Meet the Twentyman brothers - three Australian siblings, who just love to rob banks, and who live by the credo 'Nobody gets hurt'. The eldest and brightest Dale (Guy Pearce) is the undisputed leader of the gang, whilst middle sibling Mal (Damien Richardson) is enthusiastic and dependable. The youngest is Shane (Joel Edgerton), providing plenty of muscle, although prone to destructive bursts of anger.

Released from prison on bail, the trio pull off a security van job on behalf of their crooked lawyer Frank (Robert Taylor) - who's been sleeping with Dale's wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths). Back in jail, the Twentymans realise that to get released they're going to have to pull off one final job for Frank. The plan? To rip off the bookies at The Melbourne Gold Cup.

First-time writer-director Scott Roberts borrows from all the usual suspects - Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Guy Ritchie, the Coens - whilst struggling to give his material a distinctive visual sensibility. (The film's title comes from the Aussie phrase "to put the hard word on", meaning to threaten or menace.)

For the first half hour "The Hard Word" shapes up as a black comedy of fraternal camaraderie and dependency, laced with such salty Oz phrases as, "I've had more clap than Donald Bradman".

However Roberts shows his inexperience by opting for endless narrative twists and double-crosses, introducing the ludicrous figure of Tarzan, a psychopathic, shotgun- toting enforcer, who rapidly ups the body-count. The more convoluted the plot, the more one ponders the gaps in logic.

A grungy, long-haired Pearce brings out Dale's watchful cunning, but the bleached-blonde Griffiths seems ill-at-ease in her portrayal of the archly manipulative Carol. Crime might pay for these protagonists, yet ultimately there's little here to reward the viewer.

"The Hard Word" is released in the UK on 12th September 2003.