Flicks-a-saurus Rex

The Boys Are Back

Starring: Clive Owen

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for some sexual language and thematic elements.

A beautiful film about a father raising two sons in the Australian outback, Clive Owen struggles to balance family and work, while grieving his wife’s death, in The Boys Are Back. This film was a meaty movie that you can really dig into. It is sad and tense and beautiful. This film is a must see, with beautiful shots of Australian landscape and a gripping and realistic story.

I rented this flick because I wanted to see an emotional film with some comedy and tragedy all mixed together. I hadn’t read anything about it, but I like Clive Owen generally and the little boy looked so cute. I knew this would be the right flick to watch with my wife and after the first ten minutes I wanted my mom and dad and everyone to see this little tear jerker.



A quick warning, this film is done in a slower pace than other popular films, this is not a romantic comedy, it is beautiful film about the delicate balance that must be struck between family and the outside world, about becoming a parent, about the decisions of the heart that change lives. As you can tell I really enjoyed The Boys Are Back. I would give it a 8.5 out of 10. I really don’t think there could be much to add to this film. It had some touching moments as Clive Owen tries to raise his sons, and there were some funny moments too.

The only thing that may have been missing was a real high tension scene. There wasn’t really a point of greatest climax. While the film was emotional and took you on a roller coaster of ups and downs, it was more of a gentle ride and didn’t take the audience to that breathtaking moment. Instead the film was a steadily moving, and at sometimes lagging, train ride around the amusement park instead of thrill ride. I came away feeling like I had been on a journey through the outback and through the characters lives, and I loved it.

This movie is a great rental that you may actually watch a couple of times. The wide shots of the countryside are gorgeous, and the relationship between Clive Owen and his boys is just as beautiful. I highly recommend this movie. As Clive Owen says in the film, “it is like Home Alone except there are three of us.”




Sex/Nudity – 3 out of 10 - Some discussions raised center around a man’s adultery and leaving his family. We also see a little boy and a teenage boy in underwear at different times. A young boy and his older brother are seen playing in the bathtub together, we see bare shoulders.

Violence/Gore – 3 out of 10 - A man gets head butted in the nose and he gets a bad bloody nose.

Profanity – 5 out of 10 - There are a few English swear words, “bloody” and so on. There are about 30 uses of the “S” word, “D” words, and “H” words, and also a few religious exclamations.