Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

dworldeater Romper Stomper is an early film starring (now international) star Russell Crowe. This indie Austrailian flick is a brash and gritty tale of neo nazi skinheads that terrorize the Asian immigrants in Melbourne. I have heard Romper Stomper described as A Clockwork Orange with skinheads. That description is pretty accurate. The film is much like the subculture that this is about. It is very chaotic, violent, gritty and nihilistic. Crowe gives one of his best performances as the leader of the skinhead gang Hondo. He is hard as nails and is very brooding, intense and intimidating. Russell Crowe brings it big time in this very intense, rough and tumble film. The portrayal of these youths does not glorify their actions,nor does it condemn them outright. Although it does show the consequences for their hateful and violent actions. Romper Stomper is much more authentic than and I prefer this to American History X(which also is a good film, but way different). It is no surprise that Romper Stomper has become a cult classic, it is a very good film and has aged well.

dcmMovielover In the decaying urban squalor of Melbourne's back streets a gang of racist Skinheads live out a crude existence of nazi-rock parties, heavy drinking, and brutal assaults on immigrant youth. Led by psychotic neo-nazi Hando, the gang comprises Davey (his best mate), Bubbs (the underage mascot), Sonny, Cackles, Brett, Champ and Luke, along with their female 'camp-followers' of two dubious Goths and some tough-talking Skin-Girls. Several scenes (one presumes intentionally) eerily remind of "A Clockwork Orange" which adds marvellously if not chillingly to its overall tone, although the film is otherwise a piece of no holds barred realist cinema.When Gabe, a lost soul and deeply troubled young woman, strays into a back-street pub claimed by the gang as their hangout, the subtle cracks in the dynamics between Hando and Davey gradually unfold. As no-less a violent and unrelenting racist as Davey is, he is evidently a gentler more mild personality than Hando, and is to a large extent in Hando's shadow. As Gabe gets it on with Hando becoming the gang's latest auxiliary, Davey is smitten and his interest is not lost on Gabe, who for her part at least encourages his attention…if not craves it.Then a vicious attack on two immigrant men, which starts as an impulsive act of 'political activism', becomes the beginning of the end for the Skinhead gang and for the relationships between Hando, Davey and Gabe. After a terrifying mass fight against an overwhelming mob of Vietnamese men, which towers leagues above anything I've seen in any other 'gang film' and which arcs the entire middle of the movie, the Skinheads end up well and truly on the run. Resorting to basic human instincts and no longer able to conceal their worst personal defects (or in Davey's case, his affections for Gabe), the remnants of Hando's gang try to survive the dire circumstances their actions have brought upon them, and as they continue a catalogue of lawless deeds against those perceived as their enemies, the proverbial time-bomb continues to tick. One by one they fall, as Hando's once iron grip slips to sub-gutter (quite literally in one scene) leadership, forcing Davey to abandon his 'idol' and attempt to go it alone. With a tragically magnificent finale, this is a timeless story which delves into the raw and ugly of our times.

SnoopyStyle In Melbourne, neo-nazi skinheads led by Hando (Russell Crowe) and Davey (Daniel Pollock) attack the local Vietnamese population. Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie) was sexually abused by her father Martin (Alex Scott). She catches the attention of Hando. When they find their local bar being bought out by Vietnamese, they beat them up drawing in a Vietnamese mob. The skinheads are sent running after a bloody battle. Gabrielle has an epileptic fit. Hando wants guns to take revenge. Gabrielle suggests robbing her father's place.There is a sloppiness in Geoffrey Wright's direction but the story's edginess and violence make it a compelling watch. It's a star creating performance from Russell Crowe. He has terrific on screen charisma. McKenzie has a damaged beauty. The violence is the biggest star of this movie. The story does meander but it never loses the tension or interest. There is also a real life tragedy of Pollock's suicide after the filming.

PeterMitchell-506-564364 A truly original and inventive film, rated R for it's heavy use of violence that looks very real for a change. Incredibly on this video cover, the violence reference is not mentioned. Crowe's performance here was the one that catapulted him to stardom, where as far as I'm concerned, this is still his best performance here. It's a pity they don't have Oscar awards in Oz, cause he'd win it hands down, as Hando, the unrelenting leader of a pack of skinheads, their hate for asians, reaching beyond what anyone could fathom. We don't learn much about their reasons for disliking the Vietnamese, and that's a good thing, cause if more was said as to why, the film would lose it's substance and ferocity. Every performance in this movie is excellent. Daniel Pollock, John Brumpton, and Jacqueline Mckenzie, a desperate junkie and a victim of incest, (pity that bloody Deep Blue Sea, put a stale period on her career) are all flawless. More here so, is Mckenzie, so believable when having a seizure, even I got concerned, even though I knew it was just acting. From the word get go, this movie takes on a no holds barred ride into a nightmare territory of boundless hate. The skinheads, even question the barman, at their favorite watering hole as to why he lets gooks in there. Later on at the same bar, the barman goes off with an Asian guy, who's gonna take over the business, leaving his two sons to mind the place. How could this barman be so reckless. When learning of this, the skins can't get away fast enough and the two races go war to war. The skins, totally outnumbered, realizing they've overstepped their mark, flee, and take refuge in a warehouse, occupied by one of the skin's girl's ex's. The dialogue that transpires, between the girl conning her way back into this building, is actually a humorous relief, in the wake of the intense ten minute battle between the two races, that passed where some real nasty blood was shed, some of the most realistic use of blood, I've seen. I liked the direction this movie took from here. It almost made me take up using Campbell's sauce again. The sex scene with Crowe doing Mckenzie behind, both naked, was titilating too, almost necessary, putting a light, though not romantic moment to this film. Some of the potent dialogue, here too, is interesting. So is Crowe's extensive tattooed work on his back. I'm almost prepared to believe Crowe won't be able to surpass himself here with a better performance, than in this bold and confrontational film, that I can't believe I first saw over twenty years ago. The way the cops interacted with the skins, granting no mercy, when capturing them, sounded all so true, almost a replica of that exact same scene happening for real. The movie does lose a little of it's fizz near the end, when it comes down to our three players, one skin who doesn't walk away, the other hopefully walking away from all of this futile hate bulls..t for good.