Our review for High Ground, the newest film starring Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Simon Baker.
After the hit series The Mentalist ended in 2015, Simon Baker has only starred in two films since then. Now he is back as the co-lead of High Ground, a revenge thriller set in the early 20th century Australian outback.
The most outstanding part is the gorgeously shot nature and the immaculate soundscape of Australia. Cinematographer Andrew Commins did a good job at filming open wide establishing shots, However, when we follow the characters, the camera follows them closely, putting the audience right into the action.
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Some scenes look and feel like a Terrence Malick film, which definitely fits. While the screenplay only follows a relatively simple structured story around a few characters, the film shows audiences beautiful locations in the Australian outback, as well as a good shots of native animals here and there.
High Ground Official Trailer
High Ground introduces a lot of first time actors, one of them is Jacob Junior Nayinggul, who plays the lead character Gutjuk. While his performance didn’t blow me away, he was solid, especially since it’s his acting debut. Simon Baker also delivers a solid performance, but the focus of the film always lays on Nayinggul.
While High Ground has plenty of action scenes, they do suffer a bit from obvious fake blood and some stunts that weren’t staged well. I got used to the fake looking blood after the first fight scene, but initially it caught me a bit off-guard and took me out of the movie, even though it’s a really brutal and horrifying scene.
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Another missed opportunity is that the film only scratched the surface of exploring the culture of the Australian Aborigines. While a revenge thriller definitely isn’t the perfect genre for that, there definitely were scenes in which this could have been more explored more fully.
While High Ground isn’t the most well written nor acted film, it’s a solid, riveting, and gorgeously shot revenge thriller, that will keep audiences hooked until the end.
3/5
High Ground Official Synopsis
Gutjuk teams up with ex-sniper Travis to track down the most dangerous warrior in the Territory, who is also his uncle. As Travis and Gutjuk journey through the outback they begin to earn each other’s trust, but when the truths of Travis’ past actions are suddenly revealed, it is he who becomes the hunted. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
High Ground hits VOD May 14, 2021. It’s written by Chris Anastassiades and directed by Stephen Maxwell Johnson. The cast includes Simon Baker, Jacob Junior Nayinggul, Jack Thompson, Caren Pistorius and Callan Mulvey. What do you guys think? Are you planning to watch High Ground? Have you seen it already, if so how did you like it? Let’s discuss everything in the comments down below and on our Twitter.
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