Romper Stomper (1992)

Waste of time

It is a performances centric movie

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

In Romper Stomper when the white characters tell the Vietnamese to get out of the country, no one retorts that it is not their country in the first place. Aboriginals were there for thousands of years before the white man set foot in Australia.Then again Romper Stomper is not a film that will give you any kind of intellectual stimulation. It is inspired by the low budget film making of Mad Max with the tawdry violence of A Clockwork Orange but without that film's grisly dark humour.A group of neo-nazi skinheads in Melbourne led by Hando (Russell Crowe) and Davey (Daniel Pollock) are aghast with the rising Vietnamese population taking over the small businesses. They retaliate by first outnumbering their victims and then beating them senseless whether it is men or women. Eventually the skinheads are vastly outnumbered by the Vietnamese and attacked.The group is joined by Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie) who is being sexually abused by her wealthy father. She suffers from epileptic fits and goes on the run with Hando and Davey. Gabrielle and Davey get close but Hando is not keen on her, after all the Nazi's were never keen on disabled people.The film has several prolonged violent scenes that sets out to shock its audience. You actually wonder how the victims managed to get out alive from it all. It also shows the emptiness in Hando's philosophy. Ultimately he is only a violent thug and not a bright one despite his knowledge of Mein Kampf.Russell Crowe gives a glimpse of his talent, the film has a rawness to it, but too many times it is hampered by its low budget even amateurish filmmaking. The film could had benefited with some dark humour but really came across as vacuous.

This is the story about Hammer Skins in Australia. On the other hand, history of this kind of violence begins earlier in USA, after the Civil War. Freedom was given to the Black Men and they were equal as white ones on the South. Working places were flooded by the Black men which influenced on the job of Confederation families. Whites staid unemployed, because were too many applications for jobs, after slavery'd been forbidden and every single Negro had the legal ability to work in any factory, trade company, construction business and a restaurant as the chief or kitchen staff. Ex-warriors as well as true gentlemen and Red Necks(hard working people from the countryside) all over the South were exalted by the hunger and literally starving. That's how The KKK Clan had been created. The Great Red Dragons of Mississippi weren't just the cruel killers and twisted minds who led the army of the same maniacs, but people who were suffering and sending the clear message to politicians of the Union, because something got to be changed. The same thing was with Train companies and Chinease people who were dying all over the West, just because there wasn't other work for people from Asia except setting explosives and making narrow passages for train tunnels.Policy of The North destroyed everything. Red Necks, The Chinease people, Irish workers were in the real mess. In the country where common life was irrelevant, came the body hunters and professional killers like gunfighters and Ronins from ex-feudal Japan, hired by the mind and landowners for big money.

When it comes to violent youth, A Clockwork Orange is the fist movie that comes into the minds of a movie maniac. Watching this movie, also reminds you about the Kubrick film. Though the level of Kubrick is entirely different, this movie is also different in its own way. Great making, photography and acting. Every movie of Russell Crowe makes me his fan. The terrific performance in this film deserves a big applause.The movie is very short with 1 hour 34 minutes, but, you will feel it shorter with the cuts and fast moving pace. A very well made movie. A must watch and Highly recommended for those who are looking for movies with a difference.#KiduMovie

It is a strong warning film about violence and its fatal consequences - no matter what the reason is, who much this need is justified etc. Youth violence has its roots often in the childhood, which is clearly visible in this film as well. And if we add problems with relatives, unemployment, shabby lifestyle/opportunities, gangs formed on the basis of ethnicity - it is all like a sparkle lit. Romper Stromper runs rather smoothly has includes very intense scenes well captured by cameramen: the big scuffle between skinheads and Vietnamese youngsters is presumably the highlight of this film. And the cast is evenly strong, leading with Russell Crowe as Hando, but Daniel Pollock as Davey and Jacqueline McKenzie as Gabrielle provide great performances as well. The soundtrack has also a big role in the film's success - raw songs with anti-immigrant slogans give additional tense and vigor.Not a family film, but worth watching. Even for Russell Crowe's sake.