Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

just watch it!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Young school teacher Sally Jones (a fine and credible performance by the lovely Rachel Ward) and her nine students are taken hostage by four masked gunmen. The teacher and her students soon realize that in order to survive this grueling ordeal they will have to take action on their own and fight back. Tightly directed by Arch Anderson, with a substantial amount of nerve-wracking suspense, a tough, gritty, take-no-prisoners tone (the climax with the teacher and her students brutally attacking the last remaining gunman with makeshift spears is positively shattering), and startling outbursts of sudden ferocious violence, this very tense and effective little gut-kicker packs a really strong and mean wallop. Everett De Roche's gripping and hard-hitting script delivers a disturbing and provocative central message on how anyone can degenerate into savagery if given the proper stimulus. Ward's protective teacher impresses with her bravery, spunkiness, and resourcefulness. The child thespians do solid and believable work. The masked gunmen are genuinely fierce and frightening, with Peter Hehir in particular a scary stand-out as vicious ring leader Father Christmas. The remote rural Aussie outback locations convey a profoundly unsettling feeling of isolation and vulnerability. David Connell's sharp and lively cinematography offers several striking images. Danny Beckmann's rattling score does the heart-racing trick. A real powerhouse.

I watched this movie when I was 18 and it made a great impression on me. I went wild, began to smash everything in my flat, and when my parents kicked me out, I continued to run through the park and scream and curse. Why? I don't know, but those filthy, cruel, ruthless kids and their nasty teacher disturbed me very much indeed. I even wrote a song in which I kill children and rape teachers. And that hint that the kids maybe became sexually intimate with the teacher also made me mad. I am discussing it with my therapist at this moment and it is very interesting story. I am 41 now, and I don't have any kids. I kinda have a problem with it. Consider it before you let your kids watch it.

It would be very easy to pick "Fortress" apart by challenging everything that is not dripping with logic. If you do that however, you will be distracted from a highly entertaining movie. The film is atypical, and difficult to classify. Part kidnapping gone wrong, part hunted in the wild, part revenge flick, "Fortress" is the sum of all these. Rachel Ward bravely adapts to the situation and rallies the children in their quest to survive. Featuring not one, but two separate caves, an escape swim through an underground stream, along with some savage retributions against the masked tormentors, "Fortress" delivers enough entertainment that the plot holes are best forgiven. - MERK

What we have here is a fairly obscure little made for Australian TV movie that takes a common plot (kidnap) and moulds an interesting little morality tale around it. The theme seen in this film was previously seen in classics such as The Virgin Spring, and later The Last House on the Left, except here it arguably more shocking (though much less visceral) as there are children involved. The question that the movie asks is whether or not it is OK to "do unto others as they do unto you", though it never actually makes a judgement on this and the audience is left to decide - which makes the film instantly more interesting than morality tales that preach to the viewer (recent Oscar winner Crash is a good example of how badly that can turn out). The plot focuses on a school teacher and her class. Their ordinary day is ruined when men with guns decide to take them all hostage and hold them for ransom. They manage to escape the kidnappers, but find themselves running out of steam as every escape attempt is thwarted. They soon realise that the best to get away from the villains may not be to run, but to stand and fight...This film works because the plot is kept simple and this allows us to focus on the important points that the story has to make. The characters we are introduced to are all likable and believable also; and this again helps to convey the film's message as we can understand why they have been lured into the situation that they find themselves in. The acting in the film is decent considering it's a TV movie. Rachel Ward plays the part of the school teacher well, and definitely seems to have a rapport with the children. A Problem that often befalls films like this is that the child actors tend to be annoying; but surprisingly, this film manages to avoid slipping into that pitfall as even the kids manage decent performances! The first half of the movie doesn't feature a lot in the way of excitement, but things really hot up in the second half and the ending is certainly worth waiting for. I can't say that this is a great movie, but it's certainly a very good one and one that fans of horror/thrillers will certainly want to check out!