Welcome back to Movie Recap. Today I'm gonna show you a 2010 Australian action-adventure
war drama film called, Tomorrow, When the War Began. Spoiler’s ahead.
Sit back, relax and enjoy the video.
The movie begins with a video log of Ellie Linton. She tells the camera about how it
is vital for them to record themselves to show that despite everything, it will make
a difference. She cries a little as she talks about the friends they have lost along the way.
She claims that the only way she can do this is to go back to where it all began.
Ellie is a high school student in the rural town of Wirrawee in New South Wales with a
population of almost four thousand people. Ellie helps his father as they work together
in the farm where they live. She is seen driving a tractor, building a wooden fence with her dad,
and not long after, chopping branches of wood using an electric chainsaw.
She stops for a moment as she reads a message from her best friend since childhood,
Corrie McKenzie, telling her to go over to her place. She takes her motorcycle with her
and drives to her best friend’s house passing through the town as she waves
and smiles at the people she appears to know. Upon arriving at her best friend’s house,
Corrie tells her about losing her virginity to her boyfriend Kevin Holmes just last night.
She tells her the juicy details of her cherry being popped and asks Ellie not
to tell anyone about it. Afterwards, they decide to plan a camping trip with a group of people.
That night, Ellie tries to ask for her father’s permission to let her use the
land rover to drive all the way to a remote valley known as Hell’s Gate, or simply Hell.
Ellie continues to urge her parents to allow her to go on the camping trip. The parents
finally give in and allow her on the condition that she goes with a group of eight people.
The next day, Corrie tells her boyfriend Kevin about the camping trip.
Kevin is supposed to go to his mother’s cake show on the weekend,
but Corrie manages to get her way as her boyfriend agrees to go with them.
Corrie and Ellie discuss who else to invite as they video chat. They both think of calling
Homer Yannos, Ellie’s next-door neighbor whom they both believe is a fun person to be around.
Homer is introduced as a huge troublemaker who is always getting arrested by their town’s
police chief. Despite being arrested several times; he still manages to make trouble.
The next day, Corrie and Ellie invite their friend Fiona “Fi” Maxwell, who is basically
a princess that is not at all familiar with going camping or being out in the open woods.
Nonetheless, her mother allows her to go camping. That night, Ellie decides to invite her high
school crush, Lee Takkam. She calls Lee’s family restaurant and has quite an awkward
phone call with him, inviting her crush to the camping trip who eventually agrees.
Ellie’s original deal with her father is to have eight people on the trip,
but she persuades her father to let the seven of them go, provided that the seventh person
is their good friend Robyn Mathers whose father is the town’s priest.
Ellie and Corrie accompany Robyn to ask permission from her dad.
Robyn’s father is hesitant to allow her daughter to go camping with a group of boys as well. But
she manages to convince her father by reasoning that she can connect with them spiritually.
The weekend arrives and the four girls and three boys drive up to their destination.
They park the land rover by a cliff overlooking Cobbler's Bay and a great view of the Heron
Bridge. Corrie tells her boyfriend that from there on out, they will be hiking to Hell.
Upon reaching Hell, they camp out right next to the waterfalls. Fi approaches Ellie and Homer
as they prepare for dinner. Fi asks about what they will be having and they come to find that
they will be changing Fi’s life forever as it is her first time to ever try two-minute noodles.
The group enjoys their first night camping out as they roast marshmallows and tell stories to each
other. The second night of their camp, Ellie wakes up to a sky full of military aircraft
and wonders where they are headed. The next day, they talk about hearing
the military aircraft the night before, but they eventually brush the idea off and
continue to enjoy their day out in Hell. They play rugby on the river and go about their day.
Soon after, Kevin screams upon seeing a snake on his sleeping bag.
Ellie almost gets attacked but is saved by Lee who kills the snake. That same night, the group makes
a vow to once again return to Hell together, all seven of them, once they get the chance to do so.
The next day, they return to Wirrawee. Their first destination is at Ellie’s home. She finds
her dog dead and runs up to her house looking for her parents only to find that it is abandoned.
