Ned Kelly (2003)

The last decade saw a spate of Australia-set Westerns. John Hillcoat's The Proposition (2005) transfers Peckinpah-esque brutality to the Outback, while Baz Luhrman's Australia (2008) grafts Red River's cattle drive plot onto a wartime romance. With its colorful outlaws, Aborigines, forbidding deserts and class warfare, the Land of Aus sports its own unique frontier mythology. 


Ned Kelly (2003) follows a traditional path. Australia's most famous bushranger has been the subject of several films. The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) was purportedly the first feature-length movie ever made (opinions vary). Tony Richardson's abysmal Ned Kelly (1970) cast Mick Jagger in a counterculture version. Gregor Jordan's take casts Kelly as an Australian Jesse James fighting crooked cops. The result's entertaining if uninspired.

Ned Kelly (Heath Ledger) is arrested in 1870s Victoria, falsely accused of stealing a horse. Trouble keeps finding Ned, especially when a trouble-making policeman (Kiri Paramore) harasses his gal pal (Naomi Watts). After killing three policemen in self-defense, Ned goes on the lamb with cocky friend Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom) and brother David (Laurence Kinlan). The trio embark on an outlaw career and become folk heroes, while being pursued by ruthless Superintendent Hare (Geoffrey Rush).

Ned Kelly's drama proves extremely familiar. Jordan and every mine Robin Hood cliche, stacking the deck to make Kelly an hero. One cringe-inducing bit has Kelly begging forgiveness from a dying policeman a la Kevin Costner in The Untouchables. The protagonists are likeable but the villains colorless. Unlike Hillcoat's recent Lawless, which plays on similar cops-and-robbers cliches, Ned's drama is often slack even as the body count rises. Jordan salvages this with excellent action scenes, especially the final showdown: Kelly's armor-clad gang blasting away in a rainstorm makes an arresting image.

What saves Ned Kelly is its intriguing class dynamic. Kelly and his gang are Irish immigrants, and their proletarian appeal is contrasted sharply with Anglo-Australian society. Despite Hare's proclamation that Kelly isn't an "animal" but a very clever man, he's marked as a villain before he commits a crime. Jordan throws in odd visual cues to enforce this: animal imagery is frequently invoked (vultures picking at dead cattle, a circus lion caught in a shootout), along with a brief encounter with a native. The allegory's unsubtle but gives Ned an edge missing from most Westerns.

Heath Ledger sublimates his heartthrob persona to an intense, brooding protagonist. Orlando Bloom shows an off-hand charisma lacking in later star turns (Kingdom of Heaven anyone?). Geoffrey Rush is wasted in a role that requires little more than a baleful glower, while Naomi Watts (J. Edgar) plays a colorless love interest.

Ned Kelly makes a fine entry in the Outback Western genre. With the Hollywood Western largely moribund it's nice to see Australians picking up the slack.