Let's be realistic.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Why didn't someone tell Hugh Jackman - who should have known anyway - that Australian stockmen don't crouch over their horse's necks when they ride, or gallop horses past the homestead ad nauseam. And the pigeon english as spoken by the indigenous Australians in this movie is cringe inducing. And how did Jackman make it to Darwin when it was still burning, presumably from near Faraway Downs? Terrible movie, saved only by the beautiful landscape.

Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces firsthand. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman give 2 amazing perfomances in this heart pound Australian Drama and in my opinion this film is underrated and better than Kidman's most recent projects. The actors do a great job, the characters are well written and the sets are breath taking. (A+)

Okay, so I can't understand why there are so many bad reviews. So I had just gotten Fios, after Charter crapped the bed, and this movie was on. I didn't think I'd like it, but Hugh Jackman is in it, need I say more? Well, when I first watched it, I thought it was going to be a silly comedy; from the cover it was a romance so I'm like ooh, okay a romantic comedy. It turned to be something so much more. I loved how Nicole aka Sarah turned from a rich woman with her nose up in the air to more humble. And the spark between Nicole and Hugh...oh my....okay, so I'm a hopeless romantic and the war, my heart strings. When he thought she was dead and how devastated he was....I was just....my heart imploded. Clearly, this movie isn't for everyone, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. It didn't hurt that Hugh went back to his natural roots and the Australian accent....my ovaries exploded hahah it certainly seems this movie may have a larger female audience. But in all seriousness, I loved it.

Obviously I knew this film's setting, I knew the two leading stars had Australian heritage, and I knew this film was made as "Oscar bait" (a film produced to get nominated and/or win Oscars), I was prepared to try it, from Australian director by Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom, Moulin Rouge, The Great Gatsby). Basically set in northern Australia at the beginning of World War II, aristocratic Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) has travelled from Great Britain to force her womanising husband Maitland (Anton Monsted) to sell his floundering cattle station, Faraway Downs, she is transported by an independent cattle drover, called "Drover" (Hugh Jackman). Lady Sarah's husband is murdered shortly after her arrival, the authorities tell her an Aboriginal elder called "King George" (David Gulpilil) is the killer, cattle station manager Neil Fletcher (The Lord of the Tings' David Wenham) wants control of Faraway Downs, he is working with Lesley 'King' Carney (Bryan Brown) and hoping to negotiate to buy cattle with Captain Dutton (Ben Mendelsohn). Lady Sarah has no children, and is captivated by young Aboriginal boy Nullah (Brandon Walters), who has an Aboriginal mother and a white father, he claims her cattle has been stolen from her, because of this Fletcher mistreats Nullah and threatens him and his mother, Lady Sarah fires Fletcher and tries to run the cattle station herself. When Nullah and his mother hide from the authorities in a water tower, his mother drowns, Lady Sarah comforts him singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" from the film The Wizard of Oz, Nullah tells her that "King George" is his grandfather, and like the Wizard he is also a "magic man". Lady Sarah persuades Drover, who is friendly with the Aborigines, to take the cattle to Darwin for sale, other whites in the territory shun Drover, it is revealed that he was married to an Aboriginal woman, she died after being refused hospital treatment because of her race, Lady Sarah also reveals she cannot have children. Drover leads a team of riders, including Lady Sarah, Drover's Aboriginal brother-in-law Magarri (David Ngoombujarra) and the station's accountant Kipling Flynn (Jack Thompson) to drive the 1,500 cattle to Darwin, there are various obstacles on the way, including Carney's men starting a fire that scares the cattle, Flynn is killed in the stampede. Lady Sarah and Drover fall in love, and she gains a new appreciation in the Australian territory, the team drive the cattle through the dangerous Never Never desert, then they have to race to deliver them onto the ship before the cattle of Carney are loaded. For two years, Lady Sarah, Drover and Nullah live happily together at Faraway Downs, meanwhile Carney is killed by Fletcher, he marries Carney's daughter Cath (Essie Davis), takes over Carney's cattle empire, and continues to menace Lady Sarah, it is established that Fletcher murdered Lady Sarah's husband and Nullah's father. Nullah is drawn to go with his grandfather "King George" on a walkabout (rite of passage), but the authorities take him away, sent to live on Mission Island (a fictional island inspired by Bathurst Island) with the other half-Aboriginal children (dubbed the "Stolen Generations"), Lady Sarah regarding Nullah as an adopted son vows to rescue him. In the meantime Lady Sarah works in Darwin as a radio operator during the rise of World War II, there is the Japanese bombing of Darwin, and Lady Sarah fears that Nullah has been killed, Drover previously quarrelled with and left Lady Sarah, he hears mistakenly that she was killed in the bombing. Drover learns that Nullah was abducted to Mission Island, along with the other children, he goes with Magarri and a young priest to rescue them, Drover finds them and they set sail, they reach the port at Darwin before Lady Sarah evacuates, she hears Nullah playing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on his harmonica, the three are happily reunited. Fletcher is distraught that his plans were ruined and at his wife being killed during a Japanese air strike, he attempts to shoot Nullah, but is speared by King George and dies, Lady Sarah, Drover and Nullah return safely to Faraway Downs, King George calls Nullah, he returns to the Outback with his grandfather. Also starring Barry Otto as Administrator Allsop, Bruce Spence as Dr. Barker, Jacek Koman as Ivan, Ray Barrett as Ramsden, Bill Hunter as Skipper (Qantas Sloop) and John Jarratt as Sergeant. Kidman is alright being the hoity-toity English lady, but was criticised for the lack of facial expressions (because of too much Botox obviously), Jackman is a nice man, but a slightly odd mix between Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee, Wenham is good at being a very nasty villain, and Walters is adorable as the good-natured orphaned half-Aboriginal, half-white child. I can see why this film could have been considered at the Oscars, it has a great amount of colour in the authentic costumes and the sweeping Australian landscapes, there are some exciting sequences with the cattle herding and of course the explosive war battles and bombings, and the character relationships are the core, but the film is a little too long (almost three hours), it is a little predictable, and the mixture of other genres like screwball comedy, romance, western and war movie don't all work together, overall it is a mildly enjoyable but mostly average romantic period drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Costume Design. Okay!