Baz Luhrmann’s ‘Australia’ With Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman Gets Lost in Own Cinematic Outback

Submitted by HollywoodChicago.com on November 26, 2008 - 9:45am

CHICAGO – Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman and newcomer Brandon Walters star in Baz Luhrmann’s “Australia”: a sweeping, grand epic in the tradition of “Gone With the Wind” that gets away from its talented director, the writers he worked with and the team he hired to film his passion project.

Luhrmann and co-writers Stuart Beattie, Ronald Harwood and Richard Flanagan take an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to adding elements of classic romance, historical epic, cultural statement and war movie into their sprawling vision of some of Australia’s most formative years.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

Taken separately, those divergent elements in “Australia” nearly work. When the film is viewed as an entire experience, the final combined product is ultimately unsatisfying and woefully disjointed.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Australia” in our reviews section.

View our 23-image “Australia” slideshow.

The first half of “Australia” details the formation of a rather unusual family made up of The Drover (Hugh Jackman), lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) and a half-white, half-Aborigine child named Nullah (Brandon Walters).

Lady Ashley comes to the land down wnder to check on her husband and their patch of land (Faraway Downs) only to find her significant other executed and their cattle being stolen.

She needs The Drover’s assistance to drive the remnants of her family’s herd to the city of Darwin and sell them right under the nose of King Carney (Bryan Brown). He’s the ruling meat baron of the island nation.

Trying to evade Carney’s nefarious associate, Neil Fletcher (David Wenham), The Drover and Ashley fall for each other. The two naturally become parental figures for the charming young man who helps them across the Australian outback.

“Australia,” which is directed by Baz Luhrmann, stars Nicole Kidman, High Jackman and Brandon Walters. The film opens on Nov. 26, 2008.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Australia” review.