12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
Good!
A surprisingly good film. Didn't quite know what it should be for the first hour or so, comedy? fantasy? silent movie spoof? But it gets better and settles down to an old fashioned romp, fun and easy to follow, just a litttttttle long but otherwise worth a watch.
Average Movie
Australia was a great idea for a movie. Correctly done, the countryside of the Northern Territory offered unlimited opportunity to produce an exiting script, in an exciting time when the world was uncertain about its future. However, what we got was a corney, inaccurate jumble of history with stereo type Australian male behaviour. Why does every movie maker have to...
A surprisingly good film. Didn't quite know what it should be for the first hour or so, comedy? fantasy? silent movie spoof? But it gets better and settles down to an old fashioned romp, fun and easy to follow, just a litttttttle long but otherwise worth a watch.
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This is a far from perfect film; never sure what he wants to achieve, Luhrmann allows it to try and cover all bases from western to romance to action adventure to story of conscience. That said, if you're a fan of the Luhrmann vision you will love this film. It has all the stylistic and romantic elements of previous movies like Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet and Hugh Jackman in particular shows some genuine class as the Drover - who is a very typical Luhrmann hero; a man's man with a dream. I'm less convinced by Nicole Kidman (who I genuinely liked in Moulin Rouge) and there are times when the chemistry between the two is totally unconvincing. The story of Nullah the Aboriginal boy feels hackneyed and overly corny at times, a deliberate pull on the heart-strings, but again it's very typically Luhrmann and its very hard not to like Brandon Walters.
You have to want to like this film, you have to buy into Luhrmann's vision and you have to allow its flaws to pass you by. If you can you will find some absolute gems of style, direction and story-telling and above all an entertaining film that leaves you feeling as though you've seen a genuine modern-day epic
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The reason this film got bad reviews was simple... people took it the wrong way. Some reviewers were saying that people were laughing in the cinema at the beginning, well so was I. Infact I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes, because it's funny. It's INTENTIONALLY funny. Baz Luhrmann himself stated that he tried to put a bit of everything in this film including "high comedy" as well as high drama. If you've seen Baz's films before and loved them then you'll love this. Like Moulin Rouge, it begins humourously before taking you through a rollercoaster of emotions to moments of extreme sadness and tension. It looks beautiful and it's played beautifully by all of the actors. Basically this is Baz Luhrmann's nod to the old classics, it's reminiscant of "The African Queen" and "Gone With The Wind" and has obvious nods to "The Wizard of Oz". If you think they don't make films like they used to, this is highly recommended. Don't take it as fact, just let yourself enjoy it and you'll soon be swept along with the story.
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When I first put Australia on, I was beginning to think that I'd put the wrong film on - yes, the narrator was talking about Australia, but where were Hugh and Nicole? Plus the tone of the film seemed, well, playful, whereas I was thinking it would be romantic. Regardless, I carried on watching. The storyline came along soon enough, it had just been setting up some backstory.
The basic plot is Lady Sarah Ashley's husband is living and working in Australia on a cattle ranch. Understandably his wife is a bit miffed that her husband lives on the other side of the world and she wants to sell the land so he can come home. Getting to the end of her tether, Lady Sarah heads out there only to find (spoiler!) on her arrival that her husband is dead. Still determined to go through with the sale, everything changes when she finds out that there are people determined to see the ranch fail and be sold to the local monopoly-craving, money-grabbing businessman. Feisty Lady Ashley decides she's going to keep the land, but after sacking the underhanded manager she finds herself lacking in staff. She knows just the man for the job, but unfortunately it's The Drover (Hugh Jackman) and he works purely on a commission basis as a drover, unwilling to be hired or fired by anyone.
The action continues as Lady Sarah tries hard to persuade The Drover to work for her and not have to sell to King Carney (played by Bryan Brown). All the while there are subplots going on which all tie fabulously together. I do agree with some of the reviews I've read that the film doesn't really fit neatly into a genre, but I wouldn't necessarily say that's a bad thing - surely it just widens its audience? The film wasn't what I expected but I really enjoyed it nevertheless. It's great to see how Kidman's character changes throughout, and the role of independent man's man The Drover seemed made for Jackman (thinking about who the director is, I'd say it probably was!) - including some of the dry quips we've become so used to when he's in the role of Wolverine.
Overall, I think the DVD cover doesn't do the film any favours as it will send many men running for the hills at the prospect of being forced to sit through another soppy love story. But I have to say, there's so much more to the film than that, there's plenty of action, scandal, humour and chemistry to keep most film lovers entertained.
