Ned Kelly 2003

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: If Ned Kelly is supposed to be an anti-hero to root for, his speeches border on parody and his cause is really unclear. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: Ultimately, Jordan's vision is so murky that Ned Kelly remains as foreign to us as wombat stew. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: A highly formal and conventional film that is too often merely ponderous when it should be stirring. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Manages to shrink the grandness of the myth without clarifying our understanding of the man. Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: Fans of American Westerns will find plenty to like, so long as they can get their heads around the accents and the occasional wombat. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: When the whole thing's over, we're left with almost no sense of why this story has been such an enduring part of Australian pop culture and national identity for the last 125 years. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Ledger, talking into his chest for much of the film in an apparent effort to lend gravity to his performance, is pretty stiff, but so is Jordan's direction. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Offers a couple of well-filmed showdowns and lots of pretty landscapes, but you need more than scenic views and stylish action to chronicle a life, especially one as controversial as Kelly's. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: A handsome, action-packed biographical drama with a credibility gap wider than the screen. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There is a potent national epic struggling to find expression here, but this movie is too rushed and fragmented to do it justice. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: To get swept up by the hagiographic treatment and to be all that interested in every nuance of this fellow's development, one might really need to be Australian. Read more

Time Out: Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Monotonous and drags toward the end. Read more

David Stratton, Variety: The handsome, meticulously produced picture ... impresses for its rigorous recreation of the period and its refusal to turn the Kelly legend into horse opera. Read more

Jessica Winter, Village Voice: Marks a welcome departure from the usual rah-rah machismo of the semi-nationalist action adventure, but Jordan never escapes the mighty shadow of The Thin Red Line. Read more