For a movie that involves trekking 2,000 miles across the harsh Australian Outback, John Curran’s “Tracks” plays things surprisingly safe. Based on a true story, the picture revolves around Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a young Australian gal who finds herself fed up with life in the city and all the little problems that come with it. So, along with her loyal black Lab and three camels, she sets off on the barren, dangerous wilderness to find herself.
For being an inexperienced hiker, Robyn sure makes things look easy. Most of the time she seems so relaxed, with a slight smile on her face, looking like she’s in a state of Zen.
She gets a few sunburns, loses track of the camels for short period and has a few hallucinations, but other than that her journey is relatively stress-free. The only major dramatic thing that happens is she needs to put one of her fury companions down, but the movie doesn’t earn this sad moment.
“Tracks” is beautifully photographed by Mandy Walker, with a lot of gorgeous, wide shots of the sunbaked Australian desert. But, overall, the movie is rather dull, when it should be gripping and exciting.
By the end of the movie, we’re supposed to feel happy that Robyn accomplished this major feat, but Curran doesn’t make it look all that impressive.
Worst of all, while the movie purports to be about one woman’s journey across the Outback, she keeps running into helpful people along the way. At one point, she’s lucky enough to have a native Aboriginal lead her through a section of the way.
On paper, “Tracks” should have been great, but in execution, it simply fails to be engrossing or inspirational.