Memorable, crazy movie

How sad is this?

Fantastic!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

A young Ned Kelly saved a boy from drowning. In 1871, Ned (Heath Ledger) finds a horse and rides it into town. He is accused of stealing the horse against incompetent corrupt cops. After 18 months in prison, he's released trying to live the straight and narrow. He is taken with married English lady Julia Cook (Naomi Watts). His sister Kate is harassed by Constable Fitzpatrick and their horses are stolen by the jealous police. Ned steals them back. Soon things get out of hand. Ned is accused of attempted murder and goes on the run with his brother Dan, friends Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom) and Steve Hart. Superintendent Francis Hare (Geoffrey Rush) is brought in to hunt the gang down.Everything is just so over-the-top melodramatic. The Kellys are the angels of the earth. The police are all drunken Keystone Cops. Even the music is overwrought. He's such a great guy that he lets the cops fire the first shot even though he pointing the gun right at them. It wears me down until I don't care if the Kellys are the good guys. The characters are too simplistic. And somebody turn down the music.

I LOVED this and i thought Heath ledger was brilliant ! Stop saying you lot hate this it really hurts my feelings because your saying mean stuff about a deceased, talented, beautiful man(Heath Ledger)so just leave the poor man out of this.i have nothing else to say so I'm basically just going to type random words - hello, love, true, pink, heath, ledger, Ned,Kelly, Irish, English, police, coppers, ghost adventures, Zak Bagans, beautiful, bored, tired,yawn,interested, angry,sad, depressed, lonely, crying, broken heart, singing songs, Bagans, beautiful, bored, tired, yawn, interested, angry, sad, depressed, lonely, crying, broken heart, singing songs.Sorry about all this.

This movie tries to be a sweeping epic about the savage "Wild West" era of late 19th century Australia, but it's hampered by not understanding the strongest part of its own story and by not appreciating that we aren't all Australians.Ned Kelly tells the story of a famous outlaw named…wait for it…Ned Kelly (Heath Ledger). He's the oldest son of a poor Irish-Australian family with a history of run in's with the local authorities. While not much more than a boy, Ned gets himself thrown in prison for defending a girl. When he comes out, he tries to live on the straight and narrow but winds up framed for shooting at a police officer. That sends Ned and his friends on the run, where they turn to bank robbery and become heroes to much of the country folk who are burdened by greedy banks and rich land owners. Eventually the authorities call in a high ranking police officer, sort of a "super cop" to lead a military style campaign to bring the Kelly Gang to justice. That leads to a final battle that is not just one of the greatest stories in Australian history; it's one of the most amazing stories in the history of the world.This movie, however, doesn't seem to appreciate that its climactic conflict is the best and most important element of the story of Ned Kelly. Aside from that gunfight, and the incredible way Kelly prepares to meet his enemies, there's nothing all that remarkable to Ned Kelly's life. Especially to an American who grew up with the tales of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp and Davey Crockett, there's little new or different in this movie. It does touch upon Kelly's Robin Hood-like persona, but it never clearly establishes the social and economic order of Kelly's time and what sort of grievances and oppression he was seen to be combating. This movie treats Ned Kelly's entire life as though it was this grand and compelling adventure, of which the tremendous ending was just a part. But without the tremendous ending, Kelly's life wouldn't be of much interest to anyone except those preoccupied with Australian historical nostalgia.There were plenty of times watching this film that I could tell I wasn't getting how important and significant certain aspects of the story are, or are supposed to be, in Australian history. A scene would unfold, the music would swell to indicate "This is a big deal"…and it just didn't mean that much to me. The story does virtually nothing to universalize Ned Kelly's life and times, to demonstrate what meaning they should have to non-Australians.None of the actors, outside of Heath Ledger, are really given much to do in the story, other than take part in the beardapalooza of facial hair on display. They're all perfectly fine, but there's nothing particularly appealing or praiseworthy in their roles. Ledger, however, is given a lot more to do on screen and he does work hard at taking the two-dimensional, almost saintly character that Ned Kelly is in this film and giving him some human depth. But this performance pretty much proves that Heath Ledger didn't have "it". "It" being that indefinable thing big movie stars have. Will Smith has "it". Tom Cruise used to have "it". John Wayne and Spencer Tracy had "it". Oh, he was certainly handsome enough to pass as a leading man and anyone who's seen his phenomenal performances in Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight knows how deeply talented he was as an actor. But that thing that movie stars have to have to make you like them, to make you want to watch them, Ledger did not have "it". Perhaps he was too good of an actor, to committed to reshaping himself to fit a role to ever let his own essential nature shine through.Ned Kelly's not a bad film, but it just goes along as a fairly standard Australian Western before unleashing it's unbelievable but true ending. If you already know a little about Ned Kelly, you might enjoy seeing the rest of his life played out on screen. But if you don't, you'll likely come away from this movie wishing it had spent a whole lot more time and energy on the one outstanding part of Ned's story.

This film is not an action film, nor is it an adventure film. Except for brief moments, it features very little actual shooting. It's a drama, be aware of that. And unfortunately, it's not a very original or thought provoking drama. It's too shallow and too one-sided.I've barely heard of Ned Kelly before I watched this film, but after watching The Proposition, I became very much interested in seeing what else Australia could muster up with an 1800's outback setting. I like westerns, so Australian westerns was an interesting alternative. I made sure to read up some on Ned Kelly before sitting down and watching the film. From what I gather, it was a fairly accurate retelling of his life, except some embellishment and a few sub-plots added for the sake of the script.But like so many films these days, the film barely develops it's characters. Ned is developed thoroughly, for sure. But even his best friend Joe, only passes through the film as a guy who picks up a lot of chicks. Not to mention Ned's brother and his brother's friend. We feel more or less nothing for these. Had only these characters had one extra scene focusing sorely on them in the film, it might have made it a better experience. As it is now, the film feels like a drama, with the characterizations of an action film. Shallow and not intriguing.Even so, it is a fairly interesting film. Heath Ledger plays his role well and the conflict between the common folks and the British Empire gets heavy focus. And if get the story, or legend as it's become, this is exactly what a Ned Kelly retelling should.I also find it interesting to experience a film aimed at an Australian public. Being a fan of history, and of other cultures, I found it a good experience watching this film, and getting something in return. Learning a bit about Australian mentality. For all it's faults, it's an interesting film worthy of a glance if you're interested in the subject matter as well as a pretty and well filmed drama.