Romper Stomper DVD > Reviews > Wreck And Ruin

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Standard
Soundtrack	Average

Advantages:	Good Story, Some Good Acting
Disadvantages:	Could Have Been Directed Slightly Better

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Romper Stomper, is an Australian film showing the last days of a racist neo-Nazi skinhead gang in Melbourne, this movie exploits the frustration, anger and violence of a aggressive subculture.

The storytelling is immaculate, it's maybe the directing that lets it down. By trying to mix the obvious violence that's involved, with portraying the characters in a way so you may relate, you get a film where you can have no moral standing.

Violence appears in opening scene, in which the Nazi gang stomp a smaller group of Vietnamese youth in a subway station. The gang, led by the coldly charismatic Hando (Russell Crowe), is obsessed with Asians, particularly south eastern ones, who have taken over sections of Melbourne and are taking over business after business, including the gang's home bar. Their response: a good kicking, accomplished with fists, Doc Martens boots, bats, chains and the occasional knife.

Typically, his gang members are squatters living in abandoned factories. The increasingly multiethnic culture in evidence - Italian food (which Hando refuses to eat) or Japanese cars (which he demolishes) - is simply further proof of an deconstruction of white power, the source of these skinheads' rage.

On the run, after another attack on some south east Asians, the skinheads are being hunted not only by the Asians, but also by the police. They are now refugees, homeless and clueless. Matters are further complicated by the arrival of Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie), a punk little rich girl who is gradually revealed as a cruel, self-centred psychotic.

Hando and Gabe couple briefly, and then she slips over to Hando's right-fist man, Davey (Daniel Pollock). It's hard to say for definite this as a love triangle, but it does create a final scenario in which larger issues devolve to simpler ones of loyalty and trust. By this time, the gang has broken down, and Hando is the only one left..

The film does define the violence well - there is a kind of rush you get, to the beatings, even to a skinhead party. The filmmaking is superb; the look, the pace, the good editing are all brilliantly done. And from Crowe, McKenzie and Pollock, you gets great harrowing performances.

Despite its reputation as a violent film, I didn't find it particularly gruesome in its effects. It's rage boils inside the actors, inside the story. The film could have been directed slightly better in not making the characters so likeable, but overall it's a good film for the story it's portraying.

The DVD is lackluster. No extra features, except a trailer, but it is cheap to buy. Mine cost £8.99, so it is a worthy addition to any collection at that price.