The film is based on the bestselling novel by Jane Harper with Eric Bana reprising his character, Aaron Falk. Robert Connolly returns to direct the movie.

Bana is joined by cast members Anna Torv (The Last of Us), Deborra-lee Furness (Jindabyne), Robin McLeavy (Homeland), Sisi Stringer (Mortal Kombat), Lucy Ansell (Utopia), and Jacqueline McKenzie (Romper Stomper).

Jeremy Lindsay-Taylor is back in the role of Erik Falk, alongside Richard Roxburgh (Rake), Tony Briggs (Cleverman) and Kenneth Radley (The Power of the Dog).

Produced by Bruna Papandrea, Jodi Matterson and Steve Hutensky of Made Up Stories, alongside Eric Bana for Pick Up Truck Pictures and Robert Connolly for Arenamedia. Ricci Swart, Meryl Metni, Andrew Myer, Robert Patterson, Andrew Bassat, Joanna Baevski, Hayley Baillie, James Baillie, and Roadshow Films’ Joel Pearlman and Edwina Waddy are executive producing.

In ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’, when five women take part in a corporate hiking retreat and only four come out on the other side, Federal Agents Aaron Falk and Carmen Cooper head deep into the Victorian mountain ranges to investigate in the hopes of finding their whistle-blowing informant, Alice Russell, alive.

Joel Pearlman, CEO Roadshow Films said, “We are delighted to announce that ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ will come to cinemas this year. We know that audiences are going to embrace this film as much as they did with ‘The Dry’, and we can’t wait for them to see it on the big screen.”

Producers Papandrea, Matterson and Hutensky said: “After watching audiences fall in love with The Dry, we’re so excited to bring this next instalment in Jane Harper’s thrilling Aaron Falk series, ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’, to big screens across Australia alongside Roadshow Films. Audiences are going to be blown away by the tour de force performances of Eric Bana and this assemble of terrific Australian actresses”.

Director Robert Connolly said, “Adapting Jane Harper’s remarkable ‘Force of Nature’ for the cinema has been an exciting adventure, a rare privilege to be able to revisit the world of detective Aaron Falk and to work again with Eric, an extraordinary supporting cast and a wonderful team of creatives and crew. Jane’s novels evoke the often-terrifying beauty of the natural world, and in this sequel to ‘The Dry’ we take audiences into a new landscape to solve entwining crimes in the remote Australian wilderness.”

‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with VicScreen.
www.facebook.com/roadshow/

Federal policeman, Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) returns to his home town after decades away and gets drawn into a murder mystery involving a group of people that he grew up with. His return is not a welcome one and this sheds a light on the somewhat backward ways of the small rural Victorian town. Falk’s sudden departure all those years ago left many unanswered questions.

Throughout the film, those riddles are answered. Staying way clear of clunker clues that would invalidate the proceedings, the script is taut and gives information in clever and believable ways. It rewards those paying attention but doesn’t require so much diligence that you lose touch with its inherent beauty. The casting and their actions are also on point

The film looks magnificent and the early establishing shots let you know in no uncertain terms that this is an isolated town and one that has seen better days. The drought has almost brought the town and its inhabitants to their knees but they are built of durable stock and this strength plays into the story. It’s accomplished works like this that should help to bring the public back to the cinema and judging from the almost full house on the session we went to, it is already working its charms.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/roadshow