Director: Ivan Sen.
Starring: Aaron Pedersen, Hugo Weaving, Tasma Walton, Ryan Kwanten, Jack Thompson.
Running Time: 112 minutes.
Synopsis: An Aboriginal cop returns to his home town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, facing corruption and prejudice along the way.
If the idea of a man with less facial expressions than a sleeping Steven Seagal, moping about dusty hills, sort of looking for things appeals to you, then you’re in luck. MYSTERY ROAD is a paint-by-numbers murder mystery, with all the paint being various shades of drab. The only mystery on this road is why the producers thought it would be worth anybody’s attention.
Aaron Pederson plays Detective Jay Swan, an Aborigine cop facing red tape and prejudice in his quest to find the killer of a little girl against the stark landscape of the outback. It’s an interesting concept that fails to work for a number of reasons, most prominently Pederson himself, who rarely looks anything other than comatose. What director Ivan Sen presumably hoped would be a brooding and complex performance comes across as sleepy and disinterested. There’s nothing wrong with an antagonist being willingly disconnected for his own sanity, a la Harry Callahan, but even in the deeply personal moments with his ex-wife and daughter, Swan always looks like he’s secretly thinking of which ready meal to pick up tonight.
The rest of the cast chew their dialogue as best they can. Notably, Tasma Walton gives it some welly as abused alcoholic Mary, and Hugo Weaving is always welcome. Here he plays a sneering, corrupt cop with a very fetching beard and you think to yourself, “Surely they wouldn’t make the killer be the only star name who is known for playing villains? Surely not…”
The plot weaves around like a bored snake, presenting red herrings and dangling plot strands and characters that don’t meet a satisfying resolution. At one point, Swan is on the phone with the coroner getting the results of an autopsy. We hear that a bite wound on the victim contains the saliva of a dog that can’t be recognised. “It must be some sort of super dog.” Super. Dog. And then it’s never mentioned again.
All the shuffling about and mumbling leads to perhaps the most peculiar climactic shoot out ever committed to screen. In what is basically a battle of the snipers:
‘Bang!
Missed. Your go.
Bang!
Awww missed. Your go.
Bang!
Oooh, close.
…Your go.
Bang!’
If it was meant to be funny, then it worked. But it’s one hell of a tonal shift from the previous 100 minutes or so. If it ISN’T meant to be funny, then it’s indicative of a film that just doesn’t work.
It’s a real pity, as the idea of an Aboriginal cop facing corruption and racial tension presents many possibilities for drama and social commentary. His character could have had some real depth – what makes a person who grew up under state-sanctioned racism join the police and uphold the law of a society that once persecuted him? In fact, it wouldn’t even need to delve into racial politics if it were just a cracking good mystery story. There is one exchange between Swan and his Sergeant, who claims, “It’ll take more than a couple of dead black girls to turn this place into a warzone.” Swan responds, “For some people, it’s already a warzone.” If the rest of the film lived up to this potential, it would have been a gripping affair. Alas it was not to be, which is a damn shame.
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