Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Realistic, violent drama. Beautiful filming; subdued impact, 29 Mar 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
Out Of The Blue is one of those puzzling films which fulfils just about every aspect of its brief, but leaves the viewer thinking 'yes? and?' at the end of it.
The acting performances are superb and the direction is deft and clever. The naturalistic soundtrack enhances the stripped-down realism of the ghastly events. The location is stunningly beautiful and is filmed sympathetically, to make the tranquility and normality of the surroundings contrast all the more violently with the killer's rampage. The characters are developed over the first half hour to become credible representations of the actual people who endured (or died) in a small seaside town in New Zealand, back in 1990. The film is packed with neat touches which turn the characters into real people: the bickering about turning down a stereo (and turning it up instead); the senior policeman lumbering his junior with all the report writing; the couple who want to start living together but don't quite know how to tell their children... it all adds up to perfectly normal village life -- which is ripped apart when a man loses control, grabs his guns and starts shooting.
The killing and stalking scenes which follow are utterly unlike any thriller / horror / action movie. The killer is not viewed in a sympathetic light, but he's not made into a monster either. Nor are his actions explained. We see some of the incidents which may have pushed him over the edge, but the film itself offers little in the way of resolution or explanation.
The 'heroes' of Out of The Blue are the people who have to deal with sudden and deathly violence in their midst, from someone they all knew was a bit weird but had tolerated for his whole life. Maybe that's why the local police officers, at the crucial moment, find themselves unable to pull the trigger?
Scattered throughout the film are small acts of personal bravery -- neighbours who bring a cover to a man who has been shot (and without it he'd have died of exposure). A little old lady with a broken hip who crawls to phone for help. An officer who puts himself at risk to comfort and protect a child. And so on.
Some of the dialogue can be very hard to hear at time -- in the circumstances the actors are whispering, or out of breath, and their accents are hard to decipher at low volumes. But overall this is a polished and carefully considered film. It aims to relate what happened in a fatal group shooting, and makes very few judgements.
Maybe that's why, in the end, I came away feeling somewhat disatisfied. I generally enjoy being left to think things out for myself, but in this instance I could've done with a conclusion or some interpretation. The director and producers deliberately tried not to colour this film with overt opinions -- and perhaps they made it too tightly-laced as a result.
7/10
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Harrowing Recreation of the Aramoana Massacre, 14 April 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
On the 13th November 1990, David Gray, a resident of the small New Zealand town of Aramoana, went on the rampage with an assault rifle and murdered 13 people. It is the worst such atrocity in the history of the country, and Out of the Blue is the cinematic take on events.
This is a very well made film, spending the first half showing town life and the various people involved. You see the daily routines of these people and a good effort is made to give them some backstory. Throughout, there is an impending sense of dread.
David Gray himself is a loner and a man who appears to generally keep to himself. The movie does not attempt to explain his actions, it merely presents the events and leaves the viewer to come to their own conclusions, although the excellent special features (actual news reports, interviews, making of, etc.) fill in some gaps.
Eventually, something inside him snaps over the tiniest little incident and he shoots dead his next door neighbour and then sets fire to his house. From that point on, Gray kills without remorse in a matter-of-fact, practical manner a million miles from the deranged psycho of the typical Hollywood murder thriller. Gray is never outright demonised, he just does what he does due to some built-in rage that makes events all the more chilling.
For the next few hours the local police struggle heroically to bring the situation under control until armed response units can reach the scene. These men, as well as some of the townsfolk, are portrayed as incredibly brave as they deal with such an unexpected situation. The killings are random as Gray moves through the town: men, women, children all fall in his path. It is harrowing and at times hard to watch. But then there are acts of heroism, particularly on the part of some of the police and one old lady pensioner, that are astonishing in their own right.
Out of the Blue is beautifully shot and the performances are generally excellent. It is a (very) slow moving film and almost overplays the obvious dread leading up to the massacre as it is stretched very taut, but gets away with it. My one criticism of the film would be the volume of dialogue, mumbling is often the order of the day and it's a bit of a strain. Although in fairness, probably realistic.
The film is at once a tragic but also deeply moving recreation of actual events which whilst causing discomfort at the brutality of it all also shows the strength of human sprit. It doesn't try to answer the many questions it poses, and is all the better for it. A remarkable achievement.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Moving, 16 Oct 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Programme (What's this?)
This is not a pleasant film to watch due to the nature of the content. However, it is a very good one. I felt that the pace is a bit slow in the beginning and wasn't able to follow it. It does try to recapture the essence of the event and they did it very well.
The acting is well played and certainly you felt the emotion that is going through both victim, the police and the community. It does make you think what the actual event, the folks that went through it must have felt.
Overall a good film. Albeit may make you felt slighly subdued afters!
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