Movie review: 'Animal Kingdom' a wild thriller

Crime drama: directed by David Michôd. Starring James Frecheville and Joel Edgerton. (R. 112 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)

The predators and prey in "Animal Kingdom" are cops and robbers in the middle of an '80s blood feud.

It's a remarkable film: A gritty, gut-churning, crime thriller based on a true story. Its greatness lies in its unwavering fidelity to human nature and the unstoppable laws of the wild.

The debut feature from writer-director David Michôd, "Animal Kingdom," set in Australia, introduces us to the gang: Craig Cody (Sullivan Stapleton), a drug dealer; his brothers Pope (Ben Mendelsohn) and Darren (Luke Ford); their alarmingly pert mater familias, "Grandma Smurf" (Jacki Weaver); and Barry (Joel Edgerton), a family friend, successful bank robber and the closest thing everyone has to a conscience.

But before we meet any of them, we meet Smurf's teenage grandson, J (James Frecheville) watching "Deal or No Deal" while medics work on his OD'd mother. When Smurf brings him to live with the family, J reminds us that the young never really question their circumstances. They just accept them. His misfortune is to accept them on the eve of explosive warfare.

A member of the Cody mob gets shot by police. That's all you need to know, because that's all the screenplay needs to lurch toward tragedy with rough Shakespearean purpose.

Michôd's film combines the shock of sudden plot turns with a slow-burn, inevitable horror that plays up the emotional cost of violence. Certain scenes may stick to you for weeks, and certain roles may give you lasting nightmares: Mendelsohn's skeevy Pope, Weaver's kittenish Smurf. Other roles mark the arrival of major stars: Edgerton fairly zings with magnetism as the solid, sure-footed Baz, and Frecheville impresses as the unseasoned and underestimated J.

Guy Pearce (lately specializing in steadfast character bits) as a stubbornly decent homicide detective delivers the speech about the hunter and hunted, the weak and the strong, the ways of the bush and the world. It's one of those moments that demand analysis. Who is the prey, here? The cops are pretty sure, and through most of the movie we are, too. But we won't know who the predator is until the bloody end.

-- Advisory: Violence, drug content and pervasive language.

E-mail Amy Biancolli at datebookletters@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E - 6 of the San Francisco Chronicle