Crawl

Australiais known best for Neighbours, shrimps on the Barbe, “G’day mate”, and Hugh Jackman. It’s the land of sun and surf, not the setting for a stand out thriller. Well that’ll be your opinion until you see Crawl by twin brothers Paul and Ben China.

Set in a nameless location in the middle of nowhere Crawl has a simple, but effective plot. A hitman called “the Croatian” is heading home after doing a job for a local bar-owner. He runs his car off the road, goes to the nearest house and ties up a local barmaid in her own home while he plans how to get away.

Some audiences will find the lack of a complex, fully thought out plot as a major flaw of the movie. However  the film does what Thrillers are meant to do and thrills audiences, without adding any extra waffle or padding.

At only 80 minutes the simpleness of the plot is refreshing compared to recent releases that are all pushing the three hour mark. However, Crawl would have benefitted with increasing the running time a little in order to spend some more time on plot and motivation development. As it is currently cut it is not clear why the Croatian acts the way he does except simply because he can. It is possible that no rational was given to make audiences feel that the situation could happen to them, but this isn’t much of an excuse.

Although it sells itself as a film that makes audiences care more about the central characters it offers little more than the bare minimum of development. Half the film is dedicated to character development and there is little to show for it. Audiences are told that the waitress, Marilyin (Georgina Haig), is about to be engaged before she is taken hostage. This news is a thinly veiled technique to make us care more for her but has the opposite effect. Other characters are similar and feel more like plot devices than well thought out figures of fiction.

The only character who has something positive to say is the Croatian. Specifically made for actor George Shevtsov the Croatian is efficient, cold, and ruthless. Shevtsov’s performance feels like Javier Bardem Oscar winning performance as the lone hitman in No Country for Old Men.

Despite these criticisms what Crawl does it does very well. It will have audiences constantly on edge for what will happen next, which is what you want from a thriller. Paul China (who wrote and directed, while his brother produced) uses music and camera angles in a way that is reminiscent of Hitchcock. To build up the tension China only uses music at tense points and it is always the same butt clenching melody. This skill at creating consistent tension once the film gets going makes up for the thin plot and lazy character development since the film thrills.

The film is very much style over substance, but the style is so effective that it can be forgiven for this. China perfectly balances the use of gore, music, and suspense to keep audiences enthralled once the action gets going. A stronger plot and more filled out characters would have added more to the film, but they are certainly not necessary for this genre. If you want something that will get your heart racing see Crawl, if you want something full of character best look somewhere else.

Degree-2:2

The suspense and tension are all there

and at 80 minutes your attention won’t drift.  But more could have 

been done to flesh out the characters.