In 2020, Australian director Robert Connolly released “The Dry,” a mystery thriller film based on Jane Harper’s eponymous book. The film received widespread acclaim and was also nominated for multiple AACTA awards. Now, the director returns with its sequel, “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” (2024), which takes place a year after the events of the first film. Eric Bana reprises his role as federal agent Aaron Falk. He and agent Carmen Cooper investigate the case of a missing person from a five-women corporate hiking trip. Besides Hana, the film stars Anna Torv, Deborra-Lee Furness, Robin McLeavy, Sisi Stringer, Lucy Ansell, Jacqueline McKenzie, Tony Briggs, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, and Richard Roxburgh in crucial roles.
Spoilers Ahead
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
Eric Bana starrer “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” follows federal police detective Aaron Falk, who is investigating a case of missing persons, as he continues his research into a money laundering scheme.
What is ‘Force of Nature: The Dry 2’ about?
“Force of Nature: The Dry 2” interlinks different timelines to follow its events. It essentially begins about a year after the events from “The Dry.” Federal agent Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) hopes to seek the help of Alice Russell (Anna Torv) about a money laundering scheme in the company she works at. During their meeting, she didn’t tell him anything. Later, she calls him. But the call gets abruptly cut. Soon after, he learns that Alice disappeared during a corporate retreat in the Giralang ranges. Four other employees returned, but she didn’t. So, Aaron heads there with Agent Carmen Cooper (Jacqueline McKenzie) to investigate this case.
Who went on the corporate retreat?
Alice Russell worked at a company run by Daniel Bailey (Richard Roxburgh) and his wife, Jill (Deborra-lee Furness). Jill decided to take some of her employees on the retreat in Giralang. It included Alice and her colleagues, Lauren (Robin McLeavy), Bethany/ Beth (Sisi Stringer), and Brianna/ Bree (Lucy Ansell). Three days into this journey, Alice called Aaron. The call got abruptly cut due to some network issues. While guiding others on the trail, Beth misread the map and made everyone lose track. In the past, she was arrested for selling her sister Bree’s belongings for drug money. So, Alice remains bitter toward Beth throughout their journey and doesn’t trust her.
As Alice tries to get hold of the map from Bree, it falls in the stream. Lauren tries to catch the map but accidentally falls into the water. After Lauren gets saved, Alice leads everyone but deliberately takes them on the wrong path. As Jill realizes it, she takes charge of the situation. Eventually, they find a cabin and decide to stay. But Alice is against this plan because it presumably belonged to Kovac, a notorious serial killer who used a dog to lure his victims to the same cabin. Alice also finds the gravesite of a dog and assumes they are standing on the burial ground of Kovac’s victims. However, everyone else wants to stay there for the night.
What do Aaron & Carmen find during their investigation?
After the retreat, Bree gets hospitalized due to a funnel web spider bite. Aaron questions her and Beth. Then, he meets Lauren and sees that her face is bruised. He recalls Jill also had a bruise on her chin. But Lauren doesn’t reveal how she got it. Later, he realizes that Bree & Beth informed the local authorities about a larger, human-sized coffin they found near the dog’s grave. He confronts a local officer to admit the truth. Based on everyone’s testimonies, Aaron locates the cabin in the woods. Somewhere nearby, he discovers Alice’s dead body and finds a funnel web sister near her body. So, he suspects Bree is responsible for Alice’s murder.
What is Aaron’s connection to the Giralang ranges?
As a teen, Aaron went on a trail with his parents in the Giralang ranges. During their journey, his mother suddenly disappeared. He and his father found her after a few days of searching. However, she was in a terrible state, so they couldn’t save her.
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Who is responsible for Alice’s mysterious disappearance?
Based on the spider web evidence, Aaron confronts Bree about her connection to Alice’s death. Bree reveals the truth from the time of their retreat. After Alice left the cabin, Bree decided to find her. But she found Alice’s dead body. She believed Beth killed Alice because of Alice’s hostility and didn’t want Beth to get jailed again. So, Bree decided to leave. On her way out, she got hurt by a funnel web spider, which led her to get hospitalized. In the present, after Bree’s confession, Aaron meets Lauren, who shares her confession. It turns out that once Alice left them, Lauren confronted her for her stubbornness. In the past, Alice didn’t discipline her daughter even though she kept bullying Lauren’s daughter.
Since Alice didn’t feel any sympathy for Lauren, they got into a fight. Alice fell and hit her head. Lauren thought Alice’s injuries were not severe. So, she returned to the cabin. The next day, she returned to the same spot but couldn’t find Alice’s body. Right after this admission, Lauren jumps from a cliff. Aaron follows her into the water to save her. Once they get rescued, the authorities take Lauren and Bree away. Daniel drives away with Jill after talking about the crooked morality of today’s world with Aaron. He claims to be the good guy in this story, but he is harassed by a cop like Aaron.
Right after, Beth admits to Falk that Daniel didn’t suspect Alice of being the whistleblower because of her criminal history. Beth hands over the thumb drive that Aaron had requested from Alice, along with the information necessary to arrest Daniel for the crimes. So, “Force of Nature: The Dry 2” ending shows Detective Aaron Falk being finally able to seek justice against the corrupt egomaniac Daniel.
Force of Nature: The Dry 2 (2024) Final Word:
Despite an intriguing story, “Force of Nature” suffers because of the clumsy editing that makes it harder to understand the consistent time shifts. Intentional disorientation is justified. But what happens here feels far from intentional and, thus, messy.
