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	Ned Kelly
	Gregor Jordan Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts, Joel Edgerton, Laurence Kinlan, Phil Barantini, Kerry Condon, Kris McQuade, Emily Browning, Rachel Griffiths 2003		Any memories of the odd cultural artifact that is the young Mick Jagger portraying Ned Kelly, legendary Australian renegade of the late 1800s, in an otherwise forgettable 1970 movie should be put aside when considering the latest version of the outlaw's tale. Regardless of the effort behind it, this more definitive "Ned Kelly," a sober-sided historical film from fine Aussie director Gregor Jordan ("Buffalo Soldiers") with a who's who of top actors from Down Under, is a snoozer — long, repetitive and dragging when it should be freewheeling. Ned (Heath Ledger of "Monster's Ball") was a brave bushranger, falsely accused of horse theft, imprisoned, determined to go straight and then driven to become a self-styled Robin Hood. He and his gang, including his best friend Joe Byrne (Orlando Bloom of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy), robbed banks for sustenance and to lend a hand to the suffering working class, particularly Ned's fellow Irish immigrants who were oppressed by the British colonial government. But fearsome, relentless lawman Francis Hare (Geoffrey Rush of "Pirates of the Caribbean") was determined to bring Ned to justice, dead or alive. With Naomi Watts ("21 Grams") as an English landowner's wife drawn to Ned, plus Rachel Griffiths (TV's "Six Feet Under"), near invisible in a tiny role.


	Wednesday, December 18, 2024





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