Two teenagers, Mark (Sebastien Gregory) and James (Joshua Payne) were abused as children by the infamous Gary Parker (Michael Dorman). After serving his time in jail, Parker is released and the boys, joined by their friend/James' girlfriend Chasely (Hanna Manghan Lawrence), are afraid of him. After Mark accidentaly discovers local family man Ian Wright (Joel Edgerton) burying a body in the forest they track him down and blackmail him to kill Parker. So as the plot broadly shows, Acolytes is not your typical "teenagers in peril" kind of movie (such as Prom Night, I Know What You Did Last Summer) and John Hewitt, the director, has for the most part crafted an intense film and painted a disturbing image of some of the dark undertones that people carrywith them. Eg.Wrights dabbling in murder, James and Marks traumatizing past.
What makes the story seem so real is the fact that these teenagers in the film are played by real teenagers, and these actors showcase true talent and very strong performances, performances that most hollywood actors strive to achieve. The three teens, Sebastien Gregory, Joshua Payne and Hanna Manghan Lawrence really seem to fit incredibally well into Hewitts well designedcharacters. Mark is a rational student who is infatuated with Chasely, James is an uncaring self centered high school jerk, and Chasely is an older-then-her-yearstalented artist who is drawn to James' rough exterior and damaged interior. Michael Dorman gives a great performance as the menacing and seemingly insane Parker, while Joel Edgerton excells as the family man who indulges in killing, and his talent towards the role is slightly unsettling.
John Hewitt has done a great job as the director - for the most part (but ill get to that). The casting is truly terrific and is probably the main highlight of the movie, and clearly Hewitt was a great inspiration to the actors on set. Also the locations are fantastic and the Brisbane/Adelaide settingis great. The way that Hewitt moves swiftly from Bushland to Suburban area's is a great achievment, and Hewitt has proved that he really knows how to place a camera, which is also shown off with the HD Camera Work. Although, my main problem with the camera work is the constant flashes from the normal scene (eg. A Conversation between the teens) and then a quick flash of something random (Eg. A girl running away, screaming in the woods) then back again. This may sound minor, but its incredibally annoying.
Acolytes starts out with a strong and engaging first third and is followed up by an intense second third. However, the last third is where the film loses its original appeal and what made it so great to begin with. Essentially, when I was finished watching the movie, I was left with a sense of WTF-ness? I'll elaborate, Hewitt decides to add a twist into the mix of the film. This may seem normal, but the twist is not only unnecessary but incredibally annoying and pretty damn confusing. It actually took me about 2 hours of thinking about it to understand what happened, and im still not entirely sure. Although im pretty sure this is probably because of quite a few loose ends that needed to be tied up. I would like to shrug this off as a minor hiccup in a some-what great film, but honestly this is a large movie breaker and probably the only reason the film has a 5.7/10 average on IMDB. Quite frankly, I am sick of Directors constantly deciding to put a "Mind Boggling" twist in the mix of a great movie, it just ruins it.
There is definately talent in Acolytes, but the ending and other flaws make it seem slightly wasted. But I am willing to cut Hewitt some slack as this is his first job directing, and some of the scenes are truly incredibal, as well as the acting.
Plot: 7/10. Definately a nice spin on the "Teenagers in Peril" genre of movies, although the ending ruins it.
Performances: 9/10. The acting is fantastic, top notch Australian talent.
Directing: 7/10. Camera Work and settings are great, however constant jumps that derive away from each scene ruin it.
Other: Horror:7/10 This isnt really a horror movie as such, but it is thrilling and intense. Although Hewitt tries to scare by using quick flashes of scary images (like The Strangers was reduces to).
Overall: Acolytes sports great talent, an interesting plot and solid Directing, however the few flaws that the movie does contain are to marring to call it a great film or a must watch.
7/10. (not an average of previous summaries).