Aquaman

Official Australian release date: 26/12/18. Viewed: 26/12/18.

Director: James Wan

Actors: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

     

‘Aquaman’ is almost the best DC film since the Dark Knight trilogy – it’s certainly more fun, colourful and enjoyable than ‘Justice League’, ‘Batman v Superman’ and ‘Man of Steel’. ‘Wonder Woman’ is still the benchmark, but only just. The film works well as both an origin story and a coming-of-age story. Arthur (Momoa) is the offspring of Tom (Morrison), a lighthouse keeper, and exiled Queen of Atlantis, Atlanna (Kidman), making him half-man, half-Atlantean and the heir to the underwater kingdom of Atlantis.

We see Arthur trained by Vulko (Dafoe) in flashbacks and helped in the present by Mera (Heard). To stop his step-brother Orm (Wilson) from starting a war with the “surface dwellers”, Arthur has to embark on a journey to track down an ancient trident that will make him King of Atlantis and unite the two realms. There’s enough tongue-in-cheek-ness and charm from Momoa to help you past some of the daft moments – Manta’s suit (overall a weak villain), octopus drums, plesiosaurs, underwater fire and giant seahorses.

It’s not too long (just over 2 hours) and is fast-paced and much of the story makes it feel like a cross between ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’, with many of the underwater colours reminiscent of ‘Avatar’ – none of which are bad things. The battle at the end is all a bit absurd, but there’s so much colour, action and humour to make it worthwhile. Wish all DC films were as joyful as this!  

Overall: Fun and not-too-serious – good superhero film.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Mary Poppins Returns

Official Australian release date: 1/1/19. Viewed: 21/12/18.

Director: Rob Marshall

Actors: Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Colin Firth, Ben Whishaw

Genre: Musical / Fantasy

Rating: G

     

‘Mary Poppins Returns’ is the longest-gap between an original film and it’s sequel – 55 years! It obviously begs the question: did we need a sequel? From Marshall, director of ‘Chicago’, ‘Into The Woods’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 4’, this sequel is as much as homage to the original and doesn’t necessarily add anything new. The plot’s simple – Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown-up (~25 years later, ~1930) and Michael has three kids of his own, but the bank’s trying to repossess his house, so they need to find a certificate of shares to save the house.

Since everything’s chaotic, Mary Poppins (Blunt) shows up to help look after the kids – John (Saleh), Anabel (Davies) & Georgie (Dawson) – and teach the kids some lessons, such as how to have baths and fix broken bowls. The maid Ellen (Walters), the Admiral (Warner) and Dawes Jr (van Dyke) are all back, adding familiarity straight away. The film starts with a song – leaving no doubt this is a musical – by Jack (Miranda), a protégé of Bert’s, who met Mary as a kid.

There’s some good animated (traditional cartoons, not CGI, which is nice) scenes, but overall nothing truly exciting or original seems to happen. None of the songs seem that memorable, with the best probably being the ‘Trip a little light fantastic’ one from all the lamplighters, but like the chimney sweeps in the original, it goes for way too long. The poignant ‘Place where lost things go’ song and scene with the kids & Michael is touching. The other 6+ songs I could’ve done without! For some reason, there seems to be sections of the film where Mary Poppins is barely on-screen. If anything, the film probably needed more of Mortimer. Both Blunt & Miranda are good, without being outstanding. Predictable nice ending.

Overall: An inoffensive kids film, but nothing spectacular.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Overlord

Official Australian release date: 6/12/18. Viewed: 15/12/18.

Director: Julius Avery

Actors: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbaek

Genre: War / Horror

Rating: R

     

‘Overlord’ was the codename for the Battle of Normandy in 1944 – and that’s exactly where the film starts, with some American troops on a plane crossing the English Channel. The first 15min is hectic and extremely realistic – possibly the best war opening since ‘Saving Private Ryan’. The film plays like a genuine World War Two film for the first hour or so, following Ed (Adepo), Ford (Russell), Tibbet (Magaro), Chase (De Caestecker) & Rosenfeld (Applewhite) behind Nazi lines in France.

