Treasure Of Tayopa

Treasure of Tayopa plays out like a Western though it's set in modern times (and by “modern” I mean the disco ages). Katerine's father found the location of the titular lost treasure in the Mexican desert and left a snake-shaped bracelet for his daughter when he passed on. It's supposed to protect her from the curse of the treasure (a curse which is barely talked about in the movie, unfortunately).

Tom is her guide and protector. He has hired a crew for them, but you don't want him in the HR department of your company; he tends to hire wackos (and not the Animaniacs variety). One of his hired hands is Sally, a guy who would shoot you in the nostril for breaking wind in his general direction. I guess that's not so bad when the murderous banditos show up to take what ain't theirs to have. But will Sally be just what the team needs to fend off the thugs, or will he be the death of them all?

It's a moderately enjoyable flick. Just entertaining enough to remain interesting until the end. The pace at the beginning is weak. The narration has too many “uhs” in it, and there are too many music montages. Once we get past that the pace picks up a bit. There are no subtitles for the Spanish dialogue, but it's kept to a minimum or translated for the characters who only speak English.

The acting is not great but could be worse. I've never heard of any of these people. Rena Winters is the headliner. She's fine, but when it comes time for some action she sure doesn't seem to have any fight in her for someone with the determination to rough it in the bad country in search of cursed treasure. Sally, the crazy guy, seems to try too hard at times to be crazy. Sometimes he sells it and other times he's too over the top to be believable.

As I mentioned, the “curse” barely gets any attention. Opportunities for some spooky supernatural suspense slip unnoticed through the fingers of the director.

MORALITY:

There are a couple of scenes of bloody violence. It's not terribly realistic but still messy.

There's some rough molestation in with that.

Rena strips off for a swim. She's partially obscured by the water but the camera likes to linger. Sally isn't wearing anything either, but the camera angles hide his nuts and bolts.

The strong language is very mild.

SPIRITUALITY:

You could say that there is some superstitious elements in the curse and the armband that provides protection from it, but it's not given enough attention to matter much.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

There's nothing special in Treasure of Tayopa, but it manages to be mildly entertaining if you happen to stumble across it.

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