Quick recap: A lawyer, David Burton, defends 5 Aborigines accused of murdering a man. During the trial, Burton starts to have nightmares and premonitions that make him go insane.

When the guy who can supposedly turn into an owl looks at you like you are crazy, it’s time to reevaluate things

Fun (?) fact: Much of the movie is about crazy weather in Sydney, and there were actual freak storms happening during production. The crew decided to film in Adelaide, though, and had to recreate all of the heavy rain when they could’ve just stayed in Sydney.

Also, it’s apparently normal to walk around in Australia with a cowboy hat on and no shirt.

My thoughts: I don’t lean one way or the other when it comes to procedural dramas. I’ve watched my fair share, but I’ve never read a John Grisham novel or seen a full episode of Law and Order. I thought The Last Wave would be similar to what I’m familiar with- a feel good story about wronged individuals, where we all learn a bit about ourselves in the process. I also don’t know much about the Aboriginal people, so I figured at the very least I would be educated a bit. A big fat NOPE this movie was. It was way more creepy than I thought it would be and took many dark turns I would never have imagined.

The movie starts with a really creepy sequence where it starts hailing in the middle of nowhere. There are children at a school and one of them gets hit in the head by the falling ice and the whole thing really unnerved me. It rains throughout the movie, but also frogs and petroleum fall out of the sky too. There were several scenes that freaked me out but for some reason, it was the weather I couldn’t stop thinking about. The premonitions were pretty creepy as well, especially one where one of the men is just standing in the house holding a rock dripping with blood.

I’m not really sure where the trial of the men fit into the story and I’m even more unsure of what happened at the end of the movie. Burton tries to prove that these Aborigines are ‘tribal’, meaning they follow ancient rituals and customs. His whole theory is that the man who died, died from a curse rather than being beaten to death. Yeah, the jury didn’t buy that either. But then it turns out that these men ARE actually tribal and have a sacred place in the sewage system, which is a little weird, tbh. Burton finds the place and then meets up with Charlie, who can turn into an owl. Charlie scares him and he kills Charlie with the same rock as in his dream! After murdering the guy, Burton wanders around the sewer for awhile, dropping tribal relics he stole in poop water. Dude is cursed upon cursed upon cursed at this point. He manages to find his way out and it takes him to the ocean where he either imagines a huge wave wiping out Sydney or there is an actual wave about to wipe out Sydney. A LAST WAVE, if you will.

Final review: 4/5. Much weirder than I expected but a bit ambiguous.

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