Long on cast and concept but slightly short on execution, Michael Henry's Blame never quite manages to reach its full potential or really cash in on its premise, ultimately ending up as an interesting but minor footnote to the Australian wave of the past few years. Animal Kingdom, Van Diemen's Land or Last Ride this aint.
It begins strong, however. A man returns home from doing his shopping, striding through the door and realizing too late that things are not what they should be. Realizes too late that someone is lying in wait for him. Four someone's, actually, two men and two women and all of them dressed in oddly formal clothes but for the balaclava's pulled over their faces. They move in concert, cornering and trapping their prey, all of it without saying a word. And here we realize that they are interested only in killing him in a way that will appear to be a suicide.
The opening of Blame is undoubtedly its strength, the film crackling with a restless energy as it plays out its compelling scenario. Our quartet - plus a fifth who has hung back, not wanting to be involved - are on a mission of vengeance, it seems, the group blaming the many for the suicide of one of their close friends. The oddly formal clothing comes due to the fact that they came here directly from their friend's funeral. But as the film progresses and we learn that the job has been botched, forcing them to try again now that the initial rage has subsided, the energy begins to flag slightly and never fully recovers.
The first blow comes via a shift in visual style, the camera that once roamed freely through the space of the film, reflecting the unpredictable trajectory of the story becomes strangely static and things start to feel a bit TV.
The second blow comes from a script that moves away from the action that drove the early going and becomes somewhat mired in dialogue. Yes, it's important to know who these people are and why there are doing what they are doing but the balance of film tips strongly enough to exposition that it almost feels as though it was written more for stage than screen.
And finally, and most significantly, the film tips the answer to its most significant question - is the man really responsible and, if not, then who is - far too early and too obviously, thereby robbing itself of what should have been the motive force for an immense amount of tension. Once the audience knows what's what it's just a matter of waiting for the players to figure it out themselves and they're surprisingly slow on the uptake.
Not really a bad film, Blame just never quite becomes what it could have been. It never quite reaches the heights that seem early on to be easily within its grasp. And with a cast as strong as the one Blame is blessed with - featuring seemingly every young Australian player of note - and a premise as strong as the one it begins with that's just a shame.
It begins strong, however. A man returns home from doing his shopping, striding through the door and realizing too late that things are not what they should be. Realizes too late that someone is lying in wait for him. Four someone's, actually, two men and two women and all of them dressed in oddly formal clothes but for the balaclava's pulled over their faces. They move in concert, cornering and trapping their prey, all of it without saying a word. And here we realize that they are interested only in killing him in a way that will appear to be a suicide.
The opening of Blame is undoubtedly its strength, the film crackling with a restless energy as it plays out its compelling scenario. Our quartet - plus a fifth who has hung back, not wanting to be involved - are on a mission of vengeance, it seems, the group blaming the many for the suicide of one of their close friends. The oddly formal clothing comes due to the fact that they came here directly from their friend's funeral. But as the film progresses and we learn that the job has been botched, forcing them to try again now that the initial rage has subsided, the energy begins to flag slightly and never fully recovers.
The first blow comes via a shift in visual style, the camera that once roamed freely through the space of the film, reflecting the unpredictable trajectory of the story becomes strangely static and things start to feel a bit TV.
The second blow comes from a script that moves away from the action that drove the early going and becomes somewhat mired in dialogue. Yes, it's important to know who these people are and why there are doing what they are doing but the balance of film tips strongly enough to exposition that it almost feels as though it was written more for stage than screen.
And finally, and most significantly, the film tips the answer to its most significant question - is the man really responsible and, if not, then who is - far too early and too obviously, thereby robbing itself of what should have been the motive force for an immense amount of tension. Once the audience knows what's what it's just a matter of waiting for the players to figure it out themselves and they're surprisingly slow on the uptake.
Not really a bad film, Blame just never quite becomes what it could have been. It never quite reaches the heights that seem early on to be easily within its grasp. And with a cast as strong as the one Blame is blessed with - featuring seemingly every young Australian player of note - and a premise as strong as the one it begins with that's just a shame.