Went this past week to see a sneak preview of Australia and have to say I was pleasantly surprised. This is one of the best movies I have seen in a while. First off don't make the assumption this is a "chick flick" but it has those elements. The movie has a wonderful blend of love, adventure, action, and history.

The story is told from the view of a young mixed heritage aboriginal boy. The opening shows the boy with his grandfather fishing in an area they call Billabong. The boy sees several men down the way and the grandfather tells him to hide. As he is lying in the water a man falls in who has been killed with a spear. This starts a series of events around the grandfather.

Meanwhile in England Lady Sarah Ashley (played by Nicole Kidman) has decided the land in Australia her husband has bought needs to be sold and he must return home. So she sets off to the land down under.

Now in Australia you enter a bar and meet the man who has been tasked with bringing Lady Ashley out to Faraway Downs. The Drover (played by Hugh Jackman) is waiting in a bar while a black friend is waiting outside to watch for Lady Ashley's arrival. He quickly gets into a fight and as he is fighting Lady Ashley appears on the porch asking for him. As the fight continues it spills out onto the porch and consumes Lady Ashley's luggage in the process.

The story starts out about Drover was hired to drove 1500 head of cattle to market and thru several events Lady Ashley ends up having to help with the cattle drive. Half way thru the movie of course the Drover falls in love with the hardheaded Lady Ashley but is unwilling to commit. This sets the second course of the movie as World War II comes to the shores of Darwin.

The story held my attention even though it was about 2 hours and 40 minutes long. Throughout the story there are a lot of hints and twist in the plot to look for such as the name of the town. There are hints such as "Fox Trot" which add a bit of humor and frame a sequence of events to the story. Australia is well put together and flows very nicely. In the end they bring everything to nice close and add the last bits of Historical information as relates to the overall story.

Australia Movie Homepage