The Proposition (2006)

Waste of time

How sad is this?

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is a modern-day western which shocks the viewer with its heady doses of on screen violence and enthrals the audience with a simple, effective plot line. Essentially, the story involves three brothers and the lawman trying to bring them to justice; it sounds straightforward on the page, but Nick Cave's screenplay works hard to establish characters and the result is a film with fully three-dimensional people. It's hard to find anything to criticise about this production; everything, from the technical qualities to the acting, ranges from the above-average to the excellent. There's a truly haunting soundtrack which accompanies the excellent cinematography, showing the harshness of the Australian outback, and the eerie, desolate atmosphere is second to none.The violence in the film is brutal and shocking, coming in short, unexpected bursts. It's also original, with little in the way of stand-offs and shoot-outs. This is a film where people are painted in shades of grey and everybody has to face the repercussions of their own actions. Ray Winstone gives the standout performance as the violent lawman who kicks the plot off; he seems to be a villain, but the film soon reveals his humanity as well, and he steals every scene with his powerful performance that's full of emotion. Guy Pearce is the nominal hero, and he's far from attractive: lean, almost half-hearted, and hairy and dirty, his is the iconic man-with-no-name type role. The movie has fun showing his character, keeping the audience guessing as to his true intentions, and his actions at the end are great – this film ends on a real high with a fitting climax that just works and works. Emily Watson is also very good and moving as Winstone's put-upon wife.Of the rest of the supporting players, Danny Huston excels in his small role as the violent elder brother; John Hurt has fun hamming it up in a cameo appearance as a bounty hunter, and David Wenham plays snivelling evil as a moustachioed pencil-pusher. Essentially this film stands as a series of iconic images and set-pieces, some of which are burnt into my mind even now: the aborigine's head exploding against the skyline, the brutality of the climax; the whipping scene, which is much less gory but somehow makes more of an impact than the one in THE PASSION OF THE Christ. Altogether this is a stylish, excellently-made modern-day western with plenty of reasons to be watched.

Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) and his younger brother Mikey are captured as sole survivors after a shootout with police Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) and his men. Instead of hanging them both, Stanley has a proposition for Charlie. If Charlie kills his feared criminal brother Arthur (Danny Huston), Stanley would give both him and Mikey pardons. Martha Stanley (Emily Watson) is lonely without her husband.It is dusty, dirty and brutal. Ostensively, this is Guy Pearce's movie with the two brothers. I find Stanley even more fascinating. Ray Winstone is superb. His character has so many layers and not necessarily the traditional police captain. It's a great example of Australian western.

I haven't really been enjoying Australian movies. I find them to be too much of the same old same old (and in some cases not done well). I watched Rabbit Proof Fence some time ago and I enjoyed it. After some digging I found this, based on the premise it was enough for me to take a look.The plot is that Charlie and Mikey Burns are outlaws who are arrested. Captain Stanley offers Charlie a proposition, to kill his older brother Arthur in 10 days, or Mikey gets hanged.Now the acting is actually pretty average. I don't really like Guy Pearce as an actor and that's the same to Danny Huston. I did enjoy Ray Winstone's performance as well as John Hurt. Aside from that not many of the performances were memorable.I also very much enjoyed the visual quality of this movie. The Australian Outback does look wonderful in this movie and it is a visual treat to the eyes.So if you want to watch an Australian movie that is very grim in tone then this one is for you. If you also are a fan of Westerns then this is also for you. It is well directed and well written. It is worth watching but only to those who either want to see an Australian movie in a different tone or fans of Westerns.

The Outback, as well as "The Proposition," is just as punishing and unforgiving as the men who roam it -- and it's savagely entertaining. The film takes all the familiar ingredients of the Western with an Aussie spin. Unlike your typical Western movies, it's much darker, downbeat, and brutally violent. Set in rural Australia in the late nineteenth century, Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is a criminal living in the outback. He and his two brothers, Arthur (Danny Huston) and Mikey (Richard Wilson), are outlaws wanted for rape and murder. Arthur is a violent and dangerous cold-blooded sociopath, much more so than his siblings, and is wanted by the law. The authorities capture Charlie and Mikey after a bloody shootout, and the brothers are handed over to Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone), a British lawman sent to Australia to help bring order to the colonies. The Captain's proposition to Charlie is to gain a pardon for both of the brothers, by tracking down the elusive Arthur and killing him. Charlie scours the backwaters of Australia, but isn't certain if he can carry out his mission. A movie you cannot turn away from; heartless and uncompromising, filled with disregard to innocence and civility.One of the strengths of "The Proposition" is its relentless moral ambiguity. Characters that would be heroic in more conventional Western movies show their darker sides here. It's a tough and uncompromising story, but it's superbly written, features terrific acting on all fronts, and its beautiful cinematography captures this desolate landscape where only the strongest survive.