Tomorrow, When the War Began

Fans of the Tomorrow book series rejoiced at the news of a cinematic adaptation of John Mardson's iconic Australian teen epic, Tomorrow When the War Began. As an enthusiast of the first 3 books (in a series of 7), I was ecstatic that it would get big screen treatment and not some shitty b-grade telly movie as I had feared. I'm pleased to announce that I walked out of this energised, with a racing pulse and a smile on the face.

For those unfamiliar with the material, the concept of is pretty much identical to Red Dawn – a group of teens from a country town go camping for a weekend to find out their country has been invaded, and their family have been held captive. They hide out and guerrilla warfare ensues.

Thematically, the film captures the clichéd 'working together' virtues of friendship corn from the novel. It is definitely in the writing that the film falls down…well, more of a stumble than a fall. I found this particularly unusual given the writer/director is Stuart Beattie – a screenwriter with an exceptional resume. He handles action far better than he handles characters in his directorial debut. Despite the ham and cheese in the writing, the broader screenplay is emotionally satisfying.

Whilst the acting is not of the highest calibre, I would say it was on par with other large franchise films with a young, teen cast (specifically Harry Potter and Twi). The actor who plays Lee is the weakest link here. Although he has the visual presence for the role, his delivery is consistently wooden. Caitlyn Stacey was a standout for me. She displays genuine emotion, genuine intensity and fear. I would have preferred if she spoke like less of a 'toff', and ripped into that bogan Aussie accent, but she brings a solid and believable strength.

As well as capturing the essence of the novel, the action sequences have been stunningly realised. The visuals have a polished look and feel, on par with films with a much higher budget (this had only $20AUD million) thus I believe it would stand up well in an international market. By any standards, the action is exhilarating and has been directed with clarity. Although I wouldn't have minded a bit more grit to the imagery, the cinematography is exceptional and captures the Australian landscapes beautifully. The soundtrack and score was nicely chosen, and the balance of humour and darker tones was effective.

Whilst not being the major box office success some would have liked, The Dead of the Night has been green lit, so thankfully there is more to come in this promising franchise. Despite some awkwardness, there is an energy in the characters and action that permeates Tomorrow When the War Began, making it an entirely gripping experience. For me, this was resonant action that sweeps you up and takes you on an exhilarating and emotionally fulfilling ride.

The cast is good enough and you can't complain about the visuals but the script is flawed, due to the makers eagerness into focusing on the teen- romance aspects of the movie instead of the survival aspect.

For instance there is a scene where the gang have a potentially lethal mission going on and 2 girls can't stop chatting about the boys they like, asking if this or that person is a good kisser etc.

And stuff like that happens throughout of the movie, so what everyone they know is either dead or prisoners of war does that really mean we can't go on a date right?

Yeah... But when it's not focused on that it's fairly entertaining.

The violence is very minimal which takes away a lot of the tension that could have been in the movie, okay it's aimed at teens but still war is never pretty.

There's also very little action for it to be listed as a action-movie and the poster makes it look like it's actionpacked as well but it's really not.

In the end of the movie which ends with a cliffhanger of sorts it's kind of obvious that it was always intended as a trilogy or something with this movie being the first part.

And it appears that the sequel is being made as we speak, I'd watch it but I hope they don't focus on too many love-triangles but of the actual war/survivor-story that time.

I suppose studios have genre classifications that would put this as "action," with a (Austalian) patriotic flavor. But my own personal genre classification system has this as a teen stereotype movie. Maybe 20-25% of all movies are of this type, even those featuring adults. I credit John Hughes with refining the idea: the story doesn't matter because it is only there to give these kids some place to be.

The important thing is that they start out with the distinct types. In this edition we have four boys and four girls, all played by young adults. You have the jokester, the stoner, the jock, the beauty queen and so on. They are interesting to me only in how these stereotypes differ from the American ones I know.

You have the redhead who is experimenting with sex, but instead of being the fiery one, she is reserved. You have the reserved daughter of some fundamentalists who is unique to Australia in my experience. The happy go lucky guy is separate from the stoner, who is the only one of whom they disapprove. The sexy blond here is unaware that she is.

Other differences: they are quick to go camping to an extremely remote, and quite bucolic, place. The war that they encounter is the Indonesian invasion of Australia, justified by forcing Australia to share their natural resources. The kids fight back as kids from movies anywhere are expected to do, but here the two leaders are girls.

This must have been the pilot for a series because some money was spent on effects. But other than noticing the Aussie twists on the seven basic stereotypes, its a waste of time.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

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

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.