IR Film Review: CONDOR’S NEST [Saban]

The context that drives "Condor's Nest" is revenge but one draped in the almost noir structure Westerns of the late 50s/early 60s portray where rage blinds a man despite the reasoning that he is up against. Will Spaulding (Jacob Keohane) is a man who lost his entire flight squadron during World War II to a sadistic colonel who took no mercy but chocked it up to the focus of war. As a sniper, Spaulding became a spectator to his own loss which engulfs him a decade later when he tries to track the same said Nazi to Argentina where it is said many of the officers had fled after Germany lost the war.

These stories, of course, have been fodder for many a History Channel series since these tomes hold conspiracy, darkness, retribution and the context of survival. Some of the set up of the idea is quite good, especially the addition of Corinne Britti as Leyna Brahn, a Mossad agent with her own score to settle. Her character is the most dynamic though she is not given as much to do as necessary. However it is the interaction of Albert Vogel (Al Pagano) that places the crux on the story and gives it its strongest peformance. His plot relevance is anticipated but Keohane plays Spaulding too square jawed (almost with a John Wayne delivery) again him and other which takes away from any stakes.

Arnold Vosloo as Colonel Martin Bach as the darkness Spaulding is pursuing has some of the best dialogue but the path of the stories and the dialogue is not strong enough to maintain the movie overall. A small role by Michael Ironside at an outpost is alright but seems more like a cameo to boost the movie by a man who still, even if he doesn't move that much, has a presence. The eventual resolution of the film, likely inspired by war films mixed with a certain element of "Scarface", simply doesn't quite deliver. C-

By Tim Wassberg