FORCE OF NATURE The Dry 2: The muddled title sets the tone for a film where competing story lines jostle for attention and like a group of lost hikers slogging their way through the Victorian bush it's never quite clear which one is coming out on top.
In this busy film detective Aaron Fawk (Eric Bana) hero of the original The Dry wrestles again with an ongoing police investigation and at the same time an unresolved childhood trauma. The two stories intertwine and overlap in different times but occur at the same location. The original walking group is distinguished by the metal frames of the old style backpacks, the current walkers are characterized by a lack of any navigational skills. To be fair the latter group didn't want to be there anyway and were forced to do it as a corporate team building activity. Why the corporation, who are the subject of Fawk's investigation, throws these five warring woman together is like other elements of the story never really made entirely clear.
The storm and heavy rain are anything but what the titular The Dry 2 might lead you to expect and so equally was the portrayal of the storm as a force of nature. You may have ended up with wet socks unpleasant enough for sure but you weren't being plucked aloft to swirl round with semi trailers and cows.
The lost hikers scrabble from one scene to the next discarding navigational aids and common sense in equal measure. Anna Torv and Robin Mcleavy have some fine duelling dialogues as do the others in the group (these well done sharp interactions are the real heart of the film). At one point and I'm not quite sure why they all briefly enter into a Wild West saloon style brawl, perhaps as a result of drinking water from a bat excreta polluted pool earlier ?
The accident prone and pugnacious troop have frequent tumbles to the ground that sometimes result in the discovery of a new story element hidden in the grass this brought to mind Enid Blyton's The Famous Five adventure stories. Perhaps if it had been a Famous Five story it would have been titled "Five get on each other's ****."
The ruined hut of a long since retired serial killer is discovered complete with shallow graves and a grimly soiled mattress, somehow the police had failed to find this place despite searching for many years. For a brief moment I thought the bones of a Thylacine had been accidently unearthed and somehow it wouldn't have been so unexpected.
Back at rescue base Richard Roxburgh's convincing and threatening portrayal of a creepy entitled boss is spot on. Detective Fauk's offsider is played confidently by Jacqueline McKenzie (as a thought experiment how about she switches roles with Eric Bana).
The majestic swelling music was truly marvelous and walked mostly to heel with the story but just occasionally jumped out in front like a flasher in the park. (On a second viewing of the film this may have been more of an issue with my local theatres sound system, not sure).
Compared to the original The Dry with its believable and engaging exploration of the bonds of youth, friendship and family, its gritty pub scenes and sun burnt country living, blimey it even had a nod to Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Dry 2 doesn't achieve the same level of fluency or pathos that saw the original 2021 film go on to take its rightful top tier place in the burgeoning Pantheon of the Outback Noir.
The all powerful presence of the bush that was hinted at in the official trailer didn't really materialize in the film. These incredible forests actually housed the tallest trees in THE world before white settlers chopped them down. I felt that more time could have been taken in a quiet way to convey the splendor and sometimes menace of these places which in real life can seem so palpable.
I found myself on more occasions than normal losing concentration and being aware of looking at the theaters dimmed light fittings and exit signs, unfortunately the flow of the plots many threads was unable to sustain enough momentum to stop me falling out of solution and repeatedly sinking to the cold gravel bed of the mountain stream below.
Post Script.
Watching the film a second time not surprisingly made it easier to follow and also resulted in an appreciation of things missed the first time round, like how good the minor part and incidental acting was, for example the two daughters. I didn't read the book, perhaps that would have helped, if you don't want to do this either or see the film twice and why should you, be prepared, get a good night's sleep, have a strong coffee before watching , Oh and don't forget the EPIRB and spare socks.
In this busy film detective Aaron Fawk (Eric Bana) hero of the original The Dry wrestles again with an ongoing police investigation and at the same time an unresolved childhood trauma. The two stories intertwine and overlap in different times but occur at the same location. The original walking group is distinguished by the metal frames of the old style backpacks, the current walkers are characterized by a lack of any navigational skills. To be fair the latter group didn't want to be there anyway and were forced to do it as a corporate team building activity. Why the corporation, who are the subject of Fawk's investigation, throws these five warring woman together is like other elements of the story never really made entirely clear.
The storm and heavy rain are anything but what the titular The Dry 2 might lead you to expect and so equally was the portrayal of the storm as a force of nature. You may have ended up with wet socks unpleasant enough for sure but you weren't being plucked aloft to swirl round with semi trailers and cows.
The lost hikers scrabble from one scene to the next discarding navigational aids and common sense in equal measure. Anna Torv and Robin Mcleavy have some fine duelling dialogues as do the others in the group (these well done sharp interactions are the real heart of the film). At one point and I'm not quite sure why they all briefly enter into a Wild West saloon style brawl, perhaps as a result of drinking water from a bat excreta polluted pool earlier ?
The accident prone and pugnacious troop have frequent tumbles to the ground that sometimes result in the discovery of a new story element hidden in the grass this brought to mind Enid Blyton's The Famous Five adventure stories. Perhaps if it had been a Famous Five story it would have been titled "Five get on each other's ****."
The ruined hut of a long since retired serial killer is discovered complete with shallow graves and a grimly soiled mattress, somehow the police had failed to find this place despite searching for many years. For a brief moment I thought the bones of a Thylacine had been accidently unearthed and somehow it wouldn't have been so unexpected.
Back at rescue base Richard Roxburgh's convincing and threatening portrayal of a creepy entitled boss is spot on. Detective Fauk's offsider is played confidently by Jacqueline McKenzie (as a thought experiment how about she switches roles with Eric Bana).
The majestic swelling music was truly marvelous and walked mostly to heel with the story but just occasionally jumped out in front like a flasher in the park. (On a second viewing of the film this may have been more of an issue with my local theatres sound system, not sure).
Compared to the original The Dry with its believable and engaging exploration of the bonds of youth, friendship and family, its gritty pub scenes and sun burnt country living, blimey it even had a nod to Picnic at Hanging Rock, the Dry 2 doesn't achieve the same level of fluency or pathos that saw the original 2021 film go on to take its rightful top tier place in the burgeoning Pantheon of the Outback Noir.
The all powerful presence of the bush that was hinted at in the official trailer didn't really materialize in the film. These incredible forests actually housed the tallest trees in THE world before white settlers chopped them down. I felt that more time could have been taken in a quiet way to convey the splendor and sometimes menace of these places which in real life can seem so palpable.
I found myself on more occasions than normal losing concentration and being aware of looking at the theaters dimmed light fittings and exit signs, unfortunately the flow of the plots many threads was unable to sustain enough momentum to stop me falling out of solution and repeatedly sinking to the cold gravel bed of the mountain stream below.
Post Script.
Watching the film a second time not surprisingly made it easier to follow and also resulted in an appreciation of things missed the first time round, like how good the minor part and incidental acting was, for example the two daughters. I didn't read the book, perhaps that would have helped, if you don't want to do this either or see the film twice and why should you, be prepared, get a good night's sleep, have a strong coffee before watching , Oh and don't forget the EPIRB and spare socks.