Unfortunately, we make very few films here in Australia, and we rarely make great films, that's why when a fairly ok movie comes out, we all get excited. Our local movie critics are also incapable of judging local films without bias. They too, get overexcited and rave on about a film like "The Dry". This is not a boring film, or am awful experience, however, it's really not that great. Of course, we all get sentimental when we see the Australian landscape photographed in a movie, it's close to our hearts and we get touched by it. This film has all the ingredients to potentially have been a great film, but that opportunity was missed. The story has many holes, the constant flashbacks get confusing, the performances are not that great, Eric Bana has no chemistry with anyone on the screen, the soundtrack is nonstop and aimless, and annoying. The dialogue is also poorly done. Very basic screenwriting, nothing sophisticated, very much on-the-nose. I understand the desire to portray the simplicity of the characters being a country/rural setting, however, films like Coen Brothers' "Fargo" achieve this without compromising the integrity of the dialogue. This definitely didn't live up to the hype. Watch it of course to support our home-grown. film industry, but we really need to up our game.
