This Australian thriller is an odd beast - partially because of its imported lead (Noomi Rapace, still struggling to find a role anywhere near as interesting as the original Swedish "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo"), partially because of its odd focus. It's the story of a mother who's lost a daughter, and when her son meets another boy, her encounters with the other boy's family means she encounters their daughter and becomes increasingly convinced that she has a connection to the daughter.
The main problem, for me, is that this never really convinces as anything other than a teetering mountain of contrivances. Everybody seems to have taken a solid thumping with the idiot stick, taking actions that bear little resemblance to anybody. Yes, loss and mourning can cause obsession and pain, but this isn't written with any particular empathy or emotion so much as a cheesy thriller idea, and it's not quite prepared to play that with the verve or enthusasm to make the unlikliness of the exercise fun in itself, or with the delicacy and insight to make this a valuable serious drama. Instead, it's just sort of ... sludge, dawdling its way towards an unlikely finale. Of the other supporting actors, Yvonne Strahovski and Richard Roxborough do the best they can with their not-particuarly-developed characters, while Luke Evans does a fair bit less as a dull lump of wood in a suit. Not at all recommended.
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