Rent True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)
2.8 of 5 from 370 ratings
2h 0min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Hero to some, outlaw to others, Ned Kelly (George MacKay) throws a long shadow over Australian history. Spanning his life from his younger years to the time leading up to his death, the film follows the story of this legendary figure. Nurtured by the notorious bushranger Harry Power (Russell Crowe) and fuelled by the unfair arrest of his mother (Essie Davis), Kelly recruits a wild bunch of warriors to plot a campaign of anarchy and rebellion that will grip the entire country. Youth and tragedy collide with violent and explosive consequences but at the beating heart of this riveting tale is the fractured and powerful bond between a mother and son.
- Actors:
- George MacKay, Essie Davis, Nicholas Hoult, Ben Corbett, Orlando Schwerdt, Charlie Hunnam, Claerwen Brown, Asmara Feik, Mo Scott, Winona Keegan, Brett Peachey, Chase Oosterweghel, Claudia Karvan, Russell Crowe, John Murray, Jack Charles, John Blackwell, Yann Tixton, Daniel P. Jones, Gavin Robson
- Directors:
- Justin Kurzel
- Producers:
- Justin Kurzel, Paul Ranford, Hal Vogel, Liz Watts
- Writers:
- Shaun Grant, Peter Carey
- Studio:
- Picturehouse Entertainment
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 06/07/2020
- Run Time:
- 125 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description, English Dolby Digital 2.0, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
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Reviews (8) of True History of the Kelly Gang
Disappointing - True History of the Kelly Gang review by PD
I was really looking forward to this one - having liked director Justin Kurzel’s take on MacBeth, I was anticipating a unique take with a fresh delivery. The first section (Kelly as boy, played brilliantly by Orlando Schwerdt, with a nice turn from Russell Crowe) certainly delivers; it's thoroughly gripping and convincing, with some great camerawork and lighting, top notch acting and a great buildup, but all is undone by a terribly disappointing second part (Kelly as man played by George Mackay). It's like someone trying too hard to be edgy/quirky/unique, and not coming close to any of them, and it’s so cliche-ridden that's it's difficult to suspend disbelief and take seriously at times. And it's never a good sign when both myself and my sister (a self-confessed Ned Kelly geek from Melbourne) start double screening during the final shootout. Peter Carey's novel deserves better treatment than this, I'm afraid.
7 out of 8 members found this review helpful.
What utter Rubbish - True History of the Kelly Gang review by AB
Was really looking forward to this film .. Great cast but what were they thinking .... i waited for the story to improve but i just was chaos .
6 out of 7 members found this review helpful.
Flashy but thought provoking - True History of the Kelly Gang review by JB
The story of the homicidal Australian Bush-ranger Ned Kelly has itself been done to death but director Justin Kurzel (of the 2015 Michael Fassbender Macbeth) has given it a bold and bruised crack here.
Adapted from the Peter Carey novel, we follow Ned's disturbing childhood here almost as much as his infamous (short) adulthood. He loses his abusive father at a young age, grows up in poverty, and when still very young, is "rescued" from it all by bush ranger Russell Crowe, who buys him from his mother (Essie Davis) but exposes Ned to his first taste of robbery and murder. Flash forward a few years, Kelly's now got his own gang and is played by a muscled, sinewy George Mackay, full of anger and no direction.
Unpopular opinion alert- I didn't love Kurzel's Macbeth, which to me felt like Shakespeare watered down and luridly visually adorned for the Instagram generation, and there's a bit of that here… beautifully shot vistas occasionally given precedence over substance. The use of strobe lighting, sped up shots of weather and high contrast photography also don't really add much.
However, there's a lot more depth in this movie - the focus on Kelly's childhood gives the story some excellent context, for example, and the time given to Kelly's own writings and how they're then used against him is interesting too. It's also really well cast and Davis and Mackay are particularly good, despite occasionally thin material. Finally, the film is spectacularly violent and loud, in a way that's properly bracing.
Although I still struggled to get emotionally involved in the later sections (Kurzel's actors can only pump so much nuance into the relationships rather lacking in the script), and it does seem rather over stylised (like a kind of macho Baz Luhrmann movie), there's a lot of great stuff here and it's a worthy addition to the long list of Ned Kelly lore.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.