I remember hearing back when this came out that one of the actors gave a stellar performance. Years down the line I finally get around to seeing Romper Stomper, and that actor is international superstar Russell Crowe! And he does give quite a excellent performance (on par with everything he has made since). Actually everyone gave very believable and riveting performances with the very controlled and well timed direction of Geoffrey Wright. Overall the production and story are above par and it is very easy to get sucked in to everything. But I had to wonder what the overall purpose of the main characters being neo-nazi skinheads was. Although there was a sense of futileness to all the racial violence happening, there didn't seem to be a statement at the root of the film. The story starts as a look at a pack of skinheads and ends as a human story of two friends and the girl that finally helped the follower become the leader in their relationship. The fact that they were skinheads did not seem to have relevance to the core story, the two friends could have been mere thieves, part of a gang or even wall street moguls and the story could have taken the same route. So in the end I was left wondering, "What was the point of adding the racial card if there was no statement being made?" Nevertheless, Romper Stomper was a riveting movie that portrays the self-destructiveness that results from hatred with some excellent performances by the leads.
Review of Romper Stomper
