The Backpacker (2011)

Not a terrible movie but not a great one either. The Backpacker in its favour is a very good-looking movie, one of the better low-budget movies I've seen recently, with rural Australian scenery so striking and authentic in atmosphere and for low-budget it's very atmospherically lit and stylishly edited with no signs of trying to be too flashy. The photography is impressive and really makes the most of the beautiful scenery. The music score has a real spooky element to it, helped by the impressive sound quality, the movie has its heart in the right place and gives off the sense that it knows what it's trying to do and be and Vincent Stone while going overboard on occasions does strike fear in one's heart. The rest of the actors are not really to his level however, Nathan Waring did come across as wooden and never makes you believe that his character is part of the military and Laura Andersen doesn't strike much enthusiasm either. You never really get to know much about the characters let alone care properly for them, like with Ben Cross you know that he is part of the military but that's pretty much it for him, we know Malek is calculating and out for revenge but his motivations are a bit vague otherwise and it's not clear why Nina would willingly go with somebody she'd literally only just met. The story is well-intended but was too drawn-out and lopsided, the first half-hour was basically just throw-away filler and it was at that point when the movie started to get going. Albeit not ever quite with enough momentum or tension, the latter of which was dissipated by some of the action that would have made things nail-biting being off-screen. The dialogue is rather stilted and could have been structured much more tightly with parts lacking any kind of expression. Overall, looks good but not as involving as it could have been. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Not bad for a man hunt movie... but not really good either. It was a bit too drawn out and the acting was weak although not abysmal. But the protagonist had a motivation other than just surviving because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and although at times he was kind of stupid he was not just a clueless twit like so many 'victims' are in such movies. The "bad guy" was fairly well played, and at one point when he is injured, he plays it consistently which is nice. There is also one of the neatest little minor characters about half way through which i enjoyed. If you watch the movie you will know what I mean. In fact I didn't see any completely unforgivable incongruities, so all in all I say give it a watch if you have the time and nothing better to do.

Really refreshing to watch an Australian low budget action/thriller with a believable twist! Took my girlfriend to this flick as we had heard about it on the radio, really got a shock at this little beauty. The bad guy really gets you going, he plays bad very very well. The guy playing the soldier is good as he really is like a soldier, I would know as I was in the service for awhile. You could hear a pin drop at times, the tension was on the screen and in the cinema helped along with a really solid soundtrack. If you get a chance this film is worth viewing, real eye-opener for how to do a really low-budget film and get away with it.

It's always a funny thing going to see low budget (I'm talking micro micro) films, you're never sure what you're going to get. I was in Canberra last week and my mate and I were approached by 2 sexy girls in red shirts giving out fliers for The Backpacker, a film I'd never heard of. The film's a thriller, set in the Aussie bush and I was blown away by how great the story was. Having been out of the country for a while it was refreshing to see a home grown flick made for next to nothing that satisfied both of us. The story wound out nicely and I could never tell what was going to happen next., The music blew the film along and the guy who played the psycho Malek was awesome. There's a few bits and pieces that could have been tighter but overall we came feeling like we'd be on a pretty cool ride. Good one guys.