Review: ‘Australia’
Baz Luhrman is a visual director. Couple him with fellow Aussies Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman; one would expect a strong story with terrific scenery and fine performances.
Instead, we got a faded postcard called Australia. The overly long film, now out on DVD, is actually two predictable stories melded into one feature. The first half is a remake of [[[The African Queen]]] repurposed as an American western set in the outback. The second half is a World War II adventure that sort of pits Jackman against the Japanese. Given its highly obvious story points, it’s hard to believe this is a product from the man who gave us [[[Moulin Rouge]]] and a fresh take on [[[Romeo and Juliet]]].
About the only thing unique about the story is the plight of the half-Caucasian/half-Aborigines children taken away by missionaries during this era to have the “savage” beaten out of them. As a result, the most interesting characters in the film are the “creamy” Nullah and his silent grandfather King George (played by the veteran David Gulpilil).
Jackman may never win an Oscar for his work, but he’s a versatile, entertaining actor who handles action and romance with equal aplomb. His Droper smolders throughout the movie and his understanding of the aboriginal people is sympathetic in contrast to just about every other Caucasian in the movie.
Kidman’s Lady Sarah goes from spoiled Englishwoman to gun-toting, hard drinking native without any in-between steps and feels unnatural. Instead of a nuanced performance, which she’s capable of, she feels like she did this to work from home and not that she had any real affinity for the role or story.
Luhrman also seems more interested in the landscape of his native land than the performances which are more two-dimension than we’re used to. The pacing is languid, even for the action sequences, and overall the movie just lays there. It did not perform well at the box office and 20th Century-Fox apparently lost faith in the film which resulted in a DVD that comes with barely any extras. There are trailers (and not one for [[[Wolverine]]]) and two deleted scenes, neither of which substantively changes the movie.
You obviously didn't see the movie based on your ridiculous review. Of course you're not the only so-called critic to do that! Aside from the other things wrong with your analysis, in a featurette on the Blu-ray disc you can watch archival footage of real drovers of the period, real snooty aristocrats of the period, real 'mission' children and the real bombing of Darwin. Everything portrayed in the movie is spot on so get over yourself and stop reviewing movies, you're not good at it.
"… a DVD that comes with barely any extras.""… on the Blu-ray disc you can watch archival footage of real drovers"DVD and Blu-ray versions of a particular movie often tend to have different extras. So before you start making accusations over what is really just a difference of opinion about a movie, perhaps you should get your facts straight.Although, your rantings are typical fare from the cowardly types who feel safe to hurl insults only if they can do so without signing their name.
Well, that doesn't sound too hopeful, since I just won a free copy of the DVD. Being a big fan of "Moulin Rouge", I was looking forward to seeing it, even though I already knew from others that it wouldn't be as good, but still wanted to give it a chance.
"…a remake of "The African Queen" … set in the Outback…", eh?I like that – considering that the Bogart character in the original book is Australian, and as changed to Canadian so Bogey wouldn't have to struggle with the dialect.
Why is Australia being reviewed here?
Media.
Actually I did suffer through it and it was completely improbable but then that's Baz for you, it's not meant to be reality. It's hardly spot-on its like caricature.