In 1880s Australia, a lawman offers renegade Charlie Burns a difficult choice. In order to save his younger brother from the gallows, Charlie must hunt down and kill his older brother, who is wanted for rape and murder. Venturing into one of the Outback’s most inhospitable regions, Charlie faces a terrible moral dilemma that can end only in violence.
Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Charlie Burns: Guy Pearce
- Captain Morris Stanley: Ray Winstone
- Arthur Burns: Danny Huston
- Jellon Lamb: John Hurt
- Eden Fletcher: David Wenham
- Martha Stanley: Emily Watson
- Mike Burns: Richard Wilson
- Brian O’Leary: Noah Taylor
- Asian Prostitute: Jeremy Madrona
- Asian Prostitute: Jae Mamuyac
- Mad Jack Bradshaw: Mick Roughan
- John Gordon: Shane Watt
- Sergeant Lawrence: Robert Morgan
- Jacko: David Gulpilil
- Officer Dunn: Bryan Probets
- Patrick Hopkins: Oliver Ackland
- Tom Cox: David Vallon
- Henry Clark: Daniel Parker
- Robert Borland: Carl Rush
- Officer Davenport: Gary Waddell
- Officer Matthews: Iain Gardiner
- Paul Broussard: Bogdan Koca
- Mrs. Broussard: Sue Dwyer
- Dan O’Reilly: Lance Medlin
- Tobey: Rodney Boschman
- Officer Halloway: Boris Brkic
- Old Aboriginal: Ned Rose
- Queenie: Leah Purcell
- Samuel Stoat: Tom Budge
- Two Bob: Tom E. Lewis
- Dr. Bantrey: Ralph Cotterill
- Thommo: Max Age
- Blinky: Jerry Solomon
Film Crew:
- Executive Producer: Robert Jones
- Editor: Jon Gregory
- Director of Photography: Benoît Delhomme
- Executive Producer: Michael Hamlyn
- Casting: Nikki Barrett
- Original Music Composer: Nick Cave
- Original Music Composer: Warren Ellis
- ADR Voice Casting: Brendan Donnison
- Casting: Gary Davy
- Art Department Assistant: Maxine Dennett
- Executive Producer: Chris Auty
- Legal Services: Kami Naghdi
- Legal Services: Bryce Menzies
- Director: John Hillcoat
- Production Design: Chris Kennedy
- Executive Producer: James Atherton
- Line Producer: Gina Black
- Producer: Pam Collis
- Executive Producer: Sara Giles
- Executive Producer: Michael Henry
- Executive Producer: Norman Humphrey
- Producer: Chiara Menage
- Producer: Jackie O’Sullivan
- Producer: Christopher Simon
- Producer: Cat Villiers
- Production Executive: Brock Norman Brock
- Costume Design: Margot Wilson
- Key Makeup Artist: Sally Gordon
- Music Supervisor: Gerard McCann
- Stunt Coordinator: Ric Anderson
- Epk Camera Operator: Kerry Brown
- Art Direction: Bill Booth
- Prosthetics: Kym Sainsbury
- Art Department Coordinator: Tricia McInally
- Set Designer: Paula Whiteway
- Visual Effects Supervisor: Robert Duncan
- Dialogue Coach: Sandra Butterworth
- Makeup & Hair: Zeljka Stanin
- Key Hairdresser: Anita Lowe
- Unit Publicist: Fiona Searson
- Second Unit Director of Photography: Simon Finney
- Supervising Sound Editor: Paul Davies
- Production Accountant: Brett Thornquest
- Set Decoration: Jill Eden
- Art Direction: Marita Mussett
- Construction Coordinator: Bernie Childs
- Script Supervisor: Joanne McLennan
- Set Dresser: Andrew Grose
- ADR Voice Casting: Vanessa Baker
- Costume Supervisor: Lyn Askew
- Generator Operator: Joe Stick
- Dialogue Coach: Julia Wilson Dickson
- Art Department Assistant: Kim Prentice
- Visual Effects Producer: Piers Hampton
- Boom Operator: Jenny Sutcliffe
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Richard Davey
- Still Photographer: Polly Borland
- Storyboard Artist: Temple Clark
- Construction Buyer: Brad Howard
- Associate Editor: Ian Seymour
- Electrician: Jesse Moyes
- First Assistant Editor: Tom Lindsay
