Jack Irish: Dead Point (2014)

Purely Joyful Movie!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Just watched this after reading a review that accused the cast of "lazy Australian acting" and was intrigued to see what that looked like. I was pleasantly surprised, good story, beginning, middle and end all in the right place, no CGI, no aliens, no fantasy scenes, one explosion. Guy Pierce is a good actor and he usually plays believable characters. I am going to Melbourne at Christmas so I watched it to see what the city looked like.All in all a lot better than a lot of the movies I have wasted time on in the last few years. Whoever wrote that review seemed to have a bit of spite towards Australians, or Australian actors anyway.

"Jack Irish: Dead Point" starring Guy Pearce as the title character, is a well photographed movie and has pretty good production values. In one scene, there is a nice special effect showing a helicopter blade whizz by Jack Irish. Those are the only positive things I can say about this badly written crime story that makes no sense at all. Jack Irish is a criminal lawyer who works as an investigator. He seems to be independently wealthy and likes jogging. He also does woodwork. This movie exists in a bubble world where drug dealers leave their drugs in the boot of a fancy sports car stored in an intermodal container on the dock, not in a locker aboard the cargo ship. With rare exception, the police are all honest and they all know Jack. Jack meets and knows all types of people, from elderly pub patrons to elderly gamblers as he tools around in his Studebaker. Most important for this story is that crime does not pay, that anyone involved in the drug trade must die. This movie was a waste of my time, right down to the cop out ending where Jack's client, a judge, comes out unscathed.

Watched this with high expectations but was left very disappointed. Too many inconsistencies in the story, too many stereotypical characters. Jack Irish himself appears to be paid nothing yet lives in a beautiful converted warehouse, the silly car, the mate who appears to also not be usefully employed - come on. The daughter organises a hit on mum after she casually starts taking heroin whilst at school? Why even include this in the plot, it only took something away from the rest of the story? It looked good but was ultimately pretty cheap nonsense. Barry Humphries looked a little embarrassed to be involved at times and with good reason.

These "Jack Irish" dramas are top quality drama. They never take themselves too seriously and are always entertaining. The ABC gets it right where the commercial stations don't. Solid production values and excellent acting: local work to be proud of. Guy Pierce is certainly one of our finest actors and Peter Temples "Jack" fits him like a glove. The use of the raw Melbourne suburban streets give this film tons of believability and realism. I understand there remains one more novel and another currently being written. I look forward to seeing them both: I also hope that the team producing them remains intact and stays together throughout this series. If you have not had the pleasure of watching any of them I suggest you do yourself a favor and catch up. The supporting cast of actors is the cream of the Australian crop. You would find it hard to do better.