Tracker

1/4

Starring: Ray Winstone, Temuera Morrison, Gareth Reeves, Mark Mitchinson

Rated R for Some Violence

After watching “Tracker,” I have every right to be pissed off.  After all, it stars two brilliant actors, so one might assume that it can’t be that bad (even though it didn’t receive a theatrical distribution).  Wrong!  I assure you, it is indeed that bad.  Stupid, pretentious and utterly worthless, “Tracker” is not only a waste of time, but of the talents of two great actors.

After the Second Boer War that ravaged South Africa, a man named van Diemen (Winstone) has come to New Zealand to make a new life for himself.  His reputation as both a ruthless guerilla fighter and an excellent tracker has preceded him, however, as he finds out when he is promptly arrested when he arrives on shore.  Shortly thereafter, a local Maori man named Kereama (Morrison) is romancing a beautiful woman, when he is interrupted by a trio of drunken, racist soldiers.  They scuffle, and one of them (Mitchinson) accidentally kills his comrade.  The killer, a man named Saunders, lies through his teeth and claims it was Kereama who did the deed.  Now, the local major (Reeves) offers van Diemen a handsome reward to bring the “murderer” back alive.  Although when van Diemen finds the man, he begins to rethink the righteousness of his task.

This is a formulaic story that never ventures out from its set plot trajectory, and on top of that, it does the job in a spectacularly bad fashion.  The relationships are poorly defined, characterization is non-existent, and the dialogue is repetitive and often times laughably bad.  If it weren’t so serious, it would be unintentionally funny.

It’s hard to fault the two leads for their lackluster performances.  They’re given nothing to work with, making Winstone’s participation a big fat question mark.  Winstone is known to be a character actor of limitless talents (playing “Dad” in the controversial “The War Zone” and Gal in “Sexy Beast” for starters).  Winstone appears to be in the “take the money and run” mode, which is odd for a film with a meager $6.5 million budget.

Sadly, Temuera Morrison’s participation is a little easier to understand.  Morrison, whose jaw-dropping performance in “Once Were Warriors” is the stuff of legends, does not have much of a career.  After his uncompromising work (for which he was unjustly denied any award consideration), he has been forced to survive playing bit parts.  The thought of playing a lead role in a movie that might achieve distribution was probably too good to pass up.  Sadly, the film is a major bust.

The reason is simple.  The script, by Nicolas van Pallandt, is unbelievably bad.  It takes a potentially interesting setting and does nothing with it, and it tells a tired story with shockingly bad dialogue.  There are a few scenes where the leads try and convince each other that they can’t kill the other, which are reminiscent of the classic “Who’s on Second” routine.  There’s no character development, or plot, for that matter.  And it’s all the more irritating because it is somehow convinced that it its new and revolutionary.

I’ll admit that the film does one thing right.  The cinematography, by Harvey Harrison, is breathtaking.  But for those who think that this might be a good way to get some pretty views of New Zealand, save your time and money.  Watch “Lord of the Rings” instead.