Predictable and dull - premonition
I've not yet seen it but based on the small amount I see about it, I can't determine that there are a lot of compelling reasons for me to want to see it.
There will be, I predict;
- Caton doing his gruff, lip-smacking Caton thing. He's a one-trick pony, so don't get your hopes up
- Scenic shots of random bits of Australian outback with jangly guitar and digeridoo in the background, probably with a long focal length. And some dust in the air.
- A sunset or two, some 'roos hopping around
- Grubby, sweaty characters with 'battler' writ large upon them but all ultimately with hearts of gold
- Definitely some aboriginal people in there, perhaps some kids running alongside the car as it travels, perhaps some folk looking all lost and stolen generation and sad.
- A scene where Caton ignores the earnest advice of a young but well meaning Doctor, which it turns out later that he should have.
- A scene where Caton 'connects' with aboriginal people, bringing sudden new meaning into his life. I'm sure even Caton can manage directions to 'show us the slow dawning of surprise on your face' - all he has to do is let his mouth hang open and raise his eyebrows.
- A not particularly subtle reference to 'The Castle'. Pool room, perhaps?
- A hitchiker in the middle of nowhere.
- Mechanical trouble at a time that later turns out to be fortuitous, but at the time is a major inconveiniance
There'll be more but you get the essential picture. Not a movie made for Australians to watch but a movie made for people elsewhere to watch about some fictional Australia that does not exist. The clue is in the blurb "...epic drive through the outback from BH to Darwin". Any Australian would well understand that on the scale of things, a drive from Brokie to Darwin is pretty mundane, two, three days at the most, exercise in getting from point A to point B on well formed well traveled roads.