More often than not major critics around the globe find some obscure movie to go on and on about, hailing it as the next big thing, praising the actors, writer, director and more. They talk about how if you see one movie then this is it. And more often than not they are completely off the mark hailing some of the most boring films ever made. Enter ANIMAL KINGDOM.
The story revolves around Joshua “J” Cody (Jay Frecheville), a teenager who sits and watches TV as his mother dies of a heroin overdose. With nowhere else to go, J ends up with his grandmother Janine (Jacki Weaver). Also living in the same house are various uncles and cousins, all of whom are mixed up in the world of crime one way or another.
The life of crime that this family has adopted has led to their being hounded by the police as well. The most feared and sought after among them is “Pope” (Ben Mendelsohn). While searching for him, the police routinely camp outside the homes of his family and friends. When all else fails, the kill one of his brothers and make it look as if he was armed.
This action sets the ball in motion with Pope now seeking revenge. The character never seems to be as evil as the word around town about him is, but there is an undercurrent of menace about him. To even the score, Pope recruits other family members and they ambush a pair of uniformed officers and murder them which of course increases the vigor with which the police now want the Cody family.
All the while J is more or less simply there when things happen. He was involved in nothing more than stealing the car used to ambush the police, but as a member of the family in this town he’s presumed guilty with no chance of innocence. But when Det. Leckie (Guy Pearce) interviews him he sees an opening, a crack in the armor that is the Cody family. And even though it puts J’s life on the line, he continues pushing until Pope is certain that J has talked.
The inevitable reaction from Pope is to take out J, even if he is family. For this group the family is the center of all things and not to be taken lightly. J may not have talked out of turn, but the chance is there and Pope decides J must die. But the plan to do so fails and now J must choose between family and a chance to get out of this world of crime.
As a few other films I’ve discussed recently, this one sounded good on paper. But the pacing is slow at best and the story feels like an hour long TV drama extended to feature length that offers nothing extra. You walk away from this movie thinking “I want back that two hours of my life”.
I’m sure that someone, somewhere thought the acting in this was great. I left thinking that it was lame and offered nothing. Nothing new, nothing old, just existing as if that was enough. Sorry, I want to be entertained at least somewhat when I sit down to watch a movie. But my guess is that I’m not the only one who felt that way after watching this.
As I said from the start, critics have heaped high praise on this film. In so doing they’ve just confirmed my view on most major critics. They praise films that a) are pretentious and boring yet they don’t want to seem to admit they are or b) they don’t understand the film and rather than seem out of it, praise it instead.
Speaking of not understanding a film, while this movie is Australian (a country that speaks English mind you) you’ll be better off having the English subtitles run while watching. The accents are incredibly thick and the language at times seems to be Aussie slang. Just keep in mind that even with subtitles, this movie is incredibly boring.
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