Heaven's Burning

Just what movie audiences have been crying out for: yet another violent road picture about lovers on the run, committin' crimes and havin' fun. The ersatz Bonnie and Clyde this time around are an Australian getaway driver (Russell Crowe) and a Japanese honeymooner (Youki Kudoh), thrown together during a botched bank robbery attempt. Thus begins a predictably frantic narrative, which sets the woman's jilted husband, Russian gangsters and bumbling policemen on the trail of our mismatched protagonists as they blaze a trail across the Outback. Lots of people get shot (of course), Crowe and Kudoh fall in love (of course), and Kudoh's husband shaves his head and becomes a leather-clad, motorcycle-riding instrument of vengeance (of...well, dunno). Forget about genuine, complex characters with whom you can identify, this is the kind of film where all the drama comes from cars hitting dogs, motorcycles hitting kangaroos and hammers hitting nails through human hands. Looks like the American film industry has no monopoly on witless regurgitations of Tarantino-esque mayhem. Watch for former Men at Work lead singer Colin Hay in a cameo as a wheelchair-bound accordion player (don't ask). Not recommended. (S. Renshaw)