Tracker

I saw Tracker at a preview screening a few days back and wasn't sure what to expect - The idea of Ray Winstone attempting a South African Accent in particular made me nervous. And it does get off to a slowish start. But...

As soon as the chase is underway the film really opens out. Moments of genuine threat, tension and some really quite crunchy violence are counterbalanced by a pervading air of melancholy - hunter and hunted have both lost everything - and an increasing dramatic weight to the story as they find common ground whilst engaged in a high risk game of cat and mouse.

It's not the most psychologically complicated movie in the world, basically being a boys own action film, but it's made well, with obvious love and attention to detail plus two towering central performances from the leads. And it has a heart. By the time the film reached it's climax I was properly choked up and genuinely on the edge of my seat.

And Ray did a good job with the accent after all.

Just over an hour and half long, nice story, good acting, nice twists in plot, triffic ending, AMAZING scenery. Go watch it!

Keremea a Moari sailor finds himself being falsely accused of murder in New Zealand at the turn of the 20th Century so flees in to the countryside hotly pursued by a posse led by Arjen Van Diemen a veteran of the Boer war

Reading the above synopsis the premise is one that's very familiar , almost too familiar . In many ways it resembles that of a revisionary Western in the tradition of CHATO'S LAND where whites pursue the noble savage and as the story unravels white men are portrayed as being less noble and more savage than their prey . Certainly the audience are under no illusion who to root for but unfortunately the film suffers from a seen it all before feel . It's a common feeling on this page that TRACKER is a film that isn't as good as it could have been but it's impossible to do anything radically different with this type of story

One aspect that is very noticeable is the landscapes . It was common in 1970s Antipodian cinema to to have sweeping rural locations for settings . Later on Australian cinema seemed to locate to urban locations to tell a story where as New Zealand seemed happy to keep its output in a rural setting . Of course LORD OF THE RINGS needed a landscape of wide open spaces but you can see any director quickly falling in love with the country with its beautiful vistas of coastline , forests , mountains and rivers . Here director Ian Sharp seems hypnotised by the countryside , so much so that the hypnotic beauty of the natural countryside ends up becoming the star of TRACKED and overwhelms the narrative

The cat and mouse/hunter-prey theme is pretty well rought but this film adds a convincing human element to a film that might otherwise get caught up in the landscape or action.

The early scenes and some of the supporting cast are a little lackluster, and reminded this viewer how difficult it is for New Zealand films to escape a sort of provincialism (for want of a better word) that can often be detected in kiwi films trying to be 'international'. Winstone, Morrison and Andy Anderson as the colonial tracker all stand out in this.

The film has plenty of action and fistycuffs and ballyhoo but the focus is firmly on the tension of the hunt and the connection that forms between Winston and Morrison's characters.

Without adding a spoiler I will say the ending, while not disappointing, might have been 'more'. You make your own mind up!

I am not sure what the complaints are all about. The acting is brilliant, the story line holds together just fine. The scenery is fantastic. It is culturally and historically sensitive.

The back and forth in the story between the Tracker and the Maori escapee is reminiscent of another great movie, Hell in the Pacific, which starred Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin. Each of them would get the upper hand from time to time.

This movie had me on the edge of my seat and the twist at the end had me gasping. I cannot say enough about this movie. All I can say is watch it!