When ever I run into a really bad film like this one, I try to find something good to say about it. OK, here goes, beautiful locations, fairly professional cinematography.<br /><br />To me a dramatic film must have at least a shred of believability to it. This one has holes in logic you could drive a train through. For example: Where did they get the gas to drive a jeep several hundred miles through an unexplored rainforrest Why would anyone like Connor join up with two complete strangers (Chris & Darlene) on a wild idea such as the expedition in the first half. Most especially why after being taught several lessons about trusting strangers earlier in the film? Where does this strange couple come from? We know nothing about them after they are introduced except that Chris lost his wife and child in an car accident. By the way, the scene where he relates this story is, in my opinion one of the worst acted dramatic moments in film history. Why director/producer Whelan would cast such a poor actor in such a critical role is beyond me.<br /><br />In fact most of the actors here seem to be appearing on film for the first time. Connor is played fairly well, but he has nothing to mouth but clichés in the script. And man is this script slow moving! Not much happens but it sure takes a long time to tell us that.<br /><br />Absolutely none of the characters in this film have even a quarter inch of depth to them.<br /><br />This looks like the kind of effort you might get when you say, "Hey lets go to all these exotic locations across the world and take some pictures? And while we are there we will make a movie too!" <br /><br />Sometimes an independent film succeeds because it is different and the producers have an original vision that is unique and refreshingly new. It is obvious that for writer, producer and director Whelan this is a labor of love. I truly wish I could say that he succeeded. I really wanted to like this film. The publicity for it really sells it as a great adventure. And it clearly has lots of fans and has won awards, but I am sorry to say it is very disappointing. Even an independent film has to have good story-telling skills. It needs to have, in addition to an original vision, above average writing, direction, casting and acting to rise to the top and establish itself. This film (it appears to have been shot as a video) does none of that. I understand that this is the first effort at something above the level of made for TV for this team. It is understandable, since it resembles a TV show more then a serious film. On a TV show a viewer can expect poor character development, cliché ridden dialog and situations and a sense that it was made very quickly. That is the impression I get from watching this very ambitious effort kind of dribble out into release. To all it's fans I say, sorry, but someone has to tell the truth, and the emperor has no clothes. <br /><br />My advise is stay away from this one if you love film. Or perhaps fast forward through the drama and check out the best part of the film: the impressive locations. I am giving it one star based on that only! A real stinker....