Trailer voice: It started like any other teen movie but just when these horny adolescents were about to get busy... WAR! This year's shaping up to be a battle between competing Aussie kids-as-guerilla warriors projects. The American-lensed Red Dawn -- which features antipodeans Chris Hemsworth and Isabel Lucas in its ensemble -- is the higher-profile project thanks to it being a remake of the cult-y 1984 flick. But judging by the number of fan-made trailers out there, the Aussie-shot Tomorrow, When The War Began might be a formidable foe. Also on its side: It blasts into cinemas in September, while Red Dawn's not parachuting in until November. Now Tomorrow has fired the first shot with a teaser trailer. How's it shape up? And while Red Dawn team will be fighting Russian and Chinese Commies, who are the Aussie kids resisting anyway?
Hey, the trailer does what it says on the side of the ration pack -- good-looking teens forced to become guerilla warriors after their airspace is sullied, their families disappeared and their mobile phone service denied. Here's hoping they can still connect with Facebook to rally more troops! For all the explosions and declarations, my favorite bit is the cute-as-a-button reference to first sexual encounters: "We should go further up the river than we've ever been before." And you thought slashers and vampires were the ultimate barrier to deflowering.
Tomorrow is the directorial debut for Australian Stuart Beattie -- who came up with the story for Pirates Of The Caribbean and scripted the likes of Collateral, Australia and 30 Days Of Night -- so here's hoping he's learned some good stuff from his former masters (bring on a bit of Mann-like gritty violence) and can avoid their mistakes (no Luhrmann-style kanga kitsch, thanks). The pensive dark-haired babe at the center of proceedings is Caitlin Stasey, Aussie soap star, who we told you about last year. She plays Ellie Linton, the character who narrates the series of best-selling YA books by John Marsden upon which this first, possible franchise-starting flick is based.
As to who's flying those jets and bombers over the Outback and invading the tiny town of Wirrawee for its precious... er... Beerobtanium? The enemy's not named in Marsden's books. But I reckon I know. There's only one nation close enough and in possession of technology advanced enough to stage such an invasion -- and that's New Zealand. Operating from the WETA base, the Kiwis have already laid waste to Pandora, Middle-earth and Narnia, so Australia's a logical next step to acquire a bit of much-needed "living space". The excuse for such militarism? No doubt all the global media coverage coming up about Robin Hood star Russell Crowe being an Aussie.
So, advantage Tomorrow. But if Red Dawn stays true to the original, it'll have one asset in that its warrior teens call themselves "Wolverines".
Yes, quite ferocious looking.
The Aussie equivalent? The "Wombats"
Not so much.