Mick the unwashed Aussie pig hunter is back in Wolf Creek 2 (2014)
I loved the first film, so was eager to see if the sequel delivered. Wolf Creek (2005) made me swear never to travel too far into the Australian outback.
The first 5 minutes don’t disappoint, with mad Mick reigning gruesome supreme over 2 highway patrol officers who dared to give him a speeding ticket. I did think this was a little extreme, and would have thought Mick would be more discreet given the spree he has been on for the last 20 years.
We are shortly introduced to a cute German couple backpacking and hitching across Australia … in that creepy no mans land between Darwin and Perth…seriously who in their right mind hitches…there is nothing out there! Anyway, they reach Wolf Creek Crater which doesn’t feel as ominous as last time, it’s the middle of the day, and other tourists are catching the view. Unfortunately the tourists don’t like backpackers and the two are left stranded to camp overnight, waiting for a ride back into civilization. Please – foreign tourists should take note…do not assume someone will drive past, and if they do in the middle of the night…they are probably a psychopath, in this case the baddest outback predator there is…Mad Mick the Pig Hunter.
Mick doesn’t waste time tracking the two down, making short work of the boyfriend, this scene’s gore factor is 10/10. The girlfriend evades a similar fate, escaping into the outback and manages to find nice guy – No Name in a Jeep. Poor No Name’s night just went straight to hell…
Here the movie kinda loses me a little, taking on a Dune type scene, where Mick stalks No Name in a Semi Trailer..lots of innocent kangaroo’s get killed, and with Wimohweh tunes blaring, and Mick shouting…Welcome to Australia…its all a bit tacky and takes away from the original’s silent predator-like qualities of the mad, unwashed Mick.
No Name is forced on foot into the Outback and the real cat and mouse games begins…
I loved the cinematography, you really feel the isolation and rugged beauty of Australia’s outback, and the harsh reality of when things go wrong, they really go to shit out there. The gore factor was intense, more so than the original, not sure this adds anything. Mick wasn’t as terrifying, the screenplay allows much more dialogue for John Jarrett, and although there is still the same creepy, lurid chuckle, there were too many Australian quips and sing-songs to get too scared. I read in the first film that John Jarrett didn’t bathe for the duration of filming, and hardly spoke to anyone on
set…everyone was quite terrified of him…this doesn’t transfer into the sequel.
Still worth the watch at home on a lazy Sunday. Download and watch Wolf Creek 2 at iTunes.
Cool