Red Billabong

This film is such a shame. It had everything going for it, decent production values, visually interesting and a unique idea. All of this gets turned into a missed opportunity by a poorly executed script full of cliques, casual misogyny and lazy dialogue.

The main problem is that main characters (the brother) are just boring. The film doesn't give you a single reason to like or care for them. They're not unlikable people but they're far from being interesting or emotionally engaging enough for you go on this journey with them. Nor are they cool or charismatic enough for you to live a power fantasy through them. On top of this, all the minor characters are totally interchangeable and forgettable (which the expectation of the goofy girl).

The main plot (until the monster plot takes over) is about the leads working out whether or not to sell their family farm. Something you don't really want for a film that's touting it self as as 'the biggest Australian action film of 2016'. I'm guessing they didn't catch the absurdly silly 'Gods of Egypt'.

You would think that this plot would just be a mcguffin so a family drama can unfold between the brothers but… nope. And this's the problem. Internally, you have no idea who the two leads or what they really want. Don't get me wrong, characters in these type of films needs to be too deep but they do need some dept. Even Max is the 'light on plot' 'Fury Road' had internal desires and motivations. I.e. testing if he could trust and connect with humans again. These characters are just uninspiring cliques who spurt plot points until the monster turns up.

The first two acts just have too many 'talking head' scenes that could have been edited right down. But in its defense, the third act is pretty good. It's where all the action, CG and set pieces are but by the time it came around, I'd I'd stopped caring.

To be honest, the film really didn't bother me too much. We've all seen bad films. What inspired the review was the Q&A after the film in which the director spend the entire time attempting to humble brag about how great he and his film is. He used every opportunity to mention that it was a "Good, fun action film" It's really not. It's a technically sound, bloated film with a bad script.

It also made it perfectly clear he's an 'independent filmmaker and not Hollywood". I think that was clear to everyone from all the actors from 'Home and Away'.

And he really going to leave his mark on the Australian film industry; not with scripts like this he isn't.

The film fails at it's aspirations of being a light and fun popcorn film. Everyone clearly has talent and were trying there best. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but there are so many other great Australian genre film you really should be watching before this.

I had high hopes of this flick as Australian creature features of the past such as rogue and razorback were well constructed. This however fell dry and flat with scheduled cliché Aussie songs and slang sayings. The generic character stereotypes were spot on the money for this sort of movie however they were mostly all overacted and generally unbelievable at best. as a fond fan of the horror genre this movie seemed to cross over to the action genre after approximately 50 minutes of boring character building. There were no scare scenes nor shock factor moments. There were no real comedic moments which are usually familiar within Australian films however I did find myself having a giggle at the terrible creature effects and the unrealistic script. The one star for this movie is attributed to the stunning Queensland scenery and most of the outdoor backdrop shots. To conclude, this could have been an extended episode of home and away which may have had a better reception among those viewers.

What begins as a promising premise, and remains so is immediately hampered by Dan Ewing and Tom Pockock's meeting. These ex-"Neighbours/ Home & Away" actors, and I use the term 'actor' loosely, undo any hint at danger in this dreadfully written script. The photography is good, the music quite good, but the 'acting' is absolutely appalling. Seriously, these guys and gals need to take some acting lessons or better still, spend some time on stage in the theater where actors learn how to act, not just pose for the camera. If they are graduates of established drama schools like NIDA or WAPA, then these schools have failed and should be treated as "Soapies feed factories. They sure as Hell don't teach acting skills. Dreadful script predictable to the end; characters so 2D they don't need to open their mouths; acting - just appallingly bad. what an abysmal entry that could have been so much more. Alas, it is a SyFy Channel movie transplanted to Australia at best. To think Dan Ewing is considered "an up and coming star". If he is, we're in trouble. He cannot, I repeat cannot act to save himself....or indeed this film.

I'm upset about how bad this movie is. As an Australian I worry for Australian sci-fi. Much like Occupation (2018), that other awful Aussie sci-fi, the cgi and camerawork was good, but the story, and particularly the script, was unnatural and difficult to bear. Red Billabong may have worked if this were about a reunion of two estranged brothers (no unexplained horror). Or, Red Billabong may have worked if this were solely about two brothers, not estranged, battling an unexplained horror. I'm not kidding, the mish mash of two estranged brothers battling each other and an unexplained horror was just plain irritating. The theme may sound familiar, and others may argue that relationship colour alongside adversity is a common and highly popular theme. I'll grant that, but for me, it seemed that the script had been written by a 13 year old with no real experience of what he/she was writing about. I'm not kidding, there are unrealistic stereotypes, sexism, male bitchiness, horrible initial portraits of young women, loads of cliches, potty mouths throughout, and way too many attempted classic lines. It's awful. At a certain point about 50 mins in a young man with a beanie appears and converses casually with one of the brothers. This beanie guy has appeared from nowhere in the forest, and is not seen again, nor was he seen previously in the movie. I actually clicked on all the pics above to try and figure whom the hell he was! Awful and irritating. Please Australian film, please check your work better!

The acting is really poor here - there are a couple of good scenes but for the most part it just seems to fake and unreal. The plot is just useless - it starts off good and I was hoping for a good movie but as it continues you realise that the script is like something a bunch of kids put together - and that is how it ends. Do not waste your time on this movie. The CGI is third grade/ low budget. Its a B class movie - and they haven't been able to pull it off. The script could do with a much better plot and a more scarier story as opposed to three women needed to complete the cycle - really? I liked the dog the most - really expected better.