Gregor Jordan's version of the Australian legend Ned Kelly stars Heath Ledger as the title outlaw. Sixteen-year-old Irish immigrant Ned is sentenced to three years in prison for stealing a horse. After his release he finds work tending to horses owned by Richard Cook (Nicholas Bell), whose wife (Naomi Watts) grows interested in Ned. Fitzpatrick (Kiri Paramore) is a police officer with a yen for Ned's sister Kate (Kerry Condon). When she rejects him, Fitzpatrick steals the family's animals. The brothers are falsely accused of a crime and go into hiding, leading to the assault and arrest of their beloved mother. Francis Hare (Geoffrey Rush) is eventually brought on to stop the gang that becomes famous after a string of bank robberies. The film also features Orlando Bloom (of Lord of the Rings fame) and Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under). The most recent version of this oft-filmed tale featured Mick Jagger as the infamous Kelly in 1970. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
There's revisionist history, and then there's Gregor Jordan's Ned Kelly. Kelly -- Australian folklore's answer to Jesse James, but with a clearer conscience -- may not be much known to American audiences, for whom this film was probably intended. But that doesn't mean liberties of the highest order should be taken with the man's life, which is what Jordan and screenwriter John Michael McDonagh are guilty of. The iconic image of Kelly -- as much as there is one -- features a lone warrior decked out in full body armor, with only a horizontal opening at eye level, shooting it out with an enormous posse of corrupt police officers. But in Jordan's film, Kelly's entire gang is outfitted in the mythic battle gear -- gear that Kelly, quite famously, wore only himself. The film also invents certain key characters, such as a prim British love interest (Naomi Watts), as though the actual facts of Kelly's life were little more than raw materials. But enumerating the film's inaccuracies may not be the most useful critical approach for the average filmgoer, who's more interested in whether Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom make strapping and likeable Outback outlaws. The verdict here is also grim, in part because McDonagh offers too little of their back story, too little of the systemic prejudices and conspiracies that forced them to defend themselves and others against government injustice, sometimes leading to bloodshed. Instead, the film spends too much time painting Bloom's Joe Byrne as a rakish lout, and Ledger as a generic blue collar hero given to gruffly inspirational speechifying, which seems vaguely ridiculous without better context. The second attempt to tell this story, following a disappointing 1970 version starring Mick Jagger, Ned Kelly confirms that it may be awhile before Australia's most complicated hero gets effectively exported to the world. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Laurence Kinlan - Dan Kelly; Philip Barantini - Steve Hart; Joel Edgerton - Aaron Sherritt; Kiri Paramore - Fitzpatrick; Kerry Condon - Kate Kelly; Emily Browning - Grace Kelly; Geoff Morrell - Mr. Scott; Charles "Bud" Tingwell - Premier Berry; Saskia Burmeister - Jane Jones; Peter Phelps - Lonigan; Russell Dykstra - Wild Wright; Nicholas Bell - Richard Cook; Andrew S. Gilbert - Stanistreet
Credit
Ian Gracie - Art Director, Robert Drewe - Associate Producer, Christine King - Casting, Jina Jay - Casting, Liza Chasin - Co-producer, Debra Hayward - Co-producer, Anna Borghesi - Costume Designer, Liz Tan - First Assistant Director, Gregor Jordan - Director, Jon Gregory - Editor, Tim Bevan - Executive Producer, Eric Fellner - Executive Producer, Timothy White - Executive Producer, Tim White - Executive Producer, Catherine Bishop - Line Producer, Klaus Badelt - Composer (Music Score), Nick Angel - Musical Direction/Supervision, Steven Jones-Evans - Production Designer, Oliver Stapleton - Cinematographer, Brad Shield - Cinematographer, Lynda House - Producer, Nelson Woss - Producer, Gary Wilkins - Sound/Sound Designer, Zev Eleftheriou - Stunts Coordinator, Peter Stubbs - Special Effects Supervisor, John Michael McDonagh - Screenwriter, Robert Drewe - Book Author
The film starts out with a young Ned Kelly rescuing a young boy from drowning. The film then pans to the Australian bush with Ned talking about his father. He then awakes in the Australian wilderness, and sees a white mare. He rides it into town, only to be arrested, and subsequently imprisoned in 1871, for supposedly stealing the horse (even though it had actually been stolen by Wild Wright, Ned's friend).
