EXPATRIOT

EXPATRIOT ENDS WELL

Film Review by FIORE

EXPATRIOT is a film released directly to home video.  Normally, these films are secondary in nature, but EXPATRIOT works on enough essentials to make it worthwhile.

First, the bad stuff.  EXPATRIOT follows too many of the current Hollywood schemas.  It features a woman warrior, though she is a traitor.  It paints America, and the CIA as corrupt, which President Trump may actually agree with at this point, and it establishes Columbia as a better country to live in than the U.S.  I’ll let that absurdity sink in for a while.

Second, the good stuff.  Editor Sebastian Hernandez does an excellent job of pacing the film’s concluding reels, adding a tension to an otherwise mundane story.

EXPATRIOT concerns CIA analyst Riley Connors, who, like Edward Snowden, has a sudden surge of conscience, and opts to go to the press with details of CIA surveillance on citizens.  As a result of her expose, several deep cover agents, and a bus load of innocent folk are killed in terrorist bombings.  She is excoriated as a traitor and is smuggled by friendly socialists to Columbia.  She hides there for two years until her fellow co-worker and lover tracks her down with an offer to restore her good name and return her home.

The movie stars Valene Kane, Charlie Weber, Mario Espitia, Marcela Mar and David Valencia.  All perform well, though at times Weber seems bored.

There is enough Tinseltown tripe weaved through the plot to make you want to turn this off, but the editing in the film’s climax is puissant enough to make you skip over the snarky tone.  Not a bad flick for a comfy night in, as it is currently available on DVD and streaming services.