They have a mission to blow up a Nazi communications bunker and are sheltered by Chloe (Ollivier), which brings some nice tension to some scenes. All the actors are good, and we get to meet the local Nazi commander, Wafner (Asbaek), who’s set up nicely as the main bad guy. The team then have less than six hours to blow up the bunker before the invasion begins.

Then the film takes a bit of a twist, elaborating on the rumours of Nazi scientists experimenting with all sorts of weird science – in this case they’re working on some sort of Lazarus Pit which brings people back to life, once enough people are sacrificed. There’s some gruesome stuff and plenty of blood – the R-rating’s well-earned. It’s well-paced, has an excellent score and is fun throughout.

Overall: Great mix of a WWII film and some zombie scares.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Mortal Engines

Official Australian release date: 6/12/18. Viewed: 7/12/18.

Director: Christian Rivers

Actors: Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan, Hugo Weaving, Jihae

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

     

‘Mortal Engines’ is apparently based on a book, but I’ve not read it. Maybe if I had, the film would make a bit more sense… As it stands, it came across like a mix of ‘Into The Badlands’, ‘Wild Wild West’ and ‘Terminator’ – but with none of the best bits from any of them. Plot is that Hester Shaw (Hilmar) is trying to get vengeance against Valentine (Weaving) for killing her mum, and she’s helped by Tom (Sheehan) & Anna (Jihae). The catch is it’s 200 years in the post-apocalyptic future and most of the world’s cities are giant mobile tanks, for some reason.

A number of questions – why is the bad city/tank “London”? Why did they turn bad? Why is an Australian (Weaving) playing a Brit? Why do two 30-year-old’s find it so hard to kiss? Is that an American “PG-13” thing? How to the physics of the city/tanks work? Seems like they wouldn’t be able to move anywhere near as fast as they do. Where does the fuel for the plane/blimps come from? Why are there Terminator-like resurrected cyborgs?

Anyway, there’s some nice visuals, but lots of too-fast camerawork and plenty of CGI, which is both good and bad. Both Hilmar and Sheehan are likeable. Not sure if the side plots with Kate & Bevis, or Shrike, were needed. I’m sure some teenagers may like this, but there’s really nothing too novel here at all.

Overall: Average attempt at sci-fi.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

The Old Man & The Gun

Official Australian release date: 15/11/18. Viewed: 11/11/18.

Director: David Lowery

Actors: Robert Redford, Sissy Spacek, Casey Affleck, Danny Glover

Genre: Crime / Drama

Rating: M

     

‘The Old Man & The Gun’ is Robert Redford’s final acting role. It’s not quite a fitting finale – he’s great as Forrest Tucker, the aging bank robber, but the overall film fall’s a little flat. Based on a true story, most of his exciting adventures and prison breaks are glossed over, in favour of him finding late-life love with (Spacek). He can’t curb his compulsion to rob banks however, and it assisted by Teddy (Glover) & Waller (Waits), but underutilised.

Detective Hunt (Affleck) is the Texas cop out to catch him – we also spend unnecessary amounts of time with his home-life. The chemistry between Redford and Spacek is good, and he’s still as charming as ever. Affleck plays an exhausted cop as almost too dreary. Instead of seeing any heist planning or prison breaks (besides a montage), we instead get Redford and Spacek talking in a diner, walking, or making tea.

Thankfully, it’s a quick 90min film, but the pacing and action could’ve been much better. Tehre’s some chuckles, but nothing hilarious. You’re better off re-watching ‘The Sting’!

Overall: Interesting true story, but lacklustre execution.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Bohemian Rhapsody

Official Australian release date: 1/11/18. Viewed: 2/11/18.

Director: Bryan Singer

Actors: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy

Genre: Music / Drama

Rating: M

     

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is the story of Queen, one of England – and the world’s – greatest ever rock bands. More specifically, the film focuses predominantly on Freddie Mercury (Malek)’s life, genius and struggles. It must be said that Malek, his mannerisms and fake teeth are exceptionally close to the real-life Freddie.

