Australia (2008)

Not only did this film make me want to tear out my own eyes, but it almost compelled me to sign up to the Guantanamo Bay terrorist wanted list and get myself water boarded just to avoid watching any more of this!

Australia (2008): Dir: Baz Luhrmann / Cast: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson: Well crafted yet overlong bore that never establishes the joys of the Outback. After her husband is murdered Lady Sarah Ashley travels to Australia to sell his ranch thus also transporting herds of cattle. Starts out well but contains like fifty different endings. And why not more shots of wildlife? They only have like fifty million of the most dangerous snakes in the world living there. How about a glimpse, please. Director Baz Luhrmann delivers fantastic war footage and battle scenes but this is not up there with his work in Moulin Rouge or Romeo and Juliet. Nicole Kidman holds strong as Lady Ashley who ends up in an odyssey that was not on the visitation list of things to do. Hugh Jackman on the other hand, seems more like a romantic prop regardless of how much he puts his neck out for this broad. David Wenham plays the villain Fletcher but the role is fairly straight forward and boring. Bryan Brown appears in a cameo. Being set in Australia, one could only wish that it highlighted the wildlife a tad more exclusively since the screenplay is dull. Was Luhrmann attempting to make a sort of Australian version of Gone With the Wind? If so then it doesn't pay off very well. It is all over the place and never fully focused thus losing its message. Score: 5 / 10

It could be my love for Hugh, it could be my fascination with foreign countries or cultures, or it could be that it was just a good movie! It is not Titanic (which even this movie people over the years have begun to diss because that's what people do) but its a cute adventure romance movie. It's not trying to be ground breaking. It's trying to entertain which, is what we pay movies to do. It brings me back to Westerns that my mom used to watch on TMC! But now I actually know the actors so I have more of a connection. (Especially with my darling, beautiful, manly, Hugh haha) It may have been cheesy, it may have been cliché, but I think that's what I loved about it. I love a really well written, realistic, heart rending, relatable movie just as much as the next but, Australia is something I can watch over and over. (Again, it could be my love for a shirtless Hugh) I guess people were disappointed with it after trailers but even still, it is a good movie. Not a lot of swearing or nudity, referencing some awesome movies (so get over it people who find it cliché, it's a good song), you've got two A-lister actors who aren't half bad (especially Hugh -I think I've got a theme going). Now if you want to see a Westerner AND fail, watch the Lone Ranger. THAT had clichés, THAT was terrible acting on both parts, (It was practically Jack Sparrow playing JP's Amerindian part with a terrible accent)THAT was bad directing, THAT was just...ugh. So! I recommend you seeing Australia and not thinking to much into it. There are VERY few good movies made these days with any substance that make it onto the big screen. VERY few. They come around every 5-10 years and we just have to enjoy the movies in between! Check out Australia. You might have to kind of get through it once, but when you start watching it more as I did, you'll begin to love Australia just as much as I do.

I unfortunately caught 15 minutes of this film on a lazy TV watching evening. Some of the worst, over produced, stilted acting, stereotyped, hackneyed rubbish I've ever seen. I read the novel this book is purportedly loosely based upon and it's a long winded but scintillating read. (No it's not an original screenplay it's a nasty ripoff of the very good book 'Capricornia') This movie does it no justice at all.I'm stunned this movie has garnished 6.6 stars over all the reviews. I think that says a lot for the intelligence and critique of the review community here on IMDb.My god, this movie is awful. Really an embarrassment to our Nation.Baz, just go back to musicals please. Pleeasee.