Review of Heaven's Burning (1997) by Harry W — 16 May 2014

As Heavenâ??s Burning was an early Australian film to feature Russell Crowe in the leading role, it sounded like it was worth a chance.

Although the quality of the camera in Heavenâ??s Burning is pretty grainy and doesnâ??t capture the light of everything all too well, the cinematography in the film is nice because it captures the beautiful landscape of Australia and many of the nice sights of its countryside. Heavenâ??s Burning doesnâ??t put too much emphasis or reliance on the Australian sights, but the film does manage to reveal the nice outback and working class Australian areas. The cinematography also moves at a nice pace when it has to and focuses on the faces of the actors so that it captures the emotional state of them well, and it is always shifting between multiple angles which are fairly atmospheric and give a good view to things. Heavenâ??s Burning is made good enough on the eyes by some nice cinematography, and luckily enough it is of quality to transcend the grainy visual quality and rough lighting job. So it has some appeal to it. But it still isn't really enough to salvage Louis Nowra's story from what it is left in.

Heavenâ??s Burning is a bit of a slow film. The problem with the film is that not much happens. It begins with a robbery and turns into a tale about a getaway driver forming a relationship with a hostage. But what the message of the film is proves to be ambiguous. I couldnâ??t really understand what it was trying to say, except for the idea that crime doesnâ??t pay and a criminal act will follow you forever. It seemed like a strange tour of the Australian outback against the backdrop of a criminal love story. It was a very odd blend of genres and didnâ??t have such a great pace to support itself or enough plot dynamics for it to constitute being true entertainment, so it ends up being a long and repetitive film which is slow and ends rather abruptly.

After the end of Heavenâ??s Burning, it was too easy for me to simply ask myself â??what was the point of the whole story?â??, but as the film was over there was no answer. Although the ending is dramatised well, it was kind of like the ending to Bonnie and Clyde, although a lot less violent and more senseless as there was less passion and depth in the characters to justify such a strange ending. The story in Heavenâ??s Burning had nothing much happening for most of the film, and then suddenly at the end everything happens at once, so the pacing of the plot dynamics in Heavenâ??s Burning is a little too scattershot for its own good.

A lot of viewers are likely to walk away from Heaven's Burning asking themselves "what was the point?" because there doesn't seem to be an underlying message in the story, it doesn't really go anywhere or make viewers care about its characters, and so when the story ends and the fate of them has been decided, it doesn't really serve much of a good purpose whatsoever. Heaven's Burning doesn't really go anywhere and ends abruptly out of nowhere, so it's story is rather pointless and not even Craig Lahiff's role as director is enough to truly tie it up.

Russell Crowe is the best reason to see Heaven's Burning. Although the material is rather directionless, Russell Crowe's lead performance capitalises on his ability to deliver lines with natural charisma and a rough edge at the same time without fault. Russell Crowe works with the material in Heaven's Burning easily and delivers his lines with a compelling appeal which makes him an ideal lead, and his skill for easily creating a strong chemistry with the many surrounding actors of the story ensures that he is strong leading material. Russell Crowe's leading effort in Heaven's Burning is terrific and it proves early on in his career precisely what his talents are all about as an actor.

But despite Russell Crowe's performance and the presence of some nice scenery, it's hard to walk away from Heaven's Burning without asking questions about it and merely drawing blanks.