Director: John Hillcoat, 18, 2005

Stars: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson

Out to buy on DVD

The proposition for Pearce, an Irish outlaw in the 1880s Australian Outback, is to hunt down his psychopathic older brother (Danny Huston) and save his younger brother from the noose.

Baked in searing heat and layered in flies, this bloody western, scripted and scored by Nick Cave, mixes a little Kelly Gang with police brutality and Aboriginal subjugation to raise questions about loyalty, the need for revenge and what constitutes civilised behaviour.

Cave and the director’s commentary, and a sluggish documentary that repeats material from a making-of featurette, testify to the heat, but offer nothing as illuminating as the film’s burning sun. Interviews with Pearce and Huston are brief soundbite assemblages.

To buy this DVD for £15.99 call 0845 602 6328 or click here

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