Hugh Jackman Movie:

		List Price: $39.99		Label: 20th Century Fox Salesrank: 2040 Released: March 3, 2009
		Our Price: $10.61
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		MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Media: Blu-ray

Editorial Review:
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 03/03/2009 Run time: 165 minutes Rating: Pg13

Description of Australia [Blu-ray]:
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

Stills from Australia (Click for larger image)

Australia [Blu-ray] Reviews:
Bad
2009-11-08 - Couldn't stand more than 15 min of Kidman's new fake lips and bad acting. What a joke

This movie has been over rated
2009-11-06 - I felt this was over rated on publicity
Not depth enough or long enough
The acting is better than the story
chfancier

A very mixed bag
2009-11-04 - This movie is perhaps the most mixed bag of a flick I've ever seen. It has some good points, and bad points, and a lot of in-between. But this fully 180 minute movie is so sprawling and disjointed in its epic sort of way that it's hard to know where to start.

So before writing this review, I read some of the 1 star and 5 star reviews just to see what the extremes were like, and some of the negative ones are quite negative and others quite funny, such as the Australian reviewer who called it a bunch of kangaroo dung, and another reviewer who said the movie is sort of like Gone with the Wind meets The Road Warrior. LOL. On the other hand, many of the 5 star reviews compare it to some of the great adventure epics of earlier years.

Well, a great movie it is not, but I wouldn't call it a bunch of kangaroo dung, either. For me I would have to say the bottom line is that the movie, although it had a lot of potential, just doesn't quite get off the ground, for several reasons. Set against the backdrop of the rugged cattle ranching culture of the Northern Territory, the clash of cultures between the white man and the aborigines, and the impending Japanese bombing of Darwin, there was certainly a lot of potential for real drama, action, and emotion. But the disjointed story line is too patchy and disorganized. It's as if the director was trying to do too much, and in doing so failed to deal with any one subject really well.

For example, one problem was the attempt to positively portray the aboriginal culture which just comes off as superficial and contrived. Another is the romance between Jackman and Kidman's characters, which falls somewhat flat, although not completely so, but they just don't seem to have a whole lot of chemistry together. There are too many characters in the film to really develop well, and as a result they all end up a bit too stereotypical and shallow and you don't care about any of them.

Many people complained about the many CGI generated scenes and backdrops that looked too fake and cheesy but I didn't mind that too much; there was enough beautiful cinematography to compensate for that, and in fact, the cinematography is one of the strong points of the film. You get a good feel for the Australian countryside and it's sheer size, beauty, and dangers. I'm just sorry the rest of the movie didn't work out better.

As for the acting, Hugh Jackman is convincing as the laconic but intrepid drover who helps save Kidman's ranch, but Kidman's character (an aristocratic blueblood from England) is too melodramatic and over the top. No doubt pre-WWII Australia wasn't exactly the Ritz, but Kidman seems to spend half of the movie with a look of sheer horror plastered on her face at the barbarity and primitiveness of the place.

Finally, much of the dialog is lackluster and just falls flat, although Jackman and Kidman try valiantly to make it work. And the sound track, although there are some nice sections, overall just didn't add much to the movie.

Overall, not a terrible movie but one that fell considerably short of its potential. I would give it 2.5 stars if I could but I give it three here since the movie tries hard and I just like anything about Australia no matter how bad it is.

"Australia" as seen from another point of view
2009-11-03 - I did not see this in theatres on release as the trailers made it look like a big, overly wrought romance... a la Gone with the Wind meets Cimarron and not my cup of tea. Nor am I a fan of Nicole Kidman, so no appeal there. And when I finally saw it, I found it nothing like I expected nor was it much like many of the other reviewers have portrayed. Yes, it used broad, almost stereo-typed characters to carry the "Anglo" story line, and yes, there were actions in the movie that required the "willing suspension of disbelief"; that hardly seems unusual.

However, the thing that made the movie unusual in a most positive way was the telling of the story from the point of view of the racially-mixed "outcast" little boy, Nullah. This introduced an entirely different point of view, signficantly, at least for Americans, of the characters and the story line. While I do not pretend to know much about aboriginal culture, the concepts and importance of "singing" and "stories" were presented sufficiently well to open up the ideas to the large portion of the American audience which likely is unfamiliar with this. A number of strong and appealing cultural ideas were referenced or illustrated either in the dialog / actions of the aboriginal characters or occasionally the brief comments of "The Drover": the geographical mapping of the aborigines through "singing" (music); the importance of one's story and how one connects to the "tribe" / ancestors / universe through "singing" (stories). In fact, the word "sing" as used by Nullah and The Drover in the movie clearly has a richer meaning in this aboriginal context, one which cannot easily be translated directly into American English and which is worth exploring.

I thought Jackman did well in a role that called for a man's man--in American movies cowboys are not too chatty, either...men of action, mostly defined by showing up and doing, so I remain puzzled that other reviewers thought Jackman was too silent. However, the actors that stole the show were the aboriginal actors. Uncle George was marvelous and mystical throughout--totally elegant, grounded, and convincing as the shaman "singing" (guiding with knowledge) his charges through the desert. The Drover's brother-in-law was excellent, playing his role with a quiet dignity.

But this movie was Nullah's story, from beginning to end, and the beautiful Brandon Walters is a revelation as to what a pure talent can produce when given the right chance; for that we can thank Mr. Luhrmann's effort to get that key role right. I do not know who actually did the singing (humming, chanting) which seemed to eminate from Nullah--if it was dubbed or done by Brandon Walters. But this movie has indelibly burned in my mind the earnest, trusting face with huge brown eyes in and the pure, musical tones of the child-mystic when Nullah utters this simple line (and variations on it): "I sing you to me." For this line alone, whether taken as a simple plot facilitator or as a greater metaphor, I would see this movie again and again.

So Boring So Predictable So Obvious FX
2009-11-02 - The plot was totally predictable -- first Australia was made into the Wild West of America, same characters, same plot, same good guys and bad guys, same movie you saw Howard Hawks do better a dozen times; then the WW II movie with the bad guy Japanese, kind of Pearl Harbor, the movie, unfortunately with the same FX badly faked footage of Japanese Zeros coming in and bombing everything; the special effects FX just too fakey to be taken for anything but a video game....I know I could not make a movie of a blade of grass growing but then I dont claim to be a movie maker --- all that money, all that work, for a dull re-run of old Westerns and old WW II flicks jammed together into one unendingly boring ordeal of special effects that dont look real. Not easy to sit through.