Avarice

John V. Soto is an Australian indie auteur who likes to genre hop. That is, his productions to date tend to change category from release to release. What they all tend to have in common however are the tell-tales of a low-budget indie namely: the excessive use of strange background music to fill gaps; excessive use of garish lighting (greens, blues) to add excitement to unexciting scenes; wooden scripts; and wooden acting. What makes AVARICE stand out is the very smart idea of a professional archer caught in a DIE HARD situation, and then using her mad skills to overcome the predicament. It's a clever idea, but the cleverness lasts for about 10 minutes, tops, and then we are right back where we started.((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Just watched this Australian action thriller, and unlike some reviewers comments it was slow, it moved along quite nicely - especially when the tension ramps up after the home invasion. Great unique use of archery throughout. Gillian Alexy brought across her stress believably and .Alexandra Nell as the baddie was, well, bad-ass! Again some faulted the lighting and music choices, but if they checked out director John Soto's other films they would see it's becoming a cool signature. You know you are in a Soto thriller! Well done gang. There are a lot of great indie flicks coming out of Western Australia so will hunt down some more...

Predicable, terrible acting, ridiculously cliched ending. As for the archery, there is almost no way that target arrows would inflict fatal injuries with only one strike. Then we have the annoying teenager who hates her parents. A troubled marriage, with the obligatory passive agressive comments. To top it all off the closing song was the last straw. I am trying to think of who would actually enjoy this film. The film does want to cash in on the political correctness of a strong female lead on the side of good and part of the home invasion gang. I watched it as I am a keen archer. Watch 2 flies on a wall instead!

Avarice has a solid story with something quite new, bows and arrows. So the heroine is like a cornered animal and she uses her skills to take out lots of bad guys with her arrows in order to save her family. The film has heart and thrilling moments, which I think outweigh the action. Similar to other movies where kidnappers break in to a home and tie everyone up, but instead of the father rescuing the family this has the mother doing that which again is new and I really liked it. It does start off a bit slow but when it gets going it doesnt stop, the chase in the forest is the best bit and I'm thinking they could do a sequel. This was good.

When I first rented this movie it had no reviews and it looked relatively low budget. I figured I would give it a chance, I was glad I did. It may be a lower budget, not the best acting, and a relatively unknown film but it was entertaining and worth a watch if you like thrillers! I feel like I have seen every movie out and the home invasion archery spin was a cool idea. I also appreciated the main character and the work the director did to make you care about her and her actions. I'll be keeping my eye out for other Australian produced films in the future! Worth the 5.99 rental for sure!!!!!!