Tomorrow When The War Began: Movie Review

Tomorrow When The War Began: Movie Review

Tomorrow, When The War Began
Rating: 6/10
Cast: Caitlin Stasey, Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis, Deniz Akdeniz
Director: Stuart Beattie
Based on the very popular books by John Marsden comes the film adapation of Tomorrow, When The War Began.
Former Neighbours actress Caitlin Stasey stars as Ellie Linton, the beloved heroine of many a reader, living out in the Aussie town of Wirrawee.
On the eve of her birthday, Ellie decides to gather a group of friends together and head out on a camping trip for one last blast - there's the long time friend Corrie and her new boyfriend Kevin; neighbour and boofhead Homer, potential love interest Lee, untouchable townie beauty Fiona and young religious friend Robyn.
The seven of them head into the far reaches of the countryside for the weekend - but as they revel in a world away from a world, they're unaware of how everything's changing back in Wirrawee and Australia.
Overnight, an invasion force arrives - and with all the population rounded up, suddenly Ellie and her friends are the only hope to strike back&
Tomorrow When The War Began is the kind of film you can gather the family together on a Sunday afternoon and sit down and watch. I have to profess to never having heard of the books prior to this - so perhaps I'm not the best to comment on whether the adaptation is 100% faithful to the start of the saga. And I dare say given the fervour of some of the fans of the book that I've spoken to, not everyone will be happy with this. (As is usual when anything beloved transitions from the page to the screen - a fact even the characters remark on in one scene).
But what I can say is that Caitlin Stasey makes a good Ellie; from initial shots of her as a farm girl who has touches of girly girl, her journey from innocent to conscience wracked freedom fighter and teen who's confused is plausible. Whether she'll satiate the fans is another matter - Ellie means so much to so many; however, her can do attitude and awareness make her an admirable heroine.
Equally the rest of the seven make a good job of their camaraderie - sure, there's some bad lines here and there and at times, you can see exactly where the story is going. It's on these kids that the rest of the saga rests and thanks to a well rounded set of performances, you're never in doubt that these are teens who've had the responsibility of the world thrust on their shoulders - and they're not about to shirk it.
However, director Stuart Beattie seems to have gone a little overboard at times with some of the action sequences - Wirrawee is a world where explosions are really explosions and even an exploding quad bike can wield the most destructive force as it wreaks havoc. While it seems churlish to pick faults because of this, it sort of detracts from the at times underplayed appeal of the rest of the film's more intimate scenes which work well.

Overall, Tomorrow, When The War Began is a promising start to the saga - whether that promise carries onto the rest of the series remains to be seen.