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Upon release, critics didn't like Australia. The reason was simple: it was too entertaining. In an age where films have to be as bleak as No Country for Old Men, or as morbid as The Dark Knightn to garner critical acclaim, critics disregarded this film because it was so uplifting. Proof that critics don't know a good movie when they see one can be seen through the likes of Blade Runner, Once Upon a Time in the West, and, most ironic of all, Citize Kane. Give it a few years, and Australia will be hailed as a classic. Why watch it? Simple, the film is entertaining as hell. The audience goes through all kinds of emotion watching it, and the film is funny, sad, exciting and thrilling. The performances are all great, espcially Hugh Jackman, who's drover character is the defenition of masculinity, and just for the film's love of its own country, Austrlia. Just watch the way Baz Lurhman captures the country's beautiful landscapes with his camera, its incredible. Watch Australia and I guarantee you'll love it.
Particularly recommended if you like: Gone with the Wind, Once Upon a Time in the West, Lawrence of Arabia and The African Queen.
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Having seen the movie more than once has given me a more nuanced appreciation of this epic movie. Its storyline tackles the relationship between two people coming from different cultures who eventually found themselves together -- initially at odds, in love, and part of a family unit -- all amidst the backdrop of the sprawling Australian outback, the clashing cultures of races and social strata, the age-old clash between good and evil, and the onset of the second world war in the Pacific! The movie experience is like curling up with an extraordinary epic novel - and at the end feeling what a well-spent afternoon it has been!
The movie's length does justice to this tale of love and adventure in a faraway culture and of unusual natural beauty. The cinematography provides all the lush scenes of the Australian landscape, the rush of blood in some of the most awesome action scenes, and the loving closeups of the story of the relationship between Lady Sarah Ashley, The Drover, and their defacto son, Nullah! The musical score gives the movie the perfect complement to the excellent cinematography. The story unwinds from an initial meeting full of comedic winks ( including the now famous shower scene - featuring the leading man!) and clashing cultures. It then dawns on the central role played by the child Nullah and his aboriginal culture. Plus what would an epic movie be without the quintessential villains? As the movie progresses and we witness the triumph of the independent cattle company versus the monopoly, it also gives us a slice of Australian history and its development in its early frontiers. When the second world war breaks out and it marches down to Darwin, we are caught in another story between good and evil, so cinematically well-portrayed. And they lived happily ever after, with a twist --the expected end of a truly epic movie!
Who are the main characters and how are they portrayed?
Lady Sarah Ashley is the English rose who became an adopted daughter of the Australian frontier. She is transformed into a loving nurturer of a child and the harsh land because the relationship which came into her life also changed her outlook. Nicole Kidman very ably portrays this complicated woman who changes from a non-sympathetic character to a caring heroine. This transformation is so well portrayed in the changing face of Lady Ashley - from the very beautiful and well-turned out woman to the woman whose inner beauty shines through her bedgraggled locks and almost plain face, her pained expression as she undergoes tragedy and is touched by sorrow, and to the look of someone who has come to terms with what is important in life. This is one of Nicole's best movie portrayals!
The Drover has a mysterious past and a rough image as we are first introduced to him. He is a man who is iconic in the history of the outback but it is his reaching out to the shunned aboriginal culture in the past which shows that he is an extraordinary man. In the song by Elton John, played second in the movie credits, called The Drover's Ballad, his story turns out to be rich in tragedy and a life full of love for the outback, which gives us more of a complete picture of this man with a heart of gold. The tragic life seems to follow him even much later in the movie - and this is where he shows his heart on his sleeve! Hugh Jackman is magnificent in the role and it is hard to imagine anybody else giving a more masterful performance. The magnificence is not just in how he looked ( Baz Luhrmann did show Hugh Jackman as the representation of physical perfection...surprisingly, because the other choice was Nicole Kidman) but also in his acting chops. There are several scenes where Hugh displays his acting range at the highest emotional level - when he realizes that the people he loved may have become victims of the tragedy of war...and then the realization that fate had actually been kinder. Who can't help but be mesmerized by his face and his voice in the scene by the burning war HQ and at the ruined bar, in the Mission Island rescue, and at the wharf in Darwin? Had the past of the drover been more meaningfully played out on the screen, the role could have garnered Hugh an award recognition!
The third important role is the child Nullah, as charmingly portrayed by a new child actor named Brandon Walters. He charms everyone except the villain. He is in a sense at the heart of the story and Brandon makes us follow Nullah's journey with almost a maternal/paternal eye for his welfare in the story. At the end, he is conflicted about his real family and culture, but I am sure that when Nullah grows up, it will both cutlures and both families that he will truly call his own!
Kudos likewise to the actors who portrayed the main villain, the iconic aboriginal character, the Drover's friend and main man, even the hotel keeper and his gruff ways...as well as to the other Australian actors who gave life to this epic story.