Three years later Ned is released, and comes home to a warm welcome from his Catholic Irish family. The Kelly family are seemingly working to get ahead in life, by owning horses and farming. One night at a bar (in April 1878), a local Victorian police officer, named Fitzpatrick, offers to buy Ned's sister, Kate, a drink. After several attempts, Kate insists she doesn't want one. Ned intervenes and hostilities ensue when fellow officers help Fitzpatrick out. Getting back at Ned, the Victorian police officers confiscate the Kellys horses. Ned, his brother Dan, and their friends (Steve Hart, Joe Byrne, Wild Wright) steal back their horses. One evening later, Fitzpatrick arrives at the Kelly house, while Ned's away, to visit Kate, only to be told that she doesn't want to see him. Officer Fitzpatrick tells them they have warrants for them, for horse stealing. A fight ensues, and Fizpatrick returns to the police office, telling the others that Ned Kelly shot him.
The Victorian police then arrest Ned's mother (in Ned's absence), and Ned, Dan, Steve, and Joe become outlaws on the run. They later meet some police in the Victorian bushlands in October 1878, and kill Constable Lonnigan, and two other officers in a shootout. For the following months the Kelly Gang avoid capture, living in the wild, often without food. The colonial government sends in Superintendent Francis Hare, who arrests many people including Joe Byrne's life-long friend, Aaron Sherrit. Sherrit, being told that they don't want to harm his friend Joe, but only wants the Kellys, provides a location where the gang might be. Byrne learns of this, and arrives one night (26 June 1880) armed with a loaded shotgun, and kills Aaron.
The next day (Sunday 27 June) the Kelly Gang take over the town of Glenrowan, taking about seventy hostages at the Glenrowan Inn, but also winning the trust of the townspeople there. Hare and the police are set to capture the gang, and their train is saved from derailment by a released hostage. The police then lay siege to the inn at dawn on 28 June. The Kelly gang, using plate metal body armor, emerge from the inn and begin shooting, but are forced inside again. Joe Byrne is shot and dies inside the inn. Morning passes, and the police wonder where the outlaws are. Ned then re-emerges from the inn but is shot in the arms and legs and falls. Dan and Steve, thinking all is lost, commit suicide. Ned regains consciousness, and even though gravely injured, continues to fire at the police. He finally is shot to the ground and taken down.
Loaded on a train, Ned's beloved green sash is given to Hare as the train steers away. It was noted that even with a pardon, which had a petition of over 30,000 signatures, Ned Kelly was sentenced to death for the murder of Constable Lonigan, and hanged at Old Melbourne Gaol on 11 November 1880.
The film was not a universal success and grossed $6,585,516 worldwide.[2] It received mixed reviews, with a 55% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[3] One review of the film comments "Heath Ledger gives a solid performance in the lead but Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush are woefully underused."[4]BBC film reviewer Nev Pierce gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, stating "there is some impressive action, albeit great scenes rather than sequences", concluding with "a rousing, watchable western".[5] Jay Richardson from FutureMovies.co.uk stated "this is a competent and blandly enjoyable film with a solid central performance from Heath Ledger".[6] Megan Spencer from ABC.Net said "Thankfully Ned Kelly is a very cinematic Australian film, the international and local cast and crew made the most of their $30 million budget. And some of the best sequences are due in part to Heath Ledger's well delivered internal dialogue voice over, giving an inner life to the musings of a troubled anti-hero".[7] Clint Morris, a reviewer from Film Threat, who gave the film 3 and half stars out of 5, said "It’s an exciting movie filled with plenty of action, adventure, beautiful cinematography and best of all, terrific performances..." while praising Heath Ledger: "Heath Ledger is fantastic as Kelly. He gives a very immersing performance, and has misshapen himself into the character. When he wears that infamous tin helmet in the finale, we actually feel that’s the real deal".[8]
More critically one review describes the battle for Glenrowan, with masses of police and civilian casualties, along with a lion and monkey as "fictional nonsense".[9]
