"Good book?"
"Better than the movie."
"Books usually are."
Screenwriter Stuart Beattie directs his adaptation of the Australian Young Adult best-seller which became last-year's biggest-grossing Oz-produced movie in its homeland. The dialogue and moralising are simplistic and undemanding, yet there are occasional glimpses of a potentially much tougher movie in evidence. The ageing 'teens' here (mostly ex-soap stars) give the film a Dawson's Creek meets Red Dawn in the Outback feel, the characters featuring a predictable mix of character/ethnic/gender stereotypes, yet there is some worthwhile work on display from Deniz Akdeniz, Chris Pang and in particular Caitlin Stasey as the film's lead and narrator. There are some wonderfully cinematic moments and set pieces as the film progresses, especially vehicle stunts, and the scenery is shown off to great effect. Tomorrow, When The War Began is not a huge or world-changing film, but it is far more entertaining and has more substance than could be expected.
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