I loved how Peter Weir used such restraint in helping us understand what was going on in this remote town, much of the time without using dialogue. It's a great premise and it sets itself up for drama in several different ways - the man who finds himself trapped in a town that's deliberately causing fatal accidents and harvesting cars, the survivors of these accidents cruelly turned into "veggies" by drilling into their brains, and the outlaw group of younger men who recklessly drive tricked out cars to terrorize members of the status quo. Those old cars, one adorned with spikes like an armored porcupine and others with scowling faces painted on them, were pretty cool.
Unfortunately the film didn't do enough in any of these areas, instead rather listlessly following the trapped man around during a middle section which felt overly long. To put it simply, there wasn't enough escalation in the subplots. There also weren't flashbacks to provide context, very little character development, and no capitalizing on the gruesome operations on the "veggies," or even explaining why they wouldn't just be killed. By the time the finale rolled along, it just felt like the film had been drifting along, not knowing where to go, and needed some violence and car crashes. Maybe a remake could keep the organic feel but inject more life into the script.
Unfortunately the film didn't do enough in any of these areas, instead rather listlessly following the trapped man around during a middle section which felt overly long. To put it simply, there wasn't enough escalation in the subplots. There also weren't flashbacks to provide context, very little character development, and no capitalizing on the gruesome operations on the "veggies," or even explaining why they wouldn't just be killed. By the time the finale rolled along, it just felt like the film had been drifting along, not knowing where to go, and needed some violence and car crashes. Maybe a remake could keep the organic feel but inject more life into the script.