Coronado

Claire Winslow (Kristin Dattilo) finds that her fiancé has just traveled to Switzerland, but forgot some important documents at home. She decides to take the documents, follow and spend Christmas with him. Once in Switzerland, she realizes that he has indeed traveled to Coronado, a country in Central America. She travels to Coronado and gets involved with a revolution.

I saw "Coronado" this weekend and this movie is so silly that becomes funny. The absurd story is supported by the unknown Kristin Dattilo, who has a great performance: she is very beautiful, athletic and funny. The special effects are great, and the surprising conclusion is hilarious. In the end, it was a worthwhile forgettable entertainment recommended for killing time .My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Coronado"

The Coronado DVD was for sale very cheaply in one of the Danish department store chains, so I bought it. I have to say I'm pretty happy with it.

For one thing - the main thing, actually -, it stars Kristin Datillo. I haven't seen the Chris Isaak Show that has apparently made her something of a household name, but I saw her on Hull High, a 1990 TV series, and never forgot about her. I didn't even know what her name was until I got this DVD, so that was a very positive surprise. She's fabulous. Very strong on both looks and personality. And she fits this movie incredibly well, because there is a red thread of subtle self-irony that goes all the way through this movie, and Datillo has the same sort of attitude, while at the same time being a serious and convincing actress and giving a very cool performance.

The extra material on the DVD clarifies how incredibly far the producers stretched the budget, getting a grand, epic and expensive-looking movie out of a meager budget, a lot of well-done computer and miniature prop effects, and a cheap on-location shoot in Mexico ($30 to have a train speeding by: they bought the train drivers lunch!). Very impressive! Considering how difficult it is for the actors to pretend that they're in completely different situations than they really are, the performances given must be said to be all-round excellent.

The movie itself, storywise, isn't much. For a long time, there is *no plot* other than Datillo's character running around looking for her fiancé. As they get embroiled in a central-American revolution (with both sides getting weapons supplied by the U.S.), the plot picks up somewhat, but remains an excuse for the SFX. Technically, it's an interesting package, but the story really is quite weak. It is saved by Datillo's charisma and the genuinely suspenseful and impressive-looking action scenes. It ends on a kind of critical note in terms of U.S. foreign policy, as the rebels are abandoned by their U.S. weapons dealers (who decide to back the other side), but manage to seize power anyway, thus bringing a more democratic government to the country instead of a U.S. controlled puppet government.

All in all, this movie is (and was most likely made as) a study of just how impressive a special-effects spectacular can be created from a very small budget ($4.7 million), and as such it is quite successful. The DVD cover even claims that it looks like a $100 million movie, which in fact is almost true.

6 out of 10.

A good action adventure yarn which pays homage to many predecessors including "Sorcerer", "Romancing the Stone", and the Indiana Jones trilogy.

What is even better though are the special features on the CD which explain and show how such a low budget film ($4.7 million) was able to be created using a number of camera and cg tricks. The best... the bridge scene. While this video uses a number of partially computer generated scenes, these are very seamless to the viewer, who is left to enjoy a predictable, but exciting story. What I really enjoyed was what they used in many shots instead of a regular jeep.

Coronado is a movie that has a very good balance of adventure, humor, and action. Actors I have not seen before were impressive in their roles, unlike the plastic Hollywood Shakespeareans demanding their closeups. The lead heroine, Kristin Dattilo, played an excellent role throughout the movie in both comedy barbs and more serious portrayals. I would like to see more of her work in the future as her talent in Coronado was the catalyst in making a fair script into an entertaining movie most arm-chair warriors relish. If you enjoy special effects as I do in adventure movies you are in for a treat. From a perilous bridge crossing to a remodeling of the Presidential Palace, special effects was formidable indeed. Watch the movie and enjoy the fun.

I feel compelled to write a review as I think that 'Coronado' represents everything that is wrong with cinema today: form over content. While viewers are forewarned that CGI will be omnipresent ('by the visual effects supervisors of Independence Day' proclaims the poster), I think that there should have been a warning at the beginning of the movie: "This is a movie to showcase our digital art, so please do not try to follow the plot, as we have made it mind numbingly dumb on purpose". With this warning, I would not have spent the entire 1.5 hour shaking my head in disbelief and trying to fathom how anybody in their right mind would agree to finance such a project.

The movie is an endless string of clichés, bad lines, and unbearable Hollywood-only situations. It is an insult to viewer's intelligence, and I can only hope that the 'creators' realized that they have failed to entertain us, if that was their goal. It is not worth watching, by any standard.