Red Hill
Review
by Anthony Morris
|
|
|
Red Hill
|
When it comes to modern-day westerns Australia's a more likely location than most, and Red Hill uses the high country to full advantage in this gritty tale of revenge riding in on horseback. Shane (Ryan Kwanten) is a new cop in the dying mountain town of Red Hill, and he couldn't have picked a worse day to start.
One-time
local turned cop-killer Jimmy Conway (Tommy Lewis) has just busted out
of jail and local police chief Old Bill (Steve Bisley) has no doubt
that he'll be heading straight for them to finish what he started. It's
no surprise that Old Bill turns out to be right and the body count
racks up fast at the guns of a man who with his long coat and wide hat
could have stepped out of a Clint Eastwood western. Most of
the energy this film has comes from seeing it try (and succeed) to tell
an old-fashioned western tale in the present day, with horses mixing it
with utes and big hats makes perfect sense to keep the weather off even
as they also manage to look super-cool. As westerns go Red Hill
is a pretty straight forward revenge tale (down to the line "and hell's
coming with him, which is a lift from the early 1990's film Tombstone) and the aboriginal angle (Conway is an aborigine) doesn't add up to much either. That said, the action scenes are strong and the straightforward story gets the job done. It's
solid and atmospheric rather than flashy or overly stylish (though a
subplot involving rumours of a panther prowling the countryside does
add menace to the stunning location scenery). But even today a western brings a certain baggage with it and Red Hill milks the myth of the grim avenger for all it can. 3 out
of 5
Red Hill
Australian release: 25th November,
2010
Official
Site: Red Hill
Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, Tom E. Lewis, Kevin Harrington, Claire
van der Boom
Director: Patrick Hughes
|
