Even Heath Ledger couldn't save this joyless, pointless movie...

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Jan 30, 2023

The director Gregor Jordan’s approach to the material is fairly pedestrian, turning the film into heavily fictionalised Robin Hood romanticism, but Ledger’s charisma lures us in.

| Sep 12, 2022

What we have here is a calculated exercise in saint-making, pandering to the Kelly legend instead of challenging it.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 20, 2020

Heath Ledger is an attractive, rather subdued Kelly and Geoffrey Rush as his nemesis, Superintendent Hare, merely has to narrow his eyes, move with martial authority and exude menace.

| Nov 27, 2019

Heath Ledger gives a growling performance as Kelly, while the oppressive nature of the world in which he lived is evocatively presented.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 27, 2019

Much as late 19th