Review of The Water Diviner (2014) by Gale C — 23 Apr 2015

Being directed from acclaimed filmmakers ranging from Ridley Scott to Peter Weir to Ron Howard (and many more) throughout his career, Russell Crowe has worked with some of the very best in Tinseltown. But for 2015s (the film was released in 2014 in Australia) The Water Diviner, the Oscar winning actor takes his first step in a new role-director-to middling results.

Although the source material is evidently dear to Crowe (every line delivered seems prophetic), the at-times absent and inarticulate plot and stilted directing hurt any divinity the film may have had.

This can be blamed on Crowe's inexperience to pacing a feature length film (which is partially the problem) but the main sins that The Water Diviner achieves is down to Andrew Night and Andrew Anastasios' self-indulgent and slothful script.

Many of the actions that occur in the 111-minute film are either down to convenience, padding or bad exposition-marking many traits for an unfinished (or not thought-out) screenplay. Things happen, characters seemingly disappear after certain plot points and everyone speaks in formulaic necessity that when paired with novice directing (i.

E., people sitting and talking) create a bore of a viewing experience. Crowe does manage to keep his head above the drowning point during some of the journey (with some great cinematography and a rousing score) but The Water Diviner highlights the divide between the acclaimed directors he has worked with and the one he can potentially become.