SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A lot of fun.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Once again, here an Australian film that is let down utterly by its mediocre screenplay. Why isn't there more funding pumped into developing screenplays in this country? Several more drafts and this script may have turned out okay. As it is, the characters are one-dimensional and under-developed, as is the plot.Unfortunately, I felt the casting was also pretty misguided in The Jammed. Accents were poor and, as a result, it was difficult to suspend disbelief enough to accept the actors as their characters. The actors did a fair job with the material they were given; it wasn't their fault that they were miscast.Really, responsibility all boils down to the writer-director-producer. (Yet again, writer-director -- when are we going to see specialist screenwriters supported in Australia?) Four stars for effort, but it's a pity that more time wasn't spent tightening up the story before production got underway.

I didn't have much desire to see this. An Aussie-made movie about a sleazy subject? It was sure to be as grubby, repulsive and amateurish as possible. But David Stratton's strong recommendation led me to give the DVD a spin.I'm glad I did. Dee McLachlan has produced a gripping film with commendable restraint. It's a low budget film but has a professional touch about it. The only qualm I had was why Emma Lung was nominated as lead actress. The main character seemed to me to be Ashley, played by Veronica Sywak. Sywak was also in Romulus My Father, apparently, although I don't remember her. Which is surprising, since in this film she's both startlingly attractive and startlingly good at capturing her character. Ashley has a lousy job, which appears to consist of finding reasons to turn down insurance claims. Not much room for compassion there. Yet when she's placed in circumstances in which she really doesn't want to get involved, it's conscience and compassion that drive her to do just one more thing to help, then another and another.I also liked Saskia Burmeister's Vanya, the feisty Russian who's secretly one step ahead of the game.The film has a bit to say about Australian immigration policies and its bureaucrats, and a lot to say about the state of Australian cities and the people who populate them. As one character says, "Melbourne is a dangerous city." These days, where isn't? The only false note, for me, occurred towards the end, during the rescue of Vanya. Ashley has been progressively becoming more daring and innovative but this seemed a step too far, out of reality and into the realms of movie fantasy. Still, one false note in a pretty good film can be forgiven.I thought "The Jammed" was an excellent achievement - 8/10

In this low budget picture, shot on HD, a 20 something Melbourne insurance worker becomes involved in the search for a victim of the sex slave racket. It's not really a thriller or a social document. Its dramatic focus is split between the prostitute/prisoners and the insurance worker, so the viewer tends to become attached and then detached. I think I was supposed to care about the insurance worker's personal life, which I was, a bit, but not that much. More importantly, I wanted to get to know the prostitute girls better as people, but there didn't seem to be time. Saskia Burmeister and Sun Park are excellent as two of the enslaved girls. Emma Lung is much less convincing. The music is dull, and includes that modern penchant for angelic choirs underscoring hideous physical abuse. Why? And what is this film actually about? The sex slaves? The insurance agent? The iniquity of the trafficking itself? Another couple of drafts of the script would maybe have sharpened up the focus. Nevertheless, it's not bad little picture.

Saw the film tonight ans honestly cannot see what all the hype is about. It is not badly made, although it is very cheaply made, but it was just trying too hard to be something it wasn't.I feel casting was what let this film down the most, the main character was utterly unconvincing as an immigrant with her forever changing accent. And the criminals in the film were such your typical stereotypes, no originality whatsoever.Also, the locations used were far too overused, it was plainly obvious that they were just driving around the streets of Richmond and St Kilda as the same landmarks kept popping up. This film is much better suited to network television as a miniseries.