Reviews
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2016)
Awful
I read the books as a kid and have good memories of them, although I can't remember enough specific details to draw direct comparisons between them and this TV series. I have read that they have changed certain details, but I am sure those are ultimately minor and irrelevant to the overall quality of this series as they have got the fundamentals of storytelling and character development so badly wrong.
The entire first episode is like a long sequence of short indie music clips tied together. Lot's of slow motion scenes of laughing when they should have been building tension or showing at least some suitable level of character development. The characters all seem to have the same shallow, fake, annoyingly positive, Triple J presenter-esque personality. I found them all completely unmemorable, unlikeable and almost indistinguishable personality-wise from each other.
The multi-cultural cast is also entirely unconvincing as a bunch of Australian country kids. They dress, act and talk like a bunch of city kids. To think that this group of ignorant hipsters would be even remotely capable of starting an armed resistance against an occupying foreign army requires far more suspension of disbelief than I was able to manage. That is, until you see the absolute incompetence of this ridiculous army in action.
They try hard to give emotional weight to particular scenes early on, but they have never earnt these moments. They are superficial and unconvincing, just like this entire production. Everyone involved should be ashamed of their work, except for the camera crew. They actually did some nice work.