I am still waiting a lot from Baz Luhrmann after the brilliant adaptation of Romeo and Julia. Maybe I should give up. This film was higly appreciated by a friend whose critical instinct in other cases helped me to avoid major failures. But this film is neither epic nor breath-taking. It's long and long-winded. It has its moments,yes, but at best it is just entertaining and that's it.
I started to watch it several times, but now I may have been too lazy to reach for the remote, so I watched it until the sweet-broth ending.
On the way almost no cliché is left out. You could even make a check list and wait for all those worn-out stereotypes: weak but resolute women, a drunkard, a maverick drover, servile and friendly natives, mischievous colonists, all that makes up a western. I am not interested in westerns, not even as Australian rehash. The film tries to avoid the racial per-conceptions about the Aborigines and promptly falls into another trap: they become a romanticized version of the sage and mysterious child of nature, a noble savage as it were.
The story is fueled by different obstacles, however: amor vincit omnia. If only it was gone with the wind.
On the other hand - the movie is still entertaining, filled with opulent images. It also manages to maintain a basic suspense for all its long running time. It loses focus on the way and remembers after some time the main thread again.
This is entertaining, but not ambitious. So be it. There also have to be films we can can watch during rain days when there is nothing on TV and the video shop is closed already.
The actors portray types and not so much persons. However they do their best to fill their speech balloons, even Hugh Jackman.
As it is so-so, it gets also a so-so rate: 5/10.
I started to watch it several times, but now I may have been too lazy to reach for the remote, so I watched it until the sweet-broth ending.
On the way almost no cliché is left out. You could even make a check list and wait for all those worn-out stereotypes: weak but resolute women, a drunkard, a maverick drover, servile and friendly natives, mischievous colonists, all that makes up a western. I am not interested in westerns, not even as Australian rehash. The film tries to avoid the racial per-conceptions about the Aborigines and promptly falls into another trap: they become a romanticized version of the sage and mysterious child of nature, a noble savage as it were.
The story is fueled by different obstacles, however: amor vincit omnia. If only it was gone with the wind.
On the other hand - the movie is still entertaining, filled with opulent images. It also manages to maintain a basic suspense for all its long running time. It loses focus on the way and remembers after some time the main thread again.
This is entertaining, but not ambitious. So be it. There also have to be films we can can watch during rain days when there is nothing on TV and the video shop is closed already.
The actors portray types and not so much persons. However they do their best to fill their speech balloons, even Hugh Jackman.
As it is so-so, it gets also a so-so rate: 5/10.
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