Scorched (2008 TV Movie) User Reviews

Critical Criticisms

[Scotty-97 · 3 January 2011]

I have just read the reviews of this show by a number of alleged viewers & I am at a loss as to what they think they actually viewed. It was convenient, in hindsight, that the date of the supposed action was "5 years in the future". This makes the date irrelevant with regard to it referring to any particular year, 2012, 2013, 2025 or any other year as obviously if I watch it now (2011) it becomes 2016. In any case the film should have been released in 2007 to be "5 years" in the future of 2012. Some reviewers were unable to figure out how long the drought was. One, was unable to use the automatic spell checker & obviously did not read his review - how long has anyone lived in "Sidney, New Soth Wales". The same person also doesn't understand that the abbreviation PM means Prime Minister when the reference should have been State Premier (or just Premier), and since when have we "brung" anything.

Unfortunately, some reviewers also may have spoken in 'tongues'. I have lived in Australia for more than 60 years & I still don't know what the AIIMS... is, incidentally the ABC might mean American Broadcasting Corporation (or Company, or .....). Please, space out acronyms as full words at least once in your review as not everyone knows what they mean.

Thanks to those members of the Australian Rural Fire Service for their input on how it actually related to the Service Aussies are very proud of these people who volunteer their time (mostly FREE) to help others. It should be appreciated that real fire-fighters thought enough of the film to even make comments, it also shows how seriously Aussies take the danger of bush-fires & willingness of everyone to chip in. Of course the actual supposition that there is 'absolutely no water anywhere' to use to fight bush-fires does stretch the imagination, just a l i t t l e {LOL}. There are so many creeks & dams around Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (and all Australia) that the drought would have to have been a lot, lot (many lots) longer than 200 or so days of the film. Even when the film was made some localities in Australia were in areas declared drought for a lot longer than that.

Well, after all that my review of the film is that while it is definitely not in same league as 'Armageddon', 'The Day After' or other similar disaster movies, it was a film worth watching, especially for those who like the nitty-gritty of the interaction between persons who could be 'you' (or/and maybe 'me').

(NOTE: LOL = laughing out loud)

terrible

[u2theedge · 1/10 · 13 September 2008]

this could possibly be the worst TV movie ever. Way to many plot holes and terribly written i cant believe this ran for 2 hours! they cut so much out of it. Im ashamed to even be in NSW its a lame attempt in trying to make a movie based on 2012 (so called Apocalypse) and on the bushfires over the past several years. "Set 5 years in the future. "After years without rain fire engulfs the entire city." this really confused me the fire didn't even reach sydney! just smoke. And what is it with the soap stars? they brung 2 home and away stars who barely had a role. there was no emotion in this. The only good thing in the movie was "Cameron daddo" he done a great job

Worth watching

[trapp_p · 7/10 · 21 November 2008]

I don't really think that this was intended as a political statement, it was never going to be more than a 'disaster movie' for TV. In that respect it succeeds. Ch 9 did a good job on the action scenes (mostly if not all Canberra Feb 2003 - certainly the burning embers blowing across the road and past the windscreen of the truck were Cbr) and the dramatisation and depiction of fire-ground action was true to life - and life's a bitch under those conditions. Can't comment about the Emergency Response Room scenes but looked pretty representative of an AIIMS set-up. It was a good drama, well written and well acted. Without spoiling the story the political aspects portrayed certainly echo a lot of 'nasties' which surface in most states - and ably portray the 'say one thing and mean another' pollie-speak which seems to be so common. As a rural firefighter I can't say I 'enjoyed' the movie - too close to my everyday realities - but I did think it was a worthwhile watch.

Missed the mark... but good acting

[lolliesRyum · 2/10 · 2 September 2008]

I'm not quite sure if I watched the same Australian film as the majority of the other reviewers (or if they in fact are employees of channel nine!) This was a really disappointing film...

The casting was spot on... the acting was great... the script was useless.

It was badly paced... some story lines were wrapped up too quickly, others not even explained...

I feel like there was never any connection felt between any of the characters or story lines... if I felt anything it was because of the wonderful acting on the show.

rubbish...!!!

[tattooedtool · 1/10 · 31 August 2008]

apologies to all actors concerned , as they all did a decent job throughout, unfortunately the plot was weak, and the story appeared to be cut to ribbons. upon the death of one particular character we, the audience, are supposed to feel sad, but as we had only met this character once, and don't really care its a completely hollow moment. there is no real feeling of danger at any point in the film, and the whole affair feels like a watered down disaster movie. when we live in an age of films like, the day after tomorrow, the core, volcano and dantes peak (admitedly not great films, but still the spectacle in these films is huge) this below average telemovie just doesn't cut it. im all for Australia trying to branch out from the usual Aussie battler stories but this was a limp effort.

maybe the 2 hours added to the DVD will help the viewer care more about all the characters, but i wont be watching it to find out, good luck to those of you who do.

