Ned Kelly

I walked into this movie expecting to see a legendary Australian folktale, turned into a piece of Hollywood fluff and to an extent that is what I got. However, even with the exaggerated soundtrack and the ficticious Naomi Watts character who had too large a part in the story this movie is not with out it's charms, the image of the Kelly gang in their iron suits facing an army of Victorian police at the Glenrowan Inn is an incredably striking one.

An important detail to note is that this is most definately NOT a documentary on Ned Kelly's life, this is a Hollywood film. However as a film it is incredably slanted to Ned's point of view, he is just way too good. Details of Ned's horse theivery (which he admitted to in the Jerilderie letter) where changed to make the Victorian police seem at fault. The Victorian police were made into the oppressors of the Kelly family and force Ned to a life as an outlaw in the bush.

Heath Ledger's portrayal of Ned Kelly is a fair one, he manages to depict Ned's anger at the authories rather well. Orlando Bloom's portrayal of the womanising Joe Byrne and Joel Edgerton's Aaron Sherrit, betrayer of the Kelly gang, were nowhere near Oscar worthy, but still good. Naomi Watt's character was unnecessary and seemed only added to provide a love interest for Ned.

Overall Ned Kelly is a generally good film. The acting is good, but the storyline leaves a lot to be desired, far too black and white for a film based on true events. However, the film does have it's moments, the final showdown at the Glenrowan Inn was a particulary well crafted scene. An interesting side note is that Dan Kelly's death in not actually shown, perhaps this was fuelled by the rumour that he did not perish in the Glenrowan siege but escaped and fled to a new life in Queensland.

6 of of 10

"Ned Kelly" is a straight-forward re-telling of the legendary Australian who has a powerful symbolism as both an outlaw and a revolutionary.

It is not based on the award-winning novel by Peter Carey, "True History of the Ned Kelly Gang," because the rights to that were taken by the Irish Neil Jordan to the consternation of nationalists who rallied around this adaptation of Robert Drewe's "Our Sunshine." But, oddly, though Drewe is listed as a co-producer, this chronological narrative by first-timer John M. McDonagh flattens out the power of the novella's focus on the final three-days' battle that's as important to Australia as "Remember the Alamo!" is to Texans.

Director Gregor Jordan particularly undercuts the core of Kelly's transformation in the public imagination from petty criminal to charismatic Robin Hood to uprising leader against injustice by barely letting Heath Ledger dictate a few lines of the so-called 'Jerilderie Letter' perhaps because it is the powerful centerpiece of the voice of the Carey book. Ledger's basso voice-over connectors do resonate.

Jordan opts for portends of the key confrontation that will only be caught by those familiar with the legend -- Kelly idly looking through an illustrated book about body armor, the loading up of the infamous train that will carry the police to the attack, and Geoffrey Rush replaying his Inspector Javert, but with only implications of a "Les Miserables" back story.

Jordan presides over an excellent recreation of the milieu of the time. There's a strong visual evocation in the art and set direction of time, place, and geography, especially with Oliver Stapleton's beautiful cinematography. The social class differences between descendants of POMmies (Prisoners of his Majesty) and their British overlords, are documented starkly, particularly in carrying over the Irish vs. British conflict to another continent (though the bland music score misses a real opportunity to illustrate that, with only a couple of traditional Celtic songs literally stuck in).

Non-Aussie Orlando Bloom makes quite a dashing Joe Byrne, Kelly's best friend, attracting Rachel Griffiths in a somewhat silly cameo, and many other recognizable Australian actors pass through.

Unfortunately, Naomi Watts and Ledger can be added to the lengthy list of real-life lovers who evince little reel chemistry -- did that only work to our benefit for Bogart/Bacall and Tracy/Hepburn?

A film about the legendary outlaw whose story outgrew his life , it is based on the true events of famous 19th-century Outback bandit, an authentic legend which results to be the Australian's most ambiguous outlaw. A man (Heath Ledger) called Ned Kelly and his family are mistreated by Australians guards .He turns to steal horses that had been previously robbed to him . He gets deeply drawn into crime life and eventually becomes a policemen killer . Meanwhile , he falls in love of an unhappy married woman (Naomi Watts) . He forms an Irish band (Orlando Bloom) battling the British Empire but the oppressed people called them heroes and are relentlessly pursued by an astute , stubborn official (Geoffrey Rush, winner Oscar for Shine) . You can kill a man but not a legend. When the law tried to silence him a legend was born. The British Empire branded them as outlaws. The oppressed called them heroes.

The film is an Australian Western made completely by Aussies with action , drama , shootouts, a love story and a lot of violence. It's a pretty solid movie narrating the confrontation between the Irish rebels and the English forces and holds up very well. The essential of this picture is the outlaw hunt that results in a great load of gunplay and deaths. The movie benefits tremendously from Oliver Stapleton's (Casanova) frequently ravishing cinematography , although is sometimes dark , as film longtime is developed at night and interior scenarios. It contains a sensitive and rousing musical score by Klaus Badelt (K19 , Pirates of the Caribbean) .The motion picture was well pfotographed and competently directed by Gregor Jordan who dramatizes accurately the life of this famous outlaw and his henchmen. Before being adapted in an Australian version by Sterling (1960) and by Tony Richardson also titled Ned Kelly (1970) starred by Mick Jagger .

I'm tired of people judging films on their "historical accuracy". IT'S A MOVIE PEOPLE!! The writers and directors are supposed to put their own spin into the story! There are a number of movies out there that aren't entirely accurate with the history....Braveheart, Wyatt Earp, Gangs of New York, Geronimo: An American Legend, The Last of the Mohicans....all fantastic films that are mildly inaccurate historically. If you want to see a few great actors do what they do best, then I suggest you see this film and don't worry about the accuracy of the facts. Just enjoy the quality of the film, the storyline and one of the greatest actors of our time.

I'm sure that not many people outside of Australia have ever heard of the legend of Ned Kelly. I once saw a documentary about the man, but that's the only time I once saw or heard anything about him. And I guess that this might be the biggest problem this movie will have to face. No-one knows anything about it and probably not many people will care about the subject.

The movie tells the story of Ned Kelly's life. The Irish immigrant has lived in north-west Victoria all his life, but has never been very welcome by the authorities. The police always accuses him of everything they can think of and they keep harassing his family. When Kelly is fed up with the way everything goes, he forms a gang with his brother and two other men. They start robbing banks and even hijack an entire town for 3 days. All this violence leads to a man hunt organized by the police and when they kill three policemen, they are outlawed. Finally they take over a pub in Glenrowan, where they have a party with all the visitors, waiting for a train full of police to derail at a part of the track that they tore up. But the train is able to stop in time because someone warns them and what will follow is a battle on life and death between the police and the four gunmen...

It's very hard to tell whether all of what is shown in the movie is true or false. I guess nobody really knows, because there will always be two camps who will each tell their own truth: one camp says he was a hero, some kind of Robin Hood, the others will say he was an ordinary criminal, a murderer and a thief. I really couldn't tell you which of them is right, perhaps both are, but what I can tell you is that the facts in the movie as well as is the documentary were about the same.

This movie was a nice addition to the documentary I once saw and I really enjoyed the performances of all the actors. Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Watts, Geoffrey Rush are all actors who are pretty well known, but even the lesser known actors show in this production that they all know what good acting should look like. I really enjoyed this movie and I give it a 7.5/10