Plot To save her late husband’s Australian ranch from developers, icy Englishwoman Lady Sarah (Kidman) must travel cross-country with 1,500 cattle, a mixed-race child and the manly Drover (Jackman), whom she hates on sight…
Review
There’s a point about a hundred minutes into Baz Luhrmann’s sweeping love letter to his home country when — spoiler warning! — all obstacles have been overcome, couples have bickered, battled then fallen in love, and all that could have ended well, has. You might very well start stretching your legs and fiddling with your coat in anticipation of the end credits.
But then, just as you’ve got your arm through your left sleeve, it carries on. And on. And on, adding death and explosions and tragic misunderstandings, and all because Luhrmann is unashamedly striving to make an old-school epic. As if what went before, with its swooning romance, fistfights and luscious landscapes wasn’t epic enough.
But then, if history has taught us anything, it’s that Luhrmann and restraint are strange bedfellows. And Australia, the first (and, given the poor box office in the States, probably last) in the director’s planned trilogy of Big Movies is many things — heroically overblown, gloriously sweeping, unintentionally hilarious. But subtle it isn’t, leaving no Ayers Rock unturned in search of clunking cliché. There will be kangaroos. There will be mystical Aborigines. There will be boomerangs.
Like Moulin Rouge, Australia starts with an extended assault on the senses which introduces the players and plot, played at a frenetic pace that might seem out of place in a West End farce. Thank goodness, then, that things slow down over the next hour, allowing Luhrmann to show off his talent for stunning visuals (although the proliferation of CG backgrounds, given the natural scenery on offer, is baffling), to flex new action muscles with a thrilling cattle stampede, and to set in motion the beguiling African Queen-inspired romance between Kidman’s rapidly thawing cold fish and Jackman’s heart-of-gold, abs-of-steel tough guy, the Drover.
But then comes that final superfluous half-hour, with the sudden intrusion of World War II and the Japanese bombing of Darwin, and all momentum drains out of the picture, replaced by contrived conflict between the Drover and Sarah. And when the dust settles, we finish up… roughly where we were 30 minutes ago. Maybe you’d best be advised to slip out at the hundred-minute mark, after all.
Verdict Often beautiful but wildly inconsistent, Australia is none more Baz Luhrmann, which perhaps says it all. Worth a look on the big screen, though.
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Average user rating for Australia
overated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this film is a hunk of crap. the stupid aussies just got their best actors ( hugh jackman and nichole kidman) and put them to mediocre shit like this. the acting is extremely stale and awkward and the little aborigine has the only goood performance yet over acts a little bit.
these people should be sued bacause this movie screams out gone with the wind. this film is worth no stars. ... Read More
i love this film- mostly. i cant say that i noticed the extremely cheap CGI, but i agree that the film goes on ... and on... and on, however i loved a lot of the second half and the little boy is adorable!
the opening and the scene somewhere around the middle where they drove them damn cheeky bulls into the metal ship was a little too cheesy- even for me. ... Read More
The film is gorgeous, the Outback has been captured in all its desolate glory, and surely never before with such love. You can feel Baz Luhrmann's affection for the land in every sweeping epic shot. The longing slow-motion shots of Hugh Jackman's chest are also very attractive.
The film works best with an interval like a true fifties melodrama would have had in the cinema. So I would recommend watching the first 75 minutes then stopping to grab an icecream and settling back for the second half... Read More
The film is gorgeous, the Outback has been captured in all its desolate glory, and surely never before with such love. You can feel Baz Luhrmann's affection for the land in every sweeping epic shot. The longing slow-motion shots of Hugh Jackman's chest are also very attractive.
The film works best with an interval like a true fifties melodrama would have had in the cinema. So I would recommend watching the first 75 minutes then stopping to grab an icecream and settling back for the second half... Read More
I loved this movie, and I did not think I would. At all. Playing very much like an old fashioned movie, not afraid to be humorous, romantic, epic and action packed all at once, this movie was for me anyway, easy to sit through. I know its not for everyone, but the story held me, a hardened cinema goer, the whole way through. I loved the old fashioned hollywood film feel to it. I think it deserves four stars, for being what alot of movies are not at the moment; bold and unashamed of telling the s... Read More
WRONG WRONG WRONG, damn this film should have won some Oscars, nichole kidman and hugh jackman are incredible, the visual shots are spectacular with a plot that not only was believable but hooking and consistant, my sister and mum cried through it. I couldnt believe3 how it got overlooked at the oscars ... Read More
I really enjoyed this movie, yeah it's a little cheesy but what Baz Luhrman flick isn't? Beautiful shots of the Australian outback, lush imagery, (not just talking about Hugh Jackman with his shirt off pouring water in slow motion chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, funny, moving, thrilling, just popcorn fun. Hugh Jackman should never wear a shirt, ever! ... Read More
Seeing Moulin Rogue, I can understand why Baz Lurhrman likes making over the top movies with added romance and tradgey along the way. So when Austrailia came out, I was a little thrown off of seeing it as many people hated it and still do due to the running time and the storyline. I waited until it was able to rent which I did and sat through near three hours of a film without moving or going to the toliet! Before the first hour passes, it's dull and Lady Ashley is very annoying while The Dover ... Read More
Spoilers, possibly, although this is a /b] thread so what you'd expect.p;
Yeah - because Titanic bombed with sad ending. p;
If I were to believe it - and given the above I don't quite accept the story as it is told - I'd guess it was more because people are sick to the death of every apparent love story only being one if someone dies. ... Read More
If the ending seems a bit pointless, it's because the studio forced baz to neuter it:
http://www.beyondhollywood.com/baz-luhrmanns-aus tralia-gets-new-happier-ending-spoilers/
Don't look unless you don't mind the ending being quite thoroughly spoiled. ... Read More
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