Geoffrey Wright gets forceful performances from actors playing violent, alienated people. Our reservation is about what follows: Romper Stomper makes its gang frightening, then spends too much time on their fighting and too little on their choices.
Fi1m perspective
Russell Crowe does not need a fight to make Hando frightening in Romper Stomper (1992). His stare is enough, and Geoffrey Wright lets the actor make this neo-Nazi gang leader deeply unpleasant without seeking our approval. We were unnerved by the hatred Crowe conveys before the action takes over. Wright's difficulty is knowing what to do beyond making these men dangerous. His screenplay gives their fighting more attention than the choices that brought them to racist cruelty.
That film established Wright's reputation, and the suburban thriller Metal Skin (1994), starring Ben Mendelsohn, continued his interest in alienated people. Cherry Falls (2000) took him into American teen horror. With Macbeth (2006), he brought Shakespeare's play into Melbourne's criminal underworld, changing his source material while keeping violence close to home. The move through horror and Shakespeare did not prevent a return: in 2018, he directed episodes of the Romper Stomper television series.
In the original Romper Stomper, production designer Steven Jones-Evans and costume designer Anna Borghesi give the skinheads credible surroundings and clothes. That matters: the actors have a convincing place to inhabit, and Crowe's aggression belongs there. Composer John Clifford White adds pressure rather than relief, which suits Wright's approach but also contributes to its exhaustion. Their work makes it harder to dismiss the gang as a collection of stock villains, which is why the script's shortcomings matter.
Wright is less persuasive when he asks us to see the gang as lonely, dispossessed young men. Loneliness may help explain their situation, but his writing too readily treats it as an explanation for their behaviour. The familiar invitation to pity them short-changes the actors, whose performances suggest people worth examining more closely. We do not need a director to interrupt every ugly act with a lesson; we do need him to examine how these men came to embrace racist cruelty. Crowe is worth attending to in Romper Stomper; expect to tire of the fighting well before Wright does.
Biography
Geoffrey Wright is an Australian film director and screenwriter. Born in 1959 in Melbourne, he graduated from Swinburne Film and Television School and worked as a film critic before making his debut with the short film Lover Boy (1989).
Wright gained attention with his first feature, Romper Stomper (1992), which he wrote and directed. Subsequent films include Metal Skin (1994), the American horror film Cherry Falls (2000) and a contemporary adaptation of Macbeth (2006). He has also directed television, including episodes of the 2018 Romper Stomper series.
