Alicia I love this movie so much

ThiefHott Too much of everything

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

dbborroughs A young Australian man of Lebanese descent is released from prison. Looking to start his life over and get back on track he takes a job in a gym and tries to make something happen with a nice young girl he rescues from some street toughs. But complications arise as his high school aged brother begins to drift down the same path that he once was one. Will his younger brother ruin not only his life but the lives of everyone around him? Very good look at family, crime, being an outsider and dealing with the lines that other people draw (much of the film deals with how Australians view minorities). Its a well acted well made movie that speaks volumes about how any minority group must fight to be respected and not be reduced to the stereotypes that society at large creates for it. I like that this is story for everywhere not just Australia . I like that there is a great deal going on, that its not just one thing (say the crime story). The cast is great. I really liked this. Its worth seeing.

swAppp I wanted to watch something boring. I chose to watch The Combination. The beginning didn't promise me much, I even had to check if this was an Australian film, and actually it was! I am neither Australian nor Lebanese, but I have met both cultures for at least a brief moment in my lifetime. So the question when watching a story of Lebanese in Australia was: are the facts just? Is this real? It is. Although people are depicted differently from those I have seen in the real world, parts of them that are true and up to a point are also shown.Is the material educative? Yes. You can remember your history lessons, fighting skills, and how to be romantic.Will you be bored? I was not.

dba9000 This is a horrible film made to glorify Lebanese gangsters as hero's. Not to mention the acting is just stupid most of the time. Most of this film contains young Lebanese men purporting that their way of life is somehow more meaningful then those who obey laws and regulation of a country.Before a film showing Lebanese youth as hardcore gangsters, I think the creator should consider perhaps making a film based on a Australian-Lebanese people in a love story, its a better start to a Australian film industry in the eyes of the rest of the world.My advice is to rent a Bollywood musical instead, you'll feel better about life at the end of it.

Mozjoukine THE COMBINATION is the first Australian film to be shown in it's country of origin this year and it's already become a news story - not for it's quality but because there have been incidents between what we are told are Lebanese gang members and theatre staff.It would be nice if the film were to prove something substantial. What it is however is a passable gang warfare subject, made without undue sensationalism (it is particularly timid with sex) and preaching anti violence. The inclusion of recent race riot TV actuality tells us they want to be taken seriously.The film takes a predictable multicultural line with old Australia dismissed as football, beer and meat pies, as against the leather lounges and sumptuous Arab meals with music to which hard man writer-star Basha introduces so blonde object of his affections Bowen, who comes from a family where scotch on the rocks seems to be the main food item. The Lebanese gang has one Asian kid, though he does back off when it's time to face off with the so mean (white) drug pushers. Basha gets a job in a gym run by stand up aborigines. The white kids spit and mug solitary members of the other gang.The dynamic of school yard gangs is better, though we can't but wonder when the kids get to do any study, even though younger brother Dirani does once make it as far as the library.One note performances are strong and the Western Sydney setting is effective and still unfamiliar. Particularly choice are the pusher's neighbors urging Basha to blow the low life away in the film's most inventive scene.It would be nice to say this independently financed item was a break away from the blandness of funded filming here. However it is formula and lacks the dynamism of US films that covered this area - the work of Phil Karlson or young Scorsese and particularly American HISTORY X which appears to have inspired plot elements.Those involved attack with a determination that it would be nice to see rewarded with worthwhile careers but they have the dis-spiriting history of Astralian production against them.