ROAD TO PALOMA

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Coming to theatres for a limited engagement and arriving on Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand July 15th is the directorial debut of Jason Momoa with ROAD TO PALOMA.

This film tells the story of Wolf (Jason Momoa), a Native American who takes to the road staying away from the law. His mother’s murder brought out his vengeance and now he’s a wanted man.

Taking to the roads on his motorcycle he hooks up with Cash (Robert Mollohan) and spends plenty of time keeping him out of trouble. But Wolf’s biggest problem is Williams (Timothy Murphy) and Schaeffer (Chris Browning), two lawmen who are hot on his trail.

Wolf wants to spread his mother’s ashes and nothing more. Along the way he finds friendship with Magdalena (Lisa Bonet). Oddly enough Wolf finds himself helping others which begs the question – who is the criminal and who is the law?

FINAL WORD: Momoa as Wolf plays the strong silent type. Portraying a Native American he wants nothing more than to avenge his mother’s killer and put her to rest. It’s hard to be angry as Wolf, especially when he seems to constantly be doing the right thing for others. Momoa, known for his roles in CONAN and recently the wildly successful series GAME OF THRONES usually portrays these larger than life characters. In this film he is more down to earth which might be a surprise to audiences.

Mollohan as Cash is a trouble maker from the get go. Finding friendship with Wolf is important and their bike riding is a kindred thing. Browning as Schaeffer has his moments where the audience might think he’s a little spacey, yet when it comes down to it don’t trust that face!

Murphy as Williams excels once again with playing the bad guy. His quiet steely eyed demeanor and grey suit cause everyone to shiver in their shoes. Murphy has become one of my favorite actors and his stint on SONS OF ANARCHY made me enjoy his career even more!

Bonet as Magdalena has a chance to play a potential love interest. That’s an easy feet was she and Momoa are currently a couple so that was easy casting.

Other cast include:  Tye Alexander as Todd, James Mendoza as Tucker, Kelly Noonan as Hazel, Michael James as Irish, Tanoai Reed as Moose, Steve Reevis as Totonka, Charlie Brumbly as Chuck, Mike Burns as Big Red, and Wes Studi as Numay.

WWE Studios brings a diverse slate of feature films with theatrical releases, home entertainment and digital platforms. They have brought other films such as Halle Berry in THE CALL and DEAD MAN DOWN with Colin Farrell along with WWE Superstar Wade Barrett in THE MARINE 3: Homefront.

Anchor Bay Films offer unique distribution for releases such as JAYNE MANSFIELD’S CAR from Billy Bob Thornton, NOTHING LEFT TO FEAR with guitarist Slash and AT MIDDLETON with Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga. For more on what Anchor Bay has to offer go to www.anchorbayentertainment.com.

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give ROAD TO PALOMA three tubs of popcorn out of five. This is a slow paced film with great cinematography of the open road. The story brings up a few issues regarding Native Americans and the way the justice system treats them.  The cast brings the story some grit and that’s an unexpected bonus.

This film was written by Jason Momoa, Robert Homer and Jonathan Hirschbein and produced by Jason Momoa and Brian Andrew Mendoza.

In the end – the road for redemption has unexpected turns.