TRANSFUSION Review: Sam Worthington Stars in This Australian Drama Crime Thriller

Ryan Logan is a former soldier trying to live the life of a civilian and raise his only son, Billy, on his own. Overwhelmed by the lashing out actions of his delinquent son Logan now faces the reality that Billy may be taken away from him. He himself unable to keep a civilian job for so long Logan is forced to turn to the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him.

 

Transfusion was written and directed by Matt Noble, the professional rugby player who turned to writing and filmmaking near the end of the 90s. Noble also stars in the film as Johnny, Logan’s former comrade in arms who is his gateway into the drug underworld. He is every bit the triple threat here.

 

An army brat himself, one cannot help but wonder if Noble has drawn from those army family life experiences and some of his own for his directorial debut, including a short stint as a beer salesman. The intro of his screenplay establishes Logan’s skills and discipline as a soldier then segues into setting up Logan as a good husband and father. The story catches up to Logan and his son eight years later with the looming threat of Billy being taken away from his dad because of his delinquency. 

 

There are themes of comradery and loyalty running about between Logan and Johnny as events carry them deeper into trouble with the drug runners. Billy doesn’t fall in with ‘the wrong crowd’ but he attaches himself to a small group of lads who don’t respect him. We got a small chill hearing Logan talk to his son about how these other boys are not really his friends if they treat him this way. Though you have heard those words in film and television time and time again, if we were to ask for a show of hands how many times our own parents said those exact words to us during our adolescence? Yeah. 

 

You could go so far as to say that Transfusion is also about the tough transition into civilian life, that soldiers are ill-prepared to go back to civilian life after years of training to be deadly tools of the military complex. Logan and Johnny were very good at being soldiers, Logan has his struggles and Johnny has presumably had a tougher time after his military career as he’s embroiled in the criminal underworld and goes against a drug dealer. Either Johnny’s feeling like he is due a bigger role or a bigger payout for his contributions. 

 

Likewise Logan really only knows how to handle confrontations in so many different ways and it eventually lands him in a spot of trouble with his current employer. LIkewise, when Billy runs into trouble again Logan deals with it as only he knows how and it has the potential to land them both in trouble. Though he bends a knee at first to resolve the situation the menace will return and put a stop to any more fallout. It is not a justification for his actions but the reality of this story’s world.

 

Sam Worthington and Matt Noble are terrific in their roles. As the focus of this story Worthington has to be able to handle the emotions that spill out from the tragedy and into his and his son’s lives eight years later, and he does well in the role. Logan was a great soldier who was an equally good husband and father until his family was beset by tragedy. All the training in the world would not prepare him for what happened from there on in. Emotions run high, they run hot and they stand above the thrilling moments in the story. 

 

The goal here is not to blow you away with big set pieces and wild shootouts .The action and violence cannot be so much as to take away from the single moment of tragedy in Logan’s life that precedes where the story picks up eight years later. That is where our highest emotional responses should be had in this story.

 

Transfusion uses action as a chorus, not the verse. That does not mean that the action scenes are simple throw-aways though, they’re as effective as they need to be to give viewers their thrills. A bloody bout of hand-to-hand comes to mind, one that ends with a cool shot of Johnny covered in blood, framed by the open door to his apartment.

 

Simply, Transfusion is a high emotion drama and low key crime thriller that does not permit the action to overshadow the personal and social struggles that Logan and Billy face throughout the story. It's worth checking out if you prefer balanced thrillers whose sole purpose is not to overwhelm its audience.

 

Transfusion is now in Theaters on VOD and on Digital from Saban Films.