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Tomorrow, When The War Began: YOUR SAY

Tomorrow, When The War Began is now showing.

Have you seen it yet? Did you like it?

Are you are fan of the John Marsden books? If so, did the casting and the Hunter Region backdrops work for you?

Read the Newcastle Herald's review and share your thoughts with other moviegoers.

REVIEW BY JAMES JOYCE

THE anime-style closing credits of Tomorrow, When The War Began would work nicely as the opening titles of a TV series.

Which is exactly what the Australian producers are planning if the $20 million action movie is a hit at the box office.

Based on the first of John Marsden seven Tomorrow novels and adapted for the screen by first-time director Stuart Beattie, the sleek, slick adventure certainly has the makings of a franchise.

It has shoot-outs, explosions, car chases and uniformly good-looking Aussie teenagers torn between hormones and heroism.

Former Neighbours star Caitlin Stasey leads the cast as knockabout 17-year-old farm girl Ellie, who returns from a week-long wilderness camping trip with her high school friends to discover that an unnamed foreign army has invaded Australia, occupied their small country town and imprisoned their families.

With the flirting and frolicking of their idyllic getaway suddenly over, the frightened teens are forced to grow up fast and true personalities are revealed.

Grabbing some guns, they begin a guerrilla war against the nameless Asian invaders.

Loaded with tension, adrenalin and computer-generated fireballs, Tomorrow, When The War Began unfolds at a cracking pace with some slick cinematography from Ben Nott (who also shot vampire sci-fi Daybreakers).

Beattie pauses here and there for humour and romance, with Deniz Akdeniz and Phoebe Tonkin scoring the heartiest laughs as cheeky Greek boofhead Homer and the posh townie he teases but secretly likes, Fiona.

Beattie, whose screenwriting credits include Pirates of the Caribbean, Australia, GI Joe and Collateral, has made changes to Marsden’s fiction, including adding a cold-blooded killing, an F word and a dramatic twist for one character.

Diehard fans of the books will probably take issue with the plot tinkering, but it’s the abbreviated character development and undercooked emotion that are more glaring.

Without the book’s palpable air of dread, we never end up feeling and fearing for the kids quite as deeply as we should --- the stilted line readings of some of the cast don’t help, at times screaming "Home and Away: The Action Movie".

The voice-over that puts us inside Ellie’s head doesn’t quite gel, some of the jokes and melodrama miss the mark and the Aussie accents sound rather too plummy (they may help overseas audiences but don’t sound exactly dinkum).

But, as action movies go, Tomorrow, When The War Began is solid entertainment that does precisely what it says on the lid.

A little edgier and more violent than the book, it has a hot young cast playing likeable teens. It has action and danger. And it has things that go kaboom. And it’s Aussie.

Plus there’s not a wizard or a werewolf within cooee.

The Hunter Valley backdrops come up a treat, with scenic Dungog and a war-torn King Street, Raymond Terrace, capturing the feel of the fictional town of Wirrawee. And the explosive finale at historic Luskintyre Bridge, near Maitland, is a spectacular splash of CGI.**

Some may find the final, sequel-teasing moment a cheat but that the film leaves you wanting more is proof enough that it works.

Rating: ***1/2

**No bridges were harmed during the making of this motion picture!

-----

NOW, OVER TO YOU.

Have you seen TOMORROW, WHEN THE WAR BEGAN? What did you think?

Are you are fan of the John Marsden books? If so, did the casting and the Hunter Region backdrops work for you?

Who's the hottest member of the cast and why (remember your manners, people!)?

And what about screenwriter-director Stuart Beattie's changes to the script and characters? What worked and what didn't?

Did you find the ending a cheat? And what if they DON'T make a sequel? What will be the point of the cliffhanger ending then?!

All considered comments welcome and valued here.

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Posted on 4/09/2010 4:40:00 PM | Comments (14)

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comments

Date: Newest first | Oldest first

Sounds like a rip off of Red Dawn.

Posted by Smells Like A Remake, 4/09/2010 8:38:18 PM, on The Herald

Yes, the storylines are very similar.

Red Dawn, the hit 1984 movie, starred Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and C. Thomas Howell as American high schoolers fighting a guerilla war against Soviet invaders.

WOLVERINES!, was their battle cry.

The novel Tomorrow, When The War Began by John Marsden was published in 1993 and spawned six further books.

But Marsden's is a distinctly Aussie take on the same kind of invasion situation.

Funnily enough, a remake of the Red Dawn movie is on the way.

And it just so happens MGM's $80 million update stars Aussie actors Chris Hemsworth and Isabel Lucas.

But there are doubts about when the film, which was shot in the US late last year, will actually be seen.

Its release, along with pre-production work on the 23rd James Bond movie and a live-action version of The Hobbit, has reportedly been delayed by a $4 billion debt crisis at MGM.

International release dates for the Tomorrow movie have not been confirmed but it'd be a shame if the Aussie film's box office prospects overseas were to be spoiled by the Red Dawn rehash.

Posted on 4/09/2010 9:56:31 PM

I loved it! I went to the special screening a week or two ago at Belmont Reading cinema. I haven't read the books but I sure are planning on doing so now. I loved the movie and went for a second viewing today :D. I really hope it becomes a big success because I would love to see the whole cast, producers and directors back on board for a few more movies! Love the portrayal of the characters and the action and even the emotional torment each of them go through and the decision that they need to make. The reactions to a situation not everyone can relate. Really loved it.

