Boar, 2018
Directed by Chris Sun.
Starring Chris Haywood, Bill Moseley, Steve Bisley, John Jarratt, and Simone Buchanan.
SYNOPSIS:
In the harsh, yet beautiful Australian outback lives a beast, an animal of staggering size, with a ruthless, driving need for blood and destruction. It cares for none, defends its territory with brutal force, and kills with a raw, animalistic savagery unlike any have seen before.
Going into the cinema, there was a lot of buzz around Boar. It looked like a good bit of fun, perhaps akin to certain other Australasian black comedy called Black Sheep. Unfortunately, within only a few it became clear that the audience was not going to get what it wanted.
After a quick opening scene which sees a couple getting killed by a mysterious creature (God, I wonder what it could be) the audience is introduced to two groups of characters. The first, a family of five. The second, an Aussie redneck called Ken, played by John Jarratt, and his family and friends. Right away we have a problem. There are at least nine characters here that the audience is supposed to care about, and only 90 minutes of film to play with. Adding in the fact that the film is supposed to be about a giant boar that kills people, and you can imagine how much the filmmakers try and cram in to a very short space of time. And boy do they cram.
After the introductions are over, the story follows Ken for a good long while, not once returning to the family. There are occasional scenes dedicated to the boar as it tears its way through unnamed characters, but nothing relating to the main characters. When we finally do get to see them, there’s only half of the film left, and all their development takes place over sequential, soap-opera-like, mind-numbingly boring scenes.
Though there’s the occasional funny line, most of Boar’s dialogue falls totally flat. The majority of the humour stems from playground-style banter, and most conversations do little to advance plot or develop character. Everyone is a sarcastic Australian, near enough, and characters are only separated by their given positions in the family / friendship circle.
Even the scenes with the boar are lacklustre. None of the kills are particularly creative, and compared to other monster-movies, they’re not even that gory. I guess having a giant pig doing the killing is funny, but goddamn I’m setting the bar low there.
I knew that this film wasn’t going to be a great piece of art, but I expected some mindless entertainment. Instead, what I got was a poorly plotted, characterless mess. If you’re a super fan of creature features, you might find some enjoyment here, but most audiences are going to find Boar, well… a bore.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★
James Turner is a writer and musician based in Sheffield. You can follow him on Twitter @JTAuthor
