Australia Reviews

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Beautiful scenery and people... and a very Mills and Boon storyline

In the film, Kidman plays a widowed English aristocrat in the 1930s, who comes to northern Australia to sell a cattle property the size of Belgium. She becomes caught in the bombing of Darwin during World War II with a drover played by Jackman.

I saw the Welsh premiere last night and both my 99 year old Nan and I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The cinematography is amazing and a great advert for the country. The audience swooned every time Hugh Jackman graced the screen and it is obvious that Baz Luhrman exploits the actor's physique and good looks for all he's worth. We loved that but many male viewers may squirm at its cheesiness.

Whilst the film did not go into as much depth as 'The Rabbit Proof Fence' regarding the stolen generation of aboriginals who were separated from their families by the government, it served as a basic introduction to the indiginous culture of the Northern Territories.

Nicole Kidman was stunning throughout and her character's love for the Drover and the talented child star Brandon Walters was very believable. It was also interesting to learn that Australia was invaded during the war.

The main failing of the film was its melodramatic storyline. Bizzarely, 'Australia' reminded me of the classic TV series 'The Wacky Races' as throughout the film, a Dick Dastardly - style baddie kept being outwitted by Lady Sarah and her team. It was almost comedic in the way that just when yet another character died and you thought she would be on the next flight home to Blighty, miraculously everything would work out for her.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Much better entertainment than the high-minded critics would have you think

I saw this film in Australia, where it gets a critical panning - extending to a full-page diatribe from the dreadful Germaine Greer. I saw the film regardless, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I was reminded of Titanic, another film I saw despite low expectations, and left the cinema feeling pleasantly surprised. Titanic was a huge critical success, so I obviously wasn't the only person who enjoyed it.

Australia has enough weaknesses for the critics to go at. The one that particularly irks me is the fake 'documentary' element to it - i.e. it portrays its background as being factually accurate. Which it isn't; Germaine Greer gets upset about the portrayal of Aborigines (which I don't know anything about) but even I know that Japanese soldiers did *not* in fact invade Australia tho they certainly did viciously bomb Darwin. But this is a niggle - the plot does not stand or fall on these innaccuracies.

But the strengths of the movie are several. Starting with the acting. The half-Aboriginal kid does indeed steal the show - he is great and we all hope to see more of him. Nicole, who I think is fantastic, was not at her best but is nonetheless very good. Hugh Jackman is also very solid in a broadly undemanding role, tho I agree with the reviewer who said that male members of the audience may find director Baz Luhrman's exploitation of Jackman's 'phwoar' looks and torso a bit cheesy.

The story is predictable - but, hey, I enjoyed Titanic right? - and a bit longwinded, but no less enjoyable for all that. The King George character adds a few twists and turns and, despite saying very little, is one of the most memorable parts I've seen played in ages.

The scenery is terrific and the 'stampede scene' is really mesmerising for all its obvious CGI-ness. 'nuff said.

Overall this was a very enjoyable drama/western/rom-com with an edge - Australia - that few other films of the moment can match. It won't win any Oscars but it will entertain you, in a wonderfully widescreen way.

Australia

It's clear that most critics have some sort of axe to grind when writing about a film, and to take their comments at face value means a lot of wasted time viewing utter pretentious rubbish, and missing out on some very watchable and entertaining films. My wife and I are in our early fifties and we loved Australia. Our daughter is 22 and she and her similarly aged friends also loved the film (in fact we went to see it on their recommendation). It's a long film, but because it is so good and so beautifully filmed, the time flew. The chances are you will thoroughly enjoy this film, so don't be put off by an adverse review!

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A wide sweep of emptiness

I used to think I enjoyed Baz Luhrman's earlier films but on repeated watching I seemed to have tired of the overblown techniques that captured and even enraptured me when these films were first seen in the cinema. 'Australia' is just too expansive and exaggerated, it tries too hard to be the epic it is not, and uses the mysteries of the Aboriginal culture to gloss over some truly obvious and cliched aspects of the plot, such as it is.

Nevertheless I enjoyed it for what is was, and loved the performance from the young Brandon Walters as the 'half-caste' boy at the centre of the story. Hugh Jackman is handsome and rugged as the local cattle drover who refuses, until the Lady (Kidman) turns up, to be attached to anything or anyone, but his performance is limited in depth, although with a role as superficial as it is, it was probably all that could be asked of him. Nicole Kidman's character is one of a similarly stereotypical well brought up naive English Lady who within days seems able to deal with herding cattle across a desert in a swirling dust storm and a spiteful cattle baron trying to destroy the farm she inherits from her deceased husband, but I thought she did better with the role than Jackman did.

My advice is just to sit back and relax and enjoy the ride, as you will in all likelihood not want to see it again, and certainly not on a small screen....

Full of clichés

Pretty dissapointing, full of cliches and a very corny story line. Far too easy to predict and more like a typical Hollywood film and went on far too long.

Have seen worse films but not many!

Amazing Australia

I was stunned by this wonderful film. It is a glimpse of Australia with the touch of: romance, action, the sad past of the aboriginees and the war. Not to mention Nicole Kidman's excellent performance - crikey!

[Highly rated reviewer]

australia

this was a terrible film leaving me wondering why the story line meanders through a seemingly impossible chain of events which lead you into thinking the writer thinks too much of himself, and doesn't realize that in the end the audience just doesn't really care.

Only rent if your an absolute fan of the actors. ('m not...

Amazing

This film in two words truly amazing, a must see.

4.5 Stars

After reading some of the critics slating this when it was on in the cinema I was disappointed to hear that what looked to be a good film wasn't. HOWEVER, having just finished watching it I was vindicated! I loved this film. The scenery was stunning, the story was old school Hollywood (i.e it has a story) it was full of emotion, humour and action. I don't normally like Nicole Kidman but her over the top 'Englishness' fit the character perfectly. It is 158 mins long - but didn't feel it. I have sat through far shorter films which felt far longer; this was a long film that didn't feel long at all. Well worth renting.

An epic film, beautifully made

Australia's main problem is its length. At 15 minutes short of three hours, it is fair to say that if you haven't slept through some of the film, you will want to go to sleep afterwards. This is not to say Baz Lurman's epic is boring.It just needs a slight narrative trim here and there. Nicole Kidman's hoity-toity English lady is hilarious (sometimes unintentionally) as the woman who flys to Australia to confront her cheating husband. However, she finds Australia is a country where strange, redicuolously handsome men drove cattle, and have the same name as their job - Drover. Conviniently her husband has been murdered, so she shacks up with her pet Drover and adopts a young aboriginal boy. But all is not well in the land of Oz, as the Japanese plan a bomb attack on Darwin, and it looks as though the lives of her loved ones are threatened. To be fair and honest, this is a very good film with startling scenery and woulderful direction. However, the narratively irrative story weighs it down, making the film feel like two seperate genres sewn together rather than seemlessly blended. Better than many blockbusters these days, but far from Mr Lurman's usual standard.