Jason KingTomorrow, When the War Began (8/10)
August 30th 2010 10:56
:
John Marsden's Masterpiece Finally Makes the Big Screen
Category: No Category
Tomorrow, When the War Began (8/10)
If you are in your twenties or thirties, chances are you have read one or two books from this series when you were younger. If you haven't then it is high time you did!!
Tomorrow When the war Began is the first book in the Series known as the "Tomorrow Series", a series of seven books and a further series known as "The Ellie Chronicles" by Australian Author John Marsden. It is one of the highest selling series of books ever sold in Australia.
This book was Yr 10 English reading for many Australian schools in the late 90's and early 00's and needs be brought back into the curriculum.
Tomorrow when the War Began concerns itself with seven Australian teenage friends from a rural town who go on a camping trip to "Hell" (the name given to the destination), and while on this camping trip find the way to an area many thought myth, a place well hidden, while camping in this newly found place Australia is invaded by an unnamed country, changing their lives forever.
I only discovered these books about four years ago when Carrie (a good friend) said I would love them and loaned me the first one. What followed was 2 months of me tracking down every single book and reading them cover to cover and enjoying them as much as any Harry Potter book. It's Harry Potter in the Australian outback without a wand and with a machine gun. It shows some of the strongest kids on film and Ellie Lenton has more balls than Ripley from the Alien set of movies.
It had been being tossed up for years about this movie being made and prior to me finding out first in the country and breaking the news that the casting call was out for this film I had heard it would be a TV series and then nearly cried. This series of books is epic and powerful and highly emotional packed with action. It needed to be done well, and it needed a decent budget to achieve it. And thank bloody god it got both.
The film is directed by Stuart Beattie and when I first heard he was directing this and it was his directorial debut again I nearly cried. Beattie is known for being a spectacular writer with some amazing screenplays under his belt. He wrote all the Pirates of the Carribean films, he wrote Collateral, Bra Boys, 30 Days of Night, Australia, GI Joe (yes I still love this film
) and is currently writing Halo, Northern Lights, a fictional Bra Boys and another film called Without Remorse. But, laides and gents, he has pulled off one great Australian action film. It is not only one of the first commercial action films this country has produced in a long time, but it has done it well. He manages to capture enough of the original story and maintain its tone without me wanting to kill him, and this is a big thing - read my review on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - I think I nearly got institutionalised for my anger and attack. I did find that occasionally the film slipped into meldoramatic Neighbours/ Home and Away styling but this was saved a few times by the superb cinematography of Ben Nott who most recently filmed Daybreakers. While Daybreakers was total crap the film did look great .
At first I screamed "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo" when I heard Caitlin Stasey was cast as Ellie Linton. This character has to be bloody tough and she was not tough at all in Neighbours - she was very girly. But after watching the film I would say it was perfect casting. I never pictured someone like Stasey when reading the book but when the credits rolled I knew that she WAS Linton. Rachel Hurd-Wood was efficient as Corrie but her part was nothing major for me. Lincoln Lewis was the biggest let down for me, I found his acting over the top and unrestrained and to solve the big issue making this book into a movie they had a hurdle to cover - never during the book do they explain the race of the people attacking Australia. It is left to Lincoln (who plays Kevin) to do some speach about "does it matter what flags they have" etc etc. This was so out of tone for the scene it felt ridiculous and I am pretty sure I made a sound of a grunted hurt as he was saying it. The other let down for me was Chris Pang as Lee, he was crap, I mean C R A P. Some of his scenes had me cringing but I do admit some of his scenes were passable, I thought he had good acting through his eyes and body movement but he should have kept his mouth shut. Deniz Akdeniz as Homer was brilliant casting, I loved him and his character was always a favourite of mine. Ashleigh Cummings, as Robyn, was also great, at first I thought she would be very annoying but her character has a powerful mountain to climb, she is religious and refuses to kill or hurt people. But she has to chose between her religion or her friend's lives. I loved her onscreen as I did Andrew Ryan as Chris. He was some much needed comic relief and had a great transition learning the country's fate once he stops smoking the pot. The biggest surprise for me was watching Phoebe Tonkin as Fiona. At the start of the film I hated her and wanted to hit her, by the end I wanted to hug her. She was great in the role and was a perfect support for Ellie.
