Animal Kingdom

It's a remarkable film: A gritty, gut-churning, crime thriller based on a true story. Its greatness lies in its unwavering fidelity to human nature and the unstoppable laws of the wild.

The naturalistic style Michod employs adds to the sense of dread.

Animal Kingdom moves with a brisk efficiency - Michôd trusts the viewer and doesn't waste time with unnecessary back story - and the plot twists and turns at brutal speed.

Animal Kingdom joins in the tradition of brutally unsentimental Australian crime dramas like "The Boys," in which the stakes are low, except to the people staring down the barrel of a gun.

In many ways, Animal Kingdom could have become a stylish but routine cops-and-robbers tale. Instead, Michôd shapes this film into a memorable character study about uncaged beasts.

The film is shaky as a procedural, and the level of official corruption seems more Moscow than Melbourne. Yet as a fable of power, vengeance and betrayal it exerts a quiet, increasingly wicked pull, equivalent to that of the wrinkly but ruthless grandma.

Michôd wants a Greek epic but doesn't have the material. Animal Kingdom is a work of obvious ambition, and seeing a debut filmmaker swing for the fences like this is its own kind of moviehead satisfaction.

I happened on this by accident. I'd heard a great deal about Jacki Weavers performance but never really sought out the film. This rivals the Godfather. It's gritty and unpretentious in it's approach to the screenplay. The screenplay is one of the best of 2010. Everything in this film works except perhaps the music which at times becomes over bearing. The performances are all well done with quite a few stand outs. It's a perfect ensemble piece. This is a film that would make a great adaption to the stage. Jacki Weaver tears up the screen.

I think I went into this film with the wrong mind set and thus didn't enjoy it all that much. From the plethora of glowing reviews, I assumed this would be an amazing crime drama(as the genre indicates). Thus when I was presented with a very dark character drama, I was a bit taken back (there is very little "crime" in the genre sense, contained in it). You are thrust, much like the main character, into this world and forced to witness a series of very dark events. That's about all you experience though. For a character based drama, the characters were shockingly not very well developed. The fact that the lead character is nearly mute the entire film doesn't help matters and in the end I didn't feel a connection to anyone or anything. The plot was compelling and the acting was good, so despite its flaws I give it a 5/10. Since I'm in the minority I'd definitely recommend you check it out for yourself though.

This is alright at best. It`s pretty slow at times. I only liked it cause I like movies about people living real lives, but I found nothing special about this movie besides being a bunch of Australians.

Limited character development left me feeling completely detached from the film. Grandiose direction and camera shots felt out of place to the simplistic and linear story. Watch "A Prophet" (2009) instead.

I WISH I had THAT 2 hours of my life back!! What in the WORLD were the majority of those leaving reviews here actually watching? Did they merely review the trailer? Poor character development, lacks the basis of a plot, drags on and on and on, and....pretty ****! The ONLY reason to watch this is to continuously wonder "what's going to happen next?". **** me spoil it for you...Nothing! NOTHING happens with the exception of a twist during the last 10 seconds of the movie. Since you won't develop a fondness for the characters anyway and you'll be wondering to yourself "what's the point?" throughout the film, if you must watch this film; watch the first 10 minutes and the last 10 seconds. This movie was ALMOST as thrilling as Blair Witch. Certainly not as entertaining as Snatch, Kill The Irishman, or The Usual Suspects but this turd (I'm sure) received better reviews than any of those films. Just because it's a "Directorial debut" doesn't mean a film should be wholly lacking.