THREE years ago, multi-function filmmaker Ivan Sen took actors Aaron Pedersen, Hugo Weaving, Jack Thompson and others to Winton to film the outback detective thriller “Mystery Road”. This time, Sen has taken Pedersen, again playing taciturn indigenous detective Jay Swan, back to outback Queensland’s hard country to locate a missing young Chinese woman.

The story unfolds around a remote gold mining community where the only law enforcement is Josh (Alex Russell) who takes instant exception to Jay for refusing to take a breath test.

Mayor Maureen (Jacki Weaver) and mine manager (David Wenham) seem up to no good – well, they would have to be, wouldn’t they, if the story is to build up momentum.

The local Aboriginal community looks on the mine as its salvation. Maureen knows what Chinese madam Mrs Lao (Pei Pei Cheng) is involved in. Only Jimmy (David Gulpilil) knows anything about the missing girl. Jimmy walks out on the signing of an agreement between company and community, tells Jay what he knows and next day is found hanging from a gum tree branch. Josh reckons it’s a straight-forward suicide.

We’re too smart to believe that, aren’t we? But that’s not what Jay’s there to investigate. His problem has become the mine’s security team of gun-toting goons.

As Sen did in “Mystery Road”, he’s about to treat us to a less-than-convincing shootout with Jay, supported by Josh, confronting the goons.

The film’s best element is Sen’s elegant cinematography of the uninviting yet magnificent landscape, incorporating an impressive collection of visual moments that could never have been shot until drones became available as stable down-looking camera platforms. The shootout is marred by the good guys choosing to use those clever shotguns that never need reloading.

At Palace Electric and Capitol 6