Mystery Road (2013)

Sick Product of a Sick System

I wanted to but couldn't!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Investigating the brutal murder of an Indigenous teenage girl in rural Australia, an Indigenous cop begins to question whether drugs, police corruption and other factors may have contributed in this thriller from 'Beneath Clouds' director Ivan Sen. As per 'Beneath Clouds', Sen litters his film is beautiful landscape shots. The twilight/dusk opening scene is especially striking with many moody colours blended in. The vast majority of 'Mystery Road' occurs in the daylight though with a few too many indoor shots. The film is very slow paced too with little sense of urgency or even danger as the protagonist probes deeper into the death. Interesting ideas abound as the detective begins to suspect that his own estranged teen daughter may have been mixed up with the murder victim and his scenes with her are among the most touching moments in the movie. 'Mystery Road' never makes up its mind though whether it wants to be an estranged father/daughter tale, a tale of an Indigenous cop overcoming prejudice, a tale of mistreatment of Indigenous youths or a tale of the corrupting influence of drugs. This in turn makes it difficult for the film to leave much of an impact. Lead actor Aaron Pedersen certainly tries his best to make the most of the material though - and he is helped out by a talented supporting cast - but one's mileage with the movie may well vary.

Each time I see another Australian film I'm convinced to NEVER visit Down Undah! What a pit of vipers! Talk about low-lives! Everyone lives in a trailer or dumpy tin roofed shack out in the boons with wild dogs, alcoholic mothers/father, drug addict siblings and friends, gambling, prostitution and winos. They mistreat ALL animals. They defecate where they eat. There are vermin everywhere--bugs, snakes, rabid mongrels. They give you that nasty dumb stare when you ask a question and then they use sarcasm answering and talk about you in the third person in front of their cronies! It's like bad high school! Who'd care to visit? It's amazing these creeps stay but I suppose the ole 'dog that I know is better...' works here too. Anyway, entertaining film with nice pace of action and some surprise but in the end he goes back to the addict shrew of an ex-wife and insolent whorish teenage daughter to try to make amends for his neglect of years ago. After you meet the wife and bitch child, you won't wonder why he left!?

Going by the reviews i thought this one would be a top notch thriller.To my surprise the movie is slow paced and makes you fall asleep .I literally slept twice in the first 50 minutes.The acting in the movie is what keep you going and asking for more.The direction could have been much better but the actors have done justice to whatever screen space they could get .The director confuses a very good plot with some unnecessary twists and turns which don't make sense at all.Over all the movie offers some amazing shots of Australia ,i wish i could say the same thing about the entire movie.Its definitely not in the A- league but can be a time killer as it was for me on a laid back Sunday!

MYSTERY ROAD is another atmospheric, well-made and well-acted Australian movie that contains bags more style and atmosphere than many a bigger-budgeted Hollywood movie. This one's set in the much-ignored Aboriginal community and a kind of poverty-row slum that will be familiar to anybody who's sat through the gruelling SNOWTOWN.Thankfully, MYSTERY ROAD isn't anywhere near as grim as that movie, although it is a murder mystery in which young Aboriginal girls are being found with their throats slit, their bodies having been partially eaten by wild dogs. Rogue cop Aaron Pedersen is on the case, and he predictably comes up against the usual racism and conspiracies in his bid to discover the truth behind the murders.The film as a whole has a compelling vibe and despite being slow-paced it's completely engrossing. The low-tech nature of the production gives it a naturalistic feel and the performances are excellent, particularly from the bigger names like Hugo Weaving (THE MATRIX), Damian Walshe-Howling (THE REEF), Bruce Spence (MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR), and Ryan Kwanten (RED HILL) who all give subdued, authentic turns.My only real complaint is that there are so many sub-plots here that half of them don't get tied up, leaving too many loose ends at the climax. Still, the film-makers make up for this by staging a lengthy, action-packed climax that's one of the most nail-biting, realistic, and gripping that I've seen in a while.