Tomorrow, When the War Began

A great setup that is consistently misused focusing on teenage love and banal life philosophy instead of the actual war. All of the characters are as clicheed as they are unbelievable, and we learn absolutely nothing about the war, its purpose or its perpetrators. I'm not quite sure what the producers were aiming for...?

Not an unlikable film and loaded with potential. I'm not sure what the plan is with this one, it feels like a pilot more than a feature and its definitely aimed at a demographic that I don't fit into. : ) Turn this into a weekly serial on the WB and you're good to go.

Better than I expected. There is some poor acting and a couple lame plot developments. At the same time, does some character/story outcomes right and has enough entertaining scenes to keep you interested. Its a bit cheesy but hell I'll probably hit up the cinemas for the sequel.

A xenophobic, lowest common denominator, teen soap opera Twilight-meets-Red Dawn bastard hybrid. They even make sure to have an Asian token in there to offset the connotations of a yellow horde invading Australia. What's worse is that it could have been fun but is so aggressively banal that it's like reading Pauline Hanson's sanitized fan fiction. Please explain?

Shiny teens make war. Feels a bit like a television movie. Actors are proficient and likable but the movie doesn't make much sense. If you feel you must watch teen rebellion against invading forces, watch Red Dawn.

Young, pretty and stupid - this bunch of stereotypical characters and their idiotic behaviour wouldn't survive that long in this post-invasion world. A pretty and pretty stupid film, even for the targeted young and/or stupid audience. *Preview*: #14#, popcorn, story, Caitlin.S/6.

follows red dawn to a "T" only with a post-80's face lift and no original ideas. for an action flick it was decent, but who would want to invade australia?

A not-too-disappointing teen action movie in the vein of Twilight meets Rambo. Although predictable, journey-wise, it does give its characters plenty of build-up and time to breathe and develop. And the action sequences look high-budget - there are real jet fighters and a rollicking car chase in a dump truck. All edited together pretty slickly and professionally. It may not truly make you care about saving the world from terrorists, but at least provides some fun and moments you can cheer at.

Pretty decent film, would have been an even better one if it didnt waste so much time on teenage romances.

"Hey mate, wanna remake Red Dawn?" "Yeah no worries mate. But we'll do a half arsed job of it yeah?" "Nice one"

(TWILIGHT, WHEN RED DAWN BEGAN --or-- DEGRASSI: THE GUERRILLA GENERATION.)

1

Never heard of this movie, the book series, or any of the actors. Yeah, the characters made poor decisions that would have gotten them killed ages ago. Too bad the sequels never got made but maybe I'll read the wiki for them sometime. Pretty good budget for CGI. Nice mix of cast. Fav scene: helicopter flying over the house and the teens make a ton of noise.

Lacks RED DAWN's unique mix of camp melodrama and cringy sincerity which made it all work, but if you gotta go this path, you could do worse; the performers are a charming bunch, worthy of cheering on throughout, and the film doesn’t shy away from some startlingly brutal violence and mayhem, which elevates this above kiddie-sanitised war games. Slightly troubling is the indeterminate source of the invasion (except it is pretty determinate) which leaves a slightly nasty aftertaste.

peeeeeeeeeeesima pelicula!!! Unicamente verla si tienen ganas de reirse de semejantes absurdos que ocurren.... es teen, naif, ciencia ficcion por lo increible de los hechos...

Surprisingly, a little cracker of a movie: funny, well characterised and with some decent action. Has a couple of clumsy moments (the swing set!) to drag my rating down.

Feels like the cast and crew of an Aussie Soap decided to make a war movie for The Yoof of Today. It's not as terrible as you might imagine, but it's close. I predict that the hoped-for sequel/tv show never materialises. Books might be worth a read though!

Australian version of Red Dawn. The ending here is badly made and although we'll probably see sequel to it, I'm not looking foward to it.

piss poor and absolutely absurd.

This seems like the final project of a student in a Intro to Screenwriting class. All the basic elements are there. However, it has no idea how to use them. Everyone's paired off romantically in the first fifteen minutes. Everything's an archetype or cliche, right down to the flagless invading military who exist for no other reason than to confront our teenagers with change. Nothing makes sense. Everything looks fake. Things explode. 15 points for the buggy flying into a wall.

If you liked Red Dawn, this is almost exactly like the 2012 version.

Naff.

nearly as bad as 'red dawn'

There's nothing directly bad about it, but not all that much good either. Like others have said, feels a bit like a tv series.

"So full of stock types and clichés it makes The Breakfast Club look like Nashville." - Calum Marsh

Passes the time.

Really only works as a setup for sequels. Plot doesn't make sense, dialog is sloppily written, etc. As a stand alone film it leaves much to be desired, but the effects are pretty much spectacular, the characters are likable (more through the charming actors than anything), and it kinda grows on you. By the end of it you find yourself thinking "hey, this is OK, I wonder where they're going with this" and then you realize "oh, it's just one big sequel setup". And I think I might enjoy that sequel.

It would have been more entertaining had they focused on the stoner's story.

Better than Red Dawn, nice characters and nice action setpieces. Not great but very entertaining movie. Bring on the sequels!

Whether or not the author admits it, Tomorrow when the War Began is Red Dawn set in Australia. It is a little more low-budget/indie/dramatic, but it does have something going for it that Red Dawn did not! The leader of the group in Tomorrow When the War Began was Caitlin Stasey who is a significantly stronger actor than Chris Hemsworth; she is probably equal with Patrick Swayze; but her character was more interesting than the both of them

Definitely not what i was expecting pretty good film overall might have to take a look at the book series.