Jason KingRed Hill (7/10)
November 24th 2010 06:12
:
Kwanten is Great and Bisley is AWESOME
Category: Reviews
Red Hill follows young police officer Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten) as he relocates to the small country town of Red Hill with his pregnant wife Alice (Claire van der Boom) to start a family. But when news of a prison break sends the local law enforcement officers - led by the town's ruling presence, Old Bill (Steve Bisley) - into a panic, Shane's first day on duty rapidly turns into a nightmare. Enter Jimmy Conway (Tom E. Lewis), a convicted murderer serving life behind bars, who has returned to the isolated outpost seeking revenge. Now caught in the middle of what will become a terrifying and bloody confrontation, Shane will be forced to take the law into his own hands if he is to survive.
Red Hill is the new Australian film on the block. It is slick with superb acting, amazing cinematography and was snapped up in no time for international distribution. Tarantino loved it so much that he got director, Patrick Hughes signed up with his agent. It is a definite genre film having a go at a modern western and I quite enjoyed it. The concept of a modern Western set in South Australia intrigued the hell out of me and I loved the concept. It has been compared to Australia's version of No Country for Old Men - I can see some similarity but I also think they are miles apart in quality. This one borders on B Grade but I still enjoyed it none the less.
Hughes directs a great story with quite a few flaws but still makes it very enjoyable and suspenseful with some golden moments and brilliant cinematography. I tip my hat at Tim Hudson, the cinematographer, who manages to capture the beauty of the outback and some great action scenes. I doubt it would be difficult in such a beautiful part of our country.
My gripes of the film are thus:
1) Kwanten appears to have about 50 litres of blood in his body and manages to fall in and out of consciousness and then get up and carry a dying man on his shoulders and then somehow revive even further to carry on and do more battles.
2) No one's wife can be that stupid and think all is ok
3) The film has an unnecessary sub plot about a family of panthers that have grown up in the outback. This is tied in by the urban legend of this being a reality in some parts of the country. I did not understand it or see the reason for it being in the film. I asked Matt Shea from 20/20 Filmsight who saw the film at the Brisbane International Film Festival and he answered me with this:
Be sure to suss out his review at 20/20.
4) There is one great scene where the "bad guy" enters a bar, shoots it up a bit, then stops at a jukebox to put on some music before resuming the shooting. Great scene BUT I just loathed the song, surely they could have picked something more hard and recognisable to suit the scene.
5) The ending - can't really say too much as don't want to add a major spoiler but cops just don't do that!
What I did love was the setting, the concept and the damn fine acting. To be honest I have never been a huge fan of Kwanten. I loathe Home and Away and I think I am one of the only people in the world who doesn't hyperventilate with excitement over True Blood - I enjoyed the first season but have never really been motivated to watch any more. But after watching Kwanten in this I have to say I truly am a fan of his. He is very talented and holds the suspense of the film on his shoulders. He has also been doing many interviews in Sydney at the moment and I have to say he comes across as such a nice guy that I may have a small crush on him hahahaha.
Steve Bisley is just brilliant - he is such a powerful actor that I would liken to an Australian Gene Hackman - he owns this movie and is perfect for the part. What I do find a humorous characteristic of his is his vocals - he sound like he has smoked 200 packs a day since birth and punches 20 cones before every scene. I have seen the trailer a few hundred times on the web, at work and more recently on TV and every time he says "Come on Jimmy, I know you're out there" I just burst into laughter. He is pure gold in this film.
Tommy Lewis as Jimmy Connway is also a brilliant character, I thought he would nearly make it to the end without speaking a line but he finally speaks and somehow I was disappointed - I would have preferred him to not speak at all and add to his silent man bent on murder. He was a biological terminator who is pure menace in every scene he is in but somehow his heart starts to shine through. Tommy is best known for playing Jimmie Blacksmith in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith way back when I was 6. A film I really need to watch.