One thing that did annoy me throughout the film was the occasional inner dialogue narration from Ellie. The film starts with her talking into a camera, I am pretty sure the same thing happened in the book. She discusses how the documenting of what was happening was something they needed to do. Then we never see her talking to a camcorder again until the end of the film but we get some narration that was being taken way too serious and came across as a occasionally too philosophical. I would have much preferred if we went back to Ellie talking to a camcorder a few more times throughout the film to continue this dialogue as opposed to the way they did it. I also thought this film could have been tougher, I mean drastically more violent. You can see their hurt but in the books you read and imagine their hurt as being much more than the movie portrayed, I think this is why I found it occasionally Neighbour/ Home and Awayish - it held back where it should have gone for gold. But alas, it is a film and book series written for kids and teenagers, it would have been hard to make this one the way you imagine when reading.
Word on the street is that the second film is greenlit. The Dead of the Night will be filmed, especially going on the exciting buzz of this one, as a feature film. But after that I have heard the remainders will get made as a TV series. This I can handle if they do it well and give respect to all books through the rest of the series. As a series and as a series starter I have to say it shits all over the first Twilight. It isn't as good or as budgeted as a Harry Potter but it is Australian through and through and I love it.
The one thing that made me love this movie so much was a scene of dialogue in the middle of the film. Ellie wakes up, after her first sleep in about 48hrs of killing bad guys and surviving, back in Hell and finds Corrie reading "My Brilliant Career". She asks Corrie "How's the book?", Corrie responds with "It's better than the movie." To which Ellie states "Aren't they all". To me this was pure honesty and a fun in-house comment about the story. They knew they were making a film based on Australia's most famous teenage book series and there would be a million critics waiting to slaughter them if they slipped up. Those few lines made it alright by me. They knew they could NEVER make the film as perfect as the book but at the same time were saying "stuff it we are making it and we are going to do the best we can". It got a lot of points for that comment alone.
Tomorrow, When the War Began comes out this Thursday 2nd September at long last. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I thoroughly recommend you read all the books. Worth (8/10).
If you are in your twenties or thirties, chances are you have read one or two books from this series when you were younger. If you haven't then it is high time you did!!
Tomorrow When the war Began is the first book in the Series known as the "Tomorrow Series", a series of seven books and a further series known as "The Ellie Chronicles" by Australian Author John Marsden. It is one of the highest selling series of books ever sold in Australia.
This book was Yr 10 English reading for many Australian schools in the late 90's and early 00's and needs be brought back into the curriculum.
Tomorrow when the War Began concerns itself with seven Australian teenage friends from a rural town who go on a camping trip to "Hell" (the name given to the destination), and while on this camping trip find the way to an area many thought myth, a place well hidden, while camping in this newly found place Australia is invaded by an unnamed country, changing their lives forever.
I only discovered these books about four years ago when Carrie (a good friend) said I would love them and loaned me the first one. What followed was 2 months of me tracking down every single book and reading them cover to cover and enjoying them as much as any Harry Potter book. It's Harry Potter in the Australian outback without a wand and with a machine gun. It shows some of the strongest kids on film and Ellie Lenton has more balls than Ripley from the Alien set of movies.
It had been being tossed up for years about this movie being made and prior to me finding out first in the country and breaking the news that the casting call was out for this film I had heard it would be a TV series and then nearly cried. This series of books is epic and powerful and highly emotional packed with action. It needed to be done well, and it needed a decent budget to achieve it. And thank bloody god it got both.
The film is directed by Stuart Beattie and when I first heard he was directing this and it was his directorial debut again I nearly cried. Beattie is known for being a spectacular writer with some amazing screenplays under his belt. He wrote all the Pirates of the Carribean films, he wrote Collateral, Bra Boys, 30 Days of Night, Australia, GI Joe (yes I still love this film
) and is currently writing Halo, Northern Lights, a fictional Bra Boys and another film called Without Remorse. But, laides and gents, he has pulled off one great Australian action film. It is not only one of the first commercial action films this country has produced in a long time, but it has done it well. He manages to capture enough of the original story and maintain its tone without me wanting to kill him, and this is a big thing - read my review on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - I think I nearly got institutionalised for my anger and attack. I did find that occasionally the film slipped into meldoramatic Neighbours/ Home and Away styling but this was saved a few times by the superb cinematography of Ben Nott who most recently filmed Daybreakers. While Daybreakers was total crap the film did look great . 
