Tommorrow, When the War Began

[Manafii101]

So I saw the film yesterday, and I was rather impressed with how faithful it was to the book. For those who don't know, the Tommorrow series is an Australian book series by John Marsden about a group of teenagers that go camping. Upon their return they find that Australia has been invaded by a foreign force and decide to fight back using guerrila tactics.

Anyways, I enjoyed the movie immensely. The cinematography and camerawork was altogether very solid, and it gave the film a very slick feeling. All of the SFX and explosions were spectacularly done, and the score was very appropriate, but some of the mise en scene was a bit off, such as the clothing worn in some scenes, and the weapons used by the teenagers. The only real area where the film was let down was the casting. One of the characters, Robyn, looks a lot younger and more fragile in the film than she is in the book, and the character Chris seems to be channelling Jack Black the entire time he's present within the movie.

In conclusion, I'd give this film a generous 8.5/10. Feel free to discuss the books or your own impressions of the movie!

 

[KnightoftheWind]

The director of the film came to my school a couple of weeks ago to promote the movie ^_^ Anyway, I'll probably go see the movie this weekend, once exams are over.

 

[Insularity]

I really liked it, thought it was pretty awesome. And very faithful to the book.

THe only problem I thought was that they made the characters seem to more strongly fit the stereotypes. While, as you said, Robyn was a young woman, who was a strong believer in Christianity, in the book, they displayed her as basically a 14 year old, who had to persuade her parents with RELIGION! to go, where, IIRC, Ellie was decent friends with her dad, and was able to persuade them.

Same with a whole lot of other places. Lee ended up seeming a lot more badass in the movie, whil Homer seemed a lot more... Homery.

 

[MrIndigo]

I'm really interested to know what people outside of Australia (especially UK and US) think of this film.

 

[Manafii101]

One of the things that annoyed me was that there was no confirmation of a sequel. I've heard that the next two books will be made into movies, but the others? Let alone the Ellie chronicles. I think it would be unfair to end it as a trilogy even though it makes narrative sense with their escape to New Zealand at the end of the third book.

 

[Insularity]

Never heard of that news, which sounds good to me!

The series was originally supposed to stop at The Third Day: The Frost, actually, and it brings the series to a nice ending. And honestly, I'm gonna come out right and say that after that, the series just started to die. I had to force myself to read While I Live, and I still can't get myself to read Incurable.

 

[jumpluff]

The series is still pretty good from 4 on, but 1-3 are a complete trilogy in themselves. 3 ends with a pretty vague ending about the war itself, but it ends with a solid, well-wrapped ending about the characters themselves, and it's a fairly character-driven book in my opinion. I think more than 3 films would be overkill, though books could easily be combined with each other. Looking forward to this, I'm going to see it ASAP. Good to hear it's faithful to the story!

 

[vonFiedler]

I'll fly to Australia to watch this movie if the kids call themselves the Tasmanian Devils!

 

[mingot]

I'll fly to Australia to watch this movie if the kids call themselves the Tasmanian Devils!

Wolvarrinnnnnnnnnnes!

Just won't be the same.

 

[jumpluff]

*bump*

It was a pretty badass film, all things considered. I'd heard it was faithful, but it was pretty much a direct copy of the book. Which was good. The kids seemed older (except Robyn...) than in the books, but their acting was fairly spot on. Homer and Chris were hilarious. I don't remember Ellie being that irrational and tempestuous in the books, but now I think about it, she kinda was.