Review of Romper Stomper (1992) by Jennifer A — 26 Jul 2009

Raw, disturbing and endlessly violent.

Romper Stomper (1992) - 4.5/10.

Director - Geoffrey Wright.

Starring - Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollack, Jacqueline McKenzie, Alex Scott, Leigh Russell.

Russell Crowe stars as Hando, the leader of an Australian Neo-Nazi skinhead gang. He is convinced Australia belongs to white Australians and that the influx of Asian immigrants must end. So Hando and his group of thugs try to "stomp" out the incoming Vietnamese before they take over the neighborhood. A subplot involves an outside girl named Gabe (Jacqueline McKenzie) who becomes involved with Hando and his second-in-command Davey (Daniel Pollack) and could potentially fracture the group.

This film has become something of a cult phenomenom partially due to it's subject matter and partially because of Russell Crowe. It's also endlessly compared to "American History X" which came out five years later. However unlike "American History X" the ultimate message isn't nearly as clear. Is racism bad? Are hate groups bad? Or are there some underlying circumstances that can somehow rationalize such hate? One can argue that this film doesn't do enough to condemn this hate. Another argument could be made that you don't have to because it's so blatantly obvious.

Overall I think the film did some things well but left a lot to be desired. The skinheads seemed scary real and I thought Crowe and Pollack were particularly effective. The set-up was fine and I thought the overall rawness of the film worked well. But director Wright eventually seemed to lose his grip on the film. The film was violent, and that was expected considering the subject matter, but when he lost direction he seemed to rely on a rather long and excessive fight between the Skins and the Asians. And ultimately it became as much of a three-way love triangle as a story of racial hatred. And I didn't care for the ending.

And lastly I go back to what really made me uncomfortable about this film. It wasn't the subject matter or the violence; it was how Wright handled it. He obviously didn't take the "American History X" approach where Edward Norton's character eventually sees how misguided his views were. While I'm okay with the neutral "let the viewer decide" approach, a few details in this film stood out suggesting it might have been a thinly veiled attempt to condone their actions. Regardless an interesting film that I didn't really like.