I was curious to revisit this. I remember what a big deal it was at the time and how no one seems to talk about it now. It made a lot of money (domestically) but certainly didn't "stick" in people's minds. I think they might recall there was a Heath Ledger Ned Kelly movie but that was about it.
The opening few minutes are effective with its beautiful score and photography and some nice images... and Heath Ledger is charismatic... but the problems soon emerge...
What is the take they had on Ned Kelly? Villain? Hero? Enigmatic anti hero? Revolutionary? It all feels... blah. There's no passion. Or viewpoint. It's like no one wanted to make it except for maybe the art department.
I totally would have green lit a film on Ned Kelly from the team that made Two Hands. But that had a clear point of view. A hero battling with a clear goal. This doesn't. Ned is kind of put upon... but not really. He takes bunch of people hostage... then releases them and they are fired on so Ned is trying to save the hostages, is that right? (I wonder if the film had voice over added and lines of dialogue like "let's save the hostages" added).
He is hard to dramatise and the filmmakers don't succeed here. I don't mind inventing a Ned Kelly love story, I mean no one really knows but... there's no point to the Naomi Watts one. The scenes have no heat. You could cut her out of the film and it wouldn't mean anything. In contrast, Saskia Burmeister's quick turn as the girl who Ned gives a ride to and encounters at Glenrowan has real emotional weight because she clearly admires him and she's there. Why not put Naomi Watts at Glenrowan and have her killed? Give the piece some bite?
On the sunny side the sets, costumes are great, as is the music. The beards, unfortunately, mostly look fake. There are some effective moments such as the death of Aaron Sherritt (this scene always works, it did in the Douglas Stewart play), Geoffrey Rush taking the sash at the end.
Other moments glimpse what the film could've been: the aforementioned Saskia-Heath stuff, the scene where Ned chats to his brother. I think this was the core problem for me: Ned Kelly had no relationship with anyone. He had a stock, removable romance with Naomi Watts, but I never got the sense of his friendship with Joe Byrne, or Steve Hart, or a relationship with his mother or his brother or sister. It fails to bring to life any of the Kelly women (this is a common flaw in all Kelly adaptations).
A mess. A frustrating mess. The Ned Kelly story is a challenging one for film adapters but one thing is clear... it needs a strong point of view. This doesn't have it.
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