The Dry 2 film review: Eric Bana's traumatised cop returns to solve a ...

The whiff of foul play brings Falk and Carmen to the forest, where their presence alerts the company chief executive, Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh), that they’re on his trail. Being a thoroughly villainous type, he sneers at them and provides a brief lecture on how the world works. His wife, Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness), is one of the party that gets lost in the forest. She’s also a tough cookie, but more willing to talk. As are the three other members of the group: middle-aged Lauren (Robin McLeavey), and the youthful sisters Beth and Bree (Sisi Stringer and Lucy Ansell).

The film proceeds by flashbacks, as we explore each woman’s recollections of the journey. They have their secrets, but as there is universal agreement that Anna was a complete pain in the neck, any of them might have been happy to push her off a cliff. To add an extra dash of creepiness, they seem to have sought shelter in a hut once used by a notorious serial killer.

While these stories unfold, Falk is grappling with his own flashbacks to the time he went hiking in this forest with his parents, at the age of about 12. When his mother went missing, Aaron and his dad spent anxious hours thrashing through the undergrowth, calling her name. Falk looks stressed and uptight as he is compelled to perpetually relive this episode. We know, however, that he’ll eventually get a grip on himself and crack the case.

Bana does his best to make Falk interesting, but he is unlikely to be a contender for this year’s AFP Mr Personality Award. Even more forgettable is McKenzie’s Carmen, who is under-utilised in this story. As for Roxburgh, he’s hard to believe in the role of a wealthy corporate shark. Perhaps he should have studied a few Bond villains because a touch of camp would have gone a long way in this earnest production.

I wouldn’t say Force of Nature is a bad film, but it’s outstandingly average. Connolly is proficient enough at telling a story and creating characters, but neither the personalities nor the plot create more than a modicum of curiosity. We’re told, early on, that the forest “is a good place to take people out of their comfort zones”, but there’s no point in this plodding bushland mystery where the viewer need ever feel discomfited.