The Hard Word Review
by Rose 'Bams' Cooper (bams AT 3blackchicks DOT com)February 2nd, 2004
'3BlackChicks Review...'
THE HARD WORD - DVD (2002)
Rated R; running time 103 minutes
Studio: Lions Gate Films
Genre: Crime/Dramedy
Official site: http://www.thehardwordmovie.com/
IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280490/combined Writer: Scott Roberts
Director: Scott Roberts
Cast: Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths, Robert Taylor, Joel Edgerton, Damien Richardson, Dorian Nikona, Rhondda Findleton
Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2004
Review URL:
http://www.3blackchicks.com/2004reviews/bamshardword.html
Maybe it's Just Me. Maybe I'm just a Spoiled American, expecting to understand the language spoken at me when I go to see a movie. Especially if that language is English...a language of which I have at least a passing familiarity. But fo' real doe, I can accept that not every variant of The King's English is easily accessible to me; and that, furthermore, it is the lazy viewer that doesn't want - nay, *need* - to be moved out of her comfort zone every now and again.
In short, I have no business whining about having to strain to understand the thick Australian accents from the actors in this movie. To the contrary; I think it is the height of ignorance that so many Americans expect "foreigners" to look, speak, and act like us, even when we are In Rome. So there's a difference between Australian English and American English; so what? Hell, I fracture English so bad, it needs a cast; so I'd be the last to talk. And if that was all that was wrong with THE HARD WORD, I'd give it a greenlight and invite Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin to a three-way. Believe me, that is the least of my complaints with this flick.
THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**)
Twentyman brothers Dale (Guy Pearce), Mal (Damien Richardson), and Shane (Joel Edgerton) share a strong family bond. Sons of a butcher, they use the code language they learned in their father's shop, to aid them in their chosen profession: armed robbery. And they do the job so well, that their lawyer, Frank Malone (Robert Taylor) is able to get them of the joint so they can keep doing it - with the blessing of the local Sydney coppers, who will get a piece of the action.
Frank, meanwhile, is up to no good. He enlists the aid of Dale's less-than-loyal wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths) to keep Dale and his brothers in check. Faced with the option of going back to prison, or doing One More Big Job, the brothers take the obvious best choice...for the last time. Or so they think.
THE UPSHOT
Topping, bottoming, and middling that list of complaints is that, for a Caper Flick With A (supposed) Difference, this was
o n e d u l l a s s m o v i e. With a capitol E.
Alright, "dullass" is somewhat harsh. "Tepid", now that's the ticket. Where was the oomph, the cleverness, the panache? Maybe the American in me expects too much, having been exposed to flicks like HEIST and THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR and THE STING and...and...and you get the point. But the Twentyman Three wouldn't know "interesting" if it walked up and kicked them in the arse.
Far from being clever, or funny, or even unique, this threesome and their situation seemed ordinary and witless - and not in that "look how silly these doofi are!" way that might Endear them to an audience. Writer/director Scott Roberts saddled them with uninspired notions on what consists of "action" [that Chase Scene. Wow.], uneven plotting, and an anticlimax that came right out of Predictable Endings 101. And without some quality that would make the audience like these characters in some way, they just came off as common criminals. Common *gullible* criminals, to boot. Where's the fun in that?
It's a shame, too, because the characters - and their actors - had such promise. The very talented Guy Pearce (who I'm still mad at for THE TIME MACHINE) was oddly less entertaining as Dale, the supposed Brains of the family, than were Damien Richardson (Mal, the butcher) or especially Joel Edgerton (Shane, The Bad Brother). Every time Shane or Mal threatened to be Interesting, Roberts would squash that right quick. On the other hand, the single-faceted Frank was only eclipsed by Carol, Skanch From Hell, in my desire to see them removed, permanently, from existence. And the less said about the ridiculousness of Tarzan (Dorian Nikona), the better. No, I won't segue into a Black Factor about that character. In *this* case, my very American BF views don't apply across the pond. This ain't that kind'a party.
Even with all that, I'm willing to give writer/director Roberts the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure his heart was in the right place; but his talent sure didn't seem to be. Then again, maybe it's An Australian Thing. Because I swear I don't understand.
DVD THINGIES
All I can say is, thank ghod for subtitles.
I forgot to keep this movie long enough to check out the DVD's extras (you should've seen how quickly I sealed it up and dropped it in the mailbox back to Netflix). The one thingie that I did take notice of, besides the subtitles, was Roberts' commentary on "butcher talk" (or "rehctub-klat"), used throughout this movie. "Butcher talk" is a form of code language used originally by Australian penal colonists (and later, by butchers), to mask their speech. The prisoners, and then butchers, intermingled normal speech patterns with words spoken backwards, so eavesdroppers couldn't tell when they were planning an uprising (or were doing something rather naughty to the beef).
This peaked my interest, since it put me immediately in mind of the way many Black American slaves used pig latin to communicate secretly between themselves, once massa took the drums away that allowed for easy communication. Unfortunately, like much of the rest of THE HARD WORD, its use of "rehctub-klat" felt completely uninspired and unnecessary.
And it left me feeling sorry for the unsuspecting, non-Aussie theater audiences without a translator, who must have been shaking their heads, wondering whathell?
BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE
My "hard word" for this movie? It's too bloody hard to watch.
THE HARD WORD - DVD rating: yellowlight
Rose "Bams" Cooper
Webchick and Editor,
3BlackChicks Review
Entertainment Reviews With Flava!
Copyright Rose Cooper, 2004
EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com
http://www.3blackchicks.com/
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