The film is helped by not being 100% about their music, albums and touring, but also not spending excessive time with Freddie’s personal life. The other Queen members get their fair share of screen time – guitarist Brian May (Lee, uncannily similar), drummer Roger Taylor (Hardy) and bass player John Deacon (Mazello) – and have lots of good moments. Mary (Boynton) plays a key figure, being Freddie’s wife early on.

The film does delve into some of the trappings of celebrity that Freddie fell into, but does showcase Queen’s music superbly – the making of Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust and We Will Rock You is fun and insightful. The climax of the film is Freddie seeing his parents and then an almost note-for-note replica of Queen’s Live Aid performance at Wembley Stadium and it’s superb.

Overall: Excellent if you like Queen, still great even if you somehow don’t.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

A Simple Favour

Official Australian release date: 13/9/18. Viewed: 13/10/18.

Director: Paul Feig

Actors: Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells

Genre: Mystery / Drama

Rating: M

     

‘A Simple Favour’ is a seemingly-simple story of an odd-couple of friends – straight-laced Stephanie (Kendrick) and brash Emily (Lively) – who become friends after their school-aged sons become friends. When Emily goes missing, Stephanie helps Emily’s husband Sean (Golding) though the tough time. This is when clues and odd things begin happening and the mystery starts to unfold.

It’s not really a traditional thriller/disappearance film, with the film following Stephanie, rather than detectives searching for Emily. The film’s not overly somber and has a few laughs – it is Feig after all. There’s a few twists, but nothing exceptionally original. It’s certainly no ‘Gone Girl’.

The film succeeds almost purely on the back of the charismatic performances of Kendrick & Lively. Both are easy and fun to watch, alone and together. Golding (from ‘Crazy Rich Asians’) is well used and the score throughout is interesting and fun. Nothing groundbreaking, but an enjoyable tale.

Overall: Decent murder-mystery.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

First Man

Official Australian release date: 11/10/18. Viewed: 11/10/18.

Director: Damien Chazelle

Actors: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Corey Stoll

Genre: Biopic / Drama

Rating: M

     

‘First Man’ is the story of Neil Armstrong (Gosling) and how he became the first human to walk on the moon. It’s amazing that after almost 50 years, this film’s never been made before – but we’ve had ‘Space Cowboys’! While largely focused on Armstrong, the film does a good job of showing how essential all the other NASA engineers and astronauts were during the 1960s to making the Apollo 11 mission a success.

The film spends almost as much time exploring Neil’s relationships with his family – wife Janet (Foy) & sons Eric (Winters) and Mark (Blodgett). They certainly go through their share of tragedies and funerals, making the film quite melodramatic. White (Clarke), Aldrin (Stoll) & Collins (Haas) don’t get that much to do. It almost gets bogged down in politics in the middle too. While Gosling’s OK, he comes across a quite bland and boring – possibly intentionally. I think he was going for humble, but ended up as mild.

The film’s at it’s best when it’s focusing on space – rather than watching the rocket launch from distance, like on TV, we’re stuck in the cockpit with the astronauts as they’re shut in, and it’s quite claustrophobic. But instead of cutting away, we experience lift-off from their point of view – all the noise, shaking and velocity. It’s annoying there’s often a black screen for seconds at a time, but it’s realistic for space. The score’s OK and you do get to spend some time on the moon. It’s certainly no ‘Apollo 13’ or ‘Gravity’, but has it’s moments.

Overall: Not overly engaging historical drama

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Searching

Official Australian release date: 13/9/18. Viewed: 6/10/18.

Director: Aneesh Chaganty

Actors: John Cho, Debra Messing, Michelle La, Joseph Lee

Genre: Drama / Mystery

Rating: M

   

‘Searching’ is very much a film of the times – an inventive concept of always being viewed through a screen –computer, phone, FaceTime, YouTube, TV, etc. It’s directed by first-time director Chaganty, who’s only 27, and does make you realise how much screen-time occupies our lives these days. Thankfully, rather than a film with just this gimmick, it’s actually a well-made mystery/thriller.

