Sunday, December 7, 2008

Australia

This movie was a mix of a lot of things, and quite long. It takes place in late 1930’s Australia, where two cattle ranches are competing for a government contract to supply beef to British troops fighting in the war. The ranches are of course owned and operated by wealthy English types. When one of the families needs money, and the wife in England wants to sell and the husband on the ranch does not, she makes the trip to Australia and then the adventure/romance/comedy ensues.

I did not really spot a lot of bad acting in this movie. Everyone was watchable, and with the exception of the antagonist, every character was fun to watch- including the kid. I normally hate child actors, and the parts written for them, but this kid did a pretty good job. The only “beef” I had with this movie was the length. Coming in at just shy of 3 hours and having the “Lord of the Rings Syndrome” with several endings (some even in the middle of the movie) there to make you sit up, think ‘that was nice’, and promptly sit back down because it just keeps going. Not that it was a bad thing, there were not a lot of slow parts, but this could have easily been two movies; or one with a lot of un-needed parts. Just allocate a large chunk of time if you plan on indulging in this over blown piece of cinema.

And, yes, if you want some deep reading artsy-fartsy stuff, it has a bit of that too. Not only is it action and comedy and romance and looming war, but there is a bit of reading between the lines. Most of it is the civil rights and racism issues that are reminiscent of 1960’s to 1950’s divided America. It is between the white culture and the native, and the assimilations into each, intolerances of each, and about those who walk those borders of the civilized and the wild, and the black and white. With that being said, the main kid in the movie echoes Hick Finn a little too close (he is also the narrator, and takes quite a bit of getting used too).

All in all: Rancher Action and Romance Action

Lives up to the pre-views? Didn’t see any

Stars (out of five): 4

T

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