Wolf Creek 2

The Wolf Creek series hits the wall with this hopelessly ineffective and mostly tedious entry, with the familiar narrative once again following John Jarratt’s Mick Taylor as he terrorizes tourists in the Australian outback. Filmmaker Greg McLean, at least, delivers a blisteringly-paced opening stretch that seems to hold a lot of promise, with the movie’s engrossing pre-credits sequence, in which Mick brutally dispatches a pair of dirty cops, containing precisely the sort of over-the-top thrills one might’ve expected (and hoped for) from this would-be franchise. It does become clear, however, that the movie’s first act ultimately bears little in common with the otherwise lethargic and aggressively by-the-numbers narrative, as Wolf Creek 2 eventually (and perhaps inevitably) segues into a tedious cat-and-mouse midsection that feels more like a pointless rehash of the first film’s storyline than anything else – with the less-than-captivating vibe compounded by a protagonist (Ryan Corr’s Paul) that often behaves like a parody of a horror-movie victim. Scripters McLean and Aaron Sterns attempt to liven up the lifeless midsection by emphasizing episodic happenings (eg Paul takes respite at the home of a quirky Australian couple), and yet it becomes increasingly clear that the inclusion of such moments wreaks absolute havoc on the already-tenuous momentum. By the time the somewhat improved third act rolls around, in which Mick quizzes Paul on his country’s history, Wolf Creek 2 has confirmed its place as an almost painfully redundant followup with few positive attributes.

*1/2 out of ****