‘Borrego’ Review- Just Leaves You Hanging
This film was released in 2022.
Written and directed by Seattle filmmaker Jesse Harris, Borrego is an action thriller released by Saban Films. It was produced by CRE84U Entertainment and Tucci & Company before making its way to the Netflix streaming service.
The botanist Elly (Lucy Hale) finds herself in the California desert examining an invasive plant when she runs into the teen Alex Gomez (Olivia Trujillo), who is skipping school. After helping Elly, the two part ways, only for Elly to run into Tomas (Leynar Gomez). He is a drug runner whose plane crashed. He takes her hostage and forces her to help him carry the drugs into the desert to meet his contact Guillermo, a ruthless hitman (Jorge A. Jimenez). When Alex hears Elly is missing, she asks her father, Deputy Sheriff Jose Gomez (Nicholas Gonzalez), to help her, but soon learns how deadly Guillermo can be.
I thought the acting was solid. Lucy Hale and Leynar Gomez did a spot-on job in the film, but I also thought Nicholas Gonzalez was good. Everyone else brought out their characters in a believable way, making it very enjoyable.
The story is pretty good for a thriller, and I thought it kept you on your toes. It had some exposition in the form of captions that I thought were dull, but the overall plot did keep my interest. This sort of survival thriller is often overlooked, but I think this one had a lot of interesting plot points to it. There is a scene where Guillermo and Jose have a showdown, and I thoroughly enjoyed that sequence. It was cool to see a good ol’ fashion sheriff and hitman draw.
There was one flaw. The movie just sort of ends. It had a few threads that it pulled, but they never went anywhere. For instance, the thing with the plants is never fully explored. It goes nowhere after a while, and I could see it being a MacGuffin, but then they mention it again later before it is forgotten. Also, Elly mentions the reason she has taken the job as a botanist was that she was running away from facing her mother’s death. Once again, it is never mentioned again. There is also clear tension between Jose and his daughter. They do have some touching moments, but nothing is resolved.
These incidents could have been handled with five extra minutes of screen time.
Bottom line, Borrego is a decent film with solid performances and lots of great action. It keeps you invested with all of the thrills it offers. It just kind of leaves you hanging with its conclusion.
PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Foul language
FAVORITE QUOTE: They should not be here.
Check out the trailer below:
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