Review No.12: X- Night of Vengeance

It's fair to say that 2011 was a bumper year for Australian film with Animal Kingdom and Snowtown both making my Top 25 list. I know it's a little early to start thinking about this year's list but I doubt that the Sydney-based X - Night of Vengeance will make it into that 25. Set in and around the seedy underbelly of the Australian city it concentrates on Holly a high-class escort who is about to escape her life to live her dream and move to Paris meanwhile teenage Shay leaves home when her mother dies so she also ends up having sex for money. When Holly's cab almost runs down Shay she recruits her for a threesome with a dodgy businessman which goes wrong when he is shot by a dirty cop and the two women have to go on the run. They then spend some of the film together and some of the film of part with revelations to both of their backgrounds and a fairly predictable end for one of the characters with the other being given an ambiguous conclusion.

I've been trying to think of why X - Night of Vengeance failed to make much of an impression on me and I feel that it just runs out of steam following the exciting incident. While the camerawork perfectly captures the seedy nature of the Sydney streets many of the characters and establishments we see have been seen a million times before and played by better actors. There were dirty cops, heroin addicts, violent pimps and greedy owners of overpriced hotels combined with laughable scenes such as the one in which Holly's fellow hooker falls over in the shower. Even with its running time of ninety minutes this felt stretched with a wafer thin plotline and also far too much incidental nudity and over-the-top violence. The plus points are the performances from the two lead actresses with Viva Bianca perfectly portraying a woman who wants to get out of a life of having sex for money and Hanna Mangan Lawrence giving us a lost, sympathetic character in Shay. There is also a lovely little romance between Shay and a cab driver who moonlights as an escape artist which might be her way out of the life she has just found herself in. But unfortunately these aren't enough to save a film which is showered in cliché and awful supporting performances so I'm afraid it isn't an auspicious start to the year for the Australian film industry.

Verdict: Unfortunately a couple of good performances aren't enough to save a film with needless violence, too much nudity and a shedload of stereotypes so it gets just 3.5/10