Under the Radar

In Under The Radar, Nathan Philips plays Brandon, a surfer sentenced to community service in a home for the intellectually disabled after a "surf rage" incident. He befriends a shifty bogan, Trevor (played by comedian Steady Eddie, who has cerebral palsy), and recurring amnesiac Adrian (Clayton Watson from "Matrix Revolutions"). The three of them go on a road trip and meet up with runaway waitress Jo (model Chloe Maxwell in her first acting role), and two warring groups of gangsters.

The latest film from Evan Clarry (Blurred) is an enjoyable mainstream experience, although it does look like it was made for television. There's little new here, but it's quite watchable – and improved by the non-linear narrative. With his brain resetting every half hour, Adrian's the most interesting character, and his coping mechanisms are explored in some depth, though this is not nearly as well done as in Memento. Special mention to the tropical Queensland forest, which was made to look both temperate and menacing by cinematographer Philip M Cross. **½/***** stars.

Yeah, this film is a blend of Momento and Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, but I'm yet to see a completely original film that hasn't borrowed something from another film. Under the Radar takes these themes and makes them its own. The actors do a top notch job and the director handles this well written piece with pace and style. Evan Clarry and Steve Pratt have managed to weave together the multiple genres seamlessly in a form that keeps us guessing right to the end. The locations across the Gold Coast look stunning and are well utilized and the surfing sequences take you face first into the waves. The stunts are big for a low to mid budget film, but it looks and feels anything but low budget. In my opinion this is one little Aussie gem that has truly slipped; Under the Radar. Steady Eddy - Keep on shaking'. You owned the screen with a great first time performance.

I too watch 100 films a year.

Under the Radar was a great disappointment. It is films such as this that give Australia a very bad name in the film industry.

Fundamentally the script was uninspiring, with predictable characters and stilted dialogue. Who would fund something like this...

I wouldn't use the writer again.

The script let this film down and was carried by the director and the actors. The characters were hollow and seemed to reflect the writer's poor understanding of people.

I

I watch about 100 to 200 films a year.

Some are just crap. This one was NOT.

I really enjoyed this Aussie Film. I liked each and every character in this film. So many genre twists I couldn't work out what was going to happen next. Which usually turned out surprising and funny. So funny and so entertaining. I watched it three days ago and I'm still smiling and laughing about it.

And yes the ending surprised even me. Brilliant! This was just a fun film for me.

Thanks to all in the Australian film industry who had anything to do with this film.

There are countless films with the same plots or they have riped off stuff from other films and they still suck. Yes this film may have taken ideas from other movies like Momento and Tarentino films but at least it is entertaining. It has a good story, interesting characters and is very funny in spots. Steady Eddie comes up with some classic lines. It does have that amateur feeling about it that you get with many Aussie films but it's achieves what I consider the most important thing a movie should do and that is entertain you. I've given it a 6/10 but it probably deserves a 6.5/10. It's worth watching if you don't want to watch something too serious.