Critic Reviews

• Luke Buckmaster, Crikey

  A scorching ultra modern morality fable that uses school grounds, party houses and internet connections as stomping grounds for social allegory.

• Marc Fennell, Triple J

  Visually impressive, but the script needed a big angry red pen taken to it. Oh, and does every character need to shuffle around like they're in a My Chemical Romance video clip?

• Thomas Caldwell, Cinema Autopsy

  Wasted on the Young is a slick and striking film that presents a disturbingly recognisable world of plutocratic rule in the dark heart of Australian society.

• Jim Schembri, The Age (Australia)

  The icy, stone-faced performances from an obviously committed young cast don't help matters.

• David Stratton, At the Movies (Australia)

  It's very, very strikingly done.

• Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies (Australia)

  This dramatic tale of that sense of entitlement that some people have to get away with any violation, and revenge via modern media is an absolute winner for me.

• Matthew Pejkovic, Matt's Movie Reviews

  Wasted on the Young packs an emotional and visual punch, yet its lack of likeable characters and inherently despairing attitude makes this one cynically violent trip back to the school yard.

• Matthew Toomey, ABC Radio Brisbane

  I'm not convinced that there's a clear message but this is still a film worth your attention. The editing is sharp and the cinematography is striking.

• Beth Wilson, Trespass

  Sadly the plot falls short of its director's aspirations, and given his obvious filmic talents this is all the more disappointing.

• Alice Tynan, Concrete Playground

  Part romantic tragedy, part ruthless thriller, Wasted on the Young is an impressive but ultimately unsettling cinematic experience.

• Simon Miraudo, Quickflix

  The film transcends the trappings of a traditional teen parable. It becomes something closer to Rian Johnson's masterful Brick, in which a bunch of film noir archetypes were anachronistically transported into a high school, just for the hell of it.

• Annette Basile, FILMINK (Australia)

  Stylistically striking and featuring a clutch of stunning performances from emerging local talent, this is a remarkable achievement sure to generate discussion.

• Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

  Ben C. Lucas shows his natural cinematic talents from the start, using ingredients to establish the world of social networking as a key element in the film

• Glynn Morgan, Moviedex

  A very ambitious film, but not always a coherent one.

• Simon Weaving, Screenwize

  Without question one of the most striking Australian films of the past five years, director Lucas stamps his visual style on a very contemporary - and at times very confronting - teen revenge story.

Read all 15 critic reviews