plot outline - wendy ( samantha press ) , a jazz singer , loves mack ( hugo race ) a criminal and wanna be rock singer who's planning a bank heist . mack is also being tailed by a couple of cops , one an inexperienced rookie ( dominic sweeney ) , the other ( john flaus ) a worn out veteran who frequents wendy's jazz club . they're tailing mack , because he has an audiotape that may show evidence of governmental corruption . meanwhile wendy's sexually awakener , fifteen year old sister ( rebecca elmaloglou ) has moved in with her , and is secretly watching mack and wendy's late night love trysts ? much zaniness ensues the review : <NEG> main problem first </NEG> - about 2% of rood rock star to actor conversions in filmdom ever really work . unfortunately , trying to cast hugo race as a violent , sexy criminal <NEG> falls into the " what the hell where they thinking " category </NEG> that takes up 98% of the rest . but , hell , it's not as if he's the only problem in this well-intentioned but <NEG> ultimately below average </NEG> aussie thriller . leads , race and samantha press are <NEG> wooden and dull </NEG> , hampered by some <NEG> unfortunate attempts </NEG> at sexy dialogue early on . though they do manage some heat later in their love scenes , helped , no doubt by them keeping their mouths shut . <NEG> the film suffers </NEG> every time the story shifts back to these two . which is unfortunately , the other main story isn't any great shakes either . the second part , concerning two cops , political corruption and that elusive tape is <NEG> incredibly muddled </NEG> . at many points during the movie i had no idea what was going on , a situation that didn't improve on repeated viewing . there is no doubt that <NEG> this film's achilles heel is its script </NEG> . as for the rest of the cast , it's a mixed bag . john flaus , one of australia's most criminally underused actors , is in top form as the withering , alcoholic jazz fan cop , who may or may not have sold out to the highest bidder . although he falters at one point , when the script calls for him to get up on stage and deliver a drunken beat sermon , but believe me , they way it was written , no one could have pulled it off . dominic sweeney is fine , though he seems to be uneasy in front of the lens but he really isn't given a whole lot to do . pre home and away elmaloglou is pretty good as the inquisitive jojo , but her character seems extraneous to the story , well , at least until the final scenes . i must admit , in too deep does have some impressive qualities , not the least of which is it visual element . cinematographers mark gilfedder & peter zakharov have achieved the almost impossible by making melbourne look like a sweat drenched tropic city , which is akin to turning london into san paolo . the bar is an oppressive red , like all of it's patrons are being baked while they drink , outside it hazy orange by day and cool blue by night . if only deborah parson's script could have supported this idea better . having two director's ( colin south & john tatoulis ) <NEG> doesn't help either </NEG> , the most glaring example of which is the final retribution/fight scene , where for some reason the camera pulls away from the onscreen action , and more importantly it doesn't pull away to anything else . it just stays static as the fight happens in the distance . <NEG> it has no reason to it ; it's just bad direction </NEG> . and , ultimately , that is what sums up in too deep , it's tries to be good , and you want it to work , but , <NEG> it's just lacking the talent </NEG> behind it , that it needs to succeed .
