Force of Nature: Oltre l'inganno

I rather liked The Dry, although I didn't rate it (or the book on which it was based) as much as most Australians, so I had quite high hopes for this one.

Alas, they were dashed almost as soon as the film began. The overblown, portentous music was set my Dud Alert quivering, and it was all downhill from there. Ridiculously over complicated plot with about four separate strand running at once, none of which were really resolved satisfactorily, and a couple of them not at all. I pitied the actors who had to deliver what must be some of the clunkiest lines of dialogue ever written, and perhaps the poor quality of the screenplay explains why the performances were so uniformly poor; even Eric Bana, who's an excellent actor, is terrible in this.

Just don't bother. There are far better ways to spend your time.

A significant Australian made hit in early 2021, The Dry was both a critical and commercial success as the tale of Eric Bana's softly spoken federal agent Aaron Falk returning to his isolated hometown to help solve a murder of an old friend resonated across a wide spanning film going community, with many thankful that author Jane Harper's creation had more coming for them with her book series having multiple Falk entries planned.

A victim of last years Hollywood strike that saw its August 2023 release postponed until recent weeks, Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (an unfortunate title if there ever was one for multiple reasons) finally arrives with Bana and director Robert Connolly on board once more but sadly this time around much of the goodwill and good work that the first Dry entry left us with is gone here on a drab and damp next instalment that makes one wonder if Falk's cinematic adventures are going to be short-lived from here on out.

Far removed from the dusty and dried out surrounds of the first film, Nature finds the sleepwalking Bana and new zombified version of Falk venturing out into the Victorian mountain ranges to help with the search efforts for Anna Torv's Alice, an informant of Falk's who has gone missing in the rugged wilds during a corporate retreat that includes such colleagues as Deborra-Lee Furness's Jill, Robin McLeavy's Lauren and Richard Roxburgh's shady CEO Daniel and while the landscape we and Falk find ourselves in now have a flavour and energy, much of what happens in this wannabe Agatha Christie-lite tale is far from engaging.

Suffering from a central mystery that isn't entirely gripping and a procedural that is like a robotic progression of ticking a few boxes before climaxing in a far from memorable fashion, the core of Nature's problems stem directly from the material it's adapting and Connolly and Bana's inability to infuse that with any extra movie magic that would have made this well-budgeted Australian production anything but a pretty but extremely minor distraction.

The Dry found success in its mix of cinematic qualities rarely found in local productions, interesting main and side characters and a murder mystery that gripped from the first frame, all ingredients that aren't found in Nature, with the film failing to ever engage to a high level as we trudge along our way through mostly dialogue themed interactions with a bunch of fairly unlikeable and undeveloped characters we come to care very little about.

Initially set up to be what could have been an iconic new addition to Australian cinema history it's sad to see Falk the character and Bana the performer with so little to do here and despite some attempts to create more engagement through flashbacks and one of the most bizarre serial killer subplots I can recall, the story of Falk and his future potential don't seem so appealing moving forward after a bright initial start.

Final Say -

Well-filmed and full of possibilities, Force of Nature: The Dry 2 is a nothing more than major step backwards from the original 2021 outing and a mediocre effort from all involved, potentially halting the cinematic universe of Aaron Falk in its tracks.

2 hazardous waterfalls out of 5.

Jordan and Eddie (The Movie Guys)

This film was gripping and unsettling. Contrary to popular opinion, I enjoyed the second one more! It delved into the realm of psychological thriller more than a drama, which the first film leaned into. This made it exciting to watch. The lush forest landscape was a stunning antithesis to the dry countryside depicted in the first movie and the performances were very believable. Sadly, there is a "but". In the way Australian films quite often go, it didn't quite hit the high mark of a jaw-dropping plot twist at the end. Rather, it flatlined. The story could have been more ambitious and punched higher by providing more twists and turns. Additionally, the film explored a number of sub-plots that weren't answered in the end or cleverly tied-off. Overall, this is worth a watch in the cinema and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

5 women embark on a company team building exercise, backpacking for 3 days into the forest. However only 4 return and a search is quickly launched for the 5th, Alice, played by the excellent Anna Torv. Enter detective Falk (Eric Bana) who needs to find Alice as she has been working undercover in the company for Falk in an attempt to expose fraud by bad guy Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh).

Sequel to 'The Dry', which whilst not as good as the original is still an enjoyable watch. What director Robert Connolly does is to almost seamlessly intertwine Falk's investigation with flashbacks to what the group did. In most films this is done in large chunks, but here it moves more quickly, neatly shifting from one timeline to the other merging them into one. The 5 women make for a good team playing nicely off each other, mixing truth and lies to Falk and us, with Bana solid and sincere, thinking back to backpacking in his youth which lead to a tragedy and Roxburgh, ideal as the cocky slime ball. Worth catching.

I saw it by accident: its first week.

A noble idea got destroyed by poor scripting and politically-correct casting. Its big merit was the filming, Australian bush landscapes, but even those scenes had to be moody dull. There was far too much intertwining of timelines and unexplained lines. What body was found? Whose son found the body found by someone else. The lone wolf federal investigator was a Hollywood cliche, as were the classic eyeball confrontation scenes with the notional hero vs the police chief.

What stood out? Debra LF as Jill: an incongruous character in the plot, and with a mismatched husband, but still a great performance.

Do what I did: see it at a theatre which lets you brin in wine in a glass.