SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Lancoor A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Seth_Rogue_One I struggled watching this a couple times because I hated 95% of the main cast who are all more or less genuinely terrible people and this is obvious from the very start.The movie deals with bullying and peer-pressure and the characters all felt rather real, plenty of similar characters from my old school for instance, and perhaps that is why it was initially hard for me to watch.I won't spoil it but the script could have been rather memorable if it hadn't ended up taking a safer route in the end where it should have just hit the gas pedals and made more of an impact but instead it ended up taking a bit of a detour.Visually it's very much on point though, has some gorgeous scenery and the acting is stellar as well, kind of a 'feel bad'-movie though and yeah it didn't deliver enough in the end for me not to feel that there was an opportunity to do something above average, but the director and script-writer missed it, leaving you a bit unsatisfied.

kosmasp As another reviewer put it this movie is a social commentary. It is not your feel-good movie of the week. Though that does not mean, there isn't light in here too (depending on the way you look at it and what you think it might want to achieve that is). Above all though, the movie creates a mood that is difficult to describe, but easy to grab. If you want, that is of course.This is not everyones cup of tea. As mentioned, this won't give you easy answers (maybe you don't see any answers at all in it), but it might get you to think about certain things. This isn't something you can watch to relax of course, but if you want food for discussion, if you want a movie that deals with emotions and some really strange things that are going on in our day to day life, it will be a real rewarding experience watching it.

luke-eberhardt Stylistic Australian thriller of riveting and thought provoking atmosphere. This is original enough to keep me on the edge of my seat, and once again its another extraordinary debut for an Australian talent. Its also great to see an unknown cast break out of this, performances are great from Oliver Aukland and Adelaide Clemens. Its also scary to see in this teen world where Gen Y Kids interact in their world that adults know little or nothing about, you would then ask the question are they safe or not, and it gives them concern if their not. Visually impressive, it looks gentle on the outside but dark and keep pushing the boundaries to each level. After watching this I almost feel this could definitely use another viewing.

Likes_Ninjas90 Zack (Alex Russell) and Darren (Oliver Ackland) are stepbrothers who are living under the same luxurious roof together while their parents are away. Both boys are on the high school swimming team but Zack is certified as the captain. He's involved with drugs and throwing parties though and is made untouchable by his reputation and his two friends who act like standover men. Darren is far more withdrawn. He spends most of his time studying and playing games but also manages to catch the eye of Xandrie (Adelaide Clemens). She's set to meet him at a party but he arrives late and can't find her. A jealous girl thinks that Xandrie is going to sleep with Zack so she spikes her drink and leaves her at the mercy of Zack and his goons. She is assaulted and left for dead on a beach. With the weight of guilt on his shoulders for ignoring Xandrie, Darren sets out to find out the truth, firstly consulting a security recording of the night. I admire the courage of the Australian film industry, specifically its uncompromised approach in dealing with important social issues. People who value cinema for safe, populist entertainment often sneer at these gritty and challenging films. As such, they regular fail to excite the box office and are viewed foolishly as artistically meritless. But as important as it is for a film to challenge the realities of our society, there is fine line between a well researched critique of an issue, like in Blessed and The Combination and cheap sensationalism and finger pointing. Writer and director Ben C. Lucas cannot find the balance. There's a nastiness running all throughout his film. It's deliberately claustrophobic, filmed with harsh, dark textures and cold steel. It's effective in unsettling us through its look, its heavy ambient sound effects and clever structure too. It begins in medias res, with Xandrie's body on the beach and then goes back in time to work up to the crime. Where it falters is in its lack of moderation. Lucas doesn't believe in any. His film travels from one extreme to another, solely to inflate the drama and reinforce parents' preconceived ideas about their children. Lucas likes to paint broad strokes and is for one blindly nihilistic in his outlook of multimedia. The social networking sites and the text messaging shown in the film regularly lead to miscommunication and rumour. The convenience and usefulness of the technology feels entirely overshadowed and overlooked. Even the possible video evidence of the crime takes a backseat to overly dramatic confrontations. Similarly, teenagers might not be the most pleasant people but there are very few who are completely irredeemable. Yet Lucas tries his best to make us think so about a number of his characters. There's a lot of mean- spirited behaviour, coarse dialogue and the needlessly excessive violence. At the beginning of a film a boy asks Zack about the party to which he responds in asking if he's looking for a corner to blow him. The boy is then punched in the face, without consequence. For whatever reason, a freakish red haired kid is also shown sending pictures of his penis to girls at school. There are multiple public beatings in this film too, with people punched and cracked over the head with bottles, a school shooting and even a more implied torture scene. It's gratuitous, not insightful, because these scenes exist only to be climactic, rather than having a willingness to explore deeper psychological experiences. These problems are frustrating because glimpses of more rounded and developed characters are occasionally visible. Darren is understandably driven by guilt, even if Ackland can't take us to the right emotional levels, beyond his hollow eyes. Russell also makes Zack a more interesting baddie, even if he is a little heavy handed. Zack's a sport jock, but a logical one and uses common sense to distance himself from the chaos. If only Lucas didn't undermine an interesting trait straight after Zack talks himself out of a situation with a panic attack. It weakens our belief in his confidence. Clemens impressed me the most. With limited on screen time she's appropriately more conscious about the situation than anyone else and is as such, more natural, human and touching. The lack of adult characters is still a big pitfall. It's meant to ride the metaphor that these kids have no one to answer to. But their omission is never properly explained and it allows Lucas to distance them from a lot of the blame. Like so much of the film, it just makes us wonder why he's so strictly negative about today's youth.