Delayed Reaction: Ned Kelly

Premise: The story of Australian Jesse James.

 

I miss Heath Ledger. He was so fun to watch. At the time of his death, he was certainly my favorite actor and I've never been bored by him in a movie. I actually have quite a few of his movies left to see, and that's somewhat intentional. I like the idea of always having a Casanova or The Order to see if rewatching A Knight's Tale or The Dark Knight isn't doing it for me. Ned Kelly was a big one to check off my list. Not because it's a particularly great movie. It just had a great cast. There are so many Australians in this, from Joel Edgerton to Naomi Watts to Georfrey Rush. I'll forgive Orlando Bloom for not being Australian, because his 2003 was an epic year (The Return of the King and the first Pirate of the Caribbean movie in addition to this). I'm disappointed they couldn't fit Rose Byrne in somehow, but that just means I can look forward to the Byrne/Ledger pairing in Two Hands even more.

 

Really, the best thing about the movie is how Australian it is. There's that cast. The movie constantly uses B-roll of the exotic and distinctive wildlife in that country. I love Westerns not set in America because they look almost alien. Like, this came out around the same time as American Outlaws and it's a vastly more interesting movie just by being Australian. Similarly, I'm completely unaware of the story of Ned Kelly, so I didn't know where this was going. Had you told me it was ending with a shootout where Ned Kelly's gang dresses in makeshift armor, I would've said "Well, that part was made up by a producer with an imagination". So, uh, that was an interesting Wikipedia page to go through later.

 

Now, I am curious what the Australian opinion of this movie is. Is it the equivalent of an American watching an American Western or is America so synonymous with the Western* that it's even refreshing for Australians to see this spin on the genre? Frankly, I'm not tracking down enough Australian cinema to know.

 

*To be fair, the name "Western" refers to the American Wild West. The U.S. claims ownership of a lot of things that aren't ours, but the Western really is ours.

 

I wish there were a hundred more Ned Kellys in Heath Ledger's filmography. It's not a great movie. At best, it's functional. But it's watchable with a strong cast. Most days, that's more than enough.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend