The Water Diviner **½

Russell Crowe directed and stars in this Adventure/Drama. Watch Preview. Cast: Steve Bastoni, Russell Crowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney, Ryan Corr, Yilmaz Erdogan, Cem Yilm. Rated R for war violence including some disturbing images. Running time is one hour and fifty-one minutes.

An Australian farmer (Crowe) travels to Istanbul after the Battle of Gallipoli to discover the fate of his missing sons, and forges a relationship with the beautiful Turkish woman (Kurylenko) who owns the hotel in which he stays.

This is a solid drama with a little something for everyone. There are brief action sequences, some very mild romantic scenes, but overall it's the story of a man who wants to take care of his family. Crowe  is fine, both as the lead and the director. The rest of the cast do fine jobs, also. Production values are good although a lot of the scenery looks distressingly like Western Kansas. I did not see this in IMAX and for the life of me can't figure out why it was released here in that format. While  this is a good film, it's certainly not an epic, so I don't see the advantage of a giant screen.

There are no additional scenes once the final credits begin. A large screen is always nice but it's not necessary for this film. Theatre/Times. IMAX Times.