They come to learn that the electricity is out, and there is no internet or telephone service.
The group decides to drive to Homer’s place. Homer runs to his home and finds it abandoned as well.
Meanwhile, for safety precaution, Lee parks the land rover making sure it is not found
in the open. Homer tries to check for any radio frequency, but to no avail.
The group then drives up to Kevin’s home next. But instead of taking the land rover,
they rode their bikes and decided to stay off the main roads. Upon reaching their stop,
Kevin finds his dog alone. Lee suggests not to take the dog with them, which angers Kevin, but
Kevin brings the dog nonetheless. Eventually, they reach Corrie’s place and find it empty as well.
They then drive up to Robyn’s place next, making sure the lights of their bikes aren’t turned on.
They climb up the hilltop and see the only lights are at the hospital and the showground. They
conclude that it’s probably where everyone is. They decide to split up. Homer volunteers to
take Fi to her house, while Lee takes Robyn to his house, and they meet back at Robyn’s
at 5 am the next day. Ellie, Corrie, and Kevin try to sneak to the Showground.
Ellie sneaks past the light tower and hides under a car.
She finds the townspeople are being detained by a foreign military force. One man makes a scene and
afterwards is shot in the head. Upon witnessing the brutal public execution, Ellie retreats too
quickly and is spotted by a searchlight. The three try to flee the showground,
and Kevin runs ahead of them, leaving the girls behind. They reach the backyard of one random
house where soldiers are pursuing them. Ellie explodes the fuel tank of a ride-on lawn mower,
eliminating the soldiers. Before leaving, she finds one of the military soldiers is just a young
woman. Ellie takes her gun and flees the scene. Ellie, Corrie, and Kevin rendezvous back at
Robyn’s house where Homer and Fi are waiting for them. In the confusion,
they come to learn that Lee and Robyn are missing. So, they all drive up to Corrie’s house to hide.
Ellie and Corrie witness an RAAF jet fighter being shot down by enemy aircraft.
That night, the group decide to go back to Hell and discuss what to take with them.
An enemy helicopter performs a close examination of the house they’re in because it spots Kevin’s
dog barking at it. Homer shoots out its searchlight, leaving the aircraft to
tag the house. The group barely escape to the barn as a jet destroys Corrie’s home.
Ellie and Homer sneak back into town, but stop driving to find the Heron Bridge is lit up with
a lot of military cars coming from Cobbler’s Bay. They find Robyn in her house and she tells them
that Lee has been wounded. They later find Lee is being treated by the local dentist, Dr. Clements,
who informs them that the invading forces are bringing in their equipment from ships moored
in Cobbler's Bay, over the Heron Bridge. Afterwards, Ellie steals a garbage truck
to drive her friends to the meet-up place. Lee, being unable to walk properly, couldn’t climb up
to the passenger’s side. Robyn tells Lee to climb up the bucket of the garbage truck as
she rides on the passenger seat next to Ellie. They engage in a brief skirmish with a pair of
armed buggies. The first dune buggy gets caught on the wires that are hanging by a street post.
Ellie drives around, being chased by the second dune buggy. Their truck
hits the first dune buggy and it flies to the wall, probably killing the people inside it.
Meanwhile, the second dune buggy chases after them. Robyn presses a button to release the
rubbish in the back of the garbage truck and dumps a wrecked car in front of the buggy
causing it to fly and crash. Not long after, they meet up at the church to find Homer.
Then they all meet back at Corrie’s home. Ellie drives the land rover to their destination
while everyone else is asleep. She falls asleep for a quick second, and realizes this.
The car they’re in swerves a little. Ellie is worried as she continues to drive. She spots a
bridge right off the main road. So, she turns left and drives up to a house and they are all greeted
by their schoolmate Chris Lang, who is incredibly stoned and has no idea that a war is going on.
As everyone else takes a rest, Ellie and Lee have a deep conversation about their lives, briefly
kissing. When Ellie checks on Chris, who is meant to be standing watch, she finds him asleep while
military cars narrowly pass by the house. She angrily wakes Chris up, scolding him for almost
getting them killed, and prepares to shoot him, but when her friends witness this, she backs down.
