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The Hard Word | Year: 2003 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Scott Roberts (II) Actors/Actresses: - Guy Pearce - Rachel Griffiths - Joel Edgerton - Damien Richardson 3 Stars for 2 Great Leads, Pearce & Griffith (in Blonde Wig) Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffith star in this Aussie film by first-time director Scott Roberts. To be honest, I find nothing memorable in the film except the well-drawn characters and the good acting. But that may be because I missed the humor part of the film. The truth could be either the film is filled with Aussie humors or it's just a mess. Just choose for yourself. The story is familar, but not bad. The three brothers Dale, Mal, and Shane are doing time at the prison in Melbourne. According to Shane, Guy Pearce's Dale is intelligent, Mal is kind, and he is just a messed-up one. Anyway, with a help from oily, corrupt lawyer Frank (Robert Taylor, one of the "agents" in the first "Matrix"), they are assigned to do the heist job while out of jail. And their no killing" policy assisted by the professional skills again worked, or it seems. If I write like this, you might think that "The Hard Word" is what you call "heist movie" featuring the expert jobs of robbery. Not exactly. The film's forcus is on the relations between characters -- among the brothers, and between them and surrounding ones like lawyer, cops, and so on -- and if you expect actions, you will be disappointed. The film is more about the mildly comical moments generated by the interations between them, which are peppered with strangely engaging humors. But the most striking character is not a male one; she is Carol played by fabulous Rachel Griffith, whose acting at one place will easily out-Stone Ms Sharon Stone of the now famous scene in "Basic Instinct." Oh, don't forget, now she is blonde, too. 1,000 miles away from her portrayal of the understanding wife seen in Dennis Quaid's "Old Rookie," she is simply great -- the only thing we regret is her comparatively short screen time. The film is often edited badly (the heist scenes are most lamentable condition, with too many jambled shots), and the story looks as if going on and on, never knowing where to stop. The film shows "Melbourne Cup" and you will think that is the place where the film is heading. In fact, you will see much more and more. And strangely, there are good scenes (see how the brothers run with huge black bags on the shoulder) scattered among those parts which, in purely dramatic point of view, are obviously superfulous. Too bad the film doesn't know what it wants to be. Blood Sausage Resolutely Australian, brash, funny, irreverent, alternately devilish and angelic and at times disgusting, "The Hard Word" is nonetheless full of life...in an electrode to the spinal cord kind of way. It is definitely on the side of the bad boys though, the thieves who happen to be brothers: Guy Pearce as Dale, looking as if he never sleeps, never washes his hair nor brushes his teeth but still somehow holds on to the love of his wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths), Shane (Joel Edgerton), a Kurt Russel look-alike with Elvis sideburns and with an anger management problem as big as all outdoors and Mal (Damien Richardson) a butcher who looks to Sweeney Todd for inspiration. By the way, they are all recently released guests of the Australian prison system encouraged to participate in that one final heist that will bring in enough cash for them all to retire.<BR>We've had a rash of heist,double/tripe cross caper films of late but none has the finger-in-the-nose, sloppily efficient bravura of "The Hard Word." It's a puppy dog of a movie inhabited with Dobermans, Pit bulls and Rottweilers.<BR>Director Scott Roberts III has injected gallons of adrenaline and cock-eyed optimism into this movie to fuel several films. That he keeps us firmly on the side of the supposed "bad guys" only attests to the humanity and inspired intellectualism of his direction. derivative crime drama **1/2 The Australian film, "The Hard Word," is little more than a wan cross between "The Usual Suspects" and "Oceans 11." In it, Guy Pearce, almost unrecognizable beneath a scraggly beard, plays one of four criminals discharged from prison in order to help mastermind a heist at the famed Melbourne Cup horse race. There's very little that's original or new in this film, with all the generic cliches falling dutifully into place: the release from prison, the inevitable double crosses, the unfaithful wife, the trigger-happy outsider who almost bungles the entire operation with his impetuosity and brashness, and the innocent bystander who, sensing the excitement of life on the dark side, helps the robbers with their getaway. Surprisingly little time is spent on the planning and execution of the heist, and an inordinate amount on getting the men out of prison (they get out once and then, inexplicably for plot purposes, get sent back in again). The performers are good, but their thick Australian accents make much of the dialogue virtually incomprehensible (for non-Aussies that is). That doesn't do much to enhance the clarity of the film. The real problem with "The Hard Word," though, is that we've seen it all countless times before, only better. Buy The Hard Word at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Hard Word Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Hard Word This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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