David (Cho) is struggling to connect with his teenage daughter, Margot (La), after his wife passes away (nice montage to start the film). As I imagine most teenagers do these days, she mostly communicates with him by text, so once he hasn’t heard from her for more than a day, he starts to get worried. Detective Vick (Messing) and Peter (Lee), his brother, get involved in trying to find out who her friends were, via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

The film does well to lead you along David’s logic as he’s trying to find his daughter and Cho is good at showing his anguish. There’s a few good twists and some nice tension at times. Great final 15min – the entire film’s well-paced and keeps you on the hook throughout.

Overall: Interesting and unique mystery.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Venom

Official Australian release date: 4/10/18. Viewed: 4/10/18.

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Actors: Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate

Genre: Sci-Fi / Action

Rating: M

   

From the director of ‘Zombieland’ comes ‘Venom’, a non-Marvel Cinematic Universe film, featuring Spider-Man’s arch-nemesis – but no Spider-Man (who’s over in the MCU). Since it’s a movie about an alien (“symbiote”) turning Eddie Brock (Hardy) into a superhero/antihero, you should suspend disbelief and expectations at the start. The symbiote is brought to Earth by Drake (Ahmed), a Branson/Musk-type who wants to colonize space. He’s obviously evil.

Anne (Williams) is Eddie’s ex and has some scenes, as does Skirth (Slate), who’s experimenting on the symbiotes. We finally get to see Venom about 50min in, after quite a bit of unnecessary build-up, and all hell essentially breaks loose. There’s a pretty good car chase – we’re obviously in San Francisco so the cars can get plenty of air – and some solid action/fight scenes.

While it’s all quite daft, and some of the scenes have the camera moving way too fast, overall it’s Hardy, his charisma, and how he interacts with Venom that make it enjoyable and not totally stupid. The CGI’s quite good and it’s fun to see some of his powers. There’s a few jokes – but definitely don’t expect another ‘Deadpool’.

Overall: Fun enough, but not spectacular.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

The Predator

Official Australian release date: 13/9/18. Viewed: 20/9/18.

Director: Shane Black

Actors: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay

Genre: Sci-Fi / Action

Rating: MA

   

‘The Predator’ is the fourth film (we don’t count the two ‘Alien Vs Predator’ films) in the series and does exactly what it should – has Predators killing people, soldiers killing people, lots of explosions, some jungle, and some humour. The pretty-thin plot is – an “upgraded” Predator is sent to Earth to hunt down a rogue Predator. Stick around to the end to see the silly reasoning.

McKenna (Holbrook, from ‘Narcos’) is the hero, with his son Rory (Tremblay) having a key part to play. Casey (Munn) is somehow an evolutionary biologist and the rest of the cast is a ragtag crew of mentally-unstable soldiers – Nebraska (Rhodes), Coyle (Key), Baxley (Jane), Nettles (Aguilera) & Lynch (Allen). They all have just enough to do to make them interesting – and bump-up the body count. Traeger (Brown) is the typical government agent/bad guy.

It takes about 20min to get going, but once it does, the pace is good, there’s plenty of action and fighting, but also a lot of stupid moments, which are also counteracted with some genuine laughs – e.g. why it’s called “the Predator”. Sufficient amounts of gore and blood. Not better or worse than ‘Predator 2’ or ‘Predators’, which is good.

Overall: Fun foray back to the Predator-galaxy.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Crazy Rich Asians

Official Australian release date: 30/8/18. Viewed: 26/8/18.

Director: Jon Chu

Actors: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina

Genre: Comedy / Romance

Rating: PG

   

‘Crazy Rich Asians’ is both very simple and subtly intricate, for a romantic comedy. The plot is pretty straightforward – Nick (Golding) & his girlfriend Rachel (Wu), live in New York and are visiting Singapore for Nick’s friend’s wedding. The trouble comes from Nick’s mother, Eleanor (Yeoh) and the fact that he hasn’t disclosed that he comes from an obscenely rich family and that everyone’s going to be judging Rachel.

