Our neighbors the sociopaths | Far Flungers

However, we come to realize that, no matter how lousy mother she was, J's mother was probably his only protection from her criminal family in Melbourne. There is a good reason why she was scared of them; all of his three uncles have been involved in various criminal activities including armed robbery and drug trafficking. Craig Cody (Sullivan Staplenton) is a nervous, volatile drug dealer. Darren Cody (Luke Ford) is the most passive and obedient among three and usually follows his older brothers. Andrew Cody (Ben Mendelsohn), the eldest brother nicknamed "Pope", is an armed robber currently hiding from the police. And Janine Cody is always near her sons as the matriarch of this dangerous criminal gang. Even though they are all grown-ups, her sons are still her boys to take care of.

Now J becomes a family member again, so he begins to learn the ropes from his uncles, such as how to scare off some aggressive strangers they come across on the street. As the beginning of the main title sequence suggests, their world is more or less like the jungle where only the strong rule and survive. They are a bunch of vicious beasts who have been dominating their turf, and, surrounded and protected by them, J is a cub who will follow their footsteps.

However, it is a really dangerous time for all of them because the reigning days are over for the Codies, and the police are more determined to get them by any means necessary. They know it's best to stay low for a while, but they do not know what else to do to while scared about what will happen to them (J observes it through his narration; "They were all scared, even if they didn't show it."). Their close associate/friend Baz (Joel Edgerton), the most sensible member of the gang, is tired of this; he is seriously considering moving on to a more legitimate and safer field, while his cohorts are helplessly stuck in their criminal mindset.

And then, an incident suddenly happens. I will not go into details about what will be ignited by this incident, but let's say the beasts in the story get more scared than before. Like predators stuck in a corner, they become more paranoid and dangerous. In their view, even a family member can be deemed as someone expendable when their safety is concerned, so J's situation becomes far more unpredictable when detective Leckie (Guy Pierce) approaches to him. Leckie thinks J is the weak link, but so do J's family, who also regards J's girlfriend Nicky (Laura Wheelwright) as another potential danger.