First of yesterday's double bill was this Australia thriller/Western starring Ryan Kwanten of True Blood fame.
Kwanten plays Shane Cooper a policeman who requested a transfer from the city to the backwater town of Red Hill so that his wife could be in a less stressful environment for her pregnancy. The action takes place during his first day, where initially the existing police officers are unwelcoming. Normal duties are quickly forgotten when news comes in that a former local resident and convicted murderer Jimmy Conway has escaped from his city prison.
It seems that there is more to Red Hill than first impressions would suggest, particularly when the Sheriff orders a lock down convinced that Conway will head straight for his former home town. He posts policemen and locals with guns on all routes. Our Shane, being the newbie, is posted on the least likely route Jimmy will take.
And so starts a cat and mouse game of stopping our murderer as he waltzes into town, sawn-off shotgun blazing and no shred of mercy.
Red Hill has a little more depth than your average shoot 'em up film but the set up does feel laboured and lacks conviction. Also, the film conventions are just a little too glaring at times, they jolt you from the necessary state of suspended disbelief you need for film watching. Is this an out and out action film where the hero takes one battering after another but still manages to be standing for the climax or is it trying to be a bit more than that?
I'm sure the boys will love it for its bloody shoot outs, for me its saving graces were the moments of hold-your-breath tension and depth. It's getting a Stan-rating of 57%. On Rotten Tomatoes 60 critics reviews have given it a rating of 70% but visitors to the site weren't quite so enamoured giving it 55%. Metacritic only has 9 critics reviews counted which give it 60% and no user rating yet.
* So behind in fact that I wrote it two weeks ago but forgot to publish it.
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