Brief Story Line
Five months after finishing rock climbing in the high Troll Wall of Norway with her husband Tommy (Eric Bana - Untamed mini series, King Arthur: Legend of The Sword etc), Sasha (Charlize Theron - The Old Guard 2, The Addams Family 2019 animated movie etc) went to Australia for another experience in the wild Wandarra National Park.
While looking for a specific location, Sasha asked direction from someone she just met named Ben (Taron Egerton - She Rides Shotgun, Smoke mini series etc). Unfortunately for Sasha, she became the object of a hunting "game" initiated by Ben where she had to escape in the wilderness.
So what would happen to Sasha and why was Ben doing what he did? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story
Just like what I mentioned above, the film had a very simple premise. It was mostly set in the wild areas of Australia with a bit of opening scene in Norway. Although the main story was the cat and mouse game between Ben and Sasha, but the early part was crucial to the plot as well. However, I did have a feeling that the scene was not emotional enough which did not seem to provide the maximum impact to me. Good thing towards the end, it was readdressed through some brief dialogue which gave me a bit of understanding.
For a survival thriller movie, I felt it was pretty exciting and suspenseful for the first half. After a while though, the story seemed to develop into something different and gave a bit of pscyhological thrill vibe which reduced the tension a bit. Luckily that moment did not take too long and the intensity was raised again. I thought the climax was pretty well done as it sort of gave some closure to the characters. And it was also a satisfying conclusion for me. It only has duration of 95 minutes including closing credits which was sufficient to cover all the story and there was no mid or post end credit scene.
One thing that I admired in this movie was the survival scenes in the extreme condition. From what I read, Charlize Theron really did the climbing (she trained from professional), while the rest were done amazingly by the stunt team. It was a fantastic dedication on her part who was no stranger to action films. Meanwhile Taron Egerton was convincing enough as the rather psychotic hunter. It seemed he had been playing a bit of different roles recently which did not go unnoticed to me. Looks like he wanted to enlarge his portfolio. Aside from these two lead cast, there was only Eric Bana in support role and very few others as minor support characters.
The movie itself was directed by Baltasar Kormákur who was experienced in making survival films such as Adrift, Beast etc and was written by Jeremy Robbins (writer of The Purge TV series). Critics seemed to be quite impressed with the film, though not exactly spectacular but at least it has a pretty respectable score. And it looked like audience dig it too, already making it to number 2 in Indonesia after 1 day. It is a pretty amazing feat since usually only Indonesian movies were able to become a big hit here, except for only few handful certain films.
In the end, this is a pretty entertaining survival thriller movie. The extreme wild condition was a plus point with the hunting game at certain time made me feel like I was seeing a shark survival film. The special effects were quite excellent and to my surprise did not look too obviously done by computer (which is normally the case if I watch on my TV screen). Although it was intense, but I personally felt it could have been kept throughout the whole film and the emotional part could have been enhanced. So if you are interested in a film that combined survival in the wild genre while escaping psychotic killer, then you would be entertained by this. But if you prefer a more emotional survival drama, then this would not be satisfying. The choice is yours.
Mike's movie moments rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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