Anyone who thought Luc Besson's take on Joan of Arc was biased, think again. Gregor Jordan's film, Ned Kelly' is so contrived and has so many plot holes, it amazed me at how this Australian icon has been transformed into Hollywood's version martyr.
The cast all do their best in the film but Naomi Watts' fictitious character and fictitious romance with Kelly seems forced and unnecessary. And the plot hinges on the fact that Kelly was with her when a cop said he shot at him. So if Watts' character wasn't real, where was Kelly at the time this happened? Due to the screenplay, which wasn't up to scratch, it fails to convince that the situation was so desperate that these people were forced to do this.
The Kelly family's ordeal seem to be blown way out of proportion and if this is how it happened (which I'm sure it isn't), I couldn't believe that these so-called outlaws were reduced to their actions at the end. I also didn't by into the fact that all police back then were sexist drunks.
The look of the film also really annoyed me - so much for sunny Australia. The constant shots of indigenous plants and animals grew tiresome and seemed like it was straight from an Australian tourism brochure as a way of telling overseas audiences of a nice place to plan their next holiday. Anyone who's seen 'Titanic' more than once will recognise a huge similarity with the musical score in this film it becomes very annoying.
I tried really hard to like this film and I wanted to, but it was just so over the top, you couldn't take it seriously. By then end, I had so distanced myself from the characters, I felt nothing in the final shoot-out except for how the filmmakers were desperately trying to get some tears from the audience - they failed. Ned Kelly' is a major disappointment.
4 out of 10.
The cast all do their best in the film but Naomi Watts' fictitious character and fictitious romance with Kelly seems forced and unnecessary. And the plot hinges on the fact that Kelly was with her when a cop said he shot at him. So if Watts' character wasn't real, where was Kelly at the time this happened? Due to the screenplay, which wasn't up to scratch, it fails to convince that the situation was so desperate that these people were forced to do this.
The Kelly family's ordeal seem to be blown way out of proportion and if this is how it happened (which I'm sure it isn't), I couldn't believe that these so-called outlaws were reduced to their actions at the end. I also didn't by into the fact that all police back then were sexist drunks.
The look of the film also really annoyed me - so much for sunny Australia. The constant shots of indigenous plants and animals grew tiresome and seemed like it was straight from an Australian tourism brochure as a way of telling overseas audiences of a nice place to plan their next holiday. Anyone who's seen 'Titanic' more than once will recognise a huge similarity with the musical score in this film it becomes very annoying.
I tried really hard to like this film and I wanted to, but it was just so over the top, you couldn't take it seriously. By then end, I had so distanced myself from the characters, I felt nothing in the final shoot-out except for how the filmmakers were desperately trying to get some tears from the audience - they failed. Ned Kelly' is a major disappointment.
4 out of 10.