Animal Kingdom

An incredibly underrated Australian flick. Very well done.

This was a great little film. What I really appreciate about films made outside of America is that they do not concern themselves with having to have some kind of high point every 10 minutes. The writing and acting are sharp and the plot is excellent. The ending was perfect.

The show better I guess it's the ascent

Like a stripper who doesn't dance, _Animal Kingdom_ is an epic Australian gangster drama stripped of all the action but none the worse for it.

Another Aussie crime drama that's good. Simular to Snowtown in its feel. It has the same strengths and weaknesses also. Strengths are that it really goes for the jugular and doesn't hold back. That's also why it has a weakness. It goes for grim and strong so soon that there's nothing left to give after a while, even when crazy stuff happens, it's not as emotional as it should be. It's still thrilling sometimes, expecially near the end, but after the first half it did generally slow down, and you're left waiting for the next event. It's not something I could re-watch, but it's worth one watch.

This is mostly ruined by the direction for me. Not only do parts of it meander and drag, but every scene is shot and edited with basic coverage. It’s all just a bunch close ups stitched together with shot/reverse shot editing, flat lighting and boring colours, all of which make the film forgettable to me. The story is alright, feeling slightly more authentic than the usual film tackling this subject matter. I like that it’s set in small scale Australian locations, not New York. There’s a ‘twist’ in it (which is given away in the synopsis for some reason?) that I frankly saw coming from a mile away. It’s all competent, but it never pops. The characters are a mixed big; the family consists of some good characters (not to mention the amazing cast they assembled for those roles), but the main protagonist is extremely boring and portrayed by an actor who seems to have no range whatsoever. I also hated the narration: it seemed like an afterthought to dumb the film down just a little more. All the information given through that massive exposition dump in the first 10 minutes would still be clear if they’d taken it out. It doesn’t completely drop the ball at any point, but this could’ve been much better with stronger direction.

4.5/10

I love the "mood" of the movie. IMHO it was a great idea and story, but bad executed.