WRITER/director Julian Avery’s feature debut can stand proud beside any other filmmaker’s work as it visits a prison full of really hard cases, the WA goldfields, underworld environments in state and territory capitals, and a population of characters whom you’d really not want to invite home for a barbecue.

At 19, JR (Brendan Thwaites) is the kind of fresh meat old lags in jail find delicious. He’s resilient enough to survive early days, during which he catches the eye of Brendan (Ewan McGregor), doing 20 years. Brendan doesn’t want JR for a toy boy. He sees in him a possible accomplice in a major gold theft that he and wealthy string-puller Sam (Jacek Koman) are planning.

Avery’s staging of the film manifests commendable care and imagination, supported by what looks like a big budget and co-operation from the WA Police Department, mining companies and the operator of the smelting works from where six new gold bars are to be stolen.

First, however, it is necessary to bust Brendan out from the cooler, using a helicopter. That, followed by the heist and its immediate consequences, provides the bulk of the film’s excitements and tensions. The heist may have succeeded, but there’s no honour among thieves.

At Palace Electric and Limelight