The creatives have done well to transform such a tale magnificently on screen! Baz Luhrmann provides the vision and the direction of the story-telling with such interesting and charismatic characters and amidst a magnificent background of natural beauty, culture, and slices of history!
While the movie could only be given full justice in a cinema with its impressive big screen and excellent sound, I would still love to get a DVD/blu-ray version to allow me to see it again and again - much like wanting to read and re-read a very good epic novel!
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Australia was a great idea for a movie. Correctly done, the countryside of the Northern Territory offered unlimited opportunity to produce an exiting script, in an exciting time when the world was uncertain about its future. However, what we got was a corney, inaccurate jumble of history with stereo type Australian male behaviour. Why does every movie maker have to introduce Australian males into a movie by having them involved in a fight. Certainly Hugh Jackman did a fairly good job with the character material he was given. But if you want to introduce a hero who gives humor and allows the viewer to retain respect for a character. Then the directors should have taken a look at another older movie of another frontier. James Garner would have been able to show the Director how a tough character can still be beleivable, and fun as he was in "Support Your Local Sherriff." Let others been seen as the clowns required a fight scene. You can then have your charactor involved in the fight scene and not have lumps and bumps in the scene for the day after? Nicole Kidman's portrayal of an English Lady was fair. Overall the cudos for the movie belong to the aboriginal actors and the young lad. With the build up before the movie was released. Compared to what the public got, can only be described as disappointing. The North of Australia is a wild and beautiful place. More use of real scenery should have been used instead of the synthetic computer generated stuff. It worked in Croc Dundee.
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Australia sees Mrs Boss (Kidman) and the Drover (Jackman) join forces to drive 1500 "cheeky bulls" to Darwin, with the evil Mr Fletcher (David Wenham) determined to stop them. Later, the story darkens as the young half-cast boy Nullah is sent to "The Mission" on an island directly in the path of the advancing Japanese army...
At nearly 3 hours in length, Baz Luhrmann's newest offering Australia, is a long haul movie with an old-fashioned feel. There is certainly room for an intermission, with a concluding lull in the main storyline, and a lot of rain, but this is simply the cue for the movie to metamorphose, switching genre from romance-adventure to war epic . Luhrmann's fingerprints are everywhere, from his attention to detail and beauty, to the stylised set pieces, that make the movie lavish, and always slightly unreal; naturally, it is romance and love that provide the threads of continuity in this grand, sprawling story.
Kidman wears her role like a glove; similarly Jackman is the perfect physical specimen of the knight in shining armour transferred down under, plenty of muscles and tears in tow. It's most disappointing then, that there is such a lack of chemistry between Kidman and Jackman, who, whilst they make a beautiful looking couple, are decidedly flat and unconvincing when they are together. Wenham is nasty enough, as the main villain, but also clumsy and foolish; it feels like he never gets the chance to get going, and that he's doomed to failure never seems beyond doubt. Brandon Walters, who plays Nullah, is suitably wide-eyed and mysterious, and surely has the makings of a future star.
To talk about the acting though, seems irrelevant, when it is the sets, the costumes, the glorious Australia, and the depth and ambition of the story itself that steal the show. Luhrmann genuinely loves his country, loves his cast and loves movie-making: his work never fails to "wow" the audience. This is a movie that courts and embraces the BIGNESS of the big screen; a movie that revels in the panache, scale and grandeur of cinema, and loves the idea of love. Perhaps that's why it's so easy for me to forgive the melodrama, the stereotypes, the historical inaccuracies, the slight plot confusions, and love this movie back.
This is definitely one for fans of Luhrmann, and fans of the old-style sweeping epic - others will probably be less inclined to the multiple forgivenesses required.
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Have seen the movie a few times at the cinema and absolutely loved it and couldn't quite understand the bad reviews it got from some others. Yes, it has a few cliches but hey- it's a movie! Loved the landscape and soundtrack especially. Can't wait for the DVD to come out!
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Baz Luhrmann has made some good films, but this - despite all its pretensions and its big budget - is not one of them. I wish I could say different. All praise to him for the attempt at a defining epic about Australia. He HAS captured beautiful images of his country; he HAS created stirring tableaux of conflict; and he HAS collected a terrific cast, who look exactly as they should in an epic of this kind. But the script is an acre of corn, and the more you watch its enactment, the more you realise that Baz Luhrmann has no feel for how to portray either real people, or, especially, real interpersonal relationships. So many scenes are toe-curlingly awful or laugh-out-loud chronic (read other reviews for examples of awfulness; my favourite worst was the moment when The Drover turns up for the Ball). His cast must surely have been as embarrassed at being in it as we are at watching it, as they were asked to say and do the crassest things. Watching it will indeed be a MAJOR disappointment unless you leave all your critical faculties at home and/or bathe in the visuals of this deeply flawed film.
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