John Marsden’s Tomorrow series has been a staple of high school English in Australia for years now. Yet it has taken quite a long time for such a popular (and obvious money spinner) to be adapted to the screen; making his directorial debut with the first book in the series Stuart Beattie, a successful Australian screenwriter, of this young adult adventure story. Beattie, who also wrote Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Collateral and Australia, managed to convince Marsden to let him make a film of his beloved book, a proposal the author has been turning down for years. With a cast of young fresh-faced, but largely inexperienced film actors, and an untested director – has Tomorrow When the War Began successfully transferred from page to screen?
For the large part, yes – the film succeeds thanks to the enthusiasm and youthful optimism of its cast and crew. TWTWB is by no means a masterpiece, but it is hugely likeable – this is coming from someone who was not relishing the prospect, having disliked the book. The cast of young Australian and British actors and the simple storytelling combine to make a good action film, a genre not common to Australian cinema at the moment.
TWTWB sees seven high school friends, who live in a small country town, take a trip to a remote camping spot call ‘Hell’ during school holidays, only to find when they return that the country has been invaded by a foreign force that wants their share of Australia’s natural resources. Forced into action, the group start their transformation into resistance fighters.
Leading the friends is 17 year old farm girl Ellie (Neighbours alumni Caitlin Stasey), who along with fun best friend Corrie (Rachel Hurd-Wood, Peter Pan) has handpicked a group of friends to go away with. Included in the mix is Corrie’s sporty boyfriend Kevin (ex- Home and Away-er Lincoln Lewis), Ellie’s love interest Lee (Chris Pang, Home Song Stories), the school’s beauty queen Fiona (Phoebe Tonkin), Ellie’s bad boy neighbour Homer (Deniz Akdeniz) and the religious Robyn (Ashleigh Cummings). This core cast do a great job of being realistic teenagers – a rare thing for young adult films. There are a few weak links, but you can only hope with experience they’ll rise to the standards of their cast-mates (or get killed off as the series progresses – I never got past the first book). Particularly strong is the youngest cast member, Cummings, who tackles the moral compass character of Robyn and Stasey whose portrayal of the determined Ellie is a strong anchor for the film. Andrew Ryan (The Jesters) brings some comedic relief to the film with his stoner performance of Chris, who joins the group during the film.
While there is the obvious cringing reference to the first settlers’ invasion of Australia and the odd scripting slip-up, Beattie’s debut is for the most part impressive. His experience on big budget projects has definitely brought with it the skills to finesse action sequences. Not outrageous or ostentatious the films fight sequences and gun-play is handled in a way that suits the setting of country town war zone. It is rare to see an Australian made film with such a large budget (a reported $25 million) and it is nice to see it hasn’t been wasted.
Tomorrow When the War Began is playing in cinemas nation-wide.
