Last Ride (2012)

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Fugitive Kev (Hugo Weaving) snatches his son Chook (Tom Russell) and takes him on a road trip across Australia. Hugo Weaving is rock solid as a violent man on the run. The kid is also great, and able to switch gears along with the story. Their relationship has great chemistry that evolved with all the complexity.The story moves along slowly but also gets punctuated by acts of violence. My only suggestion is that the violence need to be dramatized much better. The camera stands back too much and dissipates some of the power. I'm reminded of Amy Heckerling who said she had no idea how to shoot the football game in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High'. It seems like Glendyn Ivin didn't know how to shoot the violence, and so she just shot it passively.

I am a big fan of Australian films. Remember Mad Max? Well this film is Australian and it's not bad. Starring the great Hugo weaving you can't really go wrong. It is a Father son story of a not so great Father that does love his son.The story rolls along nice enough. Sure there could have been a bit more character development but it's not bad. The scenery looks amazing! The shot in the dessert with the water running over it is just spectacular. Credit to the DOP. The young boy playing Hugos son I don't think has acted in anything before this. It shows in some scenes but overall he is not bad. I was though expecting the film to climax a little more but all in all I liked it. Check it out.

Last Ride is well made and well acted. The cinematography is a treat.Unfortunately the script lets the film down. The central character (played by Hugo Weaving) is just a bit too unappealing, just a bit too hard to relate to, just a bit too hard to empathise with, just a bit too selfish.In a way the film could be compared to Clint Eastwood's A Perfect World. Both are stories about the last ride of father and son figures. But where in A Perfect World I felt sympathy for the fate of Kevin Costner's father figure, in Last Ride Hugo Weaving's father ultimately left me repelled. For me the film suffered for that and, for me, the fault was with the script.

I hate rating movies, but I give this one a 10, because it deserves it. I always been a fan of Hugo Weaving and he was twice as rewarding in this movie because he was so good in it, then it seems that he stepped out of the screen and came again to have a chat with the audience with writer, producer and "Max".(as reported being done in Brisbane in an earlier entry but this was in Sydney.I also missed out on the opportunity to get the inspiring book as it was the reward for those who asked questions but I was a little shy about it!) During this time I also learned that the book for once was actually shorter than the movie! So you take your seat and the films starts. The photography is stunning especially as you move, close and personal, into a wonderful Australian outback. No cliché, not too much to distract you away from from the unfolding drama. There father and son seem to learn about each others, but the hard way. Occasional flashbacks help you to understand a few aspects of the present situation. And you continue the ride, warts and all which focuses very closely on these two characters a middle age man who evolved from the school of hard knocks, and his somehow estrange son. We were told by the producer that the "ride" had to end somehow and there were alternatives on how to end this ride. I feel they made the right choice although the alternative would not have been unthinkable. Hugo's acting is very impressive in this work, and his 10 years old co- star is almost equally to the task. "Max" does little but very well too. I can't wait to read more comments from some of these excellent people who regularly share they thoughts here, because I'd be surprised if this does not prompt them to praise and elaborate much more concisely about it. Yes don't miss it