उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

I'm loving Australian cinema at the moment. It's showing a side of Australia we never see after years of Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin. I loved Kenny and loved Beautiful Kate even more. While I don't think it's quite in the same league as the latter, it's still yet another movie which shows the beauty of Australia's great outdoors.

But despite its visual warmth, the backbone of the movie is its dark story. It reveals itself gradually through-out the plot. You will hate Kev (the father), but there will come a point where you will actually come to accept him. Weaving is, as to be expected, solid and his co-star Tom Russell (Chook, the son) looks set to have a great future in the business.

It's a very good movie that you should check out if you get the chance. 8/10

I found this film to be much better than expected, especially compared to the relatively low score on IMDb. I'd give it a solid 8.5. Fine acting by both the father and the little boy (and all the incidental characters). It reminded me a bit of the Russian film "The Return (Vozvrashchenie)." Both were so-called last rides between father and son(s). If you like this film, there's a good chance you'll like "The Return." One of the things I really liked about this movie was that it didn't need to have every moment filled with dialog like a lot of movies. There are some great scenes with little or no dialog where the interaction between the characters and their environment created enough mood on their own. More dialog would have just been a distraction at times. My only complaint about the film was that I wish it was a bit longer. But then that's a sign of a good film, you don't want it to end.

According to the Screen Australia web site, some 45 Australian features were made in 2008, up from 25 in 2007. This movie is probably one of the better ones along with Sampson, My Year Without Sex, Disgrace, Mary and Max and The Black Balloon. It is an adaptation of a well-received first novel by Denise Young by a first-time feature director Glendyn Ivin, the sort of creative combination so beloved of our film funding bodies – "Here's $3 million, go away and play dears". In this case the result isn't so bad and the film does add something to the novel's story of a petty criminal's last sojourn with his 10 year old son across the Australian countryside, with the forces of law and order in hot pursuit. The novel set the action in outback New South Wales but the film makers removed the setting to the more spectacular wildernesses of northern South Australia for both artistic and financial reasons. The reason for Kev and his son Chook's flight, apparent at the start of the novel, is revealed only by degrees, which does add to the drama.

As others have noted, the father Kev, played with all lugubrious stops out by the lugubrious Hugo Weaving, is not a very likable character. Not only does he have serious anger management issues, he is pretty selfish and stupid – the sort of criminal one finds in prison rather than out of it. Having had a pretty sad upbringing himself he does try to do better as a father, but it is not easy for him, and it is not surprising his son becomes disillusioned. His son, despite all the fatherly incompetence, seems surprisingly normal – perhaps this is the result of an uncannily naturalistic piece of acting by Tom Russell, a child actor who is so good he doesn't seem to be acting. What does come across is that even bad fathers can teach good lessons, and that in the end we have to become our own person.

Greig Fraser's cinema photography featuring the Flinders ranges, Wilpena Pound and Lake Gairdner gives a majestic backdrop to what is a fairly small story – I thought it a bit like "And When Did You last See Your Father" would have been if it had been set in the Swiss Alps. Unlike that film, this one has a less angry tone. Poor old Kev can't really help being so inadequate, and he at least makes an effort for his son.

This was an interesting and watchable piece, but I can't see it doing well. Like a lot of similar realistic movies it deals with people at the margins of society, and frankly, most people aren't interested (escapist is a different story). I just wish the government film bodies would stop throwing money at first-timers to make stuff so alien to most people's experiences and of so limited relevance to whatever main steam Australian culture is. One the other hand, The Black Balloon and My Year Without Sex did deal with topics relevant to us all. Bring back David Williamson, I say.

It takes a lot of guts to push for truth to character rather than going for the easy way out, softening the edges. In this film Hugo Weaving's character has been so severely scarred by life that he has become a total sociopath, with no capacity for empathy, let alone love. It would have been easier for Weaving to have softened him a bit, shown signs that really deep down he did love his son. But that would not have been this guy, who is as hard as nails and totally self-concerned. Even when takes his son camping, it is all about himself, recapturing the few happy times in his youth. When his son makes that picture shake, his reaction is vicious. All this makes it a hard film to watch, in the same league as some other Australian films like "The Boys".

