Today’s quick review: The Condor. Tony Valdez (Wilmer Valderrama), a promising young skateboarder, has everything taken away from him when his parents are killed by Nigel (Michael Dobson), their corrupt business partner. Tony’s friend Sammi (Kathleen Barr) helps him get back on his feet using the technology his parents were developing, giving him the tools he needs to protect the innocent and bring his parents’ killer to justice.
The Condor is an animated superhero movie about a man who fights crime with the help of cybernetically enhanced legs and a rocket-powered skateboard. The movie follows Tony as he overcomes his selfishness and fights to keep his parents’ research from falling into the wrong hands. But although it has the elements of a decent superhero origin story, The Condor fails to weave them together into a cohesive whole.
The Condor struggles with the basics, starting with its lead. Tony makes for an unsympathetic hero. His altruistic instincts are drowned out by an abrasive personality and a tendency to squander the gifts he’s given, and the movie’s attempts to redeem him come too late to seem sincere. His career as a superhero is just as forced. Tony takes up crime-fighting with no training whatsoever, and his powers are not suited to interesting combat scenes.
The story also struggles to get traction. Getting Tony to become the Condor requires a very specific setup involving a young skateboarder, parents who are pioneers in the field of robotics, a hostile takeover of their company, mind-controlled skateboarders, and an attack that leaves Tony crippled but not dead. The payoff is not worth the effort the movie puts in, and the problem only gets worse with extraneous subplots that don’t go anywhere.
The Condor might be an interesting curiosity for fans of the superhero genre, but it lags far behind the best the genre has to offer. Mediocre action, a jumbled and unfocused story, and a hero who only goes through the motions of character growth all undermine what could have been an entertaining story. There are still glimmers of potential for an eager viewer to find, but most viewers would be better off looking elsewhere.
For a live-action movie about a superhero powered by nanobots, try Bloodshot. For a better character arc from self-interesting to heroism, check out Spider-Man. For another animated superhero movie in the same series, try Mosaic.
[4.9 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993750/). I give it a 5.5 for a patchwork plot and an unimpressive hero.