Director Jon Hewitt
Starring Dominic Purcell, Viva Bianca, Robert Taylor
Rated MA
Score .5/6

In the wake of a shocking civilian massacre in a foreign war zone, disgraced Navy SEAL Rick Tyler is sentenced to rot in a maximum security military prison until he is offered the opportunity to put his life on the line to win his freedom.

A couple of points before I get to ahead of myself with this review, firstly this is a re-imagination of a 1982 Ozploitation movie directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith originally known as Turkey Shoot (it’s also known as Escape 2000). The second point is a note to Director Jon Hewitt his skill as a director; it’s perfectly ok to substitute Australia for the United States of America, especially if that’s what your budget dictates. But Mr. Genius Director here is a small suggestion you might want to make sure that those telltale signs that a keen eyed watcher of your ‘movie’ might spot like Australian Number Plates don’t feature on screen.
There is very little that I can say about this movie that is actually positive about the 2014 version of Turkey Shoot because the entire cast seemed to phone in their performances. It’s always good to see Australian movies get released. The five minute opening credits sequence set in Libya had a great visual look and there was a decent overall concept behind the overall story of a reality television show where the contestants are killed for the audience, though it should be noted there are very similarities between the 2014 version and 1982 original. I would also like to add that the ‘killer reality television show’ was a better plot point in Daniel Minahan’s 2001 movie Series 7: The Contenders.
In the spirit of honesty I would rather watch The Condemned (2007) with Steve Austin before watching this emotionless wasteland again.