Force of Nature: The Dry 2
Written and Directed by Robert Connolly
Starring Eric Bana, Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness
Rated R
Runtime: 112 minutes
Theaters and digital May 10

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The 2020 thriller, The Dry, introduced audiences to Aaron Falk (Eric Bana), an Australian Federal Policeman who solved a twenty-year old murder case in the Australian outback. It was a nifty thriller that toggles back and forth in time to show a possible connection but also how the past impacts the present. What is more, the film gave Bana a meaty starring role.

But Force of Nature: The Dry 2 proves more is less. This underwhelming mystery is set in the Australian bush where Alice (Anna Torv), has gone missing during an Executive Adventure retreat. As the film reveals, Alice was a corporate whistleblower who was working with Falk to expose her boss Daniel (Richard Roxburgh) for some criminal activities.

Director Robert Connolly, who also helmed the original, juggles at least three storylines simultaneous as Aaron investigates what happened to Alice. The most interesting are the present-day episodes that have Falk interrogating Jill (Deborra-Lee Furness), who is Daniel’s wife, as well as Alice’s colleagues, Lauren (Robin McLeavy), Beth (Sisi Stringer), and Bree (Lucy Ansell). Each woman’s testimony helps Aaron piece together the puzzle of “what happened”—if they are, in fact, telling the truth. The lies and misdirection provide Force of Nature: The Dry 2 with its very modest intrigue.

The film’s other two narrative threads are told in alternating flashbacks. One depicts the five women on their Executive Adventure, working together to reach a campground, and arguing after they get lost the next day. The other flashback features Aaron as a youth (Archie Thomson), who is trekking through the same bush with his parents (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor and Ash Ricardo), until his mom goes missing. These scenes establish Aaron as capable in navigating the bush and adds psychological depth to his search for Alice decades later. While this narrative strategy may echo the narrative structure of the first entry in the series, it fails to have the same resonance. The young Aaron’s scenes contribute little to the drama and act as filler, delaying the resolution of Alice’s story.

There are other extraneous elements in the form of a serial killer who stalked women in the area years ago, and an ominous storm that is expected to wash out the area any day. These features may have worked well on the page, but on screen, they feel both cliché and strained.

Force of Nature: The Dry 2 goes for the obvious, which slackens its dramatic tension. An early scene features the characters marveling at a dangerous waterfall, so, of course, someone is going to go down it. One character sees Alice hide a flash drive in the bush, so of course, she is going to recover it. There are also no surprises as the women on the trip recount what happened on their excursion and how they felt about Alice. When Alice wants to go off alone, the others fight about staying in a shack they find—which may have been where the serial killer lived. But these contretemps do not raise the stakes much.

Part of the problem is that the characters are superficially drawn. Beth and Bree are sisters, and one has a criminal past—so she is a suspect. Lauren’s daughter was bullied by Alice’s daughter, so the two women hate each other. Jill may be aware that Alice is going to expose her husband, which makes her a possible rival. But watching these women fight over a map, or fighting with each other, is hardly compelling.

The whole film feels lackluster. Aaron has a partner, Carmen (Jacqueline McKenzie), who contributes next to nothing to the investigation or the film. And Bana, despite his strong screen presence, also has very little to do other than ask questions, absorb answers, and stare longingly. The acting by the entire ensemble cast never makes the material juicy.

At least the landscape is spectacular.