Posted by Interlude, 4/09/2010 10:15:07 PM, on The Herald

The fans were certainly out in force on the film's opening day, September 2.

Paramount Pictures reports that Tomorrow, When The War Began took $765,830 at Aussie cinemas on its first day.

That makes it the third-biggest ever opening for an Australian film behind Happy Feet and Australia and the second-biggest ever non-holiday opening for an Australian film behind Australia.

The next most-popular film in cinemas on September 2 was Angelina Jolie's spy actioner Salt, which took $162,000.

Yes, the Aussie teens of Tomorrow gave Angelina a spanking!!

And it points to a potentially epic opening weekend at the box office for the film.

Could Tomorrow possibly ended up with final box office figures like Happy Feet and Australia, which took $31.8mllion and $37.6million, respectively?

I wonder if it will do repeat business among the Marsden book diehards?

Posted on 5/09/2010 7:30:47 PM

Check out the earlier WHAT WILL BECOME OF AUSTRALIA 1974 by Jack Burrell. Its not a work of fiction but a revelation from The Lord on an invader. There are many visions and prophecies amongst the christian churches showing enemy soldiers on Australian soil. We wait to see if it happens. I think the Tomorrow film will be good for national defence.

Posted by Gibo, 5/09/2010 7:47:37 AM, on The Herald

I read the books back when they came out - eagerly anticipating the next one's arrival. I have read the series several times since then as well. I was a little worried about the movie but went in knowing things would be different from the book. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie- it was great! Funny, sad, scary. The main criticism I have is that the female characters all sound like poms which is totally wrong for Aussie bush kids - as least the blokes all sound like Aussies.

Posted by loved it, 5/09/2010 11:08:27 AM, on The Herald

Well said "loved it".

The girls, especially Caitlin Stasey as Ellie and Phoebe Tonkin as Fi, were trying a bit too hard to polish their Aussie accents.

At least Rachel Hurd-Wood, as Corrie, had a good excuse: she's British!

Deniz Akdeniz as Homer was the pick of the young cast.

He was just about how I pictured Homer in the book, though I would have loved a bit more time spent exploring the connection between Homer and Fi and Ellie's feelings stuck in the middle.

Posted on 5/09/2010 7:38:06 PM

I couldn't speak more highly of the movie, I am 72 and enjoyed every page of the 7 books, the movie brought to life almost exactly the landscape and events as I imagined them.

Posted by PAR, 5/09/2010 6:20:58 PM, on The Herald

That's high praise indeed, especially when avid readers of the Marsden books have been picturing these characters and locations and events for all these years.

I'd have thought readers would be very finicky, especially about the changes and what's been left out.

Posted on 5/09/2010 7:23:27 PM

Although this has already been pointed out, sounds exactly like a ripoff of red dawn which was a cracker of a movie-without the cheesy blue screen special effects!!! Hope the remake they do of it isnt a stinker!

Posted by Casper the unfriendly ghost, 6/09/2010 4:32:05 PM, on The Herald

Went and saw this last nigh and thought it was everything it should have been. Totally awesome. Think I've been waiting for this movie for about 15 years since I started reading the books. I desperately need there to be sequel movies rather than a TV series which would drag on, having a much smaller budget and loosing the impact of the big screen. I actually watched Red Dawn last year because it sounded like an American TWTWB but found it lacked character development and was full of excessive patriotism this series is sometimes unfairly accused of. Maybe that's the different national outlooks. It is an unusual film being a good Aussie action movie and not too blokey, possibly making this the only chick flick with explosions

Posted by argaret, 8/09/2010 8:30:42 PM, on The Herald

It was the biggest tease in history of film. Admittedly what there was of it was good. But if they were gonna do it book by book, they should of stuck and could have stuck closer to Marsden's work without ruining it. I was waiting for the attack on cobblers and inevitable capture when the credits rolled. Damn you all!!! Our neighbors prodigy was fantastic as Ellie, stunning for a shortie :-P sorry Caitlin. I suspect the ethnicity of the invaders were intentional. China is emerging as a super power and will rival the US in military strength in a few years. We're already being prepped for paranoia. Ok milk me of my money, next movie please, 2 of 7 lol. Someone's gettin rich. Writing schools worldwide Mr Marsden? Go for it!!!

Posted by ConcernedCitizen, 10/09/2010 6:41:27 PM, on The Herald

I am nearly 60 and read all 7 books a couple of years ago and also the Ellie Chronicles which are sequels. I have been afraid I won't enjoy the movie as I have very particulary vivid memories of the books but as so many of you 'book fans' have given it the thumbs up I will make the effort.

Posted by Little Birdie, 12/09/2010 4:32:52 PM, on The Herald

I LOVED IT! I'm so glad we are making more movies in australia!!! it gives me hope of a future career in motion graphics effects and compositing! My dream is to meet the effects supervisor for this film, even if i just get to to have a quick online chat!

Posted by Lachlan Nicolson, 12/09/2010 6:35:18 PM, on The Herald

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