Australia (2008)
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
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 by Japanese forces firsthand.
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4 films that influenced Australia
What critics say influenced Australia
But she can't wash away her work from the first two reels which recalls a similarly unpalatable portrayal in Far and Away.
Yet while films such as Gone with the Wind or Titanic have small subplots that move the overall story in the same direction, Australia’s small stories are so epic in their own right they feel disconcerted by their embellishment.
As in “Australia,” Luhrmann coaxes not only a pulse from Kidman, but a sense of humor.
It trades in the same kind of heightened romanticism as Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!, with all that implies.
Although highly unconvincing emotionally, Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! (give this to Australia, that it at least doesn't have a punctuation mark in its title) buy themselves a lot of grace through the obvious hotness between their leads.
The multi-hyphenate director doesn't release a film often (his last was 2001's fab musical potpourri " Moulin Rouge! "), so when he does it's usually something to look out for.
I know that director Luhrmann can be a much more self-conscious director see his insanely pretentious Moulin Rouge! than he is here.
Luhrmann’s strong suit has always been boldness rather than subtlety; his take-no-prisoners approach worked brilliantly in Strictly Ballroom , but as I see it he went off the rails with Moulin Rouge! and hasn’t managed to right himself since.
The film's CGI work looks cartoonish and phony, and the climactic Japanese attack on Darwin plays like a deleted scene from "Pearl Harbor."
Take heart that with a finale unfolding amid the Japanese bombing of Darwin (immediately after their attack on Pearl Harbor) that Australia, in also reminding of Michael Bay's own Titanic, Pearl Harbor , has a shot at that "instant camp classic" ring.
The remainder of the 165 minute film could have been codirected by Victor Fleming, whose "Gone With the Wind" provides a veritable checklist and whose "Wizard of Oz" is noted often, and Michael Bay, whose "Pearl Harbor" used the destruction of a military outpost to conclude a romance.
It reeks of Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor.
It looks great, but the same comment can be made about Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor , which shares more than a passing resemblance.