Problem is, Smurf lives with her three grown sons, and all are career criminals: bank robbers, drug dealers, and killers. They are 'Pope' (Ben Mendelsohn), Craig (Sullivan Stapleton), and Darren (Luke Ford). Craig is volatile, Pope is dislikable, and the youngest, Darren, is as somnolent as Joshua.
Pope's hardened crime partner is 'Baz' (Joel Edgerton). Joshua has a girlfriend, Nicky (Laura Wheelright), as much of a sleepwalker as he is. Baz and Craig are killed by the police, which angers Pope. Pope and Darren ambush and murder two policemen. They are promptly suspected. Joshua is interrogated by persistent police officer Nathan (Guy Pearce). Pope suspects Joshua will talk, and attempts to kill him. Pope murders Nicky to prevent her testimony.
Because it is a movie, Joshua survives all the conspiracies against him, and is never even charged with a crime. He also gets his revenge against creepy Uncle Pope.
How others will see it. Animal Kingdom was a flop in the theaters, but its video release must have been much better, given its 54K user votes at imdb.com. The movie conquered the Australian Film Institute awards, where it had a remarkable 19 wins or nominations. Jacki Weaver's strangely malevolent performance picked up Best Supporting Actress nominations at the Oscars and Golden Globes, a great achievement for an Aussie film that hardly played in American theaters.
At imdb.com, the user ratings are a respectable 7.3 out of 10, and consistent across all demographics. The user reviews praise the movie, especially its story. There are those who don't like it, perhaps because there is a lot of dialogue for its genre, and the innocent beautiful girlfriend is killed.
How I felt about it. Another version of Crime Does Not Pay. All the bad guys snuff it. Smurf loses three of her four children, though she still can enjoy her grandson and favorite son.
It's clearly a good movie. There's a reason why this box office stiff nonetheless drew a slew of prestigious festival awards. Since David Mich“d is the director and sole writer, there's no one else to credit. Animal Kingdom was his first feature, aside from a documentary about kayak adventurer Andrew McAuley.
The casting was also important. One can argue why the lead role was played by someone who looks like a handsome void, but the remaining actors seem ideal for their characters. Though Jacki Weaver got the coveted Oscar nod, Ben Mendelsohn makes the most of his truly despicable character, and Sullivan Stapleton is gripping as the edgy Craig.
The casting, acting, directing, and script are all solid, but it's the story that holds the film together. The biggest problem is that Pope can't possibly believe he will get away with murdering two cops and a high school beauty. The other story hole is Smurf's persistence in attempting to have Joshua killed. It seems a great long shot that she will accomplish this and get Darren released from jail, without her getting imprisoned. And, it is difficult to believe that the police would shoot Baz dead without provocation, in broad daylight in a shopping center parking lot.