The Hard Word Review
by Harvey S. Karten (harveycritic AT cs DOT com)June 5th, 2003
THE HARD WORD
Grade:B
Reviewed by: Harvey Karten
Lions Gate Films
Directed by: Scott Roberts
Written by: Scott Roberts
Cast: Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Joel Edgerton, Damien Richardson, Robert Taylor, Paul Sonkkila, Vince Colosimo Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 6/4/03
While the plot of "Hard Word" offers nothing new to crime genre movies, Scott Roberts's Tarantino-like daring gives the picture the hard-hitting benefits that should make an Australian film one whose dialogue will become familiar to an American audience with the patience to listen closely the wide appeal that most Downunder films lack. Like Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" (oh my, has it really been nine years?),"The Hard Word" is audacious, with an overlapping of stories whose theme is the honor that binds together a group of lovable lowlifes. Unlike the Sam Jackson/John Travolta characters in the 1994 pic, the trio of brothers in the forefront of Roberts's film are not hit men quite the opposite. They are determined to get away with big Australian bucks without hurting anyone: that's almost their creed, their raison d'etre. With the same vitality that made Tarantino's classic, sporting a cast with not a single slacker, "The Hard Word" is pumped-up yet at no point too bloody for even the most squeamish movie-goer.
The film opens on a small jail in or near Melbourne where a group of inmates play basketball as though they were in a perpetual fight common to professional hockey matches. Yet the correctional facility is a friendly enough place that houses the three Twentyman brothers: Dale (Guy Pearce,), Shane (Joel Edgerton) and Mal (Damien Richardson). Though they appear to want to call it quits and go legit, they are seduced into further action by their corrupt lawyer, Frank Malone (Robert Taylor), whose smarmy good looks make him the fellow you want to hate. After the release of the three brothers, a botched job lands them back in jail. Dale is concerned about the intimacy between his tough, sexy wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths) and the lawyer, a relationship that the steamy woman continues to tell her jailbird husband is not physical.
As the Twentyman trio and Frank plan a big heist of horse- track bookies at the famed Melbourne cup, Frank introduces them to trouble: a few extra criminals that the brothers do not like, and for good reason.
"The Hard Word" mixes humor and wit with the actual mechanisms of the job, making Scott Roberts's film as pleasing to fans of theatrical dialogue as to visual menace. Damien Richardson is particularly amusing as a butcher who's a Teddy- bear compared to Daniel Day-Lewis's take in "Gangs of New York," with a particular cute scene involving a love-at-first-sight meeting with a drunken racetrack fan who appears willing to drive the three from Melbourne to Sydney. While Guy Pearce virtually winks at the audience with a succession of wide-eyed expression that creep out from his long, greasy hair, Rachel Griffiths steals the show as the woman with an agenda of her own.
Rated R. 103 minutes. Copyright 2003 by Harvey Karten at [email protected]
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