Austrailia has a habit of throwing out really good independent films evey few years, be it nature gone wild in Long Weekend, Drag Queens in the desert in Prescilla, Muriel getting married in Muriel's Wedding or Scott Hastings dancing the Cha cha cha against Tina Sparkle in Baz Lurman's Strictly Ballroom, but they also give us the other 'Western'. Sure you have Spaghetti westerns and the main stay american westerns but the Aussies give us a look at what they're west is like. Much like Monument Valley in the U.S, Austrailia has it's out wild wild west, The outback which was used as a back drop for Quigley Down Under ('91) and the more recent The Proposition (2005) but Red Hill is a modern western, and although it's set during well, now, it has a very obvious western style and narrative to it.
The plot of Red Hill is simple and very straight forward. A new cop arrives in small town, a notorious criminal has escaped from prison and is heading to the town for revenge, the cop discovers that something nefarious happened between the town's folk, police and the criminal and goes out of his way to save the day and expose the towns corruption.
That's the plot. Very straight forward, it's a very cliche'd film as are most westerns but it does it in an original way. There are very obivious western ideas in the film such as the small town, local farmers, corrupt sheriff, horses, a town hall, the town sticking together, there';s also a sort of nod to the railroad being built in the old west and oposition to it, a saloon or pub. Then there's the wronged man out for vengeance, all very western orientated. But amongst all these old west sensabilities and styles you get the mixture of modern inventions, Jeeps, Sirens, Radio's, Cars, all very non old west and they mix very well. This isn't a sort of Wild Wild West-esq style film, because it's not set in the 1880s, but more a modern crime thriller that uses the theme of a western.
Ryan Kwantan (True Blood) stars as Shane Cooper, the new guy in town, transferred from the big city to the rural town of Red Hill. Kwantan is very good, on his first day on the job, Cooper is thrown down a high river bank, shot, cracked across the back of the head, thrown in the back of a car bound and gaged, almost eaten by a panther and still manages to come out on top, and you can really see how fucked up Cooper is and Kwantan really does this character justice. He's far removed from his True Blood character in this, I can imagine him becoming quite a big star at some point.
The other more well known member of the cast is good old Steve Bisley, the great goose from Mad Max who is one bad ass in this, mean as fuck with this kind of 'we take care of our own, kid' sensability to him. The first time you see him, he's in the church hall having it out with the local and then he proceeds to belittle Cooper after forgetting or losing his gun. He has this grizzled old Sheriff about him, Badass Goatee, White stetson, gun holster around his waist, and you know he doesn't take shit from anyone. What makes his character even more badass is his awesome rifle, he holds it like he's taking out some outlaws on a stolen stage coach, think Red Dead Redemption. He gives the insane performance, unstoppable almost and it's great to see Bisley on screen, it's just a shame that the Goose get's it so early into Mad Max.
Tom E. Lewis plays the criminal intent on revenge, one side of his face scarred from fire, is just relentless in his pursuit of vengeance, he's a crack shot with a pistol, handles a shotgun well, and in the end you discover that he is completely justified in why he wants revenge. He litterally only says one line in the film, which is what give his performance such tension, just his expressionless face is all you have to know that his character, Jimmy Conway, is on a mission. He pretty much steals the film with this performance.
While I did say that the film was cliche'd, the screenplay was brilliant, the dialogue was realistic, the action well written, and while the twist is obvious at around the 45 minute mark, you still feel the need to hang on in there to find out whether the right person is taken care of.
The direction by Patrick Hughes is also very very good. Rolling vista's, mountains, dirt roads, back roads, the town, are all directed well and even though the film only had a budget of 3 million AUS$
the look of the film is given this epic grandious look. The night scenes, and most of the film does take place at night, are incredibly well lit, the street lights highlight the grimey middle of nowhere town and really does look cool. Given an even bigger budget, I think Hughes could makes something even more epic in scope and in scale.
The film also has this western style music, jangly guitars, blue grass, harmonicas, and it really fits the tone of the film. Well done to Dmitri Golovko.
So to finish this review, here's my final verdict.
Red Hill as another great film from the guys down under, it's brilliantly filmed, acted and scored. It encapsulates the style of the American Western and give it an Aussie spin. Great tense atmosphere, and some brilliant cinematogaphy add to the awesomeness of this film. This is a must see for fans of westerns and of Austrailian genre films. Not exactly Ozploitation but just on the outskirts. The only thing missing is Aussie genre legend Roger Ward then this film would have been the best thing ever. But it's certainly a 5 star film in this reviewer's opinion.....
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