At first I screamed "Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo" when I heard Caitlin Stasey was cast as Ellie Linton. This character has to be bloody tough and she was not tough at all in Neighbours - she was very girly. But after watching the film I would say it was perfect casting. I never pictured someone like Stasey when reading the book but when the credits rolled I knew that she WAS Linton. Rachel Hurd-Wood was efficient as Corrie but her part was nothing major for me. Lincoln Lewis was the biggest let down for me, I found his acting over the top and unrestrained and to solve the big issue making this book into a movie they had a hurdle to cover - never during the book do they explain the race of the people attacking Australia. It is left to Lincoln (who plays Kevin) to do some speach about "does it matter what flags they have" etc etc. This was so out of tone for the scene it felt ridiculous and I am pretty sure I made a sound of a grunted hurt as he was saying it. The other let down for me was Chris Pang as Lee, he was crap, I mean C R A P. Some of his scenes had me cringing but I do admit some of his scenes were passable, I thought he had good acting through his eyes and body movement but he should have kept his mouth shut. Deniz Akdeniz as Homer was brilliant casting, I loved him and his character was always a favourite of mine. Ashleigh Cummings, as Robyn, was also great, at first I thought she would be very annoying but her character has a powerful mountain to climb, she is religious and refuses to kill or hurt people. But she has to chose between her religion or her friend's lives. I loved her onscreen as I did Andrew Ryan as Chris. He was some much needed comic relief and had a great transition learning the country's fate once he stops smoking the pot. The biggest surprise for me was watching Phoebe Tonkin as Fiona. At the start of the film I hated her and wanted to hit her, by the end I wanted to hug her. She was great in the role and was a perfect support for Ellie.
One thing that did annoy me throughout the film was the occasional inner dialogue narration from Ellie. The film starts with her talking into a camera, I am pretty sure the same thing happened in the book. She discusses how the documenting of what was happening was something they needed to do. Then we never see her talking to a camcorder again until the end of the film but we get some narration that was being taken way too serious and came across as a occasionally too philosophical. I would have much preferred if we went back to Ellie talking to a camcorder a few more times throughout the film to continue this dialogue as opposed to the way they did it. I also thought this film could have been tougher, I mean drastically more violent. You can see their hurt but in the books you read and imagine their hurt as being much more than the movie portrayed, I think this is why I found it occasionally Neighbour/ Home and Awayish - it held back where it should have gone for gold. But alas, it is a film and book series written for kids and teenagers, it would have been hard to make this one the way you imagine when reading.
Word on the street is that the second film is greenlit. The Dead of the Night will be filmed, especially going on the exciting buzz of this one, as a feature film. But after that I have heard the remainders will get made as a TV series. This I can handle if they do it well and give respect to all books through the rest of the series. As a series and as a series starter I have to say it shits all over the first Twilight. It isn't as good or as budgeted as a Harry Potter but it is Australian through and through and I love it.
The one thing that made me love this movie so much was a scene of dialogue in the middle of the film. Ellie wakes up, after her first sleep in about 48hrs of killing bad guys and surviving, back in Hell and finds Corrie reading "My Brilliant Career". She asks Corrie "How's the book?", Corrie responds with "It's better than the movie." To which Ellie states "Aren't they all". To me this was pure honesty and a fun in-house comment about the story. They knew they were making a film based on Australia's most famous teenage book series and there would be a million critics waiting to slaughter them if they slipped up. Those few lines made it alright by me. They knew they could NEVER make the film as perfect as the book but at the same time were saying "stuff it we are making it and we are going to do the best we can". It got a lot of points for that comment alone.
Tomorrow, When the War Began comes out this Thursday 2nd September at long last. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and I thoroughly recommend you read all the books. Worth (8/10).
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Comment by Helen Randell
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I got mum to read them all and she loved them. Although she was wondering when they would ever end when I got her the Ellie Chronicles.
I had been so scared of watching the film but they really have done a pretty fine transition to the big screen and like my second last paragraph says - they will never match the books and they know it.
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But you will love this one.
JW - hope you love it - the books totally rocked.
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