Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Cody One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Hajimoto0625 A short bit into watching this film, it dawned on me (no pun intended) that this is the Australian version of Red Dawn. Which is not a bad thing. I've always enjoyed the original version of Red Dawn. And just like it, TWTWB is not overly deep, but is an entertaining movie that will not bore you.The good: The movie is visually stunning and has a good soundtrack. The action sequences are fun with excellent effects. The acting, while not great, is good enough to not be an issue. Caitlin Stasey and Deniz Akdeniz were the best of the bunch. Also, a special shoutout to the opening and closing credits, which were really cool.The not so good: The script was a bit weak. The character development was rushed, but I think this was to enable the movie to get to the action. I imagine the book is much better, but I have not read it.Summary: This is not a deep movie, and I suspect it appeals to a younger audience (like the Hunger Games demographic). But it holds your interest and actually goes faster than you'd like it to. I was surprised when it was over that an hour and 43 minutes had passed. If you're looking for amazing concept and dialogue, you won't find it here. But if you are looking to be entertained for 103 minutes, TWTWB will definitely do the job.I give it a solid 6 stars!

SnoopyStyle Ellie Linton (Caitlin Stasey) and Corrie McKenzie (Rachel Hurd-Wood) are best friends in the small Australian town of Wirrawee. They plan an outback camping trip during the Australian Day holidays and invite a few of their classmates; Corrie's boyfriend Kevin Holmes (Lincoln Lewis), Ellie's neighbor Homer Yannos (Deniz Akdeniz), townie Fiona Maxwell (Phoebe Tonkin), preacher's daughter Robyn Mathers (Ashleigh Cummings), and Lee Takkam (Chris Pang). The group witnesses several military planes flying overhead. They return home to find an invasion by an unnamed Asian force. Most of the town has been rounded up. The nearby bridge is a key access to a port captured by the enemy. The group struggles to survive and fight back.The plot is basically Red Dawn. The kids especially the girls are all YA pretty. There is some YA romancing. The action is better than bad. It has good real and good CGI but not good realism. While there is action, the tension is never high. This is derivative. It doesn't have the guts to name the invaders. Caitlin Stasey has good screen presence. The acting is generally good enough but the material is not that great. There isn't anything great or that original to recommend here.

jimanuel12 i am just amazed that most of the reviews here for any movie - are always worse than anyone can believe. most of the trolls on here don't know a good movie when they see one. this is a very good movie - the acting is very good - the special effects will blow you away. it is really like an Australian version of "Red Dawn" - it is kind of silly that a group of teenagers would go to war and hold off an experienced army that has invaded their country but at the the same time you have to remember that was the setting in Red Dawn also. i had never heard of the movie until a saw a trailer on another DVD - so i had to buy it and was not at all disappointed. if you liked Red Dawn - then you will like this one also. If you hated Red Dawn - then you will hate this one as well. But - give it a chance and judge for yourself - don't let the trolls here make the decision for you. i for one - i liked it very much and plan to watch it again very soon.

Josh Daly As Sun Tzu once said "to defeat evil Asians, you should employ teenage girls who have never used assault rifles, because only they can save Australia!" This movie was an adaptation of the first book in a would-be franchise (had the movie not died at the global box office) about some teenagers who return to their home after a camping/hiking trip to find that their home town in Australia has been occupied by some miscellaneous Asians. Of course, I use the word "miscellaneous" because they never actually clarify where they come from and absolutely none of them have personalities besides "evil" or "silly" or "cannon fodder". What I will say is that the movie has perfectly fine production values, I never felt distracted by anything other than the flimsy writing. Although, I thought the blood effects were reminiscent of The Last Stand - a movie in which blood is presented as weird red mist that doesn't land on anything. I never felt unconvinced by the action scenes, even though I was completely uninvolved thanks to the poorly written characters and the flimsy script. The actors and actresses don't do any more than what they're meant to do as their respective characters. They don't really do very much to convince the audience (or critics) that their performance or characters are memorable. The action scenes are disappointingly void, thanks to their plain or slightly agitated expressions that the various performers show while they are being shot at by the miscellaneous Asians who are arguably more convincing than the main characters.Unfortunately, the script is so flimsy that a lot of scenes lack gravitas. What I mean by this is that the character interactions aren't realistic or what you would really expect from the characters that have been developed. Needy Christian girl becomes pseudo-war- hero? Bored-looking teenager gives motivational speech to a stoner about his idle behaviour? I wish the movie would be a bit less "movie"; a lot of the dialogue is cliché or some of the movie's moments seem ripped- off or rehashed from elsewhere. It doesn't help that the film is so disappointingly cynical either.Why did this movie fail, though? Personally, I don't feel like this movie deserved to fail like it did. There was clearly an audience for it, even though this movie doesn't appeal to me, it appeals to many young adults out there. Some of which bought the books that this movie came from. The production values are definitely hard to deny, but I still don't feel as if it is as impressive as a movie such as The Raid: Redemption which had a smaller budget. I would like to blame the poor marketing and the R rating this film earned.To be honest, this film isn't very R rated, and if this was advertised properly then I would guarantee a box office success. This film has action and character drama and is full of content and some of the set pieces could match those seen in movies such as The Hunger Games. It's just a shame that the posters and trailers seemed so lifeless, bland and generic - with no sense of joy or character. It's even more of a shame that the marketing wasn't exactly misleading either, because that's what this cynical mess was...