Tracker – All Action Adventure With a Twist That Lacks Punch
published:
Movie tough guys Ray Winstone and Temuera Morrison go head to head in this face-off between the former Boer with and attitude and feeling embittered and a Maori murder suspect… The film leaves you feeling well, very unsure whether or not its portrayal is a little to soft cocked and lacking energy, something our London escorts could resolve.
All that said, this all heritage cinema piece is throughout very comfortable, predictable and somewhat genteel. The plot incites the murder of a soldier as the driving force and incorporates a subtle hint of British War atrocities to cap it all off. It is a boys own style adventure inclusive of some very suspect accents and delivers a rather nice cup of Earl Grey rather than a robust and fortifying glug of galvanising Rum.
Set in New Zealand at the turn of the 20th century the Boer Guerrilla portrayed by Ray Winstone, is deployed to hunt down the somewhat educated Maori savage, Temuera Morrison, to answer the charges of murder laid down by his peers.
Beginning with a beech side scene, involving Winstone gazing at footprints in the sand, unbeknown to him his victim or classically his prey is masquerading about in the bush, watching and waiting. The film progresses and possibly too soon, Morrison has been caught. The culture-clash clichés begin with a passionate intensity caught by the director superbly.
The last third of the film shows great and immeasurable improvement. Both headliners, who are of course powerhouse performers, give it there all. Although Winstone struggles with his Africana accent, the parts portrayed leave you wanting to empathise with both of their plights.
Included in the plot some crusty hand to hand fighting and the increasingly prickly central impasse, the old nutshell of a second-class citizen ever achieving a fair trial? Tracker is not too far removed from becoming a heavyweight event these knuckle crunching hard hitters deserve.
In conclusion the movie is an old-fashioned adventure anecdote that lambasts its way most reassuringly through familiar territory. At least the location – not forgetting the casting – is more interesting than the voyage.
