True History of the Kelly Gang

If they had drawn out the first half, with Ned Kelly as a kid hanging out with Russell Crowe, then you've got a pretty good movie on your hands. I really like what I've seen of George MacKay so far, so I was excited for the second half that covers Kelly as an adult, but rarely have I seen a movie go so far off the rails. Forget that it's historical fantasy. What starts off as a pretty good movie just suddenly becomes unnecessarily hard to follow, pretentiously artsy, surreal, silly, and absurd. Scenes that contain what should be tragic are instead farcical and unintentionally funny, which is all the more bizarre being that the first thirty minutes are so are strong. Mostly I'm irritated that it was such a bait and switch, because had the beginning been as weak as the rest of the movie I wouldn't have gotten invested enough to needlessly see it through to the end.

The promoters of this film have decided to go with "limited release" due to poor audience reaction. Frankly after seeing this in Turin I have to agree. Of the ten or so film so films based on Ned Kelly this has to be the most ambitious -- and the least well actualized. In the end it is a disjointed jumble, with a couple of well played roles -- but overall, incoherent and pointless. Dressing Ned up as a woman may seem brave, but really it just comes off as a put on. I am not put off by it, but one has to ask: what is the point?

The title of the movie takes itself entirely tongue in cheek. This movie is to Ned Kelly like what "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is to the Manson story. Its someone's entirely dreamed up take on the subject (the book it is based on, was classified as fiction). And that is perfectly fine. Entertaining, good acting, good scenery, does slide a little in the second half. The "C word" is an Aussie staple, so expect it!

I do agree with other comments about Ned needing a beard - it was his second best known trait!

Takes a classic bit of Aussie history/fable and writes a new version with some similarities. Entertaining enough and rather poetic. Shot well, but quite up and down in terms of performances, altogether okay. If you're looking for a Hollywood blockbuster version of Ned Kelly's story, this isn't it! Likely to frustrate the hell out of anyone that reveres Ned Kelly and the story as told, which greatly amuses me and adds to this movie's charm. Overall quite good.

As many other reviewers have said, the first half of this film is engaging, well-acted and seems to be a fairly realistic depiction of the hardships of 1850s settlers in Australia. The second half, however, is a mess - it seems as if the scriptwriters had difficulty deciding if they should keep true to the know facts of Ned Kelly, keep true to Peter Carey's brilliant novel, or try to do something surreal, wild and original. This quandary results in none of those three approaches being done well and, by the end, it feels as if even the director has given up on it. A real pity - the split between good film to bad film can be drawn pretty much when the actor playing young Ned - Orlando Schwerdt - is replaced by the actor playing older Ned - George Mackay. This is not Mackay's fault, it is just that only then does the film come off the rails in terms of being a believable depiction of mid-Victorian Australia (e.g. Respectable folk watching what looks like UFC in a drawing room). A pity and a waste.