Tomorrow: When The War Began is a bit predictable

10 April 2012

Director Stuart Beattie's film proved to be Australia's most popular movie of last year, principally because the John Marsden teen novels on which it is based have inspired nationwide devotion Down Under.

It's what is known as a "what if?" story. What if a group of highschool friends from a remote country town, out on a camping trip far from parents and home, suddenly find themselves in mortal peril from the Asian invaders who have taken over Australia.

The answer is that they manage to get home, only to find the place now looks like one of those Libyan towns after Gaddafi has got hold of it.

Will they run or will they fight, and how will they stand the strain?

Thanks to good production values, especially a fine sequence when an enemy plane's searchlight explores the house in which the friends are temporarily holed up, there is plenty of visual interest. But, despite some decent acting, the teenagers seem more cardboard than flesh and blood.

Rachel Hurd-Wood and Lincoln Lewis are the statutory young lovers, Phoebe Tonkin is the school beauty queen, Deniz Akdeniz the troublemaker, Chris Pang the straitlaced Thai friend and Ashleigh Cummings the God-fearing one.

It's all a bit predictable, but sequels are surely in the offing.

Tomorrow, When The War Began
Cert: 12A

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