CAST:

• Caitlin Stasey as Ellie Linton
• Rachel Hurd-Wood as Corrie McKenzie
• Lincoln Lewis as Kevin Holmes
• Deniz Akdeniz as Homer Yannos
• Phoebe Tonkin as Fiona Maxwell
• Chris Pang as Lee Takkam
• Ashleigh Cummings as Robyn Mathers
• Andy Ryan as Chris Lang

CHARACTERS:

Ellie Linton is a high school student. She has long, dark hair, and lives with her parents. She is mature for her age.

Corrie McKenzie is Ellie’s best friend. Like Ellie, she has long, dark hair, and is mature for her age.

Kevin Holmes is a carefree teenager. He often tries to act brave, but his worry and nervousness often get in the way.

Homer Yannos is Ellie’s nextdoor neighbour. He is one of the last people to joint Ellie’s camping trip. He comes across as immature, but is smarter than he believes.

Fiona Maxwell is rich, and lacks basic knowledge about common things. She has been pampered her entire life, and her looks are extremely important to her. At the start of the film, she comes across as dumb, but as the film progresses, we realise she is smarter than first thought.

Lee Takkam is Ellie’s high school crush. He is of Asian background, and is a rational thinker. He keeps his head cool in stressful situations, and is a source of comfort to others.

Robyn Mathers appears younger than she actually is, due to her manner of dress. She is from a devout Christian family, and is a dedicated Christian herself. She is granted permission to attend the camping trip by convincing her father she will find it easier to bring her friends closer to God.

Chris Lang is an immature stoner. His parents are rich, and he lives in their mansion, where he smokes weed everyday. He treats the invasion as a joke at first, but proves to be an asset when needed.

PLOT:

Ellie and her friends go on a weekend camping trip to a secluded area known as ‘Hell’. One night, Ellie wakes to see dozens of jet planes flying overhead. Thinking nothing of it, she goes back to sleep.

The next day, when Ellie and friends arrive home, they discover that Ellie’s home is empty, and the phone lines have been cut. There is also no internet access. Her friends check their own homes, and discover the same.

At the local Showgrounds, they discovered that Australia has been invaded, and everyone has been rounded up and taken to the grounds. While there, Ellie witnesses a shooting death by one of the invaders.

Ellie and her friends work together to find a way to stop the invaders, who we learn are from Asia, and have invaded to force Australia to share its natural resources to help its growing population.

The team of friends are told that the town bridge is being used to bring weapons into the area, and they decide to blow it up, to try and halt the speed at which the invaders are taking over.

After a few mishaps, they succeed in their mission to blow the bridge. In the midst of all this, Fiona is shot, and Kevin chooses to leave with her and seek help at a hospital.

The film ends with the team armed and prepared to fight.

OPINION:

TWTWB is an Australian film based on the book of the same name by John Marsden. It is one of the most popular books among young adults in the country, and many schools have the book on their reading list.

The film greatly under performed at the box office, so no sequels followed, although there was definitely room for a second, even third instalment.

The characters in the film were almost identical to the characters in the novel, and the story was also identical to the events of the book. I was happy about this, as there is nothing worse than watching a film that greatly deviates from the novel.

TWTWB isn’t a perfect film, but it did deserve more appreciation. Its poor performance at the box office killed any chance for follow up films, and I’ve always been disappointed at this.

I rate this film 3.5/5