic, and interesting, because when you are on the road you meet all types of people. Protagonists here live in the moment, often what real nomads who happen to ride motorcycle do. It's hard for most people who live a conventional way to imagine 'being' rather than doing. Loved the native spirituality in this movie, makes it a great juxtaposition of sentimentality, against the harsh background of a bikers life. That he's not just going for a long motorcycle ride... he's actually working out his grief.

Road To Paloma

[alex-728-994771 · 5/10 · 7 July 2014]

The Movie was excellent, time well spent. I find the work to be amazing on such a low budget with a stellar cast of b actors. A few of them are not on the screen very long and in this case , that's a good thing. The Native American back story is well played out throughout the movie. My reasons for scoring it in the middle would have to be based on set choice for a montage scene. Without giving a way the story in my opinion, one who has been and knows the country like myself will see that the trial they drive is well to say the least a little out of route.

well worth the effort though

Very much enjoyed this one.

[tommywrestling · 10/10 · 12 July 2014]

This movie has a Great cast and acting, stunning scenery and backdrops, and a cool soundtrack that got my feet tapping many a time. The story will make you ask yourself if taking the law into your own hands is the only option sometimes. You will fall in love with characters and hate others with very subtle acting. I like how they let the motorcycle riding tell a story too! Most films these days skip those moments out and just jump to a scene of a guy getting off a motorcycle, yet in this movie they let us see the actors riding with beautiful scenery all around them. Those scenes reminded me of Easy Rider and that is a great thing in my opinion. Good choice on the bikes too! This is more than just a road movie, you don't need to like Motorcycles to enjoy it. The foundation of the storyline can grab anybody and it simple to understand. That Cash guy would be a blast to hangout with, how much trouble could you get into with that guy, hey? :) Good job!

Momoa's Directorial Debut

[boblipton · 6/10 · 7 September 2021]

Jason Momoa's mother was raped and killed, and the authorities didn't care; she was an Indian, after all. So Momoa. That's a different matter, since the rapist was White. So Momoa gets on his motorcycle and rides through the American Southwest, dodging the FBI and spreading his mothers ashes.

In his ramblings, we get a view of the underclasses that inhabit the character's world, trying to live their own, casual lives while avoiding the iron fist of the Authorities. It's a bleak, inhospitable world with flashes of beauty and violence, and although mostly derivative, is a pleasant watch. With Lisa Bonet (she and Momoa married in 2017), Lance Henriksen, and Michael Hayes.

Road to Nowhere

[rbennett-29352 · 2/10 · 11 April 2019]

This is one of those self indulgent movies where the cast seem more intent on enjoying themselves than entertaining the audience. Why people think there is some kind of deep meaning in this film is completely beyond me. The plot is very simple really' On the plus side the scenery is beautiful.

( American C+Movie ) My Ratings 8/10

[THE-BEACON-OF-MOVIES-RAFA · 8/10 · 17 March 2020]

An extremely underrated film with a beautiful soundtrack and gorgeous cinematography. Road to Paloma isnâ(TM)t flashy, but it is a very well acted, and incredibly powerful movie for those who understand.

Well Made but boring and dark

[colonel52 · 6/10 · 9 July 2014]

First @ Jason Momoa: Your directing and film making is pretty good for a first movie and low budget. Your writing however is pretty bad. Next time try directing something that someone else wrote that is good material, and has all the elements needed and no tragic endings!

This is a well made movie , you would never guess it was made on $600,000 budget, ( I read that somewhere) so I give the movie a good score for that. It is realistic movie which is part of the reason it is boring. but some things are outlandish.

The story is pretty bad, and not a happy one. Some elements are just hard to believe, like wolf's mom lives on a reservation, and her husband is a Indian cop, yet somehow she is brutally killed by a white guy who I don't know was just wandering around the reservation? then her husband catches him but he doesn't kill him even though it would be quite easy out in the desert , no he arrests him! Then the guy is handed over to the feds who after a year decide killing a Indian woman is no big deal so they just let him go !!! And those words were used in the film. lol Now you don't get to see any of this it is just talked about, but later in the movie another evil white guy has a young Indian girl out in desert, and he is raping and torturing her , so I guess the reservations are where all evil white guys go to rape women?? It just seems too silly and bizarre to believe. (and there seemed to be no reason for this scene, like it was a after thought or maybe they wanted to make sure we know this is happening a lot. So wolf kills the guy in such a manner that there is no doubt he killed the guy ?? I mean he could have knocked him out and take him into the desert and killed him and no one would ever know he did it. But then you couldn't have this tragic ending. So this movie is about after wolf kills the guy and the FBI has one guy after him that wants to catch him and another FBI guy who doesn't. Wolf winds up teaming up with another loser who has a bike to and it is easy rider for awhile , but then gets dark again with the ending.

I like Momoa as a actor , so this was sort of OK to watch, also I wanted to see if he could write or direct, and he can direct, but needs to work big time on his writing skills.

Bike Riding

[jeroduptown · 4/10 · 2 February 2022]

Mamoa riding his bike. Mamoa riding his bike with friend. Mamoa riding his bike with Lisa. Mamoa riding his bike. Bonus: lots of sunset shots while Mamoa tries to escape being caught by the feds.

A Tired Story

[llsmith-87182 · 6/10 · 31 January 2021]

You know how it ends before you start watching. No attempts at subterfuge, misdirection nor deception. A few weak side stories. But the cinematography and breathtaking vista of Utah make this a must watch. Turn the sound down.

If I farted in a bowl of oatmeal, the eventual bubble that escapes would be more entertaining than this movie.

[ekenville-30061 · 2/10 · 30 November 2023]

Justification of his God given looks, maybe. An edgy, heartfelt, identifiable biker journey this is not. C movie acting coupled with a misguided search for vintage 70's film quality culminating in a desperate plea for relevancy leaves Mamoa's directing debut shallow as a Mohave grave.

This movie in it's failed attempts for breakthrough imagery and quintessential Tarantino leave similar delves such as Revenge Ride looking like masterpieces in its' poorly conceived wake. One can almost hear Mamoa's pleading with the camera crew to capture the rawness of the southwest as he needlessly revs the bike he can barely ride. Please skip this and use those found minutes in a way that warrants more critical acclaim, such as using the restroom.