Review of Romper Stomper (1992) by Phil A — 01 Sep 2007

[i]Romper Stomper[/i] is unlike any film I've ever seen before. It grips you tightly, like a noose around your neck, and gives you a wobbly chair to stand on that you can just barely reach. The whole movie is so realistically intense, and it's almost exhausting to get through the whole thing. The characters are full of energy, the story is tense, and the way it's filmed is just right for the kind of movie it is. Also, Russell Crowe is quite possibly the most terrifying type of person on Earth, and he plays his part flawlessly.

The best way to describe how this movie plays is by pointing out how bipolar it is. In one moment, it will be calm and collected and the next minute the camera will be quaking with violence that leaves you frozen with amazement. One of the characters will be filmed close up, in a traditional cinematic sense, then violence will spring forward and the filming transforms into a beast of chaos and terror. The film wasn't shot on 35mm, so it has a distinct look and feel to the way it flows. The scenes of violence and action delve deep into a world of realism, which makes the movie seem that much more disturbing.

The characters in the film, mostly ones that the viewer cannot become sympathetic towards, have roles that require them to act intense and powerful and the actors play their parts beautifully. There was not one moment in this movie where I was sad to see the skinhead's fate take a turn for the worst because their characters were so despicable. And I respect them for that. And Russell Crowe played a brilliant antagonist and hardcore racist militant.

[b](possible spoilers ahead).

[/b]The scene at the end of the film where Russell Crowe is trying to attack and kill Jacqueline McKenzie was genuinely thrilling. After the movie had killed off 90% of the main characters, I really felt fear that she'd die because the film had such an abundance of disregard for the lives of its characters up to that point. It really kept me on the edge of my seat, and I love that about the film. And finally, when Daniel Pollock stabs Crowe in the neck with the knife that Crowe bought him (poetic justice by it being a nazi blade), Crowes reaction to being stabbed in the neck was, in my opinion, award winning. There were no words, only blood and the realization of betrayal by his "best man". Simply put, that scene was the perfect ending to such an intense and disturbing movie.

And as far as the film being "pro-racist", I do not see it that way at all. I see the skinheads, who are the main characters but also the antagonists, getting arrested and killed, and the protagonists, who would be Pollock and McKenzie, ending up alive by the end of the film and being able to keep living their lives. It shows that the nazi skinhead way of life lead to constant hardship and brutal death, whereas those that were redeemed were able to fight through the chaos and torture of their surroundings and make it in the end.

Overall, this is a controversial yet intelligent film with unsurpassed violence and intensity that I will never forget. Like I stated before, this movie changed the way I look at cinema simply because I felt like I had an experience rather than watching a movie.