Matching Weaving step for step, Tom Russell's portrayal of the wary boy wishing his father would show him some affection but fearing the worst, is brilliant. Never overdone or mawkish, showing extraordinary subtlety and maturity for one so young.

Finally, the ending is suitably enigmatic, leaving us with questions about what really happened, and what might now.

A brilliant film, but if you like feel-good with a happy ending, don't go to this one.

Hugo Weaving is really the main reason to check this film out as he completely anchors everything about it. Movie is about this father and son who as the movie goes on we find out are on the run from the cops and we find out why and what the exact nature of their relationship is--and that's actually one of the nice mysteries of the film. We never quite know at least until the end exactly what the level of relationship is between this father and son team---do they love each other? detest each other? does one have wildly different feelings about the other then the other does about them? it's very much to the movie's credit that we really cannot take it for granted that the son either loves or hates his dad and ditto the dad to his son. The film does a very good job conveying that complexity of their established relationship.

Unfortunately once you get past the father and son stuff--there's not really a whole lot else to the movie content wise---its the two of them on the lam kind of, and the two of them alternatively bickering (sometimes viciously so) and bonding (sometimes very sweetly so) the only thing that keeps the movie from getting repetitive tho is the 2 performances--again Weaving just anchors the movie with his glowering yet oddly somewhat sympathetic character and the kid who plays his son Chook is equally as good at going back and fourth between wanting nothing more then to escape his dad and loving him with all his heart.

There's also a very compelling visual element to the film that helps the film move along in its somewhat lumbering middle section nicely enough. There's a scene where it literally looks like Weaving is driving his car in the middle of a lake--its not quite what it looks like--and i'm sure people in Australia will understand immediately what the car is driving on--but I had no idea why it looked like the car was driving on water! About the lumbering middle section--I suppose the reason its like that is because the film is more concerned with trying to be somewhat realistic and playing up the realism of the situation between the father and the son rather then playing up the drama of them being on the lam--and it works very much in the film's favor as you get to care about the two of them and what's gonna happen largely because of this. Unfortunately it also has the effect of making the film seem somewhat slower then it should be, but you know this is a small intimate father and son movie and that's probably the way the pace should be.

One quick thing about that ending---when it was over a number of the people i was in the theater with were grumbling about why it had to be that way--but the movie absolutely has the right ending--in fact you could say it has the only ending the movie could have and still feel true to itself. It was a pretty good movie overall but definitely a hard one to cuddle up to! (and Hugo Weaving's character shouldn't have it any other way.)

Last Ride is well made and well acted. The cinematography is a treat.

Unfortunately the script lets the film down. The central character (played by Hugo Weaving) is just a bit too unappealing, just a bit too hard to relate to, just a bit too hard to empathise with, just a bit too selfish.

In a way the film could be compared to Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World. Both are stories about the last ride of father and son figures. But where in A Perfect World I felt sympathy for the fate of Kevin Costner's father figure, in Last Ride Hugo Weaving's father ultimately left me repelled. For me the film suffered for that and, for me, the fault was with the script.

I am a big fan of Australian films. Remember Mad Max? Well this film is Australian and it's not bad. Starring the great Hugo weaving you can't really go wrong. It is a Father son story of a not so great Father that does love his son.

The story rolls along nice enough. Sure there could have been a bit more character development but it's not bad.

The scenery looks amazing! The shot in the dessert with the water running over it is just spectacular. Credit to the DOP. The young boy playing Hugos son I don't think has acted in anything before this. It shows in some scenes but overall he is not bad. I was though expecting the film to climax a little more but all in all I liked it. Check it out.

Excellent acting by Weaving and the young boy. A sad story but I'm glad I watched it. The filming and some of the locations are superb but the ending is something of an anti-climax but inevitable.

