Best movie of this year hands down!

one of my absolute favorites!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The straights catches the mood of fnq beautifully and captures the frontier mood. Worth a look

This is a poorly conceived copy of the gangster family genre like "The Sopranos", "Mafiosa",etc. It's about the dysfunctional family dynamics of an Australian crime family syndicate with a reach from the Queensland area, all the way north to Papua New Guinea. The acting is pretty bad, and the attempts at slapstick type humor just fall flat (maybe not in Australia.) The last couple of episodes seemed to be very rushed, as if the writers and cast knew the show would not be extended. I don't usually include spoilers in my reviews but in one of the last episodes they show one of the lead actors escaping from a prison van by cutting his way out, using an old fashioned can opener. Really? Escaping from a van is similar to cutting open a can? That, for me, was the rock-bottom moment of the series! In essence, this is not a high-quality production of the genre but it does highlight the beautiful natural beauty of Australia's tropical areas.

I am generally a fan of Australian productions. I also get Australia's deep historical roots in working-class crime. I even liked the American version of this genre, The Sopranos. That was then; this is now. There is a difference in this series. The Montebello clan have no redeeming characteristics at all. They are all selfish and ruthless. There is no innocent among them with the possible exception of Coco the dog. They all lack charm in their corrupted misery.I am surprised by Brian Cox in this series. He usually plays evil with panache. His character in this show is lack-luster at best. Rena Owen plays Kitty with similar restraint. Her usually fiery persona seems to smolder throughout the show with little expression. This gives her the air of a suburban housewife-gone-native in reverse, rather than an authentic power broker of her tribe. Emma Lung as Lola provides some intrigue in a generally boiler-plate plot line.The production values are decent. Tropical vistas. Interesting views of a glossy Queensland existence. Cramer Cain as Eddie is a bright spot with his goofy shtick. However, I cannot say I would recommend this to anyone.

Kitty (Rena Owen) and Harry (Brian Cox) couldn't have children so they adopted Marou (Jimi Bani), Noel (Aaron Fa'aoso) and Sissi (Suzannah Bayes-Morton) from her extended family and Gary (Firass Dirani) from Harry's family. Instead of making the eldest -Noel- in charge of the family which is Kitty's cultural way, Harry decides to put each of his sons pitted against each other to see who is worthy of taking over Harry's role when he retires of the business which is running their family legal business the croc farm and their gravel business. Also there's the shady illegal business which includes smuggling guns and wildlife out and drugs into Australia. There is similarities to Shakespeare's Macbeth with second adopted son Marou and his social climbing ambitious wife Lola (Emma Lung) who advices him that he is worthy of taking over Harry's role.