William Kelly's War

The story had promise but the weak acting and dumb over-exaggeration killed it for me.

I guess it would make good comedy if satire is your thing?

Although the film seemed to have a slight issue with the flow, I though the historically based story was interesting. I liked the family aspect of the story. The acting had ups and downs, but didn't significantly take away from the film.

William Kelly's War was a complete surprise. It was launched in cinemas without much fanfare. I wondered why? It had great reviews, a well known producer, a director on his second assignment and a little known cast in a story that had the audience cheering at the end of the movie. The tale of the two heroic brothers with their cousin Paddy really drew me in, I really cared for them as they are sent from battlefront to battlefront whilst their family back home are involved in another war with Bushrangers. The loving close-knit family is very cleverly set up at the front of the movie. The period settings, set design and characters are authentic, the pace perfect. This is a movie that connects with its audience, highly recommended.

1 I like to see independent films give things ago and this is one area where WKW really does succeed. You virtually get 2 movies in one, like an old drive-in double bill. Producer/script editor Phil Avalon has been involved with independent Australian productions, just about what seems like forever. Nice to see he's still up to hanging out his shingle.

2 I don't think I've ever seen a longer cast list in an independent production. The IMDB full cast list is still much abbreviated. The post credits cast list in the film is huge.

3 BTW. Speaking of the cast, was the deserter, shot by the firing squad a female dressed as a male? Didn't really sound like, or even look like a male soldier. Even though it was a speaking part I couldn't see any reference on the IMDB cast list. Also good to see veteran actor Tony Bonner again, playing Mr Kelly. He's been around forever too and will always be remembered for his role as the helicopter pilot in Skippy the Bush Kangaroo.

4 I think the advertised running time of 95 minutes is incorrect. I had it much closer up towards the 2 hour mark.

5 It's no real secret that the movie was primarily shot on a farm in Victoria, so it's a little bizarre that the primary Australian setting was Proserpine in tropical North Queensland, a good 2000 km due north. As a former resident of Proserpine which is a centre for sugar-cane production, I can vouch that at no time in its history did it have cattle stations running over 1000 head of cattle just out of town, complete with gangs of roving, murderous cattle rustlers. Kind of funny to see a lack of tropical vegetation, but heaps of eucalyptus gum trees instead, as well as lots of blokes wandering around in heavy overcoats. Broken Hill looked extremely sodden and green too with plenty of trees in the background. LOL! For the interested unfamiliar viewer with Broken Hill's environs, check out Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. The geography is tellingly different. But again, why choose Proserpine when they could have chosen some place geographically closer to their filming location and it wouldn't have made any difference to the story, except make it seem more realistic?

6 Loved the Aussie guy's accent; the one playing the German torturer. Classic Sgt Schultz stuff! "Vee have vays and means ov making you talk!"

7 It was great to try to film an overview of Billy's participation and experiences of 4 years of fighting during World War 1, on a farm's property. But after about 45 minutes of close-ups, I was getting giddy and have to say, that not all of the action (and there was plenty) made a lot of sense. At least "back in Australia", we got some pulled back shots.

8 Good to see there were some cops finally brought into the story, after all this cattle rustling and murders around dear old Proserpine.

9 Quite honestly I thought the story was pretty silly, but there is plenty of action, one way or the other in William Kelly's War. Phil Avalon comes through again.

I guess it's all about expectations, having watched this film with no high expectations on the quality of acting, script or sets I was very much surprised. I found it a very enjoyable film and gave it a 6/10. The cast acted fine for the script, it was no 'Saving Private Ryan' and I was not expecting a high quality experience when looking at the cast. For me it was well worth a watch and I am glad that I did, well written, great landscapes and the war scenes were realistic enough. If you like war films to be gritty then this has it but also there are two stories going on here which merge well.

Again, my expectations may be low, but at the time of writing/rating this had a score of 6.4, not bad for a low budget offering and I look forward in seeing the cast in future projects.