- Legal Services: Tim Johnson
- Production Accountant: Stephen Boyle
- Animal Wrangler: Katie Brock
- Animal Wrangler: John Medland
- Researcher: Lucy Whitton
- Production Accountant: Jane Corden
- Colorist: Adam Glasman
- Assistant Grip: Paul Murphy
- Key Grip: Brett Marks
- Extras Casting Assistant: Judith Cruden
- Matte Painter: Jason Horley
- Grip: Michael Larcombe
- Best Boy Grip: David ‘Rusty’ Leckonby
- Makeup & Hair: Lea Dixon
- Makeup & Hair: Bronwyn Fitzgerald
- Art Department Assistant: Hayley Booth
- Art Department Assistant: Scott Booth
- Art Department Assistant: Fredrick Dempsey
- Carpenter: John A. Finn
- Carpenter: Richard Meldrum
- Carpenter: David Passlow
- Carpenter: Lester Prentice
- Carpenter: Allan Wessling
- Carpenter: Michael Hayward
- Construction Buyer: Kevin Childs
- Construction Buyer: James Howard
- Construction Manager: Kim Howard
- Graphic Designer: Wendy Buick
- Painter: Trina Thomson
- Prop Maker: David John Franks
- Property Master: Steve Taylor
- Scenic Artist: Owen Kingsford-Bean
- Scenic Artist: Chris Williams
- Set Designer: Martin Ash
- Set Designer: Josh Madrers
- Set Dresser: Nick Hartigan
- Storyboard Artist: Anthony Short
- Assistant Grip: Justin Sykes
- Assistant Grip: Joel Russell
- Assistant Grip: Graham Dunn
- Clapper Loader: Troy Reichman
- Clapper Loader: Lee Mariano
- Electrician: Steve Gordon
- Focus Puller: Margie McClymont
- Focus Puller: Brett Matthews
- Gaffer: Graham Rutherford
- Generator Operator: Adam Grice
- Lighting Technician: Michael ‘Wildman’ Rutherford
- Lighting Technician: Mark Watson
- Costume Coordinator: Candice Weiler
- Costumer: Marcia Lidden
- Costumer: Cheryl Pike
- Visual Effects Compositor: Kate Cuffin
- Visual Effects Compositor: John Sharp
- Visual Effects Coordinator: Sarah Gower
- Visual Effects Technical Director: Dan Lavender
- Special Effects Coordinator: Rhiannon Porter
- Supervising Armorer: Steve Courtney
- Special Effects Technician: Joe Amalfi
- Special Effects Technician: Neil Lorenz
- Special Effects Technician: Owen Pawsey
- Armorer: Jarid Clifford
- Armorer: Robert Parsons
- Assistant Production Coordinator: Andrew Hardwick
- Post Production Accountant: Rachel James
- Production Accountant: Deborah Sutherland
- Production Accountant: Denise Farrell
- Production Accountant: Kate Meyers
- Production Assistant: Kirsten Bodenstedt
- Production Assistant: Stephen Hart
- Production Coordinator: Jennifer Des Champs
- Production Coordinator: Nicki Ellis
- Legal Services: Gai Steele
- Legal Services: Duncan Gordon
- Legal Services: Nina Stevenson
- Legal Services: Peter Dally
- Legal Services: Rupert Mahon
- Legal Services: Sarah Bing
- Legal Services: Ed Fellows
- Legal Services: Emily Spence
- Production Runner: Richard Smith
- Research Assistant: Annalise Davis
- Researcher: M.L. Hillcoat
- Script Editor: Geoffrey Cox
- Second Assistant Accountant: Inge Stainlay
- Title Designer: Damon Murray
- Title Designer: Stephen Sorrell
- Travel Coordinator: Megan Clarke
- Producer: Chris Brown
Movie Reviews:
- Per Gunnar Jonsson: Well, no matter how I rate this movie a lot of people are going to say that my rating is wrong. That is something that you probably can say about any rating for any movie. I feel it is especially true as far as this movie goes though. As you can see from my rating I was not exactly thrilled by the movie. That does not mean that it is a bad movie. Again, this you can say about a lot of ratings, especially my ratings.
