The Furnace

Roderick MacKay's debut is a quieter affair than what audiences may have grown to expect from the ever-expanding Australian genre, but its subdued journey into the Golden unknown of the outback is no less engaging or powerful.

This latest 'Meat Pie' Western amplifies a footnote of colonial history while mixing timeless themes and a stark revisionist aesthetic.

If the film has a flaw it's that it doesn't quite reach the satisfying climax it promises; it's beautiful, even powerful, but rather bleak.

This is a bloody and thrilling adventure film that owes more to revisionist westerns than worthy period dramas.

MacKay is not lacking in talent, but for a first-time director he may have taken on a little too much. While the scattered quality of the storytelling may be partly deliberate, a bigger problem is the lack of consistent tone.