I often drew a comparison between Last Ride and Clint Eastwood's Perfect World while watching the movie and even though Perfect World may be an overall better movie, something about Kevin Costner's character seemed always a little odd to me. So Costner playing a convict who is actually quite the good guy, but unfortunately misunderstood. More of a tragic figure than a ruthless villain who kidnapped a strange kid.

Hugo Weaving's character is not as likable as Costner's, but that's what makes him so special. He is real. He is a bad person, but the unfortunate circumstances made him that bad. He is violent, he is narrow minded, he is a coward, selfish and yet he does love his son and tries in his own way to do what he thinks is best for him. He tries in his own way to protect him.

Last Ride is certainly worth watching just for the two actors. Hugo Weaving is a great actor and he manages to create some sympathy for a very ugly character. Tom Russel is also very great and is throughout the movie very convincing.

The movie is slow paced. Very meditative. It's a road movie through the wilderness of Australia with an almost predictable, yet still very touching and heartbreaking ending.

It's not Perfect World, but it delivers something Eastwood's movie didn't deliver, at least for me. Last Ride is more authentic, more realistic and should satisfy the people who never really believed Kevin Costner's character.

a silent, melancholic movie about father and son who gonna cope with their own special reality and history. these two guys, who cannot avoid getting in trouble again and again, because of the fathers violent character. we only know some of the shadows of his past and the reasons behind his violence. that's enjoyable enough to remain in the frontiers of melancholy. the movie tells -- literally, like at the campfire -- about the wounds that are reason and those who can be results.

anyway, the pictures don't surprise. we see nothing new. especially, if we have already seen ›perfect world‹. and if we have seen widescreen documentations about the terrific Australian landscape.

If you've seen a lot of father and son stories, you won't see much that's new here, but there are some very affecting scenes, as crim dad drags innocent young son across the Australian countryside and bush. Hugo Weaving is okay as dad, but often he's not convincing. There are quite a few local actors who would have been less self- conscious, but, alas they are not semi-stars like HW. The boy, Tom Russell, is excellent. Trouble is the script is not very exciting. Many stock-standard father and son scenes start developing, and I think: 'oh.. my cliché expectations will be subverted at any second', but they are not. There are some tender moments - mainly created by sensitive direction and Russell's excellent underplaying, but it's too long a ride. I won't spoil the story, but I was not in the least bit convinced by the transformation at the end of the story..it just seemed like a sudden and easy way for the writer to put a full stop. However, the cinematography is superb..Last Ride is typical of what I think is wrong with Australian movies: they're well made, they look pretty, but not enough happens. There's no rigour in the scripting. Wouldn't it be better to make sure you've got a really solid vehicle before you start off on the ride?

Last Ride is a Australian movie about a father, Kev (played by Hugo Weaving), and his son, Chook (played by Tom Russell), on their last road trip together through the Australian outback. What's great about this movie is that it doesn't follow the typical father/son discovering each other movie formulas and just tells a story.

Kev is a man running from something. He is quick tempered and lives a lifestyle that is fueled only by thievery and violence. It is not a good life in which to raise a son, Chook, who is dragged along for the ride in the only life he has known, and begins to suspect that everything is not entirely what it seems.

This film takes place mainly outside and has a very naturalistic feeling to it. There are a lot of beautiful desert and bush shots and all of the small town shots look authentic.

A lot of people complain that the central character is completely unlikeable, but I think these sort of characters with a twisted morality are really plausible. You meet a violent man like Kev every once in a while and you wonder what has happened and what happens in their lives. And even amongst the more middle-class population, you meet people all the time who really aren't cut out to be parents and are too proud to get help - some of them still try to do well, some of them don't even bother.

However, there is a point to these criticisms of the central character, there is not much in the movie that uplifts you. Not only that, but you can see how it's going to turn out right from the beginning and so watching this movie is waiting for the train wreck with very little positivity to take away at the end for either of the central characters.

