Eric Bana's surly, sympathetic federal agent Falk solves another mysterious murder case in The Dry 2: Force Of Nature, a sequel I didn't think we'd get so soon but one that I'm nonetheless happy to see. The Dry was a huge surprise, not only one of the very best films of 2020 but one of the best examples of its genre, simply a stellar piece of outback/mystery/crime. The sequel is, I'm sad to report, not quite as brilliant as that, but it's not without that same operatic atmosphere, eerie ambience and pathos that drew me in so well before. Falk and his partner (Jacqueline McKenzie) are investigating a group of female hikers on a corporate retreat excursion who ran into some trouble with the elements and each other, which has led to one or more of them still missing. The reason they're even interested in this is that one of the girls was set to testify against her own boss, a slick rich prick played by Richard Roxburgh in another of his patented intense slimy villain turns. Things get complicated when the survivors of the trip recount coming across human remains, which opens a decades old cold case of an ancient serial killer who used to operate in the region. Now if this sounds a bit convoluted... it is. I found myself struggling to care about this extended bout of chick drama trying to pass itself off as a compelling mystery, despite the performances all being good and the filmmaking proficient at every level. If they had used the drama of the trip as a launching pad to explore the old serial killer and forge something out of that I feel like the film would have been so much stronger, but they frustratingly sideline that for this main plot line that just doesn't have the narrative wings to carry the film. Bana is terrific once again in the role though, this is a character he was born to play and even if the film can't match the magic of the first, I say keep em coming and who knows what we'll get with this solidly established formula. One area it succeeds and is different from the first is in setting; The Dry was just that, an arid, dusty outback vista of desolation and emptiness, but here they've chosen to film in lush Dandenong Ranges National Park which is essentially a beautiful primordial rainforest and the backdrop is striking. They should have called this one The Wet.
