Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Connor ★★★½ 3

  I don’t have a cool review for this so here’s a random story. my mum wanted to watch this movie. It’s meant to be loosely based on a real family located here in Melbourne, Australia called the “Pettingill family” They were full of murderers, traffickers etc you get the picture. they weren’t the friendliest family anyways fast forward to the end of the movie. My mum gets up and casually says to me “Oh yeah, when I was younger me and your aunties used to hang out at their place all the time” then walked away.

  So shoutout to them for not killing her? I swear every family member has some crazy lore before you were born.

  True story list

• 

  Review by DirkH ★★★★½ 11

  Part of Dastardly Difficult December: film nr.33

  I have just watched one of my favourite crime films ever. And that's kind of a big deal as it is a genre I'm not particularly fond of.

  This film has an almost meditative pace, with characters that feel genuine and a plot that is straightforward in content, but refreshingly contemplative in its narrative. The atmosphere is very tense, but always in the background.

  And I guess that's what appealed to me most. This film isn't 'in your face' with anything. More often than not films about crime families are explicitly violent. This just isn't. There is violence, but it's unpredictable, scarce and intense without being graphic. This adds to the film's brooding…

• 

  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★★½ 8

  Nothing says better that your movie is a classic in the making, one of the greatest crime thrillers, like the fact few years after its release it didn't only launch a successful TV series, but also a reboot of sorts (Fargo: Season 2) and a project with a lot of parallels, to the point that the connection between both is apparent, plus there's the fact it shares one of the main cast playing a similar role (Bloodline).

  And indeed all the success and praise towards this film is more than deserved. While there are scenes of violence in this film, the real tension comes from the psychological breakdown and paranoia that permeates the household as a result of a tragedy,…

• 

  Review by SilentDawn ★★★½ 1

  Subtly tense and oddly beautiful, Animal Kingdom is a thrilling piece of work from David Michod. While I found the film to be a tad too slow for my taste, and I found the ending to more of a fascinating turn than anything else; Animal Kingdom as a whole is riveting and well-done. All the performances are excellent, the moments of slow-motion and directorial flourish are brilliant, and the story is wonderfully quiet. Truly, I can't wait to see what David Michod has up his sleeve next.

• 

  Review by 𝚮𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖎𝖓𝖆𝖉𝖊 🎃🕯️👻 ★★★★ 6

  I couldn't figure out why Weaver was nominated for this and then last 25 minutes hit and I'm like "oh".

  Ben's menacing stare was absolutely soul piercing.

• 

  Review by Graham 10

  Man I love this place!

  Animal Kingdom is just so authentically Australian. Like a little microcosm of the place, full of sarcastic wit, mateship and sometimes, danger. When we arrived in Melbourne from blighty 13 years ago, there was all this fuss about a new TV show. A show that was spilling the beans about a crime-ridden period in Melbourne's recent history that many years later was still playing out in the courts. Underbelly, with its unrelenting realism and graphic depictions of my new back yard went on to spawn a heap of sequel series' over the following years, all a little different but all raw and filled with top-shelf Aussie talent. If you've not seen the first couple of…

• 

  Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★ 4

  A startling crime drama, David Michôd's "Animal Kingdom" is a heavy and dark piece of work that juxtaposes its roughness with a certain violent elegance. Focusing on a family of outlaws whose exploits find them in a tangled criminal web, the Australian film alternates between chilling and searing stretches. The production rumbles with jolting clarity, and Michôd's cast is uniformly excellent. With a story that is equal parts Scorsese, Shakespeare, and Machiavelli, "Animal Kingdom" succeeds by letting its sophisticated themes and narrative beats collide with the engaging punch and homegrown sensibility of its cinematic elements.

• 

  Review by aaronchen 1

  If animal kingdom was today

  Ben Mendehlson: are you non-binary mate? It’s ok if you are.

• 

  Review by DallasFrance ★★★★★ 4

  I’ve logged four Australian crime films dating back to the 80s this month, and The Stranger, a new Australian Netflix film starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris I watched in November, is also excellent. In the last year or so, Nitram (2021) and Snowtown (2011) also kicked my ass. The list goes on and on… In the sea of gnarly Australian crime films, Animal Kingdom is among the best. I watched it almost five years ago and put it in my top 50 of the 2010s, and I pretty seriously underrated it. There is no unnecessary exposition or gradual character-building. Shit just starts happening.

  Ben Mendelson, Jacki Weaver, and Guy Pearce are absolutely on fire in this film. In films like Starred Up and series…

• 

  Review by Amy Hensarling ★★★★ 23

  “Have you worked out where you fit?”

  Fillin’ the Gap No 2

  Halfway into Animal Kingdom, I told Rob the vibe’s basically The Godfather if the bros were more physical—more hugging, hitting, shoving, and uh, definitely more maternal affection than I care to ponder. Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, & a formidable/terrifying Jacki Weaver make up its grade A ensemble, getting us to care beyond circumstance. Haunting score, brooding atmosphere, tangible tension. And of course, gotta love an authentic Aussie accent. Always a pleasure. Back in a tick, mate.

• 

  Review by Steve Moyle ★★★★½ 2

  Joshua "J" Cody (James Frecheville) is a 17 year old who lives with his mother in Melbourne who right at the start of the film dies from a Heroin overdose. This leaves J a bit unsure what to do as he calls his grandmother Janine "Smurf" Cody (Jacki Weaver). He hadn't actually seen his grandmother in years as she'd fallen out with his mother some time ago, she tells him that he can live with her so he doesn't see why not. Also at her house are J's Uncles who are well known by police as local armed Robbers.

  They consist of Darren (Luke Ford), the youngest one who was close to J when they were younger, Craig (Sullivan Stapleton)…

• 

  Review by Once upon a Tom... in Hollywood ★★★½

  Man, it’s a crazy fuckin’ world. 

  For a first feature, this is a pretty impressive accomplishment. The consistent edge of your seat tone, the music and score, and the performances by this outstandingly talented cast all make this feel like it’s the product of a veteran filmmaker. And that’s enough to carry you through the plodding slow burn of a story that might lack in originality, but makes up for it with one hell of an ending. Recommended.