"Australia"

Grug

Grug

Veteran
Just saw this two nights ago. It has been ridiculously over-hyped down here, to the point that we have tourism ads for Australia running... why exactly they're trying to attract Australians to Australia I don't quite know, but it certainly contributes to the overkill of the film's marketing campaign.

In fact all of last week, when I got the gym in mornings for my workouts they were playing an extended 10 minute trailer of the film - that's 5 mornings in a row without fail. The marketing has quite simply felt: oppressive.

Combine that with the obvious melodramatic arc of the film, and the fact that it's headlined by Nicole Kidman, an actor who normally irritates the hell out of me (even though I don't quite know why). And the end result was that my cinematic cynicism was primed to shoot "Australia" down from the get go.

So I went into the theatre with a good mate of mine, and we took our seats with smug looks on our faces as we sat through the various ads telling us we should visit Australia some time.

And then the film started, and almost three hours later it finished. And both my mate and I had enjoyed the hell out of it.

It's by no means a perfect film, it's too long by at least 20-25 minutes, and there are points at which the melodrama gets just a touch too heavy to take seriously. But in the end they feel like small flaws in what is a genuine cinematic experience.

I'd recommend seeing this one on the big screen fellas, it deserves it.
 
Strangely enough I had the opposite reaction, I was pretty excited to see the movie before hand, but I hated it so much that I walked out of the theater with about 10 minutes left in the movie. About halfway through the movie I started debating on whether I would rather wait in the lobby for an hour and half until the movie was over and my friends came out or if I wanted to try to sit through the rest of the movie and hope for the best. Needless to say it was about the most restless hour and twenty minutes of my life, but the 10 in the lobby wasn't too bad.

Definitely dissapointed in Baz Luhrmann this time around, I love Romeo and Juliet, but this movie fell flat. Maybe I was just in a bad mood or something but this movie actually made me mad, I really felt like the filmmakers were insulting my intelligence and were completely disrespecting the viewer.

Luckily my friends liked it though, so that made me feel better that only one evening was lousy.

I loved The Proposition and it's depiction of Australia, but this just didn't do it for me.
 
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Haha, Chris we must have different tastes because I disliked The Proposition with a passion! :D Australia really seems to be splitting opinions right down the middle. People seem to either really like it or really dislike it, I'm yet to hear an opinion that didn't take one side or the other.
 
I thought it was unapologetically referencing other 'epic' films, and was thus full of non-originality, but like you (Grug) I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. It's just plain old good storytelling, with great visual grandeur, and appealing charactars well acted (I'm a big fan of both leads). It had me completely entertained the whole time, and I'm a guy who stops and sends back about 25% of the movies I rent within 10 minutes, and has to make an effort to stick with quite a few more. And I couldn't begin to count the number of 5-10 minute short films I've seen that all but put me to sleep.

For me, "Australia" did very well with what's most important - story and character - like almost all good movies. Loved it.
 
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The movie is all well and good, and i enjoyed it quite a bit, as I tend to do with epic period pieces.

There were two problems, though (besides the kid not aging a day despite the story taking place over a period of 2-3 years).

Luhrmann has this tendency to pack the first part of a film with a vast hodgepodge introducing everything and everyone. It's usually very confusing, and in this case, there was a lot which would have served the story better if it had been introduced later.

The final scene seemed tacked on and over-the-top maudlin. You could almost read it in the actors' performances that they KNEW it was so.
 
My GF dragged me to this when it came out. I wouldn't watch it again for free. And I love well done period pieces.
 
I could really see Luhrmann's passion for Australia in this movie. Its full of heart, but, the problem is, IMO, too "Epic" for its story. Luhrmann wanted to show the beauty of Australia's scenery, as well as approach serious themes that probably still persist in the country like the trauma of the obliteration of local Indigenous culture by the colonizers. Its an unresolved problem still today and clearly shows confusion on its resolve (mixed kid going away with grandfather).

Another problem for me is Hugh Jackman. The role was clearly written for Crowe, and Jackman just doesn't have the "Macho Mojo" to drive the character of the "Drover" through the film.

Nicole, contrary to what others say, IMO, was very good on the film.

Its an old school Romantic Epic that has its moments, but, for me, its story was underwhelming, The drama in itself was "ok" ish, and it somehow just felt it was trying too hard to be "The" Australian Epic.

Moulin Rouge is still one of my top 5 films of all time, though :)
 
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