User Reviews

The film swings between some nice noir at the beginning then some awful TV soapy techniques. So I wasn't sure whether I was meant to take it seriously.

When I saw the small backpacks for the trek and when a few other things started to jar, I thought nahh. As the improbables built up I thought, this could be fun. But I was left thinking that I wasn't meant to think so.

Improbabilities included a NZ accent for an Australian radio announcer, the general tension at the start of the walk (these people were off together on an adventure remember), and, the huge unlikelihood of a single woman leaving herself alone with a possible murderer, even if she didn't believe it was him. The reveal of the murderer was clunky but I enjoyed toting up the number of bullets left in the gun. Were seven fired? I quite enjoyed the last dinner scene where the agent's role was revealed.

The high strung piano introducing some of the scenes, though a cliché I was happy to accept, began to grate on me.

On the good side there were great performances by all the actors, some superb film techniques and a humanity that shone through (the treatment of the prisoner by the young woman).

With just a tiny bit of finesse the film could have been improved as far as it R-rating went. Cutting out the bad language and displaying gore less graphically would have added to the tension and not detracted from the film.

Overall a credible effort from director and writer James Napier Robertson. I enjoyed it, though perhaps not for the reasons James might have hoped. He might have been better listening to some advice, presuming it was available, on avoiding the mish mashes.

I'd recommend the film as part of the NZ filmscape and would happily try another of Napier's offerings, hoping all the while that he has matured somewhat, or become settled in a style.