...often, it has been said that, movie-wise, the best ideas have long since been used up, and the ideas that are out there, are invariably being recycled, re-written and tweaked, here and there, with the initial concepts themselves alone being stale, but made 'fresh', or at least interesting, with the balanced and engaging interaction of characters involved in the concepts' scenarios. Hmmm!! Makes sense, in supposing that although the scenarios change very little, the countlessly imagined and written variety of characters...like combined chemicals...elicit different reactions and interactions...the ol' game of 'what if this type of person is thrown together with that type of person, and this type of person, and that type of person'. Looking back at the spectrum of films, spanning as far back as...well, as far back as the very beginning, the age-old scenario of a group of people...all from different walks of life, in some way, shape or form...some strangers, some not strangers, and some clearly pretending to be something, they are not...trapped together, as the result of some threat...be it monsters, gang members, frontier Indians, zombies, giant saber-toothed killer mutant gerbils...or even something as crashingly elemental as inclemently deliberating weather...with clashing egos, personality conflicts, tit-for-tat confrontations, underlinging vengeful intent, or simply the desperate act of survival, itself. In the end, if the characters aren't engagingly written well, or are ill-conceived and cliched to the point where the interaction is hardly relatable or interesting, then the well-worn scenario itself hardly matters, and the whole ball of wax falls apart. As visually striking and grim as the film proves to be, regrettably, such is the case with the lackluster, shoulder-shrugging, though somewhat redeemingly atmospheric and harrowing Aussie thriller from 2011, "Savages Crossing"......
...as the thunder, booming over the Wonga River outback flatlands, breaks the stillness of the air, with a resounding shudder...and the ever-swelling black cloud cover engulfs and devours the once glimmering of the sun, our juxstapositioned characters converge upon a lone, shanty roadhouse, just off of Savages Crossing, which...this time of year, and considering the grim, impending storm...is unfailing in being washed over, preventing anyone from coming in, or going out, as the result of the floodwaters. In diverging from the worst of the coming storm, as well as avoiding what might prove to be an abusive encounter, as the result of her psychotic criminal husband having just been released from prison, a mother, Sue...with her son, Damien, in tow...leaves the temporary peace and solace of her home, bound for her sister's high-ground place. When the storm becomes too great, on route, the mother and son find shelter at the Wonga River roadhouse, run by an attractive and feisty little gal, Kate. In the meantime, Mory, a ruggedly handsome rogue of a cowboy type, barreling down the highway in his trailerless truck rig...having just secured his prized herd from the overbearing weather...is stopped while halfway across a well-flooded Savage Crossing, by a stranded vehicle, clearly unable to make the distance, over the flooded overpass; pulling the driver...a mysteriously sinister-looking type...out of his flooded vehicle, and tossing him into the cab of his truck, the cowboy continues to trudge across the bridge, making it to the other side...and bound for the only nearly safe cover...the Wonga River roadhouse. Add to the mix, two precocious, vacationing gals, Shay and Mickey, whose scenic tour across the outback, is of course, cut short, when the weather becomes too much, and they find themselves amidst the growing company, at the roadhouse...
...matters become as unstable as the pounding weather outside, when Mory...who is well acquainted with Kate...brings his mysterious passenger into the stranded fold...the latter of whom immediately & inexplicably...from the others' point of view...tears into the nervous, albeit suspicious mother-and-son duo, with threats and accusations...and at gunpoint, to boot. And, to make matters worse, in laying siege upon, and taking control of the diner and it's hapless occupants at gunpoint, the enraged stranger...now claiming to be Sue's husband, Phil...finds his desperate position suddenly compromised, with the arrival of an equally enraged and well-armed police detective, whom Phil has clearly clashed with, before...and who may not entirely be what he claims to be...
...yes, folks...as the well-quoted axiom reads, '...water is wet, sky is blue...and people have secrets'; however, the
crust of the trouble with "Savages Crossing" lies in the fact that the secrets amongst the characters herein, are...well, let's just say that it
doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure them out. Things all pretty much come together, fairly predictably and early in these desperate proceedings, and all that's left to wonder, is how these people will act, in the midst of these desperate events. Granted, the gripping conclusion of these events is capped with the prerequisite and ironic 'twist' ending; but even this...so obvious in how it is laid out...can be seen as a distinct and eventual possibility...a probability, as
easily foreseeable as the solution to a simple algebraic equation...
...the characters
themselves?? As seemingly predictable as the storyline itself...with
perhaps a glimmer of intrigue and interest. Surprisingly enough, as minimally as she is used, Jessica Napier as Kate, the proprietor of the roadhouse establishment, comes as cross as the
most interesting, here, by virtue of her gung-ho tendencies, in playing the feisty, bat-at-ready mediator...exuding something more than the cliched suggestion of women of these parts, being 'a tough breed'. Craig McLachlan, as our hunky rogue, comes off as slightly
less heroic in execution, and eventually, much
more recklessly impulsive and gullible as one might expect. Some (...like this perceptive and nostalgically observant viewer) might experience an 'oh wow' moment, in recognizing Angela Punch McGregor, in the role of Sue, the suspiciously nervous mother; she eerily portrayed Michael Caine's forced piratess beau, in the 1980 thriller, "The Island". And the
biggest non-surprise herein, John Jarrett's villainous role as Phil...nothing new, nothing ventured, in a performance, although somewhat restrained, by comparison, is clearly meant to capitalize and exploit the similar, and much more psychotically extroversive presence, which he gave us, in the deliciously horrifying and sadistic 2005 cult terror film, "Wolf Creek"...
...having also
written the screenplay for this film, all due credit to John Jarrett, who
does hit the right marks as far as instilling the proper tension and suspense into these proceedings, with the
best aspect of these events, being the indomitable storm visuals; but in the end, one cannot help but feel that we've
seen this all before. A great film for those uninitiated with this genre, but for those well seasoned in thrillers long past...not
entirely a wasted evening's viewing, but on the whole...again, nothing really new...nothing really ventured.....
...often, it has been said that, movie-wise, the best ideas have long since been used up, and the ideas that are out there, are invariably being recycled, re-written and tweaked, here and there, with the initial concepts themselves alone being stale, but made 'fresh', or at least interesting, with the balanced and engaging interaction of characters involved in the concepts' scenarios. Hmmm!! Makes sense, in supposing that although the scenarios change very little, the countlessly imagined and written variety of characters...like combined chemicals...elicit different reactions and interactions...the ol' game of 'what if this type of person is thrown together with that type of person, and this type of person, and that type of person'. Looking back at the spectrum of films, spanning as far back as...well, as far back as the very beginning, the age-old scenario of a group of people...all from different walks of life, in some way, shape or form...some strangers, some not strangers, and some clearly pretending to be something, they are not...trapped together, as the result of some threat...be it monsters, gang members, frontier Indians, zombies, giant saber-toothed killer mutant gerbils...or even something as crashingly elemental as inclemently deliberating weather...with clashing egos, personality conflicts, tit-for-tat confrontations, underlinging vengeful intent, or simply the desperate act of survival, itself. In the end, if the characters aren't engagingly written well, or are ill-conceived and cliched to the point where the interaction is hardly relatable or interesting, then the well-worn scenario itself hardly matters, and the whole ball of wax falls apart. As visually striking and grim as the film proves to be, regrettably, such is the case with the lackluster, shoulder-shrugging, though somewhat redeemingly atmospheric and harrowing Aussie thriller from 2011, "Savages Crossing"......
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