Nerdly » ‘Condor’s Nest’ Review

14th Mar2023

‘Condor’s Nest’ Review

by Alain Elliott

Stars: Michael Ironside, Jackson Rathbone, Arnold Vosloo, Jorge Garcia, Bruce Davison, Jacob Keohane, Al Pagano, Corinne Britti, James Urbaniak | Written and Directed by Phil Blattenberger

Writer and director Phil Blattenburg has done a good job here to create a World War II movie set ten years after the end of the war. That might sound a bit strange but Condor’s Nest looks and feels very much like a World War II movie but takes place a decade later. We follow an American aviator who is out for revenge and on the search for Nazi war criminals. But he soon gets mixed up in much more than just that.

The opening scene of Condor’s Nest is possibly the best scene of the whole movie. It has a hint of Tarantino to it but is a bit less dialogue and a bit less subtle about things. This scene is during World War II as we see an American aircraft crash land in a field in Nazi Germany. Things go about as well as you’d expect and most of the crew die. Will Spaulding survives though and he is our man on a mission to kill the person who did this to his friends.

The rest of the movie is mostly less dramatic than this, save for the final scene but that’s not a bad thing. We see Spaulding interrogate and kill a few Nazis until he is interrupted by a woman on a not-so-dissimilar mission to his own. They don’t exactly team up as you might expect though and instead, we have a middle chunk of the movie that almost becomes some strange road trip-style movie. The problem with much of the action is that it’s just people shooting at each other and there’s so much of it that is practically the same that it doesn’t really mean a lot or become very exciting. The final scene then has to become much more over the top to have any sort of impact and it all gets a bit silly. The shooting of dozens of Nazis by one man almost turns into comedy territory.

There’s a real mix of actors here. You get a few well-known names that don’t really get a lot of screen time – Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers, Top Gun), Jorge Garcia (Lost) and Bruce Davison (X-Men) alongside lesser-known actors in more prominent roles. Jacob Keohane (Halloween Kills) plays Spaulding; alongside him is James Urbaniak (American Splendor) and newcomer Corinne Britti.

Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy, Blood Diamond) plays the main villain and he’s unsurprisingly pretty good in the role. While Jackson Rathbone (Twilight, The Last Airbender) is really enjoyable in his role even if his character feels a bit out of place.

Ignoring the few ridiculous moments, the action is solid, the acting mostly enjoyable and the script decent. This doesn’t feel like every other war movie out there and that’s a good thing. Keohane isn’t an obvious choice for the lead guy in this sort of movie but it works and the character being vulnerable but clearly not wanting to stop until he gets what he wants, works too. If you’re looking for a different type of revenge flick, you could do a lot worse than Condor’s Nest.