Tomorrow When the War Began
Tomorrow When the War Began (2010) is an adaptation of the first novel in the most popular Australian Young Adult series of my generation, written by John Marsden. Highly anticipated, the film was moderately successful, albeit I do not think it reached studio expectations. Intended as the start of a series of at least three films (and possibly a TV series subsequent to that), work on a sequel seems to have stalled of late, though as far as I can tell one is still planned.
I watched this film at the cinema and whilst I guess I liked it, the flaws really bothered me. Re-watching it, my opinion has definitely changed because I think it is a pretty fantastic piece of entertainment. The very Red Dawn (1984) esque plot sees a group of teens go away camping in the bush for a weekend. They return to find that Australia has been invaded, their home town completely taken over. Eventually they decide to fight back and form a troupe of very inexperienced guerrilla warriors. The second half of the film tracks their first major assault on the enemy. One of the notable aspects of the book is that it never identified who it was that invaded. A film adaptation does not have this choice as it has to show the enemy armies. So in this iteration of the story, it is an unknown Asian country that has invaded Australia because of its vast swathes of underpopulated land and its resources. This is actually a pretty standard xenophobic fear in Australia. That one day hordes from the north (generally in this xenophobic worldview it is the Indonesians that will do it) will invade Australia for our land. I don’t think that the film is intentionally playing on this fear. I just think it is unfortunate that the nature of film forces the identity of the invaders to be, at least somewhat, revealed.
Tomorrow When the War Began is the kind of film not often generated out of Australia. An ambitious budget spent on populist and fun pure entertainment. Thankfully, despite its unashamed mainstream intentions, the movie pulls no punches. Unafraid to make interesting statements about militarism and depict cowardice, it’s high action galore, unabashedly showing the reality of modern warfare and at times (though only when necessary) doing so with explicit violence. There’s no doubting that some of the set up of the plot and characters is clumsy, but it is never uncharming. My major issue with the film the first time I watched it was the script. Upon this viewing though, whilst some lines jarred for me, I actually think I was too harsh on that aspect of the film first time around. I think much of the dialogue that I perhaps had issues with previously is just written to be spoken by teenage characters. On that front, it predominately works. In fact the film captures what I recall of being a teenager quite well. There is an undercurrent of teen angst in the film, without it being an actual focus of the movie which is refreshing. The notion of discovering or making one’s way in the world as well as the, at times crippling, unstable sense of self-worth is really well done.
As is so often the case with films aimed at teens, the quality of acting is what really elevates or sinks the film. Thankfully the cast of Tomorrow When the War Began, mostly young veterans of Australian soaps, are really great. It is also a testament to the script that even though there are 8 main characters, the characterisation of all of them is lean and successful. Leading the way is former Ramsay Street resident Caitlin Stasey as main protagonist Ellie. She is effectively and believably able to convey what it must be like to be in such a horrific situation. Moreover, her character is a fantastically cool, all action heroine. She is the leader of the pack, the one who (whilst not entirely on her own) drives the group forward in all that they do. Hopefully more films do come to pass, because hers is a strong female character arc desperately needed. Another character who goes on a great ‘journey’ throughout this film is the ultra-religious Robyn, played by Phoebe Tonkin (most recently seen being utterly awesome as Dot in the ABC series Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries). She is fantastic in the role and is able to really embody someone going through a great moral and spiritual torment as well as all the other horrors that are swirling around her. Of the male leads, it is Deniz Akdeniz as Homer who is the undoubted pick of the bunch. His character has a really interesting, though refreshingly totally platonic, relationship with Ellie and Akdeniz is able to bring the spirit of this popular and loveable renegade to the forefront of his performance. Unfortunately, the only letdown in the acting stakes was Lincoln Lewis as the smarmy Kevin. He simply does not convince and this is the second film, after Bait 3D (2012), where I have felt that way about him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_KhErNyiq8
Overflowing with interesting characters and loads of action, Tomorrow When the War Began definitely did not disappoint for me this time around. There are so many interesting places to take this series, so here’s hoping that the rest of John Marsden’s brilliant books can find their way onto the screen sooner rather than later.
Verdict: Pint of Kilkenny
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A Few Best Men
Last year’s Australian comedy A Few Best Men (2011) was notable in that it featured a rare onscreen role for Olivia Newton John. It also featured Rebel Wilson at the start of her real breakout year in the States. Unfortunately though, the film is not particularly notable for any other reason.
The Lads
David (Xavier Samuel) meets Mia (Laura Brent) on a beach in Tuvalu. The two fall passionately in love almost immediately, so before they part, David proposes. The film picks up with David and his three best mates flying in from London to Australia for the wedding. Who would guess it, hijinks ensue. Unfortunately though, I just found the hijinks to be criminally unfunny. The first few jokes fall remarkably flat. Not just, well that was a little unamusing flat, but embarrassing for all involved flat. Further to that, there is no real investigation of whether or not these holiday lovebirds are actually suited to a life together. Indeed, the love story of what should be a ‘romantic comedy’ is essentially a subplot and the ‘I do’ part of proceedings goes off with barely a hitch, which removes any suspense in that regard. Instead, it is just a cavalcade of the lads getting into more and more madcap trouble. All of which is straight from The Hangover (2009) or a hundred other films, most of which has been done better in at least a few of those films. Though the standard, incredibly flat falling and awkward best man speech is actually one of the film’s better moments.
