| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 30, 2006

| Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 27, 2003

It is at most a middling effort.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 31, 2003

The movie-jaded will dismiss The Hard Word as just another slick heist flick with a band of burglar buddies. Too bad for their cynical souls. They'll be missing a grand (theft) time.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 31, 2003

Just when you think you've got it all figured out, there's another disorienting jolt.

| Original Score: B | Jul 17, 2003

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 16, 2003

A Tarantino-esque mishmash of tough crime cliches spit out in Aussie accents.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Jul 8, 2003

Writer/Director Scott Roberts' (K2) first film in a decade doesn't exactly go places other movies haven't already tread.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 5, 2003

It's fun as far as it goes, but that isn't very far.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 3, 2003

Aside from the obviously Australian flavor to everything -- which can be entertaining at times -- there's no X factor to justify the whole exercise.

Full Review | Jul 1, 2003

The Hard Word may not be the last word in underworld thrills, but, like eternal patsy Pearce, it possesses a certain wild-eyed affability.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 28, 2003

Much of The Hard Word feels like hard time.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 28, 2003

Nothing new or earthshaking here, but The Hard Word is tense and compelling, with the added charm of a mischievous spirit.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 28, 2003

The film has an appeal for lovers of the genre. Little else in this unpredictable thriller by first-time director Scott Roberts requires immediate attention.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 28, 2003

This movie could obviously go on fooling us forever, but we are good sports only up to a point, and then our attention drifts.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 28, 2003

The Hard Word never steals our hearts, though it does kill time.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 28, 2003

The Hard Word strains to be light on its feet but piles too much on its plate: characters come and go, changing personality at the director's whim, and you're never quite sure who's getting the shaft.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 28, 2003

A wannabe gritty Australian crime drama.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2003

It's the kind of predictable programmer that used to fill the bottom half of double bills, but it's worth the effort to catch Ms. Griffiths.

| Jun 26, 2003

The entire cast perform ably, but Mr. Pearce and Ms. Griffiths ... are something special in their native habitat.

| Jun 26, 2003