The Furnace

The ingredients are rich: in the 19th century outback, aboriginals, prospectors, Chinese, cameleers (uniformly referred to as Afghans even though they come from many Middle Eastern cultures), graziers, peddlers, Moslems, Hindus, troopers, and station hands negotiate wary relations. A hardbitten prospector has stolen gold in his possession and needs to find a way to legitimise it. He falls in with a cameleer and they trek across the desert to escape the law and other criminals in pursuit. This is an outback thriller trying to be a deep and meaningful arthouse excursion. The slow pace eventually becomes tedious and a couple of plot glitches irritate. Talented actors work hard and turn in excellent performances, but they are fighting the director.

Nails epic western tone ... in Australia! Haven't felt such a punch in the guts since Samson And Delilah. Wenham is off his chops in this one. It's all internal but it rips. His costar's naïveté strikes the perfect balance. This summer's sleeper hit. I had no idea it was gonna be that good. Maybe I should see it a second time to make sure. Big screen viewing is a must.

As an Aussie we are better at exporting actors than making films here, sadly. Or so its been for a fair while, until now.... For me the last 2 great Aussie films go Samson & Delilah, then The water Diviner...and now, this....

Very disappointing vehicle for the talent of David Wenham. The premise of the story was so promising but the execution was painfully slow and the use of different languages without any subtitling rendered it frustrating and largely pointless. Added to that there was a distinct lack of continuity in places which added to the confusion. Don't bother.

Captivating from the first few minutes. A must for all who already know this part of Australia's history and a must for those who don't. Brilliant cast, beautifully shot and superb acting. So many paralells with our country today. A movie not easily forgotten.

The basic story has been done many times in an endless number of westerns. Lots of cliches and tropes weaved together in like a very poor man's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The difference here is that it is set in Australia and seems to be trying to weave in an array of 'diversity' with the ethnicities of the characters but the acting is poor and you'd have to have been born yesterday (or be madly woke) to consider this anything other than a b-grade movie.

I could not even describe this as a slow burner. I watched it till the end because I thought it would get better but sadly it did not. I would rather have watched a silent cowboy film.

I loved the narrative, culture and heritage we all Australians share. A great work from the Director and the team. Watch and learn about amazing Australian story.