Why you can trust 12DOVE
Like The Grey only greyer, Daniel Nettheim’s passable mood-piece is a thriller, drama and wilderness flick rolled into one.
Trouble is, only the latter really hits home. Lone gunman Willem Dafoe is sent down under by shady corporate types to kill the last Tasmanian tiger, but falls in with local hippy Frances O’Connor and her tree-hugging tots.
Though the mist-shrouded landscapes have a certain allure, and Dafoe is charismatic as always, the domestic and conspiracy elements are so perfunctory you sense the film, like its hero, can’t wait to bugger off into the bush and forget about them altogether.
Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.