The film was made for about $1MIL which is astounding - no wonder the US loves Australian film makers - we are the new Guerilla Film Makers and could save them squillions to spend on their new Maseratis. For this I salute it. But really the screenplay required a bit more work and this film would have been sensational. It is out tomorrow Thursday 25th November at most sites. Worth a viewing it is.
Red Hill is the new Australian film on the block. It is slick with superb acting, amazing cinematography and was snapped up in no time for international distribution. Tarantino loved it so much that he got director, Patrick Hughes signed up with his agent. It is a definite genre film having a go at a modern western and I quite enjoyed it. The concept of a modern Western set in South Australia intrigued the hell out of me and I loved the concept. It has been compared to Australia's version of No Country for Old Men - I can see some similarity but I also think they are miles apart in quality. This one borders on B Grade but I still enjoyed it none the less.
Hughes directs a great story with quite a few flaws but still makes it very enjoyable and suspenseful with some golden moments and brilliant cinematography. I tip my hat at Tim Hudson, the cinematographer, who manages to capture the beauty of the outback and some great action scenes. I doubt it would be difficult in such a beautiful part of our country.
My gripes of the film are thus:
1) Kwanten appears to have about 50 litres of blood in his body and manages to fall in and out of consciousness and then get up and carry a dying man on his shoulders and then somehow revive even further to carry on and do more battles.
2) No one's wife can be that stupid and think all is ok
3) The film has an unnecessary sub plot about a family of panthers that have grown up in the outback. This is tied in by the urban legend of this being a reality in some parts of the country. I did not understand it or see the reason for it being in the film. I asked Matt Shea from 20/20 Filmsight who saw the film at the Brisbane International Film Festival and he answered me with this:
Yeah, the feline is very much from the western playbook, Jason - some sort of wild beast that represents the savagery of man on the frontier etc etc etc. Not sure if it really worked here, though.
.Be sure to suss out his review at 20/20.
4) There is one great scene where the "bad guy" enters a bar, shoots it up a bit, then stops at a jukebox to put on some music before resuming the shooting. Great scene BUT I just loathed the song, surely they could have picked something more hard and recognisable to suit the scene.
5) The ending - can't really say too much as don't want to add a major spoiler but cops just don't do that!
What I did love was the setting, the concept and the damn fine acting. To be honest I have never been a huge fan of Kwanten. I loathe Home and Away and I think I am one of the only people in the world who doesn't hyperventilate with excitement over True Blood - I enjoyed the first season but have never really been motivated to watch any more. But after watching Kwanten in this I have to say I truly am a fan of his. He is very talented and holds the suspense of the film on his shoulders. He has also been doing many interviews in Sydney at the moment and I have to say he comes across as such a nice guy that I may have a small crush on him hahahaha.
Steve Bisley is just brilliant - he is such a powerful actor that I would liken to an Australian Gene Hackman - he owns this movie and is perfect for the part. What I do find a humorous characteristic of his is his vocals - he sound like he has smoked 200 packs a day since birth and punches 20 cones before every scene. I have seen the trailer a few hundred times on the web, at work and more recently on TV and every time he says "Come on Jimmy, I know you're out there" I just burst into laughter. He is pure gold in this film.
Tommy Lewis as Jimmy Connway is also a brilliant character, I thought he would nearly make it to the end without speaking a line but he finally speaks and somehow I was disappointed - I would have preferred him to not speak at all and add to his silent man bent on murder. He was a biological terminator who is pure menace in every scene he is in but somehow his heart starts to shine through. Tommy is best known for playing Jimmie Blacksmith in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith way back when I was 6. A film I really need to watch.
The film was made for about $1MIL which is astounding - no wonder the US loves Australian film makers - we are the new Guerilla Film Makers and could save them squillions to spend on their new Maseratis. For this I salute it. But really the screenplay required a bit more work and this film would have been sensational. It is out tomorrow Thursday 25th November at most sites. Worth a viewing it is.
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Comment by Matt Shea
Know what you mean about Kwanten's blood supply. Also, I found his injury confusing - I thought that I'd perhaps missed him getting shot.
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness
Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by Jason King
Sydney Table
Salty Popcorn
Total Randomness