Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is not a remake of Ocean's 11!, March 4, 2004
after reading some of these reviews its obvious that some of you are missing the point entirely. This is not a preposterous diamond heist film such as 'entrapment', nor is it one of these garbage hollywood films made to a formula involving an inordinate number of double, triple and quadruple crossings. the only american film which i would really compare it to at all is the similarly gritty and blackly comic classic 'reservoir dogs'.first of all, the three main characters are not brothers, although it seems a blurb somewhere must have said this. the reason they speak the butcher's tongue is due to their time in the slammer. secondly, i feel the way that the guys KNOW theyre going to get screwed over by their lawyer ADDS to the suspense. the fun is in seeing how he tries to do it, not "is the good guy a bad guy or a good guy pretending to be a bad guy so he can double cross the bad guy who is actually playing for both sides whilst sleeping with the good guys wife etc. etc." also, i felt the robberies were very realistic. whats more likely to come off, robbing a bunch of intoxicated bookies after all the security guards have gone home (on a side note the melbourne cup is a hugely significant sporting event on the australian calendar, a nuance perhaps missed by our american friends), or breaking into a bank, disabling the security system with non-existent electrical equipment and lugging 50 tonnes of gold bars away from a 12-inch thick lead vault? enough of that, the idea behind the film was to illustrate the human qualities of these flawed characters - after all, are these theives really any worse than shady politicians or mass tort lawyers? ive gotta agree that rachel griffiths looks a bit she-malish, but if theyd got liz hurley theyd also have got her acting ability! the role called for a tart not a glamour model. all in all, i thought it was a very original and emotionally involving film, certainly one of the best crime thrillers of the past few years, with especially fantastic performances by joel edgerton and guy pearce
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
When it comes to crime capers.. Australians do it better!, April 17, 2006
I've seen this film compared to "Ocean's Eleven" and I think the comparison is an insult to "The Hard Word".
While less stylized, and more conventional than "Snatch" and "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels," Guy Ritchie fans will probably enjoy this movie.
There's plenty of Australian style dark humor (reminiscent of "Two Hands" and "Chopper") strewn throughout the film with solid performances from Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths. Overall, it's a lot less predicable than most of the "Heist" films of recent memory.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Good Word about The Hard Word, June 12, 2006
Scott Roberts' first directorial effort "Hard Word" is a decent cops & robbers flick, made good because it is filled with humor and doesn't take itself seriously. Roberts who recently was used as a voice in the D.I.C.E. animae series does a pretty good job of keeping up the pace and the antics. Food poisoning and hiding the money in a cow give the film a quirky edge. Guy Pearce who has played in "The Count of Monte Cristo," "The Time Machine," & "Memento" does a good job as Dale Twentyman, the brains behind three brothers who excel at bank robberies. His heavy-set brother Mal is a nice guy who works as a butcher in the local prison. Although he hasn't does many films ("Josh Jarman" & "Horseplay"), Damian Richardson brings sweetness to the film, as when he falls for Pamela played by Kate Atkinson who was in "The Japanese Story" with Toni Collette. Joel Edgerton plays Shane, the brother with anger management issues, and has a thin trigger when it comes to going off half cocked. Edgerton has been in "Ned Kelly," "Kinky Boots," & "Open Window." In "The Hard Word" he seems to fall for the prison counselor Jane Moore played by Rondola Findleton ("Sugarland Factory"). Moore apparently has thin training and reveals much about her personal life and falls for Shane, eventually letting him suckle at her breast from a hospital bed. If the good guys are bank robbers, the bad guy is lawyer Frank Malone played by Robert Taylor who was an agent in "The Matrix." Taylor is slimy as Malone, but not memorable enough to really make us cheer when he bites the bullet. Dorian Nkono as the dyslexic triggerman Tarzan is funny as he misreads numbers and starts blowing people away, violating the hard word that no one gets hurt.
That said, the shining star of the film is Rachel Griffiths. She got her Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for "Hillary & Jackie" in 1998 and won the same category Golden Globe award in 2001 for "Six Feet Under" and was nominated for the Best Actress in a TV movie or mini-series Golden Globe in 2002. As Carol, she plays it loose while her husband Dale is in prison, making time with Frank to keep Dale alive. She's always got a glimmer in her step and wiggle in her walk that creates film magic. While not a perfect or most original film ever made, "The Hard Word" works successfully. Enjoy!
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