“What’s this? Another movie review? DxD, what are you like? Doing so many movies in such a short period of time.” Yeah, I don’t need your sarcasm here. I’m only posting this review is because this week, I had to write a review on a movie we had to watch in class and while I could of done two different reviews: one for the blog and one for the assignment, I’m lazy so guess what, I’m retooling another review for the blog. While my teacher actively tries to stop me from writing in class which is weird because I am doing what she wants me to do, she definitely can’t stop now because this is technically my school work now so miss, if you are reading, all I have to say is suck it. I am doing my work for once and you can’t stop me. But anyway, enough of taunting my teacher, let’s talk about the movie or I guess, let’s go to the real intro for the review I had to write.
Why did I have to watch this? We could of watched “Boy” which is a much better experience to watch but no, we had to watch “Mad Bastards” because the authority in charge of schools in WA thought watching a boring movie which is made in WA is much better then let’s say something like “Supersize” which covers a far much relatable topic while being fun. Even if it had to be something within the Oceania region, we could of watched “Boy” because it’s actually well filmed, well paced and a lot more fun to watch. Yes, this movie is boring with a capital B. I get it, it’s supposed to be about family and how failing these relationships can have massive knock back effects on kids but there has been certainly better movies that cover the same topic. Did we have to watch this because SCASA was paid off to make this part of the essential English curriculum or was it because they are full of that Australian pride that it had to be part of the curriculum because “Yeah, Australia”. I mean, my best guess is the fact that it has aborigines in it so they had to show it or the SJW group would of been a bit annoyed with them. Either way, I was given the task to review this and I will review this but they didn’t say it had to be a positive one so I am not holding back on this. Let’s start with the ripping of the plot.
The plot starts with our main man, TJ deciding to go back to his estranged wife and child that he left so he hitchhikes his way back. That’s the whole plot. It’s just one guy who has been absolute idiot all his life, wising up and trying to make amends with his family. While he certainly tries at the beginning when he was helping his brother connect with his family who has turned over a new life in prison, they are rejected at the door by his mother who tells him that they are bad influences on the kids. We also see the knock on effects of this with his (possibly) divorced wife who is in a cycle of being drunk and having abusive boyfriends and this affects their kid, Bullet. Bullet at the start of the movie shows that he is being a delinquent when he sets fire to someone’s house and you can see that the uncle is trying his hardest to fill in the father role while trying to hold the community. There is attempts at telling a story and bring across the message but it is poorly paced and the way it’s been edited makes events go by way too fast.
Like, we only see Bullet commit one crime and then he is put into a sort of program that I think is supposed to be a rehabilitation program, it’s never well explained. The same applies to the wife in this case because we are supposed to believe that she is a constant drunk who is in this cycle of abuse but we only see one case of each these things right at the start and she is pretty much sober for the rest of the movie. The director expects us to believe that all these things are constants in their life but unless you see or know that intention, it makes the movie’s plot look stupid. The movie’s plot is apparently based on true stories from the local community where filming was happening and you can sort of see what they were trying to do with these stories but I don’t think it’s not a very good idea since they don’t contribute to the plot. For me, the plot is very bland and quite blatant with its message so in the end, the whole fact it’s trying to play it like its message is “super deep and meaningful” is complete and utter hogwash.
What also was quite bland is the characters and the actors portraying them. Bullet is portrayed by a local kid and I’m guessing because he was shy, he pretty much says nothing throughout the whole movie. The kid might as well been a paper cut out for all the other actors to work with for all the “acting” he did and the same can be applied to the whole cast. You see, expect for one person (the possible ex-wife), everyone is just random locals and you can see this because every single actor in this movie is so bad. You can tell that they are new to this because they all act very stiff when they are on camera and they have to act. While I do think they are at their best when they aren’t forced to be characters in the story and just doing what they normally do, it still feels very forced. Even the one properly trained actor in the movie comes off stiff at times, especially when it comes to scenes when she has to be emotional and not just drunk. You can find sources saying that most of the scenes were unrehearsed and if the director did this because he thought it would add to the movie, well he is frankly an idiot and a narcissist on top of that. If he actually hired proper actors and then let them rehearsed, this would be a better movie but he didn’t because he thought that “the people we cast will shape our story” and I don’t blame him for thinking that but he isn’t the next Hitchcock. His decision to use untrained people in the end is just another bullet to the foot and it also makes you wonder what did they spend three million dollars on because it’s certainly not the editing crew.
