Your favourite countries, reviewed.
As the seventh and final installment of the Central America franchise, Panama was always going to have some pretty big boots to fill.
Unfortunately, unlike the other entries in the series – which provided a wildly uneven but always fascinating journey for die-hard fans – Panama seems content to do nothing more than provide a tired retread of previous highlights. Although the cast and director try their best, you can’t help but think that you’ve seen it all before – and better, for that matter.
This is comfort food, make no mistake, but we’ve already had our fill and it just doesn’t taste as good anymore. Action scenes in Bocas del Toro drag on aimlessly for far too long, and although the Kuna Yala make a brief and welcome cameo, you get the feeling that the writer didn’t exactly know what to do with them.
Only at the margins of the central Casco Viejo setpiece are hints of something rawer and more authentic, but even these are quickly whisked away from the viewer and replaced with more smooth banality. That’s Panama in a nutshell: promising, but eventually all too familiar.
★★☆☆☆
