Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

True History Of The Kelly Gang

This film had me feeling mixed feelings it’s entertaining but hugely flawed! This is a film I heard hardly anything about I saw the trailer and it seemed like a high wired film in the same vein of a Guy Ritchie film. So going into it knowing very little I was happy about as then I would be very surprised and not know what’s coming which I liked but looking back I definitely should of looked up on the facts of this film as it definitely tells the story of the Ned Kelly but it’s unusual approach to telling this bio pic of this man’s life was very odd in the execution of it. As the film chronicles from when he was a kid to when he’s an adult and they don’t rush the story as a good half of the film is him as a child and the second half to the final act is him as an adult. T film definitely was entertaining due to the performances from George McKay and Nicolas Hoult they are the glue that keep this film together.

Firstly, I’ll discuss the films strengths so the things I did enjoy was the cinematography which was beautiful the way the landscapes and the sweeping shots of the environment around them was breathtaking and really captured the scope and feel of the film greatly. Along with the composed music which was fantastically well composed and brought to the screen in great beautiful sounds that breath the scenes to life. Then you have the performances as George McKay gives a incredibly balls to the walls high wired but also emotional restrained performance his work in this film is fantastic as he explores many aspects of this character and we get to see him from a calm reasonable man to a total mad man by the end of the film and the arc he explores through the film is brought through his performance magnificently. Then theirs Nicolas Hoult who delivers a sinister and terrifying performance of a man who you don’t know if at one minute if he’ll blow up or keep his calm and that unpredictably is shown amazingly by Nicolas bringing such a intensity which I haven’t seen him channel before and he steals every frame he’s in when onscreen. The rest of the cast all did a terrific job but it’s Nicolas and George who really steal the show with their high caliber performances. 

Secondly, now for the flaws their is a handful I had a issue with. The pacing for starters was so slow now the thing is I don’t mind a slow burn film their is a ton of films I’ve seen with a slow pace to it that works amazingly well but this wasn’t one of them as I understand you have to set up all the key events that happened in this persons life but the film just felt at times painfully slow. As the film clocks in around two hours and five minutes and they easily could of made this about an hour and forty minutes easily as theirs a ton of scenes that weren’t really essential to the plot and the scenes that were important weren’t explained to their full extent. The pacing definitely was a issue as I felt at times wanting the film to move along as their were scenes that would just drag on and so that definitely was a issue and the other issue was that the lack of depth among the key characters. The main person we follow is Ned Kelly and we find out about him to the full extent but everyone else involved we find out little bits about but that’s it so I didn’t find myself invested into them or caring much about them due to the fact I hardly knew anything about them. As the film definitely could of fleshed out more about the mother and his brothers and all the supporting players as I would of been more emotionally invested instead of just hardly caring about the outcome of those characters. The last problem I had was the tone this film presents as the film marketed itself like it’s this fast paced ultra stylistic film but in reality it’s a slow burn drama and it is a bit misleading to the viewer as I don’t have a problem with it being a slow burn but it shouldn’t of lied about being this Guy Ritchie meets Tarantino like film and then just trick the audience into watching something totally different then it’s letting on people to believe.

Lastly, True History Of The Kelly Gang is a very fascinating story especially if you’ve never really been educated about the story. The film is entertaining to watch for the compelling narrative and the strong performances from its actors even though the characters could of been fleshed out more this film I would recommend people to check out if you want to learn about a true crime story many people don’t know about but just know it’s not your average bio pic which is a blessing and a curse to this film but I do recommend people go check it out True History Of The Kelly Gang is a enjoyable film but also has its  fair share of flaws that could of been improved on. 

This film centres on the true story of Ned Kelly and his rough upbringing and how he led a life of unpredictability and crime 

Rated R : for strong violence throughout, bloody images, pervasive language, sexual content and some nudity

George McKay : McKay gives a performance of absolute madness! George delivered a breakout performance with his fantastic work in 2019’s Oscar winning film 1917 which showcased a fantastic performance from the actor but if that film showed his ability to restrain himself emotionally this film shows him go balls to the walls crazy with every fibre of his being. As he plays Ned Kelly and the film shows him from a child to an adult and George doesn’t show up until midway through the film and when we first see him he is a calm and kept to himself kind of person. Gradually through the course of the film we see him really evolve as a character and he starts to become more and more unhinged as the film progresses and by the end is absolutely full of unpredictable rage. George showcases all of the layers of emotion needed to portray this character as believable as possible. As theirs moments where he can be like I said very calm and collected and deliver his dialogue in a very low tone kind of delivery and then the next have his face covered in dirt and eyes full of such anger and terror and then not knowing what he will do within seconds and exploding in such moments of pure rage. He took this role head on and really sunk his teeth into the character and went for it and it worked as George showcases some of the best acting I’ve seen him being to the screen yet as when he would speak you can feel the pure genuine emotion he is giving into the role George wrapped himself up in every frame of this film and shines greatly in the film giving a performance of a man who starts off as a normal human being and then going completely off the rails and it’s his commitment to the performance that made it work so well. He brings a raw emotion that just explodes in the scenes and he overall have a truly outstanding performance that is one of his performances I’ve seen of his yet. 

Justin Kurzel : Justin gave a interesting take on the bio pic genre! This filmmaker I have not heard of prior to seeing his work on this film. He brings the story of Ned Kelly to life through a very different approach then what I’m used to seeing bio pic films executed and it definitely was refreshing a new take on the bio pic genre. He brings the frame to great life with breathtaking cinematography and mesmerizing music that really made the frame pop and brought the story to great life on top of the fact he got great performances from his actors all giving great work. The way he showed the story was brutal honest and compelling to watch as he shows Ned from the beginning to the very end and I love that as it shows the full story but that being said. He does falter when showcasing the other characters surrounding the central characters as they were not fleshed out enough as interesting as they were their backstory as were little bits of information but compared to Neds storyline it felt nonexistent. As well the film takes a lot of time to really get the rhythm of the story to move along as the slow pace is nice but can feel painfully slow at times and like I said before if he cut out a bit of the scenes I think it would of flowed a lot better. Overall Justin captured a beautiful frame of the story but their were definitely problems if with some  adjustments to the script the film wouldn’t of had so many flaws.