Product Details

• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001C46P2A

Product Description

Amazon.com

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love in the Outback, November 27, 2008

By	Brad Baker (Atherton, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Baz Luhrmann spent five years down-under and now comes up for air with a thrilling, epic love story; it could have been a Warner Bros. Errol Flynn movie. But Flynn is gone. Doesn't matter. Here is Hugh Jackman(sexiest man in the world). Nicole Kidman stars as a prissy Englishwoman who finds her husband engulfed in dire financial problems at his cattle ranch in Australia. Being self-willed, our young lady travels all the way to the ranch, to settle the problems, and sell the whole property. Arriving in Australia, our missy finds her husband murdered by a local native known as King George(or did he do it?), and her cattle ranch in an uproar. She fires the leering foreman, and considers hiring the dark, husky young Drover to help her get her cattle to market. But she doesn't like him. He's so pushy. He's so arrogant.... then again...Sound familiar? Well, there's no particularly new ground here, but there is a sprawling, colorful, sweeping saga filmed on location in Queensland, Wales, and Australia, surrounded by loving, masterful cinema strokes from one of our finest directors. CGI and rotoscope effects anchor beautiful, majestic shots of the baking desert and high country. It's hot, and things heat up as Kidman starts to melt, starting from the first night on the trail, when Jackman takes his shirt off to shower. At almost three hours, "Australia" is too long, but boredom is not an option. Baz Luhrmann's 2001 musical classic "Moulin Rouge" was held captive in a Parisian dance-hall. Luhrmann's new "Australia" explodes with the same quick-cut, self-confident magical movie-making style. Here is an honest, touching, magical journey. Here is a young boy and a native king, both born of the desert, and bound not to live without it. Here is a story not bound to a wooden Parisian stage("Moulin Rouge"). Here is a story not bound at all. Here is a story 'bout all of "Australia".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Story, December 20, 2008

By	Kathleen McCallum (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've seen this movie seven times. I keep going back because the story is compelling. As one of the characters says, "You've been on a journey." AUSTRALIA takes you on a journey with a young member of the stolen generation, played charmingly by 12-year-old Brandon Walters. It's about changing hearts, sacrifice, and finding love in the Northern Australia territory during World War II. There's a cattle stampede, murder, and the Japanese bombing of Darwin two months after Pearl Harbor. Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, and Brandon Walters are excellent. The audience has applauded at the end of every showing I've attended. Comments I've heard from other audience members have all been positive.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely on my list for one of the best films of 2008, December 22, 2008

By	R. Kyle (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

War's imminent, but Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) is tired of waiting for her husband Maitland to sell his Australian property and return home to her. Despite her husband's admonitions, she flies to Darwin on a mission to convince Lord Ashley to sell Faraway Downs and come home to England.

She lands in the middle of a cattle war. King Carney (Bryan Brown) owns all the cattle ranches in the territory save for Faraway Downs, which he's trying to put into enough straits to make the owner sell with the help of Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) who ostensibly is the manager of Faraway Downs, but has been helping Carney siphon off cattle across the Billabong River for quite some time.

Lady Ashley's husband Maitland is dead, supposedly the victim of a Aborigene spear. But, she's seen the other set of books that Fletcher's beeng keeping for Lord Carney. Lady Ashley fires Fletcher.

Now the race is on. In order to survive, Lady Ashley's got to drive 1500 head of cattle to Darwin to sell them for the Army contract ahead of King Carney.

And war has broken out and it's coming to Australia. The police want to take Nullah (Brandon Walters) away from Faraway Downs, because the boy is a 'creamy' or a half-cast (half Aborigene and half white). While Lady Sarah is not a drop maternal, she's fallen for the boy and for Drover (Hugh Jackman) who's contracted to help her get the cattle to Darwin.

The story's much more than this. "Australia" has all the ingredients of a good Western, an excellent war film and a fine romance all tied up into a fairly elegant package. Add to that, one of the most compelling performances by young Brandon Walters I've seen.

Warning: take your tissue with you and don't get a large drink. The movie's long and you're not going to want to leave, either to wipe your eyes or go to the restroom. This one, I am going to want to own in Blu Ray.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2008