Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom is a tense Aussie underworld flick that takes place on the mean streets of Melbourne (why does that just sound odd?). Joshua 'J' Cody (James Frecheville) at eighteen is a bit slow so when his junkie mother OD’s he’s really at a loss. Although estranged he calls the only help he can think of - his grandmother Janine (Jacki Weaver) who is affectionately called Smurf and looks every bit the doting family patriarch. It soon becomes apparent why J’s mother dropped out – she didn’t want her son to get involved in the family business that grandma benignly runs. The family business is robbing banks. Right now business is slow because her oldest son Andrew 'Pope' Cody (Ben Mendelsohn) is in hiding from a special police task force that is inclined to shot first and ask questions later – maybe. Not only that but the biz is showing signs of erosion as Pope’s brother Craig (Sullivan Stapleton - constantly high on his own supply) has started a sideline business selling drugs while Pope’s business partner Barry Brown (Joel Edgerton) wants to hold up on the hold-ups and go legit. Just as Joshua joins the clan Barry is gunned down by the police and the unbalanced Pope decides to go to war with the cops. This unwinnable battle puts Joshua in the grasp of Detective Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce) who wants to massage the kid over to his side. Joshua successfully resists the persuasive Leckie until family politics put him in peril. Animal Kingdom doesn’t feature any animals other than the two legged variety but as in the animal kingdom there are some creatures that have no conscience about eating their young.