Wednesday 3 September 2014

Mystery Road - review

The Australian Outback certainly seems to be the destination hotspot for movies this year with The Inbetweeners and The Rover both making Tracks down that Mystery Road.

An aboriginal cop returns to his home town to find that drugs and racism are running rampant and his first case, investigating the death of a young girl, could set him on a collision course with his fellow cops in a tale of drugs, prostitution, corruption and murder that makes L.A. Confidential or Chinatown seem straightforward.

The cinematography is stunning at times, Aaron Pedersen gives a strong lead performance and is backed up with menacing support by Hugo Weaving who's motives are never clear.

It starts off very promisingly but threatens to collapse like an undercooked soufflé at the end, with more loose ends than The Big Sleep, and a shoot out with unintentionally silly deaths with sound effects that resemble a GTA game.

In the end Mystery Road is very similar to the Australian outback in which it is set. It's harsh, unforgiving, seems to go on forever and will leave you with a feeling of emptiness.

3 stars

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