What also was quite bland is the characters and the actors portraying them. Bullet is portrayed by a local kid and I’m guessing because he was shy, he pretty much says nothing throughout the whole movie. The kid might as well been a paper cut out for all the other actors to work with for all the “acting” he did and the same can be applied to the whole cast. You see, expect for one person (the possible ex-wife), everyone is just random locals and you can see this because every single actor in this movie is so bad. You can tell that they are new to this because they all act very stiff when they are on camera and they have to act. While I do think they are at their best when they aren’t forced to be characters in the story and just doing what they normally do, it still feels very forced. Even the one properly trained actor in the movie comes off stiff at times, especially when it comes to scenes when she has to be emotional and not just drunk. You can find sources saying that most of the scenes were unrehearsed and if the director did this because he thought it would add to the movie, well he is frankly an idiot and a narcissist on top of that. If he actually hired proper actors and then let them rehearsed, this would be a better movie but he didn’t because he thought that “the people we cast will shape our story” and I don’t blame him for thinking that but he isn’t the next Hitchcock. His decision to use untrained people in the end is just another bullet to the foot and it also makes you wonder what did they spend three million dollars on because it’s certainly not the editing crew.
For me, the filming is serviceable as well as the music but in the end, the way it was edited is what bothers me. It took them three years to film this and you would think with that time, they would have the time to film each scene to acceptable quality but for me, it feels like each scene is separate from each other which can break the flow of the story. What doesn’t help is the fact there is the occasional montage which seems like an easy way to forward the plot but really just messes with the time of the plot. I personally find it hard to watch and pay attention with just the constant jumping between characters. I mean, it’s already hard for me to pay attention without doing something but I did make an active effort to pay attention but I still had trouble and I think that’s my whole thought on this movie.
I could go on about the themes but I don’t think they are that important. For me, a good movie should be at least competent in other areas so they aren’t overshadowed by the bad things because it then distracts you. With that said, I’m giving this a 3/10. The theme of the story is generic, the performances given are borderline bad and the editing is amateurish. It’s just very boring and not a fun watch and I do think there is more entertaining movies which does the same theme much better.
And that’s the movie for you. If you can’t tell, I was very bored when writing this but nevertheless, it’s good training because when you are a reviewer, you can’t really be picky and you have to work with what you got. With that said, I have another movie and TV review lined up but I’m need to fill in this month’s proper manga review so next week is “Food Wars”. Can’t wait to talk about that pile of slight disappointment but as always, if you want to see my other content, links in the side bar to my YouTube channel and my steam profile if you want to donate anything to me.
I could go on about the themes but I don’t think they are that important. For me, a good movie should be at least competent in other areas so they aren’t overshadowed by the bad things because it then distracts you. With that said, I’m giving this a 3/10. The theme of the story is generic, the performances given are borderline bad and the editing is amateurish. It’s just very boring and not a fun watch and I do think there is more entertaining movies which does the same theme much better.
And that’s the movie for you. If you can’t tell, I was very bored when writing this but nevertheless, it’s good training because when you are a reviewer, you can’t really be picky and you have to work with what you got. With that said, I have another movie and TV review lined up but I’m need to fill in this month’s proper manga review so next week is “Food Wars”. Can’t wait to talk about that pile of slight disappointment but as always, if you want to see my other content, links in the side bar to my YouTube channel and my steam profile if you want to donate anything to me.
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