Tomorrow, When the War Began (2012)

This might be the biggest crap i ve ever seen. It is militant, it is violent, it is unreflective, it reduces moral voices to justications of war

If you've seen Red Dawn (either the original or the recent version) then you've already seen this movie. A bunch of scared high school children band together to fight against a foreign aggressor after their small town and presumably the rest of the country gets invaded. The identity of the invading nation is not mentioned, but we are meant to presume they are either a Chinese or North Korean army invading Australia.The characters are really one dimensional. Think soap actor style acting in a theater of war and you will get an idea of how the awfulness permeates this film. The action sequences are well directed and the special fx look pretty decent, a fact that saves this ordinary movie from getting a less than five out of ten star rating from me.

Ellie Linton (Caitlin Stasey) and Corrie McKenzie (Rachel Hurd-Wood) are best friends in the small Australian town of Wirrawee. They plan an outback camping trip during the Australian Day holidays and invite a few of their classmates; Corrie's boyfriend Kevin Holmes (Lincoln Lewis), Ellie's neighbor Homer Yannos (Deniz Akdeniz), townie Fiona Maxwell (Phoebe Tonkin), preacher's daughter Robyn Mathers (Ashleigh Cummings), and Lee Takkam (Chris Pang). The group witnesses several military planes flying overhead. They return home to find an invasion by an unnamed Asian force. Most of the town has been rounded up. The nearby bridge is a key access to a port captured by the enemy. The group struggles to survive and fight back.The plot is basically Red Dawn. The kids especially the girls are all YA pretty. There is some YA romancing. The action is better than bad. It has good real and good CGI but not good realism. While there is action, the tension is never high. This is derivative. It doesn't have the guts to name the invaders. Caitlin Stasey has good screen presence. The acting is generally good enough but the material is not that great. There isn't anything great or that original to recommend here.

I enjoyed this Ozzie version of Red Dawn, it is similar in many ways, but an Australian take e.g. more laid-back. The likelihood of an Asian invasion has been a low level threat for half a century; a sort of a boogeyman for the Austalian populace, after the attack on Darwin during World War II.I reckon it would make a good TV series, as due to it's box office loss; they are unlikely to make a sequel. Plus, I am not sure what they spent all the money on, it could probably have been made for much less. This is the second time I have seen this movie; after the first time I decided to read some of the books.If you liked Red Dawn, you will enjoy this movie; I believe that it is suitable fare for all the family, except perhaps for the very young.