Though to some it may start out as ridiculous, but some of us who used to go to every John Wayne movie may see of the style John Ford. It didn't start trying to impress the viewer with strong language and it made easier to take in. I thought the director did a good job.

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman give 2 amazing perfomances in this heart pound Australian Drama and in my opinion this film is underrated and better than Kidman's most recent projects. The actors do a great job, the characters are well written and the sets are breath taking. (A+)

Sure the making of "Australia" may sound like a personal project to Aussie born director Baz Luhrmann, but once the smoke clears, the film has more bark than bite. In other words it may have the adulation of the critics (including an Oscar nomination), but all that hype surmounts to a big pile of nothing.Whether it be the appalling performances, the tedious ironies to the plot, and plenty of political correct references rubbed in our faces, "Australia" is a big, bloated epic drama that wants to give us something to reflect upon, but sadly comes up short. For a film that runs 2 hours and 45 minutes, it feels like it takes an eternity for it to be over. Luhrmann's efforts were to offer us an epic adventure, instead all we get is an overlong picture show. His shifts from intense drama to subtle comedy all gets intertwined together by a monotone insomnia induced narrative. From the first five minutes, "Australia" looks doomed from the starts, but instead of progressing, it wallows in there the whole time.The worst habit that Luhrmann does in this film is that he pushes his audience into thinking this film is charged in emotion, but in reality it's all very stoic in its delivery. He wants us to embrace us the warmth that this movie has along with composer David Hirschfelder as the swooning violins will grant us that feel-good comfort. When there's the feeling of victory, the horn section is at full blast. There's even some awkward camera work as we see a character choking even before the camera focuses on them. With all the long scenes, there is never any kind of connections. It's too whimsical and outrageous to be taken seriously as what's expected of us. By way of contrast, too serious to be regarded as a comedy and just plays it way to safe to garner any kind of magical credit to it.The fantasy side to this tale stems from an Aboriginal witch doctor who acts like a spiritual guide towards the principal characters located towards a nearby mountain. The most surreal element is that he's always omnipresent. No matter where the characters travel, he's never far behind. When in times of danger or precarious situation, he's around to cast an appropriate spell. When the cattle goes loose or the villains start shooting, surely the old shaman will make his presence known. It ends up becoming an enigma and soon this movies loses its touch.The action emanates from the Northern part of the land from down under in the early days of second world war. Nicole Kidman stars as Lady Sarah Ashley, a posh Englishwoman who has inherited a cattle ranch in the Australian outback. Kidman embraces all the essential clichés we have seen numerous times in many period piece films. She's self-absorbed, snotty, walks like a stick stuffed up her ass and has little care for anything that's regarded lower class. She's a poster child for satire and to have this character as the leading character makes me question what Kidman was thinking when she agreed to this role.Although this is where she called home, Kidman never looked so lost. And the worse case scenario is that Luhrmann just sit back and lets her be that way. Normally, Kidman is a bombshell in the films she's in, but here she's quite unattractive, even if she's blessed with royalty. Whether it be her appalling demeanour, her unappealing hairstyle or her disheveled clothing. Why did Luhrmann leaving her in this pile of spunk? Why couldn't he help her fix up her character a bit.What makes it more puzzling is that he knew he was pairing her with fellow Aussie in Hugh Jackman who never looked better as an Aussie cowboy named Dover. Sure the actresses get a feeling of awe from the audience, but Jackman is the rare breed of male performers getting the awe from the crowd. His looks, appeal and charisma likely leaves his fans breathless, like the second coming of Jesus, if such an event should happen.The principal action scenes of "Australia" is Sarah in her new role as cattle owner struggles to move the herd across the country, but can't do it. She hires the experienced rancher Dover who hates her at first because that's how all relationships in movies start off. Joining them on the escapade is a mixed-Aboriginal boy named Nullah (Brandon Walters) who serves as our narrator, even though he doesn't have the knack for it. Or these are the voices from the witch doctor who happens to be his grandfather.Though I may be ranting a bit here, it's not a complete abomination. The technical aspects are quite impressive. The scenery is very picturesque. The visionary aspect is the best quality of the film. Luhrmann has the idea of creating "Australia" as a vibrant, colourful, frolicking country, but all that visual beauty wears out its welcome. The Aboriginals are looked upon as noble founders of this land and are not looked at as savages like many films before this. However, they're portrayed way too sympathetic almost to the point of them being treated like victims. And sure Luhrmann can give us the physical beauty of Australia, but never do we feel the beauty of this country.In the end "Australia" is a very sad film. The artistic merit, the performances, and the story all had potential to be really good, but in the end it leads us into feeling cheated and unfulfilled and uninspired.

Austrailia is a 2008 adventure love story about an English aristocrat named Sarah Ashley(played by Aussie star Nicole Kidman sporting a British accent) is been send down under as she inherits cattle and brings her husband with her. But when her husband gets killed she teams up with a rugged man named Drover(played by Hugh Jackman using his real accent in this movie and showing off his chest during the course of the movie)and meets an aboriginal boy named Manuah who's father is an evil businessman(but we don't know this until near the end of the film) who wants to take Sarah's inheritance which is the cattle.Of course Sarah and Drover don't get along at first and they eventually fall in love. Sarah of course falls for the little aboriginal boy named Manuah of course and takes him under her wing as his mother drowns in the water. But when the evil businessman sends Manuah far away its up to Sarah and Drover to get him back so that she can adopt him. But will Manuah stay with Sarah and Drover or will he go back with his grandfather King George.The good thing about this movie is the backgrounds of Australia which is nice to look at and of course the lovely Hugh Jackman all buffed up and growing a beard and then we see him clean-shaved later on,and his chemistry with his Aussie co-star Nicole Kidman was great too.And now for the bad the story is meh and the film is really long 158 minutes long it felt like it dragged and dragged and I wanted it to be on for only 2 hours or less and it felt like it was never going to end. Today was of course my first day to ever see this film as it came out in 2008 but hey if you love Hugh Jackman shirtless and the backgrounds of Down Under then this film is for you. Check it out and see what you make of it.