Feedback from a firefighter.

[Three08-1 · 10/10 · 12 April 2009]

I don't normally comment on movies but in this case I had to after reading a lot of negative comments about this one. First off I've seen people saying it's full of plot holes, if you think that you simply didn't understand what the movie was all about. It's about the emotional effects that these kind of fires have on the crews fighting them, it's not about how much you care about the people in the movie, it's about how much they care about each other and how they have to put their own feelings aside to get the job done.

I am a firefighter and I must say there was 2 things about this movie that just would not happen. First the trucks running out of water that close to the fire, the safety system in place would not allow that to happen. Second thing was the burn over of the 4WD, no firefighter would ever try to out run a fire like they did, the result of trying to out run a wildfire is always death. No Australian firefighter would allow themselves to be in a wildfire situation and not have at least a 1/4 tank of water for safety. Modern fire trucks designed for wildfires (tankers) are equipped low water alert systems. They also have crew safety system that engulf the entire truck in water in case of a burn over, as well as fire blankets for every member on the truck and fire curtains in the cabin of the truck, this just wouldn't happen the way it did in the movie anymore and if it did someone made one hell of a mistake. The last few months have proved that the safety protocols that have been put in place over the last 10 years work.

Scorching!

[Console_General · 8/10 · 31 August 2008]

"Scorched" is an Australian drama that premiered on free-to-air TV on Sunday, August 31, 2008.

Directed by Tony Tilse (Underbelly) it tells the story of Australia's largest city, Sydney, not coping at all well without rain for more than 250 consecutive days.

It is Christmas time, our summer, and the start of a long period where the potential of major bushfires is very real. I know. I've experienced a few myself, most recently the recent fires that devastated Canberra (the nations capital) 250klm to Sydney's south in 2003. With the temperature soaring to over 38o Celcius (100.4o F) and very low humidity lightning strikes from storms create "armageddon".

Many popular and well-known actors feature in this telemovie - many of whom have worked together in other productions (Vince Colosimo/Les Hill - Underbelly... Georgie Parker/Libby Tanner - All Saints) and true to form they do a great job.

Personally I thought it was a bit too short with rumour of a DVD to be released in November featuring over 2 hours of footage deemed not suitable for free-to-air TV. The TV version has a couple of gruesome seems but...

Overall scary, 'cos I've been in this situation for real, but a little too light on content.

A Really Good Movie

[ladymidath · 10/10 · 10 January 2011]

I can't understand all the negative reviews that this movie received. I thought it was a well acted and fast paced film that explored several important themes such as, climate change, drought, natural disasters and political corruption. The Cassie Has Dreams segments were eerie and very atmospheric, in fact I thought the whole thing was one of the better offerings that we have had. It is nice to see that important issues are finally being addressed in films like this. It is a nice change of pace and proves that we can do an intelligent disaster movie, if there is such a thing. I have lived through both bush fires and flood and I have seen the devastation of both and I would like to see more films like this, especially since climate change is a very real problem that we are all facing.

An excellent example of the great films Australia Produce.

[cdoyle-8 · 10/10 · 1 September 2008]

Scorched premiered on the 31st of August 2008 on channel nine. I saw the advertisement for it on the television and was immediately drawn to it because of the list of well known Australian actors forming the cast. (Cameron Daddo, Georgie Parker, Libby Tanner, Rachel Carpani and Vince Colosimo) The tele – feature is set in Australia's largest city, Sydney, in 2012. The city is in drought and hasn't had rain for 240 days. There are only two weeks of water left. It is Christmas time and the city is circled by massive, out of control bush fires. Scorched follows the stories of different families as they fight for their lives and their houses in a bush fire emergency dubbed 'Armageddon'. We watch as fire fighters desperately fight to control the fires, until suddenly, there is no more water left to fight with. In a twisted web, uncovered by a CPN (fictional news network) journalist, the city's water has been lost in a deal made by the premier of NSW. I believe this is one of the greatest films Australia has produced. It excellently portrays the struggles of the people trying to save their properties and lives. It shows the bravery, dedication and fighting spirit of our fire fighters in a superb manner. Having experienced Sydney's summer bushfires, I feel this is an outstanding portrayal of the real disaster of bush fires. The theme of the film is also centred around water management and lack of fresh water in Australia, and is a way of showing potential problems of the future. All in all the film was exceptional. The acting was brilliant, along with direction, writing and producing. This film is one of my favourites of all time, and is a real example of the excellent productions coming out of Australia today. There will be a DVD of the film released in November. The film is also a multi platform drama. There is an online drama that leads up to the film, and websites that relate to the events portrayed in Scorched. These links are available on the channel nine website.