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Photo © Twentieth Century Fox
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Australia
Epic drama
2hrs.45 mins.
November 26th, 2008
MPAA: PG-13
Twentieth Century Fox
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Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Brandon Walters, Bryan Brown, David Ngoombujarra, David Gulpilil
Directed By: Baz Luhrmann
Produced By: Baz Luhrmann,G. Mac Brown, Catherine Knapman
Screenplay By: Baz Luhrmann, Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan.Story:Luhrmann
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Reviewed
By: Wellington Lee
Rated 2.99/5
In a Nutshell;synopsis:Epic melodrama takes place in WW 11 Australia.Lady Ashley(Kidman)travels to her Australian outback cattle ranch in 1939,to retrieve her
husband(whom she thinks has a penchant for aborigine women).She ends up trying to save their 1500 head heard,fighting monopolistic cattleman King
Carney(Brown),and his murderous thug Fletcher(Wenham).Her only ally is Drover(Jackson).A maverick, buff and tetchy, ranch hand for hire.
The characters are movie classic archetypes,with a hyper Kidman(for 2 acts)and muscle pumped Jackson.Too long by 30 mins.,Australia is saved by the 11 yr.old narrator boy's screen chemistry(not his awkward narration);and the recounting of the terror of the 'mixed races', under'apartheid'.
The third act finishes strong, when the Japanese attack, and a rescue of children is mounted. Solid support from bad guy act.Wenham; and veteran indigenous character act. Gulpilil;and Ngoombujarra, as Drover's grounded, saddle mate.
Feature review:All alabaster and 18th century noblewoman like, an agitated and too energetic Kidman(Lady Ashley),makes the long ship voyage down
under, to her Faraway Downs ranch.The year is 1939 on Australia's sparse, Darwin port coast.Lady Ashley arrives only to find her husband killed, by a
symbolic glass spear.Immediately she is challenged to either sell her cattle and ranch at a loss to military beef profiteer Carney,or be bankrupted.Her only
hope is to convince hard-edged Drover, to head up the drive of her herd to port Darwin, with her motley, servant crew and her ladyship.
The stage is set for conflict, followed by the expected, opposites attract device.As the minutes roll by, and the pair overcome sabotage attempts by thug
Fletcher, Kidman's demeanor(and makeup,from pale to sun darkened skin)relaxes. Her 'character arc'is in full swing. A little 'Poor Fella Rum', and a Burt Lancaster/Katharine Hepburn("The Rainmaker")romance,unfolds.
Faraway Downs mixed race aborigine boy Nullah, narrates the opening and principal, story premise.He is part of the then termed "half casts",which socially
conscious Australians would later name:"the Stolen Generations". White settler fathers illegitimate offspring with local aborigines women,were exiled to a
deserted island Mission.
There are several gripping scenes, as Nullah hides from the law, in the ranch water pressure holding tank. Mysterious, bush
medicine man King George,Grandfather to Nullah,observes the goings on from nearby hills.This loin clothed, weathered and tattooed apparition,with his special
powers conjured up in song, ties the otherwise Hollywood sound stages and glossy production values,to the panoramic wild beauty, of this majestic country.
Luhrmann, who cut his teeth on the 'theatrical' like "Strictly Ballroom"('93) and "Moulin Rouge"('01),borrows from several genre classics.There are Western
influences,especially suited for Jackman's 'Drover'.There is the scrappy and cut Jack Palance(even the later "City Slickers");to Clint Eastwood's("High Plains Drifter") talent, for always making the right moves.War movie influences,from dealing with troops supply contracts; to a tough but fair, Glenn Ford like Hugh Jackman in rescue mode,dress the final act.
The C.G.I.'s are sub par and fake looking,whether on the cattle drive,or the Japanese air force bombarding Darwin.
Perhaps it falls on the four screen writers,but there is an off narrative lull,late in the 2nd act.Nullah,whose stilted,sing song opening narration, has morphed into wonderful screen chemistry, takes off on a native 'walk about'. Lovers Ashley and Drover quarrel, and the latter leaves their partnership with unconvincing motivation.They survived numerous attempts to kill them,only to abandon the idyllic 'white picket fence' restoration, of Faraway Downs.
The Japanese attack, just two months after 1942's Pearl Harbor,rescues this pointless meandering.
Luhrmann is reported to have filmed several endings.Thankfully,the one you will see, has enough action and emotional relief, that finally allows Kidman
to relax and emote. She is given time to cry real tears, alongside the consistent and unassuming, indigenous protector,Drover. |
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