In Like Flynn

Cheesy, terrible script, clunky dialogues and terrible acting. If they tried to be cheesy on purpose, it didn't work. Instead, it was painful to watch. The action sequences were the exception-maybe that is where those $10,000,000 went- but they didn't make up for all the flaws. Felt like a waste of time watching it.

This is a good compilation of Flynn's activities before he became an actor. If you have read his autobiography the story is more or less true. Aussie actors are good and it holds interest. His life in New Guinea and Australia is highly readable and this is a good shot at telling the story. Ain't Shakespeare, but enjoyable.

Apparently how Errol Flynn lived his early days adventuring in Australia before Hollywood beckoned.

Whilst there are one or two fun set pieces here, this is a pretty feeble Indiana Jones lite adventure with 2 dimensional characters, some questionable acting talent and a script that must have taken hours to write.

Avoid.

The movie opens in 1930 when Errol Flynn was only 21 years old. The thirty year old actor who played the title role looked like a man fully grown,and was simply not credible as a young guy barely come into adulthood.

This film is a moderately low budget film that uses the 2010s social lens that describes an historical incident. Applying patches of modern irrationality does not help make a good historical film.

The story is interesting in that it captures some of the events and the culture from the era. Australia was only founded a few decades earlier and this movie captures pockets of that cultural ruggedness you'd expect.

Where the movie lets itself down is in the portrayal of Achun (Grace Huang) who should not have been let near a camera. If she had researched an Australian vagabond like Tilly Devine she may have had some idea that tough women of that era didn't run around pushing girl power or behaving like Achun does. The performance of Rose (Isabel Lucas) was almost as misguided. I watched this movie to see William Moseley in action and it was reasonable. David Wenham playing Christian Travers was great fun. There were also solid moments from Clive Standen (Charlie) and Thomas Coquerel (Errol Flynn) who were both solid performers.

The Australian film industry needs a shakeup. It needs to take more risks and it needs to stop pandering. This film doesn't satisfy anyone. The last decade has not been a positive step.