In 2021, The Dry came out, and I think I reviewed it as part of a catch-up mini review experiment for that year. I thought it was solid, and rewatching it again recently, I like it a little bit more. It sort’ve reminded me of that old Blue Heelers vibe – a police procedural in the backyard of Australia, and dare I predict that Force of Nature: The Dry 2 should hold an even juicier mystery, as it seems to be not only a whodunit, but also a “whereisshe”, with a lass lost in the bush. Every year, I mean to review more and more Australian content, pumping up this little country where I’m from, but fair warning though, now having seen this movie, and committing to bringing about a full review, it still must be subject to the same scrutiny as everything else 😮 Buckle in.
Detective Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) receives a crackly phone call from a crucial informant who has just gone missing in Victoria’s rainforests. She was on a hike, with a bunch of work colleagues, and detectives Falk and Carmen Cooper (Jacquiline McKenzie) join the search while there’s still hope that Alice (Anna Torv) will be found alive. But the stories from her workmates are not so clear; then throw in the fact that Alice’s bosses may’ve been on to her connection with the police, and on top of that, that Falk has a past connection with these bushlands, knowing how treacherous they can be. Well, we’ve got a major predicament on our hands, haven’t we?! Time may be running out for Alice, and who is withholding the key information in finding her?
I apologise to every average Aussie punter out there, as I really wanted to give the good news, but I see a few glaring problems with Force of Nature: The Dry 2 that are too hard to ignore. A big one revolves around the character of Aaron Falk, since in the last movie, he had some…😳 I don’t really know if Eric Bana got the script late, or he or director Robert Connelly did not put as much value in the character of Falk since he has a smaller part now, but if there’s any work been done to match Falk to be the same detective we’ve known from the last movie, I’m not seeing any of it. I noticed this incongruence through the first few scenes, and it persisted the whole way through the movie. Granted, The Dry presented Aaron a unique set of circumstances – he wasn’t on official business, like he is here, and he was clearly returning home to the desolate town withholding a grubby little secret he was yet to reconcile with. But even still, as Aaron hit detective mode back then, he was clearly introspective, firm, and pragmatic in his approach to suspects. He presented to me like an experienced cop would, with an engaging sense of presence, whereas here, Aaron comes across as nothing more than generic. And it’s not good enough, when this man is the reason that this movie is a sequel – the lynchpin holding it all together, our hero of the franchise. There are moments where this movie attempts to give Aaron an arc, where he eventually gets desperate that Alice be alive, but since this movie hasn’t set Aaron up to be stoic as a base, how are we truly to know that he’s acting out of the ordinary?
Aaron is also a victim of some pretty shoddy dialogue, that affects the movie all over really, especially when Force of Nature: The Dry 2 tries to be morally philosophical. Falk has that ending sentiment, where he questions if any of the ladies are “really guilty” – and yes, yes, they are, mate; surface-level perception from you, when you’re police and not their lawyer – but he also pleads with Lauren (Robin McLeavy) atop a waterfall that if she comes down, they will “try and fix this”; and I’ve seen enough movies, at least, to acknowledge that that’s a red flag to a suicidal bull when there’s really no fixing what’s happened – silly cop, again. Lauren’s daughter had just entered the fray, at that point; how much easier would it have been to go with the angle of, “think of your daughter, she needs a mother” to talk Lauren off the edge? (And still, that wouldn’t have worked, because Aaron doesn’t know how Lauren was scolded by Alice, saying her daughter would actually be better off without her, moments before their fracas, so the movie could still have its watery conclusion).
The movie also tries to match The Dry by showing a glimpse into young Aaron’s past, and it’s the flattest part of the movie, weighing down the mystery at the forefront. The weirdest thing about this, as an affective device that worked in the original, is that this movie already has an interesting mechanism for flashbacks, which exists in discovering what happened to the hiking group. What happened to Alice is this movie’s juicy center, and somebody might need to sit Aaron down to tell him that not everything is about YOU; not everything is necessarily better when it’s motivated by a “personal connection”, especially when it’s less and less pressing, melancholy, and distracting in the face of the actual drama. I mean, what’s next – an investigation into a dodgy doctor, and Falk is intensified because his cousin had an infection once? The first Dry’s flashbacks into Aaron were much more dynamic; unique, and relevantly clouding the interpretation of the investigation at hand, where this one, is pretty much pure filler. I thought the link to Faulk’s past was initially presenting to be a time when Faulk and his parents eventually interacted with the man who would become the notorious serial killer of the local area. Perhaps young Faulk gets a little lost, momentarily separated, and the serial killer appears to Faulk for a menacing conversation, before Aaron’s father was able to warn him off. That story would link to the main story to show how these wetlands can give the upper hand to predators and leave you vulnerable (a point the movie makes), and be a reason why Aaron decided to become a cop, having come face to face with a bastard, and wanting to save others from a similar scenario. I like this idea; this could’ve worked and been a lot less tragic and circumstantial than the lesson we got.
I think a truth that confirmed to me that Bana’s acting was a little off too, is that Anna Torv’s performance is really good. Torv plays Alice, and I quite like Sisi Stringer’s roll in this caper as well, who exists as the ex-con Beth. I also like that Force of Nature: The Dry 2 makes Alice really unlikable – she’s quite a selfish pill, isn’t she, cornered into assisting the police more than doing it out of the kindness of her heart; but she’s also human, and so, the SES have still got to find her. I don’t really get the rationale behind these colleagues getting chosen to go on a work team-building activity together, and the group containing two sets of sisters – seems a bit reductive. Perhaps there’s a detail somewhere, where Alice finagled the groupings to get her sister along with her, and the movie could scrub the detail of Beth and Bree (Lucy Ansell) being sisters, just having them be really good friends. Perhaps it’s implied that Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness) is keeping a watchful eye on Beth as well, since her husband is suspicious of Beth as the rat 🐭 Despite my previous grumblings about this movie trying to replicate a hugely unnecessary structural element of The Dry through young Aaron flashbacks, I do like the detail of old Aaron saving Lauren from the depths of a rumbling waterfall, against all odds given by the camp’s counselor 😊 It reminded me of how it was kind’ve ridiculous that Aaron survived the fire that was set to destroy the whole town in the previous movie, but I like the signature of Falk defying the Gods to deliver a miracle at the end of every case too – too bad he can’t “miracle” us a St. Kilda Premiership as well, ey Bana? A desire I’m in on with you together, buddy 😩
I do think Force of Nature: The Dry 2 makes for a worthwhile sequel, but it is ultimately a victim of poor execution. I know this movie is based off a book – Jane Harper’s follow-up to The Dry – and I understand the tendency to feel locked-in to whatever is wrote, especially when the first attempt was so successful – but you’re really not, and changes can be made if it’s for the better of your movie. I think Spielberg, who totally changed up the novel of Jaws for his world-renowned blockbuster, would have to agree with me 💁♂️ (And since I haven’t read Force of Nature, the novel, for myself, perhaps there were changes made, and if so, they’re still the problem 😤) There are moments in this watch, where I thought the mystery elements might flutter this movie up to a 2.5 rating, but no, it pretty much stayed half a star under, and that’s where I deem it appropriate.
2.0
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