The film's rapid changes of tone often make for a bumpy ride.
Comment
11/20/08
Australia (2008)
73 %
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 15
Fresh: 11
Rotten:4
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release: Nov 26, 2008 Wide
Synopsis: Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a cattle driver (Jackman) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive... [More]
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Jack Thompson
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Reviews for Australia
1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Top Critic
A flawed, formulaic family crowd pleaser that barely succeeds as campy anachronistic period fluff. Will go down as a self-indulgent disappointment in many corners
11/19/08
Top Critic A very loud, crazily colourful and delightfully strings-free romp -- fun while it lasted and fondly recalled, but not, alas, the big love we yearned for.
11/19/08
Top Critic It's not the size that matters most in Baz Luhrmann's Australia, it's the many details, the intimate, personal moments, the connection with and respect for the Aboriginal culture in the context of human interaction, and the evil that greed makes men callo
11/18/08
Top Critic The film looks magnificent but is far too long. The star power is dazzling but I didn't believe the central characters or their relationship. Nonetheless, it's an engrossing experience and one whose indelible images of a strikingly beautiful land linger.
11/18/08
Top Critic
Top Critic Despite its flaws - and it certainly has flaws - I think Australia is an impressive and important film.
11/17/08
Top Critic A loveletter to the Australian landscape and our history, Australia has international blockbuster written all over it.
11/17/08
Top Critic It takes a continent's worth of nerve and extravagance to make a film like this in this way, throwing melodramatic romance, greed, racism and aboriginal spirituality into the fantasy mix.
11/21/08
It sounds like a mess because it is one. A gorgeous, earnest, reckless, and brazenly captivating mess.
11/21/08
Terrible. Cartoonish turkey with no script. Australia should rescind Baz's citizenship. Smart move, Russell Crowe, backing out of this.
11/21/08
By far Luhrmann's weakest film, Australia is a banal, anachronistic war melodrama that wears its liberal politics on its sleeve, and confuses pictorial beauty with genuine art, schmaltz with real emotion and kitsch with cohesive aesthetics.
11/21/08
This costly, much-troubled, forever-in-production epic nonetheless falls short of its lofty ambitions; undone by an unfortunate combination of hubris, predictable studio meddling and fate.
11/20/08
The film will be nominated for gorgeous cinematography, the landscape forming the backdrop of a story that is more conventional than the sort director Luhrmann is accustomed to.
11/20/08
Embracing grand old-school melodrama while critiquing racist old-fashioned politics, Baz Luhrmann's grandiose Australia provides a luxurious bumpy ride.
11/20/08
Top Critic Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman effortlessly don the mantles of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable here; the screen is crammed with ravishing images.
11/19/08
The most expensive Australian film ever made is rousing and passionate.
11/18/08
1 - 17 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Latest News for Australia
November 19, 2008:
Nicole Kidman to Pull a Joaquin Phoenix? 
Saying she has "many things I want to do besides act," Nicole Kidman has announced that she may hang up her thespian shoes in the not-so-distant future. More...
November 12, 2008:
Luhrmann Responds to Australia Rumors
Is it a new "Gone with the Wind," the victim of studio tampering or both? In a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, "Australia" director Baz Luhrmann discussed his... More...
November 11, 2008:
Luhrmann's Australia Gets a Happy Ending
Apparently, even Baz Luhrmann has to read notes from executives: The Guardian is reporting that "Australia" received a new (and happier) ending after audiences at test... More...
October 09, 2008:
NEW: Brand New Trailer, Four New Posters
More...
Related Forums for Australia
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by: dougkip 11/20
by: dougkip 11/20
73%
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