IN AUSTRALIA, there is a colourful expression 'to put the hard word on', meaning to verbally menace, threaten with extortion or proposition sexually.

All the main characters in Scott Roberts' thriller put the hard word on each other in some form or another.

Only a handful of them survive to tell the tale.

The Twentyman brothers - Dale (Guy Pearce), Shane (Joel Edgerton) and Mal (Damien Richardson) - are convicted bank robbers, united by their unspoken bond of family.

They are masters of their craft, working to a single golden rule: that no one gets hurt during their heists.

After several months behind bars for their latest escapade, the brothers are sprung from jail by their flashy and arrogant lawyer Frank Malone (Robert Taylor), who secures bail long enough for them to do one last job.

Frank wants the Twentyman trio to mastermind their most daring heist yet: the theft of millions of Australian dollars from the bookies at the prestigious annual Melbourne Cup meeting.

The brothers agree to Frank's proposition and head for Melbourne, where the lawyer has arranged for two hired guns - Paul (Kim Gyngell) and highly strung Tarzan (Dorian Nkono) - to lend muscle to the operation.

Despite some dark misgivings on the part of the Twentymans, who prefer to work alone, the ambitious robbery goes ahead.

However, Dale's concentration wavers when he learns that his wife Carol (Rachel Griffiths) is having an affair with Frank.

Is she planning to double-cross Dale and run off with Frank and all the loot?

The Hard Word is a gritty thriller from down under in which crime does pay.

Rating: 7/10