An Australian crime drama about a teenage boy who moves in with his grandma and his criminal uncles only to be forced into a situation of survival. Jacki Weaver earned an Oscar nomination this year for her portrayal of the grandma Janine Cody, a evil lady that says "sweetie" like its the most manipulative word in the English dictionary. I'm not sure if her performance ranks as one of the top five of the year but she is good. The film starts off at a slow boil but by the end the tension and dramatic pull of the story picks up speed. I remember thinking in the first fifteen minutes, "Why does this film have such a good reputation?" only for it to improve minute by minute until its ending gave me goosebumps. What a great last image (of which I'm not going to spoil). As director David Michod's first film, I have to say I'm pleased and hope we have the start of a promising new talent. If you go into this movie expecting a shoot'em up crime film, you'll be disappointed. It's a wonderful dramatic, believable family drama that just happens to be about killers. Grade: B+.
Spoiler: If I have one complaint, which is a minor one, is that I would have liked it if Michod had given us some, not a lot, but some of J's testimony at trial. I understand he felt we didn't need to see any of the trail, but I was left confused for a moment on what had transpired. I even thought J was going to trick the Codys' lawyer and actually testify against his uncles. Not a big deal, but I'd have liked to have seen the expression on Guy Pierce's face when he realized he failed in helping J.
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