Red Dawn, Australian Style

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For those of you who are fans of the American classic Red Dawn, I recently discovered that Australia has its own version of teens fighting impossible odds against an invading army.

 

Tomorrow, When the War Began is the tale of eight Australian teenagers representing a cross section of society who return from a deep woods camping trip to find that an enemy power has invaded their homeland, rounded up everybody in town and is busily moving troops and supplies across a local beachhead. They narrowly escape being caught, and flee back into the countryside to plot both revenge and an act that will slow the invaders.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow,_When_the_War_Began_%28film%29

 

The comparisons to Red Dawn are inevitable, but the movie has a different pace. While the American version had things blowing up within the first 10 minutes, it takes awhile for Tomorrow to get wound up. That's not entirely illogical, as the kids were not there to see the initial landings. It is handled more like a mystery of "What the heck happened while we were out of town?"

 

There is suspense as they poke around town trying to figure things out, which results in them fleeing in a hail of gunfire. A good part of the middle third of the movie is them simply trying to not get caught.

 

Tomorrow also spends a fair amount of building and establishing all eight characters, which Red Dawn spent little time on. This, and other things suggest that a sequel or two was envisioned.

 

Despite all of its shortcomings, it has its high points. You see the teens struggling with panic, confusion, angst, bravery, cowardice, and the inevitable rising to the occasion to accomplish things that their parents could not. And yes, a touch of first love within the group, just to spice things up.

 

And for its somewhat slow pace, it has a spectacular ending. (Make sure to watch the extra features section on how they worked the special effects.)

 

Tomorrow is based on a series of seven Young Adult books, which in turned spawned three additional books on the main character Ellie. Internet articles indicate they are quite popular in Australia. The later books deal with the effects of prolonged war, survivor's guilt and PTSD.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_series

 

Unfortunately the movie did not do well at the box office, only achieving about 70% of its production costs. However, at one point it was the second highest grossing film made in Australia. Due to the popularity of the book series it appears a TV mini-series is in the works for 2016. (Unfortunately, most of the teen actors have moved on with their careers, so presumably it will be a new cast.)

 

My wife and I rated it a 3.0 to 3.5 out of 5. It's worth watching just for something as a change of pace if nothing else. And you do get some great views of South East Australia!

 

Photo:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1456941/

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Trailer...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_KhErNyiq8