Over Creek And Under Hill

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I watched the movie Red Hill over the weekend, which reminded me of John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13... only set in Australia, and starring Ryan Kwanten, and taking place across an entire small isolated town instead of a lone police station, and with just one guy attacking instead of a big gang. Okay they're not really that much alike at all, I don't know what I was thinking. Anyway it really wasn't very good. Kwanten was decent enough - he's a good actor but his acting abilities are constantly overshadowed by his muscles (but oh what muscles!) - but I never really found it capable of building much tension. You never care enough about the people being hunted because they're all dicks, and it's obvious from early on they want you to sympathize with the hunter but they don't give you enough to do so in order to have to both ways for way too long. Sloppy storytelling gets all up in its own way.

Anyway I saw in the credits that the film was produced by Greg McLean, the director of a film I've talked at length about here at MNPP with effusive praise heaped upon effusive praise, 2005's Wolf Creek. He's been busy producing stuff like this and the previously-posted-upon flick Crawlspace, but hasn't directed anything since his killer-croc movie Rogue way back in 2007 (co-starring Sam Worthington before Avatar and also before everybody forgot who Sam Worthington was again). I wrote in September of 2010 that there was talk of a Wolf Creek sequel from McLean... well now here nearly a full year later there's an actual announcement, and funding. So this will probably happen? With McLean behind the camera I am excited about this, although I tremble at the balls it takes for him to face off with what I consider a modern masterpiece.

But then I realize we're talking about silver stallion Greg McLean's balls and I completely lose my train of thought. What?