They return to Hell, with plans to use it as a secluded hideout. The next day, the group listens
to a radio transmission revealing that Australia has been invaded by Asian Coalition Nations.
It mentions that these Coalition Nations can no longer support their growing population
and therefore their country must be made to share its vast land and extensive natural resources with
its less fortunate neighbors. The transmission also reveals that Cobbler's Bay is one of only
three main ports being used by the invaders. Not long after, Lee tries to talk to Ellie about
their feelings towards each other as she fixes his wound up. Ellie tells him that she is confused
about their current situation and the mess that they find themselves in. She tells him what her
true feelings are towards Lee, but also tells him that he is driving her crazy and then storms off.
The group gathers and discusses what they need to do in order to survive.
They each have their own concerns about going to war with these Coalition Nations, not having any
basic military training, and the fear of murdering people for the safety of their townspeople.
But in the end, they make plans to destroy the Heron Bridge to disrupt the supply chain.
The group sneaks into Wirrawee. Ellie and Fi steal a petrol tanker and barely make it out
alive. They park the petrol tanker near the bridge and wait for the rest of the team to take their
positions. Lee and Homer go up to the bridge while Corrie, Kevin, Robyn and Chris stand as lookouts.
After Fi accidentally calls Homer “honey”, she tells Ellie about them being together.
Fi turns off the walkie talkie as they talk. Military soldiers sneak up at the tanker.
The rest of the group try to call for the girls through the walkie talkie, but to no avail.
One soldier climbs up to the passenger side of the tanker and orders the girls to get out
of the truck. Fi hits the guard with the end of her rifle and then they rush to drive the
tanker under the bridge. Homer and Lee scare a herd of cattle onto the bridge, forcing the
sentries to flee their posts, and allowing Ellie to park the tanker under the bridge.
Lee, Homer, Corrie, and Kevin cheer as they watch the herd of cattle running on the bridge
and driving the soldiers away. Meanwhile Robyn and Chris watch Ellie and Fi unload
the gasoline-soaked rope. The girls realize that neither of them has the lighter and soon after,
the enemies begin firing at the two girls. Soldiers also begin to fire at Homer, Corrie,
Lee, and Kevin. Homer tries to shoot back, but the enemies have more firepower. He, Corrie, and
Lee duck and cover as Kevin runs back to get their bikes. Homer rides with Lee and drives off. Corrie
is amazed at Kevin’s bravery but then she quickly gets shot as the two of them try to escape.
Meanwhile, Robyn and Chris watch the soldiers shooting at Ellie and Fi.
Robyn grabs the gun from Chris and begins shooting at the soldiers, killing them. Chris runs to Ellie
and Fi telling them to move away from the petrol tanker as he lights the rope on fire.
Ellie looks at Robyn frozen and shocked after realizing what she has just done.
They watch the tanker explode and its impact sends the four of them down. They stand back
up and watch the explosion destroy the bridge. They go back to the house and the rest find that
Corrie is shot. Homer cannot stop the bleeding. Corrie wants to be left behind; the group doesn’t
allow it. She needs to go to the hospital. Despite certain capture, Kevin decides to drive Corrie
to the hospital and remain by her side. Ellie promises to go back and save her best friend.
After the two drive off to an unknown future, Ellie breaks down and cries in Lee's arms.
Homer tells the rest of the group that after they just hit them hard, the Coalition Nations
will hit back harder and that they are going to be coming after them with everything they have got.
Ellie finishing her video log, she reveals that the group have returned to Hell in preparation for
their ongoing guerilla war. For three weeks, they have seen dozens of planes and helicopters and
search parties. But the Coalition Nations haven’t found them yet, which means that Corrie and Kevin
have not said a word about their whereabouts. The movie ends with Ellie, Lee, Homer, Fi,
Robyn, and Chris preparing their equipment. Ellie states that not long ago, they were just students
complaining about random things, now they are soldiers who are trapped behind enemy lines
and are fighting to survive. She states that they will keep on fighting until the war is over.
Afterwards, the group drives their bikes off to Tomorrow, When the War Began.