Down Under

My hopes are never that high when it comes to Aussie film (despite being an Australian myself), but this blew my family and I out of the water. We were laughing all the way through, connecting with the characters (despite their very obvious flaws), and oddly surprised by the high production values. Acting was on-point and convincing. The characters seemed like real people, as stupid as some of them may be. By the end, the characters were humanised enough for us that we wanted NO ONE to get hurt (even those that may have deserved it) and whenever a hit landed, we felt it. The missing star for me would maybe come from a lake of clarity for what the film stood for other than 'hate and prejudice is bad'. Maybe lacking a bit of nuance in that department. After watching this film I immediately searched for ways that I could support it and the filmmaker, having only heard about it a few years after it's release (due to the streaming service Stan) - my mission begins with this review. I was honestly surprised at the relatively low reviews for this film as it set the bar for my family and I for modern Australian comedy film. Everyone involved kudos and KEEP DOING WHAT YOU LOVE - because I love it.

An outstanding film with top notch comedic performances from the cast as well as great dramatic performances. Abe Forsythe is a special talent and with his great writing and directing with this film has managed to do something incredible and make a film centered around the cronulla riots and 2 groups so different yet so alike and is a film that is gives of a powerful message that. Underplays throughout the film and really brings the message with the powerful conclusion . Abe makes a top notch film that is both funny and dramatic and captured the audience and takes them on a great ride and Balances them perfectly taking the audience on a great journey,an absolute ripper of a film Australians should get out and see this great film it's well worth it

To call Down Under (2016) a black comedy signals an intention to make light of something serious or controversial. But movie labels are all too often disguised marketing spin rather than accurate genre descriptions. Far from comedy, this film is a dystopian parody of an episode of Australian history that needs balanced understanding and nuance rather than exaggerated ridicule. It could have applied humour to lighten the portraits of racial bigotry but instead it creates a quagmire of gratuitous violence and comically lame racial, sexual and impairment vilification.

The opening scenes is the only time Down Under speaks with honesty and authenticity. Using archival footage of the 2005 Cronulla race riots overlaid with Christmas jingles, the stage is set for a clash of cultures that was seen around the world. The riots resulted from years of escalating tension between white locals who claimed 'ownership' of beautiful Cronulla beach and Lebanese groups from neighbouring suburbs wanting to share beach access. From this factual base, the film weaves a fictionalised account of two gangs of young men on opposing sides of the racial divide. With testosterone-fuelled honour at stake, the gangs escalate their violent rantings towards each other and cruise the streets hunting for supremacy. Along the way, they vilify everything and everyone so indiscriminately that are caricatures of aimless anger that bear no resemblance to real people. They are portrayed mostly as working class morons and hotheads whose constant screaming, swearing and physical abuse forms an endless spray of vitriol that makes this film an overcooked mess.

Down Under is a film that appears to have lost sight of its own purpose. If it was made to create humour out of violence then one-line clichés do little more than demonise stereotypes. If it was to offer insight into the cause of the riots then its fictional exaggerations undermine its credibility. If it was to portray the racist undercurrent of Australian culture then the absence of Indigenous people leaves it staring only at its own stereotypes. A wide chasm exists between the film's inspiration and execution, and whatever messages were intended are obscured by pushing creative limits into the realm of the absurd. The film leads towards an incoherent and implausible finale that fuses slapstick and violence without redemptive merit. It is disappointing to see such a lost opportunity to inform or entertain. The film's closing credits were a welcome sight.

To see this film rated at 6.1 is complete crap, it definitely does not deserve anything less than an 8. After reading a couple bad reviews, it looks like some of you idiots went expecting something closer to real events, but if you just look at it just as what it is, a hilarious black comedy, its amazing! I laughed my ass off the entire film, the acting was perfect, the story really was interesting for a comedy, and every second of the film was incredibly entertaining! I really thought it was damn near perfect for a black comedy, some of you people need to realize that this is not documentation, nor a true story, its a comedy, a really funny one!

After watching Abe Forsythe's wonderfully entertaining zombie comedy Little Monsters I was curious to see what else he'd down, which lead me to Down Under, a movie that looks for the lighter side of race riots.

Based on a true incident in Australia, this movie follows two groups of Australian citizens, one white, one of Lebanese decent, who decide to go out and fight in an ongoing skirmish. The groups are rather similar in that each is a bunch of hotheads and one guy who unwillingly gets dragged into the action.

I only watched about a third of this short movie, and just didn't find it that funny. In part that may be because the Australian accents caused me to miss some jokes, but I also just felt the humor seemed obvious and lacked cleverness, or even clever stupidity of the (Dude Where's My Car variety).

Not saying it was terrible, but it just didn't work for me.