Another one of the recent spat of Australian films that have failed to find an audience at home despite good reviews, Joel Edgerton scripted and Matthew Saville directed Felony is a frustrating experience due to it being a film that constantly threatens to become something powerful, yet is consistently bought down back to a level that makes it easy to see why people failed to fork out the cash to see a tale that isn't overly original or as effective as it wants to be.
Starting out in a hugely promising fashion, Felony looks likely to be one of those searing Australian dramas in the vein of Animal Kingdom or even Saville's own under-seen gem Noise, yet quickly descends into a procession of seen before events that culminate in a fairly unimpressive ending. The central scenario that Edgerton and Saville create is an intriguing one and a ripe potential idea and it's clear that the idea was developed first and the strands that follow afterwards and the film just can't keep up its beginning pace that sees some smart scripting and direction take place. You'll be undoubtedly hooked as these detectives look to cover up a shocking accident and thanks to some fine acting the film remains viable despite it's failures.
Edgerton remains a solid if unspectacular core to the film but the continued emergence of Jai Courtney and the ever good work of Tom Wilkinson (here called in to ad gravitas to a film that needed the weight) really brings the film to life. Courtney does some fine work as young detective Jim, even though he is saddled to the films horrid and awkward love story but it really is Wilkinson that steals this show. Wilkinson is both sympathetic, calculated and snarling as old time detective Summer. Wilkinson bites into the script and comes out on fire, it's a joy to see such a veteran of the industry come to our fair shores and show us how it's done and he clearly had a blast with this character. Director Saville also comes up trumps here despite some narrative flaws in the story and his direction honed in film and quality TV like The Slap has clearly set him up well.
While many bemoan local audiences failing to support home grown films, if the films are like Felony there's no reason why we should be forking out hard earned money on films like this. There not bad films but there films that aren't likely to cause people much excitement as truth be told, it's nothing we haven't been witness to before and Felony just doesn't do enough to leap from the pack even though it has some nice moments.
3 side view mirrors out of 5
For more movie reviews and opinions check out -
www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com
Felony
2013
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Felony
2013
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Thriller
Plot summary
Three detectives become embroiled in a tense struggle after a tragic accident that leaves a child in critical condition. One is guilty of a crime, one will try to cover it up, and the other attempts to expose it. How far will these men go to disguise and unravel the truth?
Uploaded by: OTTO
June 28, 2022 at 07:26 PM
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Solid, but not enough to distinguish itself from the pack
TIME AND THE WORLD SWALLOW EVENTS
This is an Australian police drama.
Malcolm Toohey (Joel Edgerton) took a bullet to the vest during a drug raid. His crew goes out and celebrates all night long. In the wee hours of the morning while driving home intoxicated, our hero kisses the paper boy with his car.
He reports the accident, but doesn't confess to the crime. The next day, things are back to normal, other than the overriding guilt felt by Malcolm and Detective Jim Melic (Jai Courtney) who believes Malcolm is the culprit. Jim has other cases to tend to, which gives him and us a distraction.
This is a fairly good police drama, but is pressed for action. "Reasonable Doubt" was better, if not more twisty.
Parental Guide: F-bomb. No sex or nudity.
Decent enough thriller
You may not have too many turns and twists in this, so you'll be able to fairly see the direction this is going. But it's still a nice watch. Especially because of the moral decisions people have to take. Or are willing to take to protect or rather are trying to hide truths from others because they deem its the way to go.
The acting is pretty solid here and there are a couple of good action scenes, considering this is more a thriller. While you may not agree with everything going on and the ending might not be what you wanted to see (I actually liked where they went there and it might be the one thing that's not straight as arrow), this is worth a watch