(18, 104 mins): Starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, Danny Huston, John Hurt and David Wenham. Directed by John Hillcoat.

Nick Cave's screenwriting debut is everything a great western should be.

A bullet-ridden melee of heightened realism, moral ambiguity and extraordinarily drawn characters wrapped around a devilishly simple tale, it's a methodical take on the genre's greats, with a dash of typical Cave darkness.

Comparable to classics such as Unforgiven and The Searchers, the strikingly linear narrative presents Australian policeman Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone), who sets into motion a plan to capture rapist and murderer Arthur Burns (Danny Huston) by sending his equally bad-to-the-bone brother Charlie (Guy Pearce) to do the job for him.

Giving Charlie until Christmas Day to get the job done, before the life of his innocent younger sibling Mike (Richard Wilson) will be forfeit, Stanley's shaky plan threatens to destroy his already fragile world in the name of justice.

At its core, The Proposition is a feel-bad morality play about doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, and a test of how far family loyalties can be stretched before the repercussions become deadly.

But the beauty of Cave and director John Hillcoat's kangaroo western lies in the details, with metaphors for death, destruction and madness as omnipresent as the flies which infest every scene.

With a cast featuring the ever-solid Pearce and Winstone, a short but oh-so-sweet extended cameo from a grizzled John Hurt and a mesmerizing turn from the phenomenal Danny Huston, the talent is all present and correct, bringing this deliciously deviant moral quandary to life.

However, it is the Outback setting - a place so damn hot it makes the surface of the sun feel a bit nippy - which creates the biggest impression. Barren, oppressive and strangely beautiful, it reflects the hard-bitten nihilism of the characters, creating a great juxtaposition between people and place. It's at once, home and hell to them.

Dark, original and thought - provoking, The Proposition is a beautiful film with a heart of darkness that lingers in the memory long after the last heat haze sizzles off the screen.