Review of Australia (2008) by Spangle — 20 Feb 2017

Australia is a film with a sweeping vision and epic ambitions, but it simply does not live up to its own expectations. It is hardly a bad film as it has many beautiful and tremendous elements that do justify its efforts. Unfortunately, it is simply maligned by a bevy of issues that hold it back from being a great modern epic. Thinly written, predictable, and tonally jumbled, Australia is a film with an important message and the hope that sum up Australia and its most important pieces - cattle herding, World War II, the wet season, the dry season, aboriginals, and love of theland - in just under three hours. Unfortunately, the end result is a film that simply feels too unfocused and lacking conviction.

This grand scope leads Australia to feeling like two films shoved into being one film. The first half focuses on Lady Ashley (Nicole Kidman) arriving in Australia to find her husband dead and Neil Fletcher (David Wenham) scheming to steal their cattle away. With the help of The Drover (Hugh Jackman), she embarks on a journey to bring 1,500 cattle to Darwin to be used as meat for the Australian troops. Along the way, she falls in love with The Drover and half-aboriginal, half-white boy Nullah (Brandon Walters). In this film, Australia most closely aligns with being a western and is gritty and unafraid to show the dirty and dangerous work entailed by cattle driving. However, the film turns on a dime and becomes a war film in the second half with the bombing of Darwin conducted by the Japanese. Hinted at in the first half with war footage, two years pass from 1939 to 1941 between the first and second halves. The end result is a film that feels too unfocused and split. Both films could reasonably stand on their own, but wind up being part of one overlong film, out of the necessity of scope. While director Baz Luhrmann's ambition is admirable, it simply is a film that never justifies its runtime and could have been either shorter and more focused or split into two separate films that celebrate the various elements of Australia. Together, the two halves simply do not gel with one another.

The film tries to string these two halves together, however, with the love between Lady Ashley and The Drover. From two different worlds, it is a cliched romance but it works incredibly well. The characters are pretty cookie cutter and indistinguishable from a variety of characters in other films, but the romance is the element that comes closest to meeting the grand scope of the film. It feels triumphant and authentic, even if maligned by elements that are clearly scripted and cliched, such as The Drover rejecting an invitation to the ball only to then show up unexpectedly. It is cute, but it is hardly unpredictable or original.

Yet, the writing's greatest fault is Neil Fletcher. A rival cattle herder working for King Carney (Bryan Brown), the head honcho in the meat business in Darwin, he is an unnecessary bad guy. In both halves of the film, he shows up randomly to make the film take longer to get the end. Both the herding and the war are thrilling enough with enough entertainment to work without a villain, so adding in an antagonist merely feels excessive and a useless addition to a film that simply did not need another character. At no point during the film does Luhrmann justify his addition to the film and he merely exists to add turmoil and strife to the point that existed without his presence. Even worse, just as with the romance, each moment with the villain is predictable and easy to see. The expected side characters die and the expected routes are taken to save our heroes in the face of this man who hates them for very little reason.

That said, Australia has a resounding plus that almost makes the whole thing come together: the visuals. Gorgeously dreamy landscapes in the Australian outback, breathtaking aerial shots of the desert, the bombing, the contrast of the black/orange fire with the blues and greens of Darwin, and the absolutely astounding shot of all orange and black overtaking Darwin after the bombing. All of the shots are brilliantly framed and a gorgeous mash-up of color. The end result is an awe-striking beauty that matches the ambitions of Luhrmann and makes the film pure eye candy. For those that love Australia, the visuals have to be the reason why and it is the reason why the film is one that is disappointing. In spite of its great visuals, it offers very little else that matches the quality of the sights to be seen in the film.

For a film seeking to sum up Australia, it is simply unable to reach the grand scope. From hamfistedly bringing forth the nameless drover as a representation of the heroism and strength of the nation to thinly written characters and a predictable and cliched plot to the far-too-long runtime, Australia is an ambitious film but exceeds the grasp of Baz Luhrmann. It is boisterous and at times dream-like film with a heart-wrenching romance and brilliant visuals.