I don't think it's one of the great movies, but it is a good one: an interesting story, interesting characters, nicely shot and great actors.

My only gripe is that it's yet another successful Australian movie that is frankly depressing and it's becoming a little bit of a cliché to have dark Australian outback stories.

Not good. The main actor is too repulsive. Just not nice to watch. Sometimes you feel for the actor, but in this film I didn't.

The child actor is brilliant. Just the film is average. Felt like a big waste of time.

So yh, I wouldn't bother

I saw this movie a few nights ago on the 18th of June at the Palace, in Brisbane. There was a question and answer session afterwards with Hugo Weaving and the director.

The movie is quite good, i have not read the book. It starts off slow but a lot is accomplished, considering it's relatively short runtime. Hugo Weaving definitely gets into the role of Kev and Tom Russell definitely has potential.

The movie is realistic and is not at all Hollywoodized. If you like dramas then i suggest you go see it. However there are some disturbing thematic material so be warned.

I myself wish that we got more of a variety of movies made here in Australia. this movie is not too different to other that have already been done but at least hopefully it'll be a success and the government will learn to fund then Australian film industry.

Fugitive Kev (Hugo Weaving) snatches his son Chook (Tom Russell) and takes him on a road trip across Australia. Hugo Weaving is rock solid as a violent man on the run. The kid is also great, and able to switch gears along with the story. Their relationship has great chemistry that evolved with all the complexity.

The story moves along slowly but also gets punctuated by acts of violence. My only suggestion is that the violence need to be dramatized much better. The camera stands back too much and dissipates some of the power. I'm reminded of Amy Heckerling who said she had no idea how to shoot the football game in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'. It seems like Glendyn Ivin didn't know how to shoot the violence, and so she just shot it passively.

This is a coming of age story of two people on a road trip. A man and a boy are elementally bound and separated through their own actions over the course of their intense journey . Each of their choices resonates as a life lesson. Context is revealed in the sparing use of flashbacks: like inexact memories, past acts are recalled in short swirls, and distancing, grainy, TV blue- hues. The characters' more intentional, real-time acts take place in the redemptive, sensually saturated landscape of the Outback. I found Last Ride to be more compelling than anything I've seen this year, with its lean dialogue, stunning cinematography, and great performances. It was so elegantly assembled, that I'm still aghast -this film is a prizewinner in my book. At the same time, I wonder whether I will need to lobby locally, so I can see it on the screen it deserves. It also recalled the more subtle, character-revealing aspects of Thelma and Louise. I saw Little Fish a few years ago, also featuring Hugo Weaving. That that film imprinted on me in a similar way, because it turned out to be an unexpectedly piquant dish. Last Ride is a feast of a film. Bravo, and thank you.

I hate rating movies, but I give this one a 10, because it deserves it. I always been a fan of Hugo Weaving and he was twice as rewarding in this movie because he was so good in it, then it seems that he stepped out of the screen and came again to have a chat with the audience with writer, producer and "Max".(as reported being done in Brisbane in an earlier entry but this was in Sydney.I also missed out on the opportunity to get the inspiring book as it was the reward for those who asked questions but I was a little shy about it!) During this time I also learned that the book for once was actually shorter than the movie! So you take your seat and the films starts. The photography is stunning especially as you move, close and personal, into a wonderful Australian outback. No cliché, not too much to distract you away from from the unfolding drama. There father and son seem to learn about each others, but the hard way. Occasional flashbacks help you to understand a few aspects of the present situation. And you continue the ride, warts and all which focuses very closely on these two characters a middle age man who evolved from the school of hard knocks, and his somehow estrange son. We were told by the producer that the "ride" had to end somehow and there were alternatives on how to end this ride. I feel they made the right choice although the alternative would not have been unthinkable. Hugo's acting is very impressive in this work, and his 10 years old co- star is almost equally to the task. "Max" does little but very well too. I can't wait to read more comments from some of these excellent people who regularly share they thoughts here, because I'd be surprised if this does not prompt them to praise and elaborate much more concisely about it. Yes don't miss it

