qmaclaine

Danielle MacDonald's co-stars billing is a total mismatch. Her vocal-fry, overacting and uneasy wannabe-American accent (utterly wrong for an outback Aussie girl) is uncomfortable and distracting. She's not alone in lacking acting ability. What should be a tense and interesting yarn is undermined by cliche and poor line delivery. Cheap and ordinary. The casting seems based on caricature of the written characters. The setting and concept had the potential for a seriously powerful thriller and Dornan is quality. Another beef is the constant intrusion on the drama by clumsily delivered pseudo-comedy. I tolerated the first episode but the stupidity of the side stories and dire acting killed off any interest in continuing.

....out on the tractor...rounding up the sheep? As frequent as the wearing of jeans was on the show when it started 14 years ago. What a joke. "Farmer" doesn't need a selfie queen.but that seems to be what the producers.designed for them. The original, successful format targeted down-to-earth genuine young farmers and girls with, if not a background on the land, then at least an understanding of it or a curiosity. The producers have fallen for the trap of feeling that they have to compete with formulaic "successful" reality shows where conflict, damaged character and a keen sense of entitlement are the primary sources of entertainment. The golden goose is dying.

The film offers an entertaining, if unlikely yarn and the leads, Pearce, Winstone and Watson are convincing. There are two jarring factors which distract from what should have been an engaging film; the woodenness of the extras who act - US-style - in a kind of zombie sync and the appalling overacting of David Wenham. One of the most embarrassing caricatures in modern Australian cinema. How did the producers allow this train-wreck performance to get to screen? They went to the trouble of casting sound foreign actors but failed to match them with the best home-grown actors. Pearce, as ever, is convincing. However, Wenham made his name in light-weight drama and was grossly out of this depth with this heavy material.