Australia

It's been a couple of weeks since we've seen this movie, but we weren't exactly clamoring to get the review out there, which should tell you something about the quality of the film.

But first, the details. Australia is directed by Baz Luhrman, most well known for his modern musical Moulin Rouge! and his MTV generation adaptation of Romeo + Juliet. The film stars Nicole Kidman as a proper English lady trying to figure out what to do with her dead husband's ranch, and Hugh Jackman as the Drover, an Outback cowboy. The plot ranges from a cattle drive to save the ranch, a Japanese air attack, and a fight to protect a mixed race Aborigine boy from bigoted white people, with a little romance between Kidman and Jackman tossed in for good measure.

I don't even know where to start with this film. Kinsey and I are pretty big fans of Baz Luhrman's previous work, so we had big expectations for this film. It was a huge disappointment. Australia is a bloated, overwrought attempt at an epic, filled with subpar acting. It's over two and a half hours long, which isn't a big deal in itself; there are plenty of really great films that long that are very entertaining. But Australia was a really dragging two and a half hours. There comes a point in the film where everything wraps up and you think it's going to end, but then it goes on for another hour, on an entirely different plot loop. It's like it comes with a built-in sequel.

My biggest beef with the film, however, was its cinematography choices. I think Australia was Baz Luhrman's ode to the close-up and slow-motion shot, because 90% of the scenes seemed to be composed of those types of shots. And I got real sick of them real fast. If you're going to make an epic, don't spend so much time zoomed in on the middle third of an actor's face. Noses and eyes aren't epic. The actual climax of the film is ruined by close-up shots. Not to give anything away, but it involves a character attempting to shoot another character, and a character getting speared. Sounds like a fairly easy scene to shoot, right? Now imagine it with nothing but close-ups. It gets confusing, to say the least, and borderlines on becoming ridiculous.

I really have nothing positive to say about this movie. I think Kinsey somewhat enjoyed the first 2/3 of the movie, but if you want my opinion, skip it.

Kinsey: 1.5 stars

Wade: 1 star