Australia - Film Review & Wallpaper
I only made this in 2 sizes: 1680x1050 1280x800
Since I spent 1/2 of my holiday sick I've been watching movies & DVDs. My sister got us a new Blu-Ray player to replace our first generation Sony that used to bug the crap out of us - it would take forever to load Blu-Rays and then up and decide not to play them for a second viewing. If you're in the market for a Blu-Ray player - get a Sylvania. This baby is AWESOME. It loads immediately, the remote is easy to use and so far they seem to have no problems playing even the densest of Blu-Rays that include ones by Disney. (I found myself keenly shocked to see that Miss AnnaMaria (Ie the Caribbean girl they picked up on Tortuga in POTC:TCOTBP was in fact played by Zoe Salanda, how I didn't read that she was in that film is beyond me.)
Onto "Australia." I love the country of Australia. I lived there when I was a kid for 6 months and have vacationed there once as a teen. If I suddenly found myself free of any and all commitments I'd consider moving there - the people are the friendliest, nicest people that you'll ever meet, the land is stunning and relatively unaffected by man, and the wild life is magnificent. I love everything about Australia - one of my all time favorite books is "The Thorn Birds" and my favorite Aussie film is "The Man From Snowy River." The fact that Hollywood keeps discovering more and more hot men from there and filling our TVs and films w/ their yummy faces & delicious accents just makes my days a bit brighter. None of these shine brighter than Hugh Jackman for me. I remember when he went onto Jay Leno for the first time to promote the first X-Men film - Jay was kidding him about having just played in Oklaholma! in London and joked with him to start singing. At this point, I knew nothing of the man, wasn't all that interested in the interview. Hugh bolted out of the chair, threw his arms out and belted out a whole chorus from "Oh what a beautiful morning!" I immediately became a puddle of goo (Hugh has the most amazing singing voice - goto Youtube, you can probably hear him singing this song from Oklahoma on it) and Hugh has ever since been my favorite leading man of film.
That being said when I first heard about this film all that I heard was the Baz was making some huge Australian cowboy/historical epic starring Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe had dropped out and Hugh had replaced him. Hugh Jackman on a horse - in a western. I was intrigued.
The film went through the usual testing and audiences apparently hated the first ending and it got the Hollywood treatment. When it hit theaters, it bombed. I can tell you right here, right now, the ending had nothing to do w/ this film bombing, it's a bloody mess. Baz Luhrmann is a great storyteller - oh how I love "Moulin Rogue." But this film...he bit off too much to chew with it. He tried making it part fish-out-of water cowboy movie, part social conscious Aboriginal tale, and part WW2 war story. None of these things meshed well together, which is too bad because Nicole and Hugh are wonderful in the film, they positively sparkle with chemistry and look bloody beautiful together on the screen. What I did love about this film is that Baz set it in the farthest north end of the Northern Territory of Australia outside of Darwin, an area that we never see in films and is completely foreign to me (Darwin & Perth being the 2 large cities in Australia that I personally have yet to visit.) It actually was almost jarring because many of the canyons and rock formations that they showed out in that part of the land reminded me keenly of my current home state of Arizona. I found myself having to remind myself that I wasn't watching an American western but one set in Australia. There was a lack of shots that showcased that it was Australia as well - only one scene really with any kangaroos and a few caged parrots, but there weren't any sweeping shots of flocks of parrots taking off, or random shots of wallabys or roos bounding along in the desert. Sorry, I guess it's the nature lover in me that I found it odd that Baz would pass on the opportunity to showcase some of the natural bounty of his homeland.
In a time in Hollywood where they're green screening everything, it is also glorious to see ACTUAL sunsets and natural light in the film. On Blu-Ray on my 65" HD TV - this film is stunning.
The story though is a mess. I personally feel that he should've shot the film as either a cowboy film focusing entirely on 2 cattle ranching families feuding w/ the Aboriginal rights stuff thrown in (and of course the love story) or the Abo rights and the War. All together everything was disjointed and I didn't know what the hell I was watching because the first 1/2 of the film has what has to be what could've been the making of one of the greatest westerns ever with Lady Sarah and the Faraway Down's gang driving 1500 heads of cattle across the great plains of the Northern Territory to get them to Darwin to sell. The last 1/2 of the film was a mess, I compare this to AVATAR which I just saw again this evening where James Cameron cut the film in a way that perfectly synched the entire story together - no plotholes, tight, tight editing. Australia, this wasn't the case. Baz seemed to forget what he was doing with the film and it was oftentimes hard to follow the story after the cattle were brought to Darwin. The bad guys were cookie cutters (dear Professor Lupin where did your heart go?) and frankly I'm getting tired of people incorporating The Wizard of Oz into films and TV shows (sorry TSCC, you pulled the Oz out of the hat one too many times for me.) Lastly, if you're going to put a character in mortal danger towards the end of the film, DON'T make him the film's narrator, that's pretty much a dead giveaway that he's going to be fine at the end of the film and this fact alone contributed to the film having a very sappy feel at the end.
I'd give it a 2/5 stars. It gets that many entirely for the reason that seeing Hugh constantly on a horse, wearing a stunning white tux, and then giving his bronzed upper body a sponge bath and dumping a bucket of water on him to rinse off is enough drool worthy material to make this film re-watchable. However, in the end if you want to see a great Australian western film about the cattle industry get "The Man From Snowy River" and if you want a heart breaking great Aussie war film get "Gallipoli" - you'll see a very young Mel Gibson, and you'll bawl your way through an entire box of kleenex. Australia isn't great by any means but at least you won't be disappointed by the lack of lovely Hugh eye candy.