Saturday At The Movies: Road To Paloma

While the world waits for some official confirmation that Game of Thrones and Conan star Jason Momoa will be cast as Aquaman for the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, I can tell you without any hesitation that the man recently released his first directorial effort, a solid film titled Road To Paloma. I didn’t have any expectations going into this one, and I was more than pleasantly surprised by the final results.

Road to Paloma stars Momoa as Wolf, a Native American who, after avenging the death of his mother, heads on the road to spread her ashes. Along the way he encounters with a variety of people, including would be rocker Cash (Robert Homer Molohan) and Magdalena (played by Momoa’s real life wife, the always lovely Lisa Bonet) while on the run from the law.

The film is much quieter than you may have expected from Momoa, who is certainly perceived as a larger than life action star by many (including myself). But with his first effort, he not only gives a cool and understated performance, but he’s also crafted a very cool road movie. There are also some very cool moments featuring Chris Browning and Tim Murphy which Browning told me via Twitter were completed improvised. Credit to Momoa for being a first time director who feels confident and comfortable enough to allow his acts some free reign. It certainly worked out in his and the film’s favour.

Not a balls to the wall action flick, Road To Paloma instead is a bit of a slow burn that succeeds with solid performances and confident direction from a first timer.