Novice director and writer Mike Green makes his full length feature film debut with Outback, his resume having preceded only a handful of short films - of which this one probably should've been.
It's an 86 minute long slow paced true story about some relationship arguments and tons of walking - I mean tons, in the constantly same barren setting of the Australian Outback, adding a few critters here and there. The two leads didn't help much in elevating any of the films suspense - of what little there was. Taylor Wiese as Wade was pretty much bland and monotonic, and unconvincing when the dramatics began, and Lauren Lofberg as Lisa was annoying right from the start. Any chemistry between them seemed forced and fake. It's not like they're inexperienced actors, but it sure seemed like this was their first ever role. I'm sure it was mostly Green's inexperience on how to direct his cast.
The cinematography was decent, and I really enjoyed the soundtrack, and although the score was fitting for the most part, it was obnoxious when the dramatics began. This story was very repetitive and uninteresting to be a full length film, unless some Hollywood dramatics were added. I respect Green's decision to keep it accurate, but it should've been a short film, or at best a 1 hour long TV film - considering the lack of available substance that needed lots of filler to reach its runtime.