There’s plenty of things going on – mummy issues, historical Asian family traditions, culture vs modernity, being set almost exclusively in Singapore, rather than America – but it mostly boils down to the old adage of it’s what’s on the inside that counts. While there is some drama, family politics and serious moments – mostly with Eleanor, Astrid (Chan) & Michael (Png) – they’re offset by the varied cast, with some great comedic moments from Peik Lin (Awkwafina), who steals the show in her scenes, Bernard (Yang), Eddie (Chieng) & Wye (Jeong).

It’s probably a little long at two hours, but the Singaporean/Malaysian scenery is great to see, as is the soundtrack, with Chinese versions of popular English songs. Both Golding and Wu are likeable leads, with good chemistry. Overall, it’s a well-made & balanced film – not too stupid, not too sappy, not too unrealistic.

Overall: Assured, mostly-fun rom-com

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

The Happytime Murders

Official Australian release date: 23/8/18. Viewed: 24/8/18.

Director: Brian Henson

Actors: Bill Baretta, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Elizabeth Banks

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

   

‘The Happytime Murders’ tries to do what ‘Team America’ did – mixing puppets and adult humour – but ultimately fails. Sure, there’s some credibility being that it’s directed by Jim Henson’s son, but while the puppets all look like ‘Muppets’ knock-offs, there’s no Muppet joy or sense of fun. The plot is that Phil (Baretta – the voice of Pepé from the Muppets) has to work with his ex-cop-partner, Edwards (McCarthy) to solve the murders of the former stars of “Happytime” TV show.

The cast is good – Bubbles (Rudolph), Phil’s the secretary, jerk FBI Agent Campbell (McHale), the Lieutenant (Baker) & Phil’s ex-girlfriend Jenny (Banks) – but mostly underutilised. The main issue is the writing – there’s some jokes, but just not many funny ones, unfortunately. A lot of the humour resorts to the puppets swearing or doing something gross, which isn’t shocking anymore – not after ‘Sausage Party’!   

Melissa McCarthy’s OK, but doesn’t really have that much to do, the actual murders they’re solving are very predictable, so it ends up not working as a cop film or a comedy. There’s some message in there about sugar being the worst drug of all, but it’s glossed over. Since I didn’t laugh more than a couple of times throughout it’s very short runtime, I can’t rate this very highly, since that’s it’s main job – to make me laugh.

Overall: Failed attempt at subversion

Gav's Rating: 2 stars.

The Meg

Official Australian release date: 16/8/18. Viewed: 11/8/18.

Director: Jon Turteltaub

Actors: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Cliff Curtis, Rainn Wilson

Genre: Action

Rating: M

   

From the director of ‘Cool Runnings’, ‘Phenomenon’ and ‘Last Vegas’ (diverse filmography, Turteltaub!) comes ‘The Meg’, a film about a really big shark. So big (25m!), in fact, that it’s a prehistoric Megalodon. It’s pretty much the same premise as ‘Piranha’ – which begs the question – why did this film require three writers?!? Needless to say, there’s not much plot, other than Jonas (Statham) trying to save people from sunken submersibles, that keep getting attacked by the “Meg”.

Now, for such a ridiculous idea, it’s played quite earnestly throughout, especially with romantic interest Suyin (Li), her Dad (Chao), Jonas’ friend Mac (Curtis), and to a lesser degree, Morris (Wilson), the billionaire who’s bankrolling the oilrig-turned-marine-science-lab. Definitely could’ve done with more tongue-in-cheek-ness – although Suyin’s daughter Meiying (Cai) steals all her scenes. Ruby Rose, Jessica McNamee and Page Kennedy are mostly wasted.

Main gripe – needed more deaths! If you’re watching a film about a giant shark (which doesn’t appear for first 30min), you want to see 20+ people getting eaten. Not sure it even cracks 10… All that being said, there’s a few jumps, some laughs and it definitely doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Not as kitchy as it could’ve been, but certainly no ‘Jaws’ or ‘Deep Blue Sea’.

Overall: Average Statham-saves-the-day film, with shark.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings

Official Australian release date: 26/7/18. Viewed: 28/7/18.

