MovieChat Forums > Last Cab to Darwin (2016) Discussion > Predictable and dull - premonition

Predictable and dull - premonition


I've not yet seen it but based on the small amount I see about it, I can't determine that there are a lot of compelling reasons for me to want to see it.

There will be, I predict;

- Caton doing his gruff, lip-smacking Caton thing. He's a one-trick pony, so don't get your hopes up
- Scenic shots of random bits of Australian outback with jangly guitar and digeridoo in the background, probably with a long focal length. And some dust in the air.
- A sunset or two, some 'roos hopping around
- Grubby, sweaty characters with 'battler' writ large upon them but all ultimately with hearts of gold
- Definitely some aboriginal people in there, perhaps some kids running alongside the car as it travels, perhaps some folk looking all lost and stolen generation and sad.
- A scene where Caton ignores the earnest advice of a young but well meaning Doctor, which it turns out later that he should have.
- A scene where Caton 'connects' with aboriginal people, bringing sudden new meaning into his life. I'm sure even Caton can manage directions to 'show us the slow dawning of surprise on your face' - all he has to do is let his mouth hang open and raise his eyebrows.
- A not particularly subtle reference to 'The Castle'. Pool room, perhaps?
- A hitchiker in the middle of nowhere.
- Mechanical trouble at a time that later turns out to be fortuitous, but at the time is a major inconveiniance

There'll be more but you get the essential picture. Not a movie made for Australians to watch but a movie made for people elsewhere to watch about some fictional Australia that does not exist. The clue is in the blurb "...epic drive through the outback from BH to Darwin". Any Australian would well understand that on the scale of things, a drive from Brokie to Darwin is pretty mundane, two, three days at the most, exercise in getting from point A to point B on well formed well traveled roads.

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Not one prediction correct.
How disappointing for you.

No cash here!! Here, no cash!!! Cash, no!!!! Robbo? No Cash!

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Some of these predictions did happen, but only a fool confuses the road with what happens on the journey.
Maybe you should try watching a movie before writing long negative comments about it.

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Actually your predictions were surprisingly accurate. I liked this movie overall, but to me the main downside of it was that it was fairly predictable; almost every sub-plot ended just as the viewer would expect.

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Just goes to show that maybe, just maybe you should actually see something before commenting.

The movie is good on so many levels, but particularly Rex's relationship with Polly. Cruel, but caring in the ultimate realisation. Polly is totally forbearing and shows a side to the white/black reality that we never see portrayed in movies but is I guess real as it gets.

True there were some parts that might have been what you seem to be anticipated. Jackie Weaver's take on the Darwin doctor was weak and "thespian" (totally at odds with everyone else), without the grit and Aussie wit that the rest of the movie had in spades.

Can't praise everyone else's performances highly enough and the writing was the best I have seen in years.

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