Justin Kurzel's films stand out for two reasons; they are visually superb and they are very violent. They can also be infuriatingly idiosyncratic, taking their literary sources and twisting them every which way. He mucked about with "Macbeth", making it more of a horror movie than any previous version and jettisoning Shakespeare along the way. Now he's gone to work on Peter Carey's Booker-Prize winning novel "The True History of the Kelly Gang", stripping it down to its bare bones. It's an acquired taste and not really the kind of thing to draw the crowds in on a Saturday night but once you get used to the pace and Kurzel's treatment it has a lot of offer.
Principal amongst its virtues are Ari Wegner's stunning cinematography and a very fine cast. Kelly is played, firstly as a child, by the excellent Orlando Schwerdt and later, as an adult, by the equally excellent George MacKay while Russell Crowe, (naturally), is the grizzled old outlaw who teaches young Ned his trade. Essie Davis, (of "The Babadook" fame), is excellent as Ned's mother while law and order are represented by Charlie Hunnam and Nicholas Hoult. The violence is still sickening and it often feels like a visual precis of Carey's novel rather than a proper adaptation but considering the lack of imagination in earlier versions of the story this feels very fresh indeed. Kurzel may well have a great film in him yet.
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