Australia
Amazon.co.uk Review
Watching the early reels of Australia, there’s certainly no doubt who’s in charge: this could only be a film by Baz Luhrmann, that wacky purveyor of all things over-the-top. In this old-fashioned, 165-minute hymn to his native continent, Luhrmann travels back to the late 1930s/early ’40s, for a scenario that would not have been out of place at MGM in that era. Straightlaced Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) journeys Down Under and is put under the protection of–crikey–a rugged cattle driver known only as the Drover (Hugh Jackman). When the two are forced to team up (along with a motley crew of misfits) to take a herd of cattle through the hostile landscape, their way is challenged by the dastardly plans of the local beef baron (Bryan Brown) and his elaborately evil lieutenant (David Wenham). At some point you realize that this film’s main commodity is not cattle, but corn: Luhrmann piles on the melodrama and the old-school climaxes with his usual frantic glee. Employing “When You Wish Upon a Star” and the Japanese air force to make his case is not beyond Luhrmann, and he reaches big here. Those with a taste for un-ironic silliness might just go for this stuff, but even fans of the Baz will have their patience tested by the broad comedy and the absence of discernable chemistry between Kidman and Jackman. Australia does manage to skewer the culture’s prejudices against the Aboriginal people, but in this context such a victory comes across as rather tinny. –Robert Horton
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Thought I was going to settle down to view an Aussi ‘modern’ western and things went well for a bit. Good characters, great scenery, lots of cows, a few fisticuffs…the usual thing. Then it began to go awry. Old fashioned moralistic behaviour started to creep in. Governmental aboriginal legislation was soon to follow. The story was sound and the movie remained entertaining – as long as you could keep up with what was going on!. Signs of ‘The Misfits’ was noticed, then a touch of ‘The African Queen’, a dash of ‘Out of Africa’ and then, lo and behold, it all finished up at ‘Pearl Harbour’. ‘Australia’ requires a bit of stamina to stay with, it’s a lengthy film, but I made it and was suitably entertained so no complaints there. It is a colourful, spectacular movie with quite good special effects, and the two leads (both native australians by the way) did a decent job and deserved their paycheck. Go and have a look-see – chances are you will enjoy it.
Rating: 3 / 5
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in an historic Australian adventure – promises a lot but sadly fails to deliver.
The plot is simple enough; an English lady comes to Australia to help her husband in running his cattle ranch. The bad guys are against this as they want to monopolise on selling beef to the army and therefore kill her husband. Thereupon she needs to fall upon the good graces of Hugh Jackman, the rough and tough cowboy to bring the cattle to market. Somewhere along the way they fall in love, there is a mixed race Aboriginal boy thrown in to give it an Australian flavour, and you have an Australian adventure.
However, the formula just doesn’t seem to work. The on-screen chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman is non-existent and the romance unbelievable. The film goes on for more than 2 and a half hours when it really could have been cut to around an hour and a half; they could then have put the extra scenes in the “Deleted Scenes” part of the DVD if anyone was interested. Death of certain characters in the movie is treated unemotionally and incidentally as the plot drags on, and race issues are never properly dealt with. There is a backdrop of the WWII which also seems incidental, and amateurish cartoony CGI is used to recreate scenery and ships. The bad guy gets his just-desserts in the end but by then you are past caring.
Sounds terrible but there were a number of things which made the movie tolerable; Nicole Kidman with her looks and tremendous acting performance was one of them. The predictable storyline is palatable enough and just about keeps your interest to the happy conclusion of the film. There is a certain mystery weaved about Aboriginal practices and a small insight as to how life might have been in Australia in the mid 20th century.
It seems that this movie was set out to be an epic judging by its name and its length, but it just does not get anywhere near there. Compare this to movies such as “Legends of the Fall” and you feel that “Australia” is just empty. What a shame!
Rating: 2 / 5
for some reason this film kept coming into conversation with people i know, some really liked it some didn,t. i decided to buy it & hope for the best, i was not disappointed.
it,s a wonderful storyline, with fabulous scenery, great acting & who can resist hugh jackman.
Rating: 5 / 5
This movie is an excellent study of the socio-economic conditions in Australia in the period between the wars. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in that continent.
MMSaif
Rating: 5 / 5
Great director, competent cast and big ambitions but it lacks a good plot and character. Both Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are wooden throughout and the charm of Australia doesn’t show through at all. Very disappointing compared to Moulin Rouge.
Rating: 2 / 5