Diane and I saw this engrossing examination of the other side of human existence; a side that as portrayed in Last Ride would probably be unfamiliar, unappealing and unflattering to all concerned and yet strangely curious as if they are the Other rather than us under different circumstances. Obviously a film that features only two central characters will rise or fall based upon the success of those two characters as actors; whether or not they can draw the audience into their lives and whether they can create enough drama in their interaction to sustain believability over the course of the script. In my opinion they succeeded on both accounts extremely well. I thought Weaving's portrayal of a guy caught between the mistakes of his past and the hopelessness of his present was unusual and unusually poignant. I can hear people laughing and saying that the formula has been rehashed so many times that it is trite. My answer to that comment is that I have not seen it done so well. Weaving portrayed a guy on a knife edge, caught between a past that will not let him forget and a future that has no place for him.

How many of "hims" are out there? Do we as a society have a responsibility? What went wrong? Was the script over dramatised? Did Weaving play his character too wildly, too dramatically? I do not think so. I also thought Tom Russell was brilliant. I thought that his character morphed between the extremes demanded of him in the script very well. Diane knows children his age far better than I and her comment was kids do not spring back and forth between absolutes as Russell's character did but to me I found his morphing as real as his dad's. Under those extreme circumstances I could understand the motivations of both central characters. A difficult film but one that should be seen to see what film can do.

The title sounds like a western and, in a sense, it is. An outlaw and his son ride into the desert, fleeing the law. Except that it's our desert and they are in a series of stolen cars in the present.

The movie evokes a lot of other films and genres as well: the road movie with a European sensibility, as in Paris, Texas, for example. Last Ride has a similar sense of space and silence around the characters and a deep sense of sorrow. It also has Hugo Weaving as an outcast, trying to bond with his son, played by Tom Russell.

This is one of the most beautiful-looking Australian films in several years, with a burnished, shining clarity of light that's so good that it almost becomes distracting. The director has taken a calculated risk in the first half, holding the pace steady, verging on slow, so that the climax will be more powerful.

An overall great film that you should all see.

Most movies avoid morally flawed and reprehensible central characters, since it's too hard to get audiences to empathise with them. Instead, they go for safe fluffy leads who have a few little problems, but are only misunderstood, and really, they're the sorts of people that we should aspire to be. Boring and yuk.

Last Ride does the opposite and pulls it off sensationally well, thanks to an intelligent and balanced script, wonderful direction and a superb performance by Hugo Weaving. Australian cinema has recently been accused of being too bleak and depressing, but anything done well is worthwhile. I still don't understand how such a flawed character was able to hold my attention for so long. An ex-con kidnaps his son and goes on a road trip. That's all I'm telling you. Not an easy film to watch, but oh so worthwhile.

Australian films and TV have never seemed to grab my attention. Being from the UK and only ever watching Neighbours or Home and Away. Maybe a few high school dramas. I always felt that the Australians were trying to act American, or British and could never really find their feet as to their sense of identity. Well how wrong was I. This film captures the brutal bleakness of both the outback and the sad situation of its lead characters while also showing fleeting moments of ernest love and understanding. The performances are spot on. Cinematography is perfect. Australia is shown in all its bleak but beautiful glory, culminating in an almost unbearable moment of redemption. I've since been watching a lot of similar films such as Walkabout and Tracks, and can't get enough of them. I'll continue to delve into the rich pot of Australian film in the near future. They deserve more recognition. So underrated.

This is a remarkable film and one of the finest performances of Hugo Weaving's career. It especially resonates with anyone who grew up in the regional places of Australia. There is something of the desperation of these lonely places where many live their whole lives all the while maintaining a suspicion about the cities.

There is a rawness to the film that feels deeply felt. With hindsight we can see now that the director has gone on to have an impressive career and continues to refine his work.

In short I would highly recommend this film to a potential viewer especially if compelled to explore the further reaches of Weaving's body of work as this could be easily overlooked.