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Australia
20th Century Fox


7.1

based on 38 reviews
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based on 99 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language

Starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Jack Thompson, and Bryan Brown

Australia is an epic and romantic action adventure, set in that country on the explosive brink of World War II. In it, an English aristocrat travels to the faraway continent, where she meets a rough-hewn local and reluctantly agrees to join forces with him to save the land she inherited. Together, they embark upon a transforming journey across hundreds of miles of the world's most beautiful yet unforgiving terrain, only to still face the bombing of the city of Darwin by the Japanese forces that attacked Pearl Harbor. (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Adventure \| Drama \| War \| Western
WRITTEN BY:	Baz Luhrmann Stuart Beattie
DIRECTED BY:	Baz Luhrmann
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: November 14, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	165 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA \| Australia

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

TV Guide Cammila Albertson

Australia goes for the absolute limit in terms of scope. And let's not be coy -- size may not matter, but it still helps.

The Hollywood Reporter Megan Lehmann

Defies all but the most cynical not to get carried away by the force of its grandiose imagery and storytelling.

Time Richard Schickel

There is some elemental human desire -- lately largely denied at the cinema -- to see pretty people in handsome landscapes assuaging our need for epic romance. On that level, Australia delivers with real panache.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

A wildly ambitious, luridly indulgent spectacle of romance, action, melodrama and historic revisionism, Australia is windy, overblown, utterly preposterous and insanely entertaining.

Newsweek David Ansen

Australia is a shameless—and shamelessly entertaining--pastiche. It works because Luhrmann, a true believer in movie-movie magic, stamps it all with the force of his own extravagant, generous personality.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is exuberantly old-fashioned, and I mean that as a compliment.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Deliberately anachronistic in its heightened style of romance, villainy and destiny, the epic lays an Aussie accent on colorful motifs drawn from Hollywood Westerns, war films, love stories and socially conscious dramas. Some of it plays, some doesn't, and it is long.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

[Luhrmann's] movie is all over the map. But what a gorgeous map it is. The too-muchness, like the too-longness, befits the Northern Territory's vastness. In its heart of hearts Australia is an old-fashioned Western -- a Northern, if you will -- and all the more enjoyable for it.

Film Threat Matthew Sorrento

With measured visual flash, Luhrmann highlights the delightful presence of his two stars and realizes an unlikely feelgood film, in spite of its grave matters.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

If you are willing to take the plunge and view things through Luhrmann's prism, "Australia" does deliver the classic dramatic and romantic satisfactions its ambitious advertising campaign promises.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A testament to movie love at its most devout, cinematic spectacle at its most extreme, and kitsch as an act of aesthetic communion.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Jackman, who stepped in after a cranky Russell Crowe walked away in a salary dispute, strikes just the right chord as a scruffy romantic hero.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's an epic pretender, not an epic contender.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Luhrmann is working a tricky game: He's trying to come to terms with modern Australia's racist legacy while telling a ripping yarn while also making fun of ripping yarns - but not too much.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Baz Luhrmann's Australia has it all - unfortunately. With four major story lines and more endings than "The Return of the King," this ambitious 165-minute epic is the movie equivalent of an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Village Voice Ella Taylor

The result is mostly a woodenly derivative melding of '40s maternal melodramas, oaters, and World War II actioners.

Empire Chris Hewitt

Often beautiful but wildly inconsistent, Australia is none more Baz Luhrmann, which perhaps says it all. Worth a look on the big screen, though.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Yes, you can enjoy bits and pieces along the way, more than a few, even. At the end of this journey, though, you feel more exhaustion and relief than catharsis or satisfaction.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Luhrmann's squirrelly, five-exclamation-point stylings mercifully subside after the first 20 minutes or so, leaving behind a palatable big-screen confection.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

You know something's amiss when you're in the middle of a picture that runs under three hours and you're tempted to whip out your cellphone and send friends a text message that reads "Send food."

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Epic piffle.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

I left Australia feeling drained and weakened, as if I'd suffered a gradual poisoning at the hands of a mad scientist.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Like the last two "Pirates" movies, Australia is ambitious more than awe-inspiring, grandiose rather than grand, full of spectacle but not spectacular.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

It almost goes without saying that the film looks gorgeous, but the filmmaking behind it feels unsure how to work on this grand a scale. Australia is big. But it never fills the screen.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Jackman has musical-theater chops and knows how to sell material this ham-handed; Kidman isn't quite as deft. I've always admired her gumption in working so hard to overcome a certain temperamental tightness--but that tightness has now spread to her skin.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Really should have been made 60 years ago. It would have been timelier, with its tale of life in the remote north of that country during World War II. The juicy overacting, stereotypes and dramatic exaggerations would have been more in keeping with the style of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

