Review: Australia (2008)

[dnb at dca.net]

AUSTRALIA
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2008 David N. Butterworth

**1/2 (out of ****)


     Baz Lurhmann's "Australia" is a cornball compote of old-fashioned
romance, sweeping outdoors-y saga, and WWII drama of epic
proportions--think "The Thorn Birds" down under, or "Ryan's Daughter"
set in the Australian outback.  What makes it so enjoyable is that it
doesn't pretend to be anything but.  It's far from perfect (unlike, say,
Lurhmann's earlier films "Moulin Rouge!" and "Romeo+Juliet") but that's
also part of the film's considerable appeal (not to mention length; it
clocks in at a little under three hours but you wouldn't know it unless
you're not having any fun at all, in which case you've probably already
left).  That darling of Aussie exports Nicole Kidman receives top
billabong-ing as Lady Sarah Ashley, a right proper lady who moves to the
Northern Territories when her husband loses the farm (so to speak).  In
the months following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Lady Ashley vows to
drive her two thousand head of cattle to sell to the armed forces in
Darwin, putting a crimp on rancher King Carney's (Brian Brown) monopoly
on Australian beef.  With few hired hands to make the trip across the
treacherous terrain, Lady Ashley reluctantly recruits the handsome and
often shirtless Drover ("X-Men"'s Hugh Jackman) and together with Lady
Ashley's adopted "creamy" (half-cast Aborigine, played by the strikingly
good-looking Brandon Walters) the loyal band of cowhands heads north. 
The corn is as high as a kangaroo's eye, mostly in the form of Lady
Ashley's primness coupled with the down-and-dirty drudgery of life on
the open trail (Kidman's wonderful, of course, and Jackman is spot on as
the weary cattle hand; likewise, 12-year-old Walters is captivating as
Nullah) and the only real questions in "Australia" are when will Sarah
and Drover start snogging and when will the (boo! hiss!) villainous
Carney get his comeuppance.


--
David N. Butterworth, Film Editor
www.offoffoff.com/film | dnb at dca.net