everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Cyndi Lauper likes the Skinheads.Even if this was a gang of characters with high moral fiber who would want to hang out with these lunatics?Nice Nazi lampshade... Do creations need lampshades?What a great friend... Moving him from across the stairs to on the cold hard concrete floor."Thousands of em?"... Clearly it math is not required to join.She was better off with the drug addict.Hando wants revenge for the revenge taken because of him.No water in the bowl?Clearly the police will know who they are.Skinheads falling asleep reading :)That's all you brought?"I surrender"... karma.The problem with being a skinhead is when you want to disguise yourself you can't cut your hair.Almost over... Let's see how they're gonna crash and burn.Hando has no friends left. He's desperate for anyone to keep from being alone.

Romper Stomper is certainly not a movie for everyone. It certainly deserved its R18+ classification in Australia due to its unsettling violent content and sex scenes. It will offend, it will shock and upset some viewers. It's certainly not one for young children. Those that watch Romper Stomper and put aside the controversial content will find that it is a powerful movie. Romper Stomper was also notable for garnering recognition for Russell Crowe.Romper Stomper centers on a group of Neo Nazis led by the charismatic and volatile Hando (Russell Crowe). Hando's best friend and second in command who Hando relies upon is Davey (Daniel Pollock, who committed suicide before the film's release). The gang befriend Gabrielle (Jacqueline McKenzie) a lost cause who is a drug addict and is sexually abused by her affluent father. The gang frequently wreak havoc throughout Footscray in Melbourne, Victoria and target the local Vietnamese in the area. Hando and his gang bash up a group of Vietnamese teenagers at the start of the movie with Hando warning one of them, "This is not your country". After a violent confrontation with a large number of Vietnamese which sees a lot of the Neo Nazi's brutally bashed and their warehouse set on fire, Hando, Davey, Gabrielle and the remaining members struggle to fight for survival to stay alive and not get at each others throats as well as avoid the police and any further retribution.Though this is one of Russell Crowe's earliest roles, Romper Stomper is definitely one of his most memorable movies, right up there with L.A. Confidential (1997), The Insider (1999), Gladiator (2000), A Beautiful Mind (2001), and American Gangster (2007).Director Geoffrey Wright pulls no punches in bringing Romper Stomper to the screen, but he has certainly done a commendable job. Romper Stomper has netted a lot of controversy in Australia and worldwide due to its content but it still remains as one of the best Australian movies.Romper Stomper is a movie that may be unflinchingly unpleasant to watch but the rewarding factor is that it is a powerful movie with powerhouse performances all round, particularly from Russell Crowe.9/10.

Unless you're curious to see Russell Crowe's feature debut, and/or are really, really into violence, I see absolutely no reason whatsoever to view "Romper Stomper". Russell Crowe (and the fact the film is about gang violence) is essentially one of the reasons I wanted to see the movie. Sadly, I didn't much value the film. Yes, it was made in Australia (and was made on a low budget), but so what? That's no excuse for a poorly made one. I enjoyed parts of it, but the film as a whole almost tested my patience. The gang members (including Gabe, the only female) are completely one- dimensional. In fact, if you think about it more, they seem to exhibit no dimensions, whatsoever. Oh yeah, the girl has a couple seizures throughout the film. Why? Don't ask. It's never a good sign when a movie feels like an eternity and you find yourself wondering now much time is up. Too much stomping here, and not nearly enough romping. Or is it the other way around?** out of ****

ROMPER STOMPER is much more than an early vehicle for Russell Crowe. It's a movie about racial violence, prejudice, and lives without hope. It's also full of great stomping fight scenes, amazing punk rock, and steaming hot sex. It never sentimentalizes the racist gangs, unlike GANGS OF NEW YORK. Instead it's violent, completely honest, and unbelievably disturbing. It's so ironic that this film features Russell Crowe as an absolutely repulsive villain, yet even here you can see the incredible star power and charisma that was to make him a global superstar in just a few years' time. As Hando, the Nazi Skinhead leader, he's cruel and heartless, yet you see exactly the same kind of strength, the silent aura of authority, that made him such a natural for hero parts down the road. Even when his gang is outnumbered hundreds to one the only thing you see on his face is stern determination and cold resolve. Now I want to talk for a minute about the film's tragic ending. Since this film is more than twenty years old, I don't consider this a *spoiler* but stop here if you don't want to hear about the final scene. Hando the skinhead leader dies horribly at the end. (Again, can that be a spoiler? Did you think the picture would end with Nazi skinheads taking over Australia?) But what lifts this movie above the run of the mill "message" picture is the nature of Hando's downfall. Instead of being killed in a street fight with Asians, he gets stabbed from behind by his best friend. What makes this image so powerful is that it defies expectations. Russell Crowe plays Hando as a man who is not afraid of death. He doesn't just want to fight the Asian immigrants; he wants to die fighting them. Alone among the gang, I think, he really understands that the fight is hopeless. Again, look at his eyes when they're trapped in the garage halfway through the picture, with hundreds of enemies banging on the door. This is the end Hando wants, and in an ironic sense, it is the end he deserves. The death he gets, stabbed by a fellow white man over a woman, is the ultimate humiliation. And there is irony, authentically tragic irony, in the fact that Davey is the only person Hando really loves, and that he is destroyed, not by his racism, but by his best mate. As he sinks beneath the waves with blood spurting from the severed artery in his neck, Russell Crowe keeps his eyes locked on the horizon, stoic and uncomplaining even in death.Talk about a real master and commander!