Movie Review: Australia

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Australia (2008)–***

Baz Luhrmann’s Australia isn’t proof that the historical epic is back, but if we’re lucky Luhrmann’s sumptuous epic will do for the genre what his Moulin Rouge! did for musicals and Romeo + Juliet did for Shakespeare. Australia is brash, big, and beautiful, and it’s more accessible than the controlled messes that were Luhrmann’s previous films. Most audiences will still have to let their guard down a little, but when they do, the reward is an rapturous romantic adventure that is far and away more entertaining than the ones we experienced in the 1990s.

Nicole Kidman stars as Lady Ashley, an English aristocrat who travels to Australia’s Northern Territory to convince her husband to sell their cattle business to the Carney Cattle Company. When she arrives, she’s met in Darwin by the raucous, ruggedly independent Drover (Hugh Jackman), who has been given the job of escorting Ashley to her cattle ranch Faraway Downs.

Ashley and Drover don’t hit it off. The white-bred, upper-class Englishwoman isn’t used to the harsh ways of the outback, and Drover, who’s habit of hanging around with the Aborigines isn’t looked on so kindly by Darwin’s white elite, isn’t interested in teaching her. But when the pair arrive, they find that Ashley’s husband has been murdered, and the white folk are blaming an Aboriginal elder for his death. One little boy, a mixed-race Aboriginal child named Nullah (Brandon Walters), knows different.

But that’s only a third of the story. Lady Ashley, the Drover, Nullah, and a crew from Faraway Downs must bust the Carney Cattle monopoly, deal with their inevitable separation, and come together again in the midst of the bombing of Darwin. True to the epic form, Australia has limitless scope. But in a surprising twist, Luhrmann shows a little restraint.

Australia isn’t so much a Luhrmann reinvention of the historical epic, but rather an homage. I found myself thinking of the excitement of Ben-Hur‘s chariot race during a rousing stampede sequence. And of course, Ashley’s tenacity channels Scarlett’s “as God is my witness, I’ll never be hungry again” attitude. Sure, Australia starts out like a Luhrmann film, but the burner is quickly turned down and a rolling boil becomes a simmer.

That said, Jackman and Kidman give performances that make you want to fall in love with Australia beyond Luhrmann’s penchant for dramatic visuals. Were it not for the pair’s chemistry and their devotion to the roles, the visually stunning moments would have more in common with a two-hour trailer like 300 than that of an old-fashioned Hollywood romance.

Jackman in particular delivers a powerful performance and does it with the suave of a true screen icon. All at once, Jackman is Marlon Brando and Cary Grant. What he does, capturing Drover’s thirst for righteousness in a society marked by bigotry and slowly tearing down the walls that his character has built up after years of mourning, makes Jackman the film’s true standout.

Australia as a whole, however, never really stands out. While the film could still act as a catalyst that reignites the genre, attracting younger viewers who have forgotten what a grand epic looks like, audiences who have chewed through hours of Turner Classic Movies programming will likely find more joy in revisiting the oldies.

Australia is too calculated to be in the same league as the classic films I’ve compared it to above. We’re still riveted by the story. We’re still swept away by the visuals. We still fall in love. But without that madly passionate allure of most Luhrmann pictures, Australia falls short of greatness.

Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, is now playing.