Okay, I guess I have confused everyone enough now so let me try to explain. As a piece of cinematic art this movie is excellent. The acting is quite good. I especially liked John Hurt as the literate bounty hunter but most of the main characters where performing admirably. The scenery is wonderful. The Australian outback makes for a excellent backdrop and it is indeed a nice change from the classical North American western sceneries.
As a movie it falls flat though. In my opinion a movie should at least try to tell a story. Even if it aspires to be a piece of art it should try and tell a story that the audience can, in one way or another, follow. This movie have a basic idea of a story but it does not really tell a story. We never get to know who the bad guys really are, what they really did, except for a bunch of hints about killing and rape, or why. Heck, we never actually get to know of the guy the flogged to death where really taking part in the deed or not.
Throughout the movie the bad guys are supposedly hiding in some place where it is impossible to get them so the main character tries to get the bad guys brother to kill him. Not very plausible at all. The governor, Eden Fletcher played by David Wenham, or whatever he as supposed to be was pretty much an asshole. Okay every movie has to have one but his role was never really developed. Once he managed to get the young kid, innocent or not, flogged we really do not see much of him for the rest of the movie.
The end of the movie is much the same as the rest of the movie. Cinematically excellent but not much of a story. There is no real conclusion. It just ends in a sequence of well done scenes but without any real story behind it.
Maybe I’m a too simple mind when it comes to these kind of movies but I, even though I appreciated the graphics that was shown on my TV-screen, I did not really enjoy it as a movie.
- Kenneth Axel Carlsson: Australia. A man looking to catch a criminal by the name of Arthur Burns (the head of the Burns Gang). He catches his brothers instead, and offers the elder brother (Guy Pearce) a deal. A proposition. Bring him Arthur Burns, the man who raped and killed Eliza Hopkins. And to make sure that Charlie will honor the deal, he keeps the youngest brother, Mikey.
The stage is set early on in the movie, and yet, this is more than just a simple story about a gang of criminals and the law enforcers who are chasing them down, this is a story about a country being created, about the fight for survival in a strange land. About justice and peace of mind.
Nick Cave wrote the screenplay, and also most of the music. This gives us a hint that it is not going to be your average movie, but something… more, something different. We can also expect the sound to be spectacular and forceful, and indeed, it is. The music here very much reminded me of the music in There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson, extraordinary and… haunting really. But it doesn’t stop at the music, the visual side of the movie is rather stunning in a haunting way as well, dirty and dusty all the way through. I love when a movie has a distinct visual style and rhythm, and this one does.
The movie starts out with a bang, as the law enforcers hunt down the two younger brothers, Charlie and Mikey, but as soon as Charlie is given the proposition, it slows down considerably and branches out to tell two stories, that of Charlie hunting down his brother, but also that of Captain Stanley and his wife, two opposing forces. This guy clearly has demons of his own, and is looking for justice to be served. I love the pace in this movie, it wants to tell its story just right.
The cast is a great one, as mentioned Guy Pearce plays one of the Burns brothers, together with Danny Huston. These guys are dirty and bend on doing whatever it takes to survive. Captain Stanley is played by the amazing Ray Winstone. He plays the role with a quietness and a subtlety that surprised me. He is the hero of the story, at least for me, and wants only justice to be served. In other parts we see David Wenham and John Hurt, both delivering quirky and interesting characters. A great movie needs a great cast, and this one most certainly have that.
_Last words… this movie does not compromise. It is honest, it is dark and it forces you to think about right and wrong. How does one identify a criminal and what forces people to do evil deeds? Nothing is simple really, and it shouldn’t be. Most people have both light and darkness within them, and that is the case in this movie._