The performance from Laura Brent, pictured here with Olivia Newton John, is the best thing about the film.
There are a couple of saving graces for the film coming from a couple of really good performances. Unfortunately though, neither of these characters occupies nearly enough screen time. First of all there is Rebel Wilson, as Mia’s ‘Black Sheep’ younger sister. Wilson is doing her laconic thing here, but she does it well and with obvious devotion to her craft, which I think is evident in all of her roles. The second performance that stood out is Laura Brent’s Mia. It is a little inexplicable that she sees so little time onscreen, given that this is her wedding we are talking about. But whenever she is onscreen, she really lights proceedings up with a charm and genuineness that seems to be sorely lacking from the rest of the film. The male performers are uniformly bland, with the exception of Kris Marshall, here playing the same role he plays in basically all his films, but doing his rambunctious thing pretty nicely. The film is well put together as well, with the direction from Stephan Elliot being assured and the stunning scenery of The Blue Mountains west of Sydney a big star. But all of this cannot overcome the weak script that plagues the film.
It is unfortunate that despite some nice performances there is very little to recommend A Few Best Men. Lacking in charm and being burdened with a deeply unfunny script are two pretty large obstacles for a comedy to overcome. Unfortunately, rather forgettable all in all.
Verdict: Schooner of Carlton Draught
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Cactus
Cactus (2008) suffered the fate of many (actually probably most) contemporary Australian films. It received a bit of press at the time of release, reviews in most quarters, a quick cinematic release and then disappeared from view relatively quickly. At least that is how I recall it going down.
The film jumps straight into the action, filling in absolutely no backstory. And it works too with the opening sequence being one of the film’s most successful. We see a man enter into another’s house, beat him up, drug him and bundle him into the boot of an old car. This is all done essentially in silence, save for the odd grunt of effort. The car is started, we see an extreme close-up of the odometer ticking over, and we are away. The entire thing tears you out of your seat and plonks you straight in the world of the film. The car makes its way out through the city, through the ever-changing Australian countryside, from lush valleys into eventually into what is essentially desert. Much of these early travelling shots are shot quite nicely from a ‘first person’ point of view. Eventually, as the film travels along, we learn more about what is taking place. More, but never near everything. The kidnapper is a man hard up for cash, trying to save his family with this big money, out of character job. His victim is in trouble with the two men that he is being taken to. Who these men are and the nature of the trouble are never revealed, though it is heavily hinted to be gambling related. The film is uniquely Australian. Much of the Ford vs Holden shtick throughout would probably be lost on overseas viewers, whilst the film adoringly takes in much of the countryside that makes Australia so unique. The central story though and its sorta road movie delivery, is definitely more universal.
Bryan Brown, gettin his country cop on.
The ending of the film I think is distinctly flawed, taking on a somewhat strange, ‘pulpy’ revenge bent that is hard to buy given what has taken place over the preceding 80 or so minutes. It is almost a curse when a film builds up so much anticipation of just how the story is going to be tied up, that it is really difficult to satisfactorily conclude what has occurred. Part of the issue is that it was always going to be necessary to expand on the taut, minimalist world that the film had created. It would be a bold film indeed to follow just two pretty silent blokes in a car right to the end. Aside from the two main characters, the supporting roles are very minor. It is a little bit of a shame really because they are populated with really good actors who manage to engage a lot in the short time they are onscreen. Bryan Brown, Shane Jacobsen and Daniel Krige all excel in bringing their barely written characters to life. I think in the end it does hurt the film a little when one of them (or two, or even three depending on how you want to look at it) come back to play quite a large role in the film’s ending. It would have been richer had there been more depth and time onscreen to explore these three characters. Plus it just would have been nice to see more of the fantastic country cop that the legendary Bryan Brown crafts in his very short screentime.
The two lead performances are very good though. Travis McMahon as John, a silent, ‘man with no name’ type (anti)hero is excellent. You can see the mental strain his job is taking on him, not helped by his victim continually trying (and often succeeding to get inside his head). John definitely gains a measure of revenge at one point though, when in a quite hilarious scene, he employs torture by Wiggles tunes (for those that don’t know, The Wiggles are an iconic, bright skivvy clad, Australian children’s music group). Probably the best performance of the film does come from his victim Eli though. David Lyons is really good in the role, as a smooth talking and cerebral bloke, smug and overly proud of what he has achieved in life, the money he has cheated his way into and the women he has bed along the way. It’s not all bluster though, because in his character’s lower moments, Lyons is able to convey the sheer shittiness of his situation and the fear of the unknown that he is hurtling towards. These two, thanks to the script as well as their very good performances, build up a really quite cool psychological relationship with plenty of back and forth and a power dynamic that continues to shift til the very end.
These two and that car are basically the principal cast of Cactus. All three are really good.
Despite my misgivings, Cactus is a cool, highly original film that I would definitely recommend checking out. It never reaches dizzying heights, but thanks to its impressive cast, dry sense of humour and pretty countryside it does manage to be worth your time.
Verdict: Stubby of Reschs
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