MIFF Day 1
MIFF 2010 is on, and kicking off the festival for me was a film I had high hopes of...
RED HILL
The trailer for this had me excited, it looked gorgeous and suggested a modern day western set up in the hill country of Victoria. It starts promisingly, with stunning vistas and the hint of supernatural menace in the hills. But once news of a prison break hits the local television it quickly shifts into a revenge outlaw story, with our hero Shane (Ryan Kwanten) the hapless new cop (his first day no less) stuck between escaped murderer Jimmy (Tom E Lewis) and the men of Red Hill, led by the local police chief Bill (Steve Bisley). Director Patrick Hughes frames the action well, stages some impressive setpiece moments and kicks things along at a good clip. But the story is slight, and occasionally stupid. Why the hell a bunch of men with guns are so terrified of a man that they can't even shoot him in the back eludes me. There are moments so inane I was groaning in disbelief. Fortunately that's only about 20 minutes in the middle of the film, and the rest of the story rocks along a bit more steadily. Solid enough genre fare, good fun, and did I mention the cinematography is bloody awesome?
RED HILL
The trailer for this had me excited, it looked gorgeous and suggested a modern day western set up in the hill country of Victoria. It starts promisingly, with stunning vistas and the hint of supernatural menace in the hills. But once news of a prison break hits the local television it quickly shifts into a revenge outlaw story, with our hero Shane (Ryan Kwanten) the hapless new cop (his first day no less) stuck between escaped murderer Jimmy (Tom E Lewis) and the men of Red Hill, led by the local police chief Bill (Steve Bisley). Director Patrick Hughes frames the action well, stages some impressive setpiece moments and kicks things along at a good clip. But the story is slight, and occasionally stupid. Why the hell a bunch of men with guns are so terrified of a man that they can't even shoot him in the back eludes me. There are moments so inane I was groaning in disbelief. Fortunately that's only about 20 minutes in the middle of the film, and the rest of the story rocks along a bit more steadily. Solid enough genre fare, good fun, and did I mention the cinematography is bloody awesome?
posted by Andrew Lee at 12:05 AM
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