8:00 PM, 15th February, 2007
Come and see this film to spite me. Im opposed to it on principle. And if you're like me, and your heart leaps a little when you hear "a screen version of Shakespeare's Macbeth..." only to sink again when you hear "...set in present-day Melbourne," then do what I do: come along in order to seethe with silent resentment and hatred. Oh, I'll be there, all right. I wouldn't miss it for the world.The guy who directed Romper Stomper has decided to transplant the story, dialogue and all, into, surprise surprise, Melbourne's criminal underworld. Do I really need to recite this story? OK. It's about a nobleman gangster who, on hearing a prophecy receiving some drugs from three witches hot babes, and egged on by his ruthless wife moll, murders his king boss... and finds that the weakness of character that enabled him to do the deed also prevents him from benefiting from it. It's the story of someone who has penetrated to the innermost skin of an onion and found that there's nothing there - which I suppose is a good enough description, whatever the external trappings.'
Henry Fitzgerald