Director: Hark Tsui

Actors: Mark Chao, Shaofeng Feng, Kenny Lin, Sichun Ma

Genre: Action

Rating: MA

   

‘Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings’ is the third in this series of Chinese kung fu films, after the original ‘Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame’ back in 2010 and ‘Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon’ (2013). The plot follows Dee (Chao) as he leads an ancient FBI and his friendship/rivalry with Yuchi (Feng) and mentorship of Shatuo (Lin), as they try to protect/hide the Dragon Taming Mace, which has powers (like Excalibur).

Despite the four ‘heavenly kings’ of the title, they barely make an appearance or have an impact on the story. Rather, it’s all about sorcery and a clan (the “Wind Warriors”) who want to topple the dynasty. The sorcery aspect means there’s plenty of special effects, most of it really well done. The dragon and the battle at the end are exceptional. Even the “illusionists”, including Water Moon (Ma), are pretty cool.

There’s still some mystery and police work for Dee to solve, but it’s also merged well with the sorcery and political intrigue with the Empress and Emperor. It’s well paced, not too long, with some funny moments and, obviously has excellent stunts and fight-scene choreography that’s more than worth the price of admission. It all adds up to a fun ride!

Overall: Another enjoyable piece of foreign cinema.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Official Australian release date: 2/8/18. Viewed: 27/7/18.

Director: Chris McQuarrie

Actors: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg

Genre: Action

Rating: M

   

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (MI6) follows on closely from ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’, with the IMF trying to round up the Syndicate/Apostles. This leads them to chasing some stolen nuclear bombs – always good when the stakes are high! Most of the gang are back – Ethan (Cruise), Benji (Pegg), Luther (Rhames), Ilsa (Ferguson), Julia (Monaghan) & Hunley (Baldwin) – but no Renner, with Lane (Harris) still the main bad guy controlling the bad guys. Walker (Cavill) is the new guy – a CIA agent sent to watch over the team after they initially lose the plutonium.

As always, the highlight is the action – there’s some exceptional fight scenes here (especially the best bathroom fight since ‘True Lies’) and some excellent car/motorbike chases. There’s also the classic M:I masks and possibly a quadruple-cross? I lost count, but it certainly makes things intriguing.

The stunts are stunning – and very impressive, given Cruise is now 56 – and kudos to the director for leaving in the building-jump where Cruise breaks his ankle: it looks great & is so realistic! The helicopter scenes are exceptional and, as always, there’s plenty of Cruise running. The scenery – Norway & New Zealand filling in for Kashmir, plus Paris and London – adds another layer to the action. Six films in 23 years seems right – not overload, but enough to keep you interested (there’s been eight Bond films, by comparison). Very enjoyable spy thriller.

Overall: Best one yet?

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Occupation

Official Australian release date: 12/7/18. Viewed: 13/7/18.

Director: Luke Sparke

Actors: Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Stephany Jacobsen, Charles Terrier

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

   

‘Occupation’ is an Australian indie film, which happens to be a sci-fi invasion film with lots of special effects. It’s essentially a cross between ‘Tomorrow, When The War Began’/‘Red Dawn’ and ‘Monsters’ – and unfortunately isn’t as good as any of them. Its not all bad, but you can tell it’s a low budget film with not the best actors.

Part of the problem is too many characters – 10 main ones. Why not just focus on four or five? The main stars are Matt (Ewing), Peter (Morrison), Amelia (Jacobsen) and Jackson (Terrier). Other major gripes: why would aliens invade Murwillumbah, population 10,000? Why would they be playing Australian Rules and not Rugby League? Why do aliens always have to be humanoid & approximately human-sized? Why do they need to have such large eyes? That being said, it’s nice to see Aussie scenery & hear our accent for a change and the filmmakers certainly tried.

There’s probably a bit too much shaky-cam and gun battles, but the main concern is that a lot of it comes across as too corny and/or earnest. Could’ve done with a bit more humour/tongue-in-cheekness. Some good explosions and fight scenes, and doesn’t take too long to get going.

Overall: Unpolished, but valiant alien flick.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.