It is a performances centric movie

A lot of fun.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

It definitely worth watching! It is a film that reveals the evil side of the humanity, but because it is not an action film or a romantic film, so i give it 8/10. Also, the reflection on humanity disgusted me and which define the film as a thriller. It is a good opportunity to know the history by watching this film, and to think about what action we would take if we were in that position, deeply review ourselves.

Mmmm.... I recently purchased this movie from a Sunday markets stall and thought "well that looks interesting, it seems to have received all these awards and prices". Winner this... Winner that... Unfortunately the movie didn't do it for me, or for my partner. It's slow, extremely predictable, uses horrible music, shows subtitles that are so incredible small on the screen that they're impossible to read, but most of all this movie didn't learn anything from Tom Hanks' "Cast Away" movie. If people are without food for a prolonged time they actually loose weight, and the characters as portrayed in Van Diemen's Land, although made to look somewhat dirty, seemed as healthy as anyone can be! So no, the movie didn't feel realistic enough to me, the actors should have lost 20-40 kilos each to make it feel believable. The good part of this movie were the various panoramic shots taken, but even those could have been more dramatic. So, I recommend passing this movie unless you like watching people bashing in each other's brains for no particular reason whatsoever. No prices from me whatsoever, and I'm glad seeing the rating at a level where handing out prices seems based on knowing the right people (friends politics), rather than really understanding cinematographic art.

I really liked this movie. The story builds slowly with layer upon layer of dread, I really felt uncomfortable. The subject matter is such that you are never going scream this movies praises from the rooftops. It is a difficult and uncomfortable story to tell, but nonetheless a story well worth telling, and in my opinion, well told.I thought the actors we well chosen and played their characters descent into madness with frightening realism.The director was clever enough to shy away from gratuitous gore, but still managed to tell a very convincing horror story.I am 40 years old, and watched this with my wife and the in laws who are both in their sixties.My wife and I both liked the movie, but the in-laws disliked it. perhaps this had a bit to do with their generation.I watched this movie with an open mind and I was entertained from start to finish, and had plenty to talk about during the after movie coffee.

Although it felt like a rewarding experience, Van Diemen's Land is not what you would call an easy watch. The viewer is transported back a couple of centuries, and plunged into the harsh and untamed Tasmanian landscape, for a fairly straightforward tale of man v man v the environment.Despite its' simplicity, it's an affecting tale, helped by the sparse, evocative and apologetic "I'm a quiet man" voice-over that threads its way through the narrative, holding together the otherwise un-holdable. It's very much 'in-your-face' as there's little historical explanation, and only the vaguest sense of any future ahead, which compels you to focus on the here-and-now. The score is haunting, and the film is beautifully shot, with bleached-out greens emphasizing the unforgiving nature of their surroundings and predicament.The trailer gives a good indication of what to expect, including two of the more iconic sequences that stayed with me long afterwards – one scene where the group are running time-lapsed and ghost-like through the forest trying to escape their pursuers, the other the shockingly swift brutality with which the second inmate on the menu meets his maker. Elsewhere, we experience the messy and protracted depiction of how hard it is to kill a man, and as the numbers dwindle whilst the tension and paranoia mounts, individual camp fires become the order of the night, as the lengths men would go to survive become increasingly desperate.On the downside, I struggled to hear some of the heavily-accented dialogue (especially when the speaker was off screen), and it was hard to believe that there were no other nutritious animals in a rainforest, bar a solitary snake. Given their limited resources, quite how they would have caught them is another matter, but they'd have sure as hell tried, to save from eating each other.I came out feeling like I'd been badly mauled after 12 rounds in a ring with an enormous and unbeatable foe. It's a real powerhouse of a film that I would most certainly recommend, even though one viewing is quite sufficient for me in this lifetime. 7/10.