User Reviews

The film is inspired by true events but does not appear to be based on a true story. Ally (Sydney Sweeney) who doesn't seem to want to be in El Salvador is kidnapped by The Disciples who specialize in trafficking humans. Mom (Lauren Shaw) springs into action, but is not Liam Neeson trained so she gets the help of someone who is. Pretty much it. Less action and tough talk than most white girl gets kidnapped film. Boring compared to other films in the same genre, except for maybe the one where mom hacks into computers to find her daughter.

Guide: No swearing or nudity. Coerced sex.

Beginning in 1981, El Salvador was wracked by civil war. Refugees from the war flooded into America. One of the byproducts was the formation of gangs, especially in Los Angeles, that evolved into rings engaging in human trafficking. This motionpicture is a human story of this tragedy.

95% of the film was shot in El Salvador. The film portrays the kidnapping of a young American woman who has been living temporarily in El Salvador. The girl's mother, who grew up in El Salvador, will stop at nothing in the attempt to rescue her. Hence, the title of "Relentless."

The mother, Holly Drew, finds assistance from a gun-runner and soldier of fortune named Fernando. "Fern" was an orphan of the civil war himself, and he uses his connections with the underworld to follow the tracks of the captive daughter. Along with Fern, Holly travels through Guatemala City and then to Tenosique, Mexico, where the daughter is being transported along with other young women. Their final destination is the United States, where the women will be sold into bondage.

The most gruesome part of the story occurs on the so-called "Train of Death," which transports 500,000 illegal immigrants annually. It is on the train that the fates of Holly Drew and her daughter Ally will be decided. Unless they connect and the mother rescues her, it is clear that the daughter will vanish forever.

This video-on-demand was well-crafted with good performances. It was especially graphic in the portrayal of human trafficking and is a story that must be told. It was not merely an action film, but a quasi-documentary on an important subject.

If you like movies with lots of action, a bit of comedic relief, and a great story line, Relentless is for you. David Castro as the irrepressible Fern, is the best bad guy turned hero ever! And it brings the message about how brutal and real human trafficking really is to life as it is based on true events.

Let's start with the cast. The only other movie I have seen Lauren Shaw in is Zero Dark Thirty, where she had a brief part. What I find interesting is that she is also a stuntwoman/double that's appeared in movies such as. Malignant (stunt double for Annabelle Wallis, Jungle Cruise, A Quiet Place 1 and 2 as stunt double for Emily Blunt, and many other movies and TV series. My hat's off to her. I have seen Sydney Sweeney in a number of Lifetime movies. She seems like a capable actress, but in this movie she had somewhat of a bit part. As for David Castro I discovered that I have seen him in Beneath Us and the. Lincoln Lawyer, although watching him this movie I failed to recognise him.

Now to the story. As we know this is only a TV-MA movie, which immediately indicates that it is not going to be graphic or shock us. I think this is one of the reasons this movie is a failure for me. If it had been made as a video release or streamer or cinema release with an R rating it might have been pretty decent and exciting like the Liam Neeson movies among others.

The story is supposed to be based on a true story, and at the end we get information about the human trafficking problem in Latin America. As a lot of reviewers correctly said this was a pretty lame and very slow movie which at times just bored me and my finger kept edging towards fast-forward, but stopping short in trying to give the movie a chance to grab me and draw me to the edge of my seat, which never happened. What made it even worse in the plot was this Fern character played by Castro, who is supposedly the co-hero of the movie. His character was not convincing and most of the time seemed like an up to no good slimey shady character. He reluctantly decides to help Holly (Lauren) to find her kidnapped daughter (Sydney), and then at the end when they get to the train, he abandon's Holly for no good reason and when she gets on the train, she is raped by the head kidnapper. And then lo and behold Fern jumps on the train and in just a few minutes he kills all the traffickers and saves Holly, her daughter having got off at the station as agreed with the head kidnapper in exchange for sex with Holly. Now I thought this part of the movie was pretty pathetic. Fern could have saved all that if he had gone along with Holly in the first place. And at the end where she gave him a long thank you hug I thought was totally pathetic, considering if he had gone with her in the first place she would not have been raped.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this was well below average and watch it only if you are really really bored.