Director: Ivan Sen
Writer: Ivan Sen (Screenplay)
Starring: Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell, Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil
Plot: Indigenous Detective Jay Swan arrives in the frontier town of Goldstone on a missing persons inquiry. What seems like a simple light duty investigation opens a web of crime and corruption. Jay must pull his life together and bury his differences with young local cop Josh, so together they can bring justice to Goldstone.
Tagline – Where worlds collide.
Runtime: 1 Hour 50 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Slow Burn
Story: Goldstone starts as Indigenous detective Jay Swan (Pedersen) finds himself in the town of Goldstone on his latest investigation of a missing person, here he finds young cop Josh Waters (Russell) looking into him, only for him to turn the truth on the situation in the town.
When the two put their differences aside they learn they are investigation a human trafficking situation, where the Mayor (Weaver) is turning a blind eye to everything going on, because of the extra money is generating for the town.
Thoughts on Goldstone
Characters – Detective Jay Swan has been working on a missing persons case, this has seen him enter new territory, stepping on people’s feet, only his ideas and investigation are important to trying to help clean up the area. He must work with Josh to try and solve the crime, which is bigger than he first thought. Josh Waters is a young detective that is unaware of what has been happening in the local area, once he hears the stories, he looks to try and help the latest victims of the human trafficking, even if that drives the town against him, he wants to do the right thing. The Mayor has been using this system of human trafficking for years, it is how she funds the area and she is quick to silence anyone who tries to get in her way.
Performances – Aaron Pedersen and Alex Russell do work well together through this film, they come from different mindsets, which sees them clash at times, while showing the desire for the same thing too. Jacki Weaver does make for a fun villainous mayor through the film, only we don’t get enough of her character.
Story – The story here follows two different cops that ends up working together to bring down a human trafficking ring that have been running a small town for years. This does bring us a crime story that shows that certain people can look to take advantage of people and how a town will use their position to turn their heads on something that will increase money they are making. The pacing of the story is too slow in places, focusing on more of the open world that we are in, rather diving into the criminals motivations.
Crime – The crime side of the film shows how the victims are being taking advantage of and how they will just turn their heads for profits.
Settings – The Australian open land will make for the setting, which shows how it could be achieved, only it does mean we are stuck in long shots of the landscape over filling the story.
Scene of the Movie – The shootout.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough from the Mayor.
Final Thoughts – This is a slow burner that has the typical dealing with human trafficking, where it shows people needing to work together to solve the case.
Overall: Crime Thriller 101.