At times the film appears on the verge of morphing into a singing-cowboy musical.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Luhrmann wants it all – comedy and tragedy, bombast and wet-eyed sentimentality. When it works, his kid-in-a-candy-store giddiness is infectious. When it doesn't – when he goes from silly to turgid in 60 seconds flat – he punctures Australia's proportions down from epic to simply overwrought.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

If looks were everything, director Baz Luhrmann's epic salute to his native land would be the movie of the year. But, crikey, a padded script bloated with subplots and shameless sentimentality can wear you down.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

All in all, Australia is so damnably eager to please that it feels like being pinned down by a giant overfriendly dingo and having your face licked for about three hours: theoretically endearing but, honestly, kind of gross.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Long before the second hour of Australia (which feels like the fifth), it's clear that Luhrmann hasn't found a satisfactory way to make a movie nearly as ballsy -- or coherent -- as he wants his creation to be.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The film also seems to end at least four times, which is three times too many. Better yet, it never should have started.

Slate Dana Stevens

To marvel at the purity of Australia's corniness isn't to imply that the movie functions as so-bad-it's-good camp, or guilty pleasure, or anything else involving aesthetic enjoyment.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

With Australia, Luhrmann obviously intends to stage a grand romance against the epic backdrop of World War II. But what we get instead is an unwieldy mess that needed another six months in the editing room.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Luhrmann steals good ideas, fair ideas and terrible ideas - anything that once moved him when he was a little boy. He's turned Australia into a more-than-you-can-eat buffet of colorful kitsch.

Premiere Jenni Miller

A self-impressed epic with grandiose vistas, flat characters, and a subplot about Native Australians.

The New Yorker David Denby

It's a shame that Fox entrusted Luhrmann with this project, because audiences were probably ready for a big-boned realistic movie spectacle.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Australia shows all the signs of having been a labor of love for director Baz Luhrmann. One problem: It's his love, and the audience's labor.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.1 (out of 10) based on 99 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

David S. gave it a9:
Action, Romance, Beautiful Cinematography. Australian Western with a twist. Hugh Jackman, Nicole, and Brandon Walters are wonderful together.

Madalena L. gave it a10:
Enchanting!

Slavisa M. gave it a9:
I thought it was a really good Baz Luhrmann film. I really enjoyed all the technical aspects of the film - beautiful cinematography, excellent sound and music and costumes and art direction. I even like the visual effects. Nicole Kidman did a really good performance and so did a few other supporting characters. Definitely a worthy film.

sinclair c. gave it a1:
You know there's a problem when you can get a round of air hockey in the cinema foyer during the first half of the movie... being an Australian what can I say except "Crikey Baz, whats this garbage?"

Richard S. gave it a3:
Baz Luhrmann has directed the worst film of all time: Moulin Rouge. So it makes sense that he has now directed what will probably turn out to be the most expensive flop of all time. Jackman is a cool actor and I hope he becomes a big star - he's much more likeable than Russell Crowe. Nicole Kidman is beautiful, but she can be too bland as an actress.

Chad S. gave it a5:
The grass isn't singing, perhaps the Australian outback is too arid. The grass is tired. Lady Sarah Ashley(Nicole Kidman) seems at complete ease with the Aborigine people at Faraway Downs, even though there's early speculation that her husband was killed by a native named King George(David Gulpili). Because of the times, you would suspect a British subject to be uncomfortable with Aborigines living under her roof. Lady Ashley doesn't have to be stereotypically colonist(like something out of a Doris Lessing novel), but "Australia" could have benefited from some moral complexity out of the ex-Brit. Saints aren't interesting. "Australia" works best as a western; it should have remained in this milieu instead of genre-hopping: the war epic that follows is not nearly as successful. The Aborigines are cast in "Indian" clothing, at first, when it's believed that King George is responsible for the murder of Lady Ashley's husband. During this interim period, the Australian emigrate seems too contemporary in accepting Nullah(Brandon Walters), a half-breed, as more than her charge. The filmmaker doesn't want to portray the Aborigine people as one-dimensional brutes, like the Indians, as seen through the lenses of Hollywood filmmakers during the studio system heyday. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the filmmaker neglects to capture the urgency of the Aborigine cause. Since their children are being taken away, nobody would fault them if they responded to the government provocation by vigilant means. The filmmaker renders them impotent. When Nullah and some other Aborigine children are marooned on an island, it's Drover(Hugh Jackman) who comes to their rescue.

Carol A. gave it a10:
One of the most enjoyable movies I've seen in a long time. Don't understand the negativity in nitpicking. Just go and enjoy.

Australia 20th Century Fox

Australia
20th Century Fox