Tomorrow, When the War Began

Based off the best selling Australian Teen novel of the same name Tomorrow When The War Began is the first in a series of books by John Marsden about a group of high school students who take a camping trip before school starts and return to find that the country has been invaded by an unknown force, and they make a stand to fight the enemy using guerilla tactics The cinematography and action in this film is fantastic, from the second the first gunshot is fired the adrenaline really picks up and boy does it deliver big time, the explosions in this film are great, and what makes them great is not their size but the debris and characters they send flying, I mean there were pieces of debris that missed characters by cm's and it really ads extra dimension with close calls if this film had been shot in 3D it would have been incredible to see the film just for that.

Unfortunately what drags the film is its script, the dialogue is extremely corny and clichéd, and the bulk of the characters are blatant stereotypes and this is apparent with the way the characters are introduced, in fact I can go though each of them right now, Ellie - Farmer's Daughter, Corrie - the lead's best friend, Kevin - The coward, Homer - The rebellious bad boy, Fiona - the pampered city girl, Robyn - The upstanding religious girl, Chris - The stoner, and the biggest stereotype of them all Lee - The Asian, don't believe me about the Asian? let me give you his character background: He's an expert piano player, his parents own a Chinese restaurant, he moves swiftly like a ninja as evident when he's climbing down a mountain, he stops a fast moving snake with a stick in one strike, he speaks one or two proverbs I mean I was half expecting him to bust out some Kung Fu with the way the filmmakers were treating his character thank god they didn't go that far.

On the topic of the characters the one that really stood out for me performance wise was the character of Homer, Actor Deniz Akdeniz handles his character really well being as charismatic and witty and probably has the second most character development out of all the characters next to Ellie.

To be fair though this is the first in a series of books so there is defiantly room for improvement if the next movie comes out. Notice I said "if" not "when" that's because being an Australian film it has to do really well domestically if it has even a chance of getting made, if it doesn't do well bye bye The Dead of The Night (the next movie in the series) Overall the film is enjoyable despite the poor dialogue, it defiantly needs a better script writer for the next film, though leave him doing the action, Stuart Beattie did that well and pretty good for a directing debut.

7/10

TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN, is a competent movie that plays well, especially if you keep the intended audience in mind. This is, indeed, a movie for youths and should be judged as such. It's not a perfect movie, but its also not trash. Ratings from 5 to 7 are the most defensible. Ratings of 1 and 10 are unwarranted.

TOMORROW sports an attractive cast with acceptable acting chops for a vehicle of this nature. These young actors offer professional, believeable performances, and come off as neither wooden nor over the top.

Certainly, there's nothing new here but a change of scenery. This movie is RED DAWN down under, just done better. While it's light fare to be sure, its not completely devoid of substance and touches on issues such as passivism versus self-defense, racial bias, class, and exploitation of indigenous peoples. Though it oversimplifies some of these very nuanced topics, they're touched on only lightly and thankfully don't become entanglements that detract from the overall entertainment experience.

Oddly, the filmmakers also go out of their way to avoid naming the military aggressor, which can only be China (with a possible assist from DPRK). Vague reference is made to "coalition" countries, but with a cast of Asian invaders, it's a pretty obvious and unnecessary dodge. The Chinese, I'm certain, were not fooled, and events in the region since 2010 have added a bit of weight to the movie's premise.

Overall, TOMORROW is a fun and adventurous movie that's suitable for teen and family viewing. No, it's not CITIZEN KANE, but I'm pretty sure that's not the aim.

Recommendation: Watch.

Really good film but a total rip-off of Red Dawn. Even if it is based on a series of books, then the books are a total rip-off of Red Dawn, the story lines are practically identical. Enjoyed watching it but at the end I was expecting credits to say based on the original film 'Red Dawn,' because while good it is nothing more than an Australian version of that film. Credit needs to be given where credit is due.

To the reviews that question the logic of the film and mentioned the driving around "without a care in the world" do not understand military parameters of making a perimeter. In the film the only time they were driving freely was when they were outside of the city limits, where there were never soldiers.

When you play close attention to the small details you will notice things like that rather than writing in a review you found the movie "laughable." I loved the human interaction and how the movie was crafted to not just be a war movie, but something much deeper about people from different walks of life coming together for a cause.

The acting I felt was also very well done, as well was the script. Every character develops in their own unique way, which gave the script a very complete feeling. I really don't have any complaints for how it was presented, it was a very solid film. It was just missing a spark to push it over the top of being good to great.

True Score: 7.3

sometimes i just choose to simply like a movie and not care too much about its possible faults.

(i have not read the book.)

what appealed to me most was the way the story is being told. just enough 'foreplay' to introduce the characters and then: war. the war-thing reminded me a little of 'war of the worlds'. how an invasion takes place but the focus stays on the characters rather than on big guns and fireworks. we don't even know what nation these soldiers belong to. it doesn't matter, that's not the point. it's hat makes the movie special instead of just another war-movie with people taking turns in getting shot. there was just enough romance, humor and action to make it work. after having seen hundreds of action movies, i'm starting to appreciate it, when it's not overdone. sure enough this movie is for teens, but enjoyable for everybody.

to all critics: of course it's impossible for a bunch of teens to steal a petrol truck and blow up the most important bridge of the region. in real life, helicopters would shoot them to bits in a matter of seconds. we know. and we also know that a petrol truck would not cause an explosion like this. this would cause a low-speed detonation at best, because yada-yada-yada...

so stop criticizing you big science-nerd. ;-)

watch it. no worries: you 've seen worse movies, i'm sure!