The Australian film The Dry starts off with the aftermath of a gruesome murder-suicide of a family, and though the movie doesn’t get gorier than that, it is just as dour and desolate. The killer/victim Luke (Martin Dingle Wall) was an old friend of Aaron Falk, who left town 20 years ago to become a federal agent in the big city. Upon the behest of Luke’s parents, he travels back to his desolate southeastern hometown to lend a hand investigating the incident, which stirs up some hornets. The reason Falk left in the first place is because the townsfolk believed he murdered a 17-year-old girl.

Though this seems to make for a confusing backstory, it spools out quite succinctly. Unfortunately, the script and pacing deaden any real interest in the proceedings. The sense of portent overwhelms to the point of absurdity: every time Falk drives his car through the desert (and there is a lot of desert driving), the music becomes ominous, and every gesture is loaded with meaning. It’s just too much. Without a varying tone, the direction doesn’t allow the actors to breathe. Bana works his usual quiet intensity, but there’s not a lot for him to build his role. Fortunately, a series of flashbacks fill in the story line’s blanks. Unfortunately, they play like some outback Dawson’s Creek.

Too many characters are barely fleshed out clichés: the single mother Gretchen (Genevieve O’Reilly), whom Aaron loved but left behind; Grant (Matt Nable), the brother of Ellie, the girl who people believe Falk killed. He spends his time fighting in bars and telling Falk he’s not welcome here. However, a standout is Keir O’Donnell as Greg Raco, who appears to be the town’s only police officer. This is his first murder investigation, and his first-time jitters don’t overpower the good cop confidence that grows in him. In fact, he seems to be the only one who really develops. Everyone else, by the nature of the script, is too mired in the past. It may be a point the screenwriters are making, but it doesn’t particularly make for involving viewing.

Another problem is the mystery. Who shot the family? Yet the film is just as interested in who killed Ellie, though it’s pretty clear from the get-go that Aaron didn’t do it. Breaking the film up into these two sections doesn’t lead the two stories to complement each other so much as bifurcate the movie. And when the big reveal occurs, there is no way anyone could have figured it out beforehand. There are so many red herrings, it practically makes you dizzy, and then there’s this deus ex machina ending for which the audience simply does not have the information to surmise. Sure, there are examples in which an onscreen murder is deliberately beside the point, but this is not that movie, or it certainly doesn’t act like it.

There are some good things here, though. It’s shot beautifully and the production design is slick and impeccable. The last half hour also revs up and picks you up out of your seat a bit, but the overall pacing is just too slow and the script too pedestrian.