You can't take Australia seriously. It's a Baz Luhrman flick after all. If you've seen Moulin Rouge! then you'll understand how barking Baz can get. So wipe all expectations of a 'serious' oOscar contender (the academy did, as it happens) and instead anticipated a romanticised , ultra stylised-version-of-reality, melodrama. Like a historic comic book, without the superheros or fight scenes. An when I say romanticised, I don't mean kissy kissy (although there is some of that), but a beautifully designed, lit, composed and scored version of the real Oz. Everything is an exagerated version of the real thing, as if an oil painter or romantic novelist were to team up to capture the whole movie on film. Even the performances are heightened to the poiunt of characature, especially that of Ms Kidman. This heightened storytelling is an aquired taste, just like Moulin Rouge. So if thats not to your taste, avoid.
If you, like me, can accept a visionary, experimental director doing their thing, then this may grab you. The story is nothing original, and you could cut half an hour out of the final act, but it sure is purty to look at. There's a critisism of some movies of them having "style over substance". And while I agree that a story should be clearly told, contain dramatic tension and hopefully have some kind of point...I don't think a films style should be ignore. Sometimes, the style IS the substance. It's what makes us keep going back to watch them. Take Ridley Scott's Alien... a slender, but expertly told story. But if Scott hadn't pushed the style as much as he did, would we still regard it as a classic now? Australia isn't a classic, and I think it never will be. But I can, at least admire, the creative stylistic choices on show.
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