’Boot Camp’ Movie Review: Much More Than a Romance

Boot Camp is our new obsession! Gina Musa’s book hits our screens in a faithful adaptation of her novel that is much more than meets the eye. The film is a story of self-empowerment and discovering your own path even in the worst of circumstances. Ready?

Here we go! 

Feeling Seen in Boot Camp

Boot Camp seems at first glance like a typical young adult romantic comedy. However, it’s much more than that. It’s a film about discovering your own power and embracing it to ultimately find yourself. The romance is just the icing on the cake, one that we love, but it isn’t the focus and that makes it all different. 

Don’t get us wrong, this writer is always here for the romance. I’m a hopeless romantic and grew up during the golden age of the genre. Name any rom-com from the 90s and 2000s and I will have watched it too many times to be considered healthy. But despite this, I never felt represented in any of them. 

The protagonists of these movies were not like me. They were not clumsy or the outcasts of their class, they were not bullied or felt alone. Usually, they were successful women or beautiful teenagers with the perfect body to be a model. They simply put on makeup, dressed better, took off their glasses, and were the kind of beautiful women that only existed in magazines. 

Whitney, the leader of Boot Camp, feels like me at just her age. A clumsy girl, who feels invisible, who has to endure bullying from her classmates, and who even her friends seem to look down on. And with that, Boot Camp had me won over. 

The Message Makes the Difference  

But I was even more impressed when I realized that the film perfectly reflected Whitney’s growth from an insecure woman unaware of her own power to an empowered one who values ​​herself enough to not settle for less than being herself and going for what she wants. 

What happened to me with the romantic comedies of the 90s and 2000s is that I tried. I tried to put on makeup and suddenly the mirror would reflect that magazine woman but I couldn’t do it. And I didn’t do it not only because life isn’t like the movies, but because I was only putting on makeup on my outside but, inside, I was still that insecure and clumsy girl who didn’t value herself enough.

What Boot Camp does is take that insecure, clumsy girl, who tries to take up as little space as possible and hates being the center of attention, and show her how much she is worth, making her discover her own power and that, that is invaluable. 

This is the reason why the film is much more than a young adult romance: for the message it sends. I saw myself reflected in every step Whitney took, every fear, every insecurity, every fall… but also in every time she got back up and was ready to fight for herself. 

Boot Camp talks about self-empowerment, body positivity, and above all, about finding your own path even when you don’t believe that path exists. And that is exactly what makes the difference.

Back to the Golden Age of Romance…with a Twist

Although Whitney is the central focus of Boot Camp, the film shows us the emotional journey of the characters around her, especially Axel. He is a man who has his own trauma to overcome and avoids thinking about it every day. 

He likes his job as a coach at the camp because it not only allows him to train the students hard to explore their own limits but also gives a sense of order and routine to his life. 

That job keeps Axel from thinking about his past and, suddenly, Whitney arrives and breaks all his schemes. She is a beautiful, committed, fighter, somewhat shy woman, and a born leader. Only she doesn’t realize all that and doesn’t see herself as he sees her. However, Boot Camp flees from the hackneyed cliché and what attracts Axel to Whitney is not her vulnerability, but her strength, her power. 

Little by little, working together, they begin to get to know each other. As Whitney finds and embraces her power, Axel feels more attached to her. The two of them fall in love little by little, without realizing it, without expecting it, and almost without wanting it.

Their love didn’t come immediately, but through hard daily training, jokes on the beach, games in the water, and conversations by the light of a campfire. And that makes it even more special, even more unique. 

Boot Camp builds to the perfect moment for the climax of the first kiss between Whitney and Axel and, just when it happens, Axel takes a step back. He doesn’t feel ready to be in a relationship because of his past but, the reality is, he’s scared. Axel is afraid of what he feels for Whitney, of the intensity of everything they are living, and he is aware that, if he takes that step, he will never be able to separate from her. 

Faced with this new and unexpected rejection, Whitney’s wounds that were just beginning to heal reopen and old insecurities return. And everything seems over between them… until Axel decides to stop running away and fight for her. The two meet in the middle of the road. Whitney and Axel get the happy ending they deserve and our romantic hearts are pumping at a thousand miles an hour.

Boot Camp‘s Great Supporting Characters

Beyond Whitney and Axel’s journey, Boot Camp has some great supporting characters with many different edges like Willow, Aspen, and Martina. 

At first, Willow is Whitney’s nightmare. She bullies her, makes fun of her, and seems proud of her behavior so when the two meet again at the camp, sparks start to fly right away. But, as we get deeper into Willow’s story, we discover much more than just an abuser in her. 

Her relationship with her mother is not ideal and, as Whitney embraces her own power and Willow’s mother notices her, Willow feels jealousy for the first time. She always felt like she wasn’t living up to her mother’s expectations and now she’s seeing how someone she made fun of is doing so. This doesn’t justify Willow’s attitude but we can understand where she’s coming from. 

Everything Willow is going through changes her perspective on her actions and, while she and Whitney don’t become the best of friends at first, they end up getting closer and admitting that they have a lot more in common with each other than they like to admit. Everything finally comes together in Boot Camp and they end up being friends. 

As for Aspen and Martina, they quickly become best friends with Whitney. But, apart from that, they find each other and begin to explore the feelings that are born between them. 

And, while the film doesn’t focus too much on this lesbian love story, it does perfectly portray the initial insecurity and doubts of it and, above all, it gives them a happy ending, something that is difficult to find on our TV when it comes to an LGBTI+ couple. 

In conclusion, Boot Camp is a film that is much more than it seems and that we recommend! Personally, as I had the opportunity to tell Rachel and Drew in an interview that we will publish soon, after Bridgerton season 3, this is the second time I felt truly seen on my TV. And that is tremendously powerful and one of the reasons why everyone should watch this movie.

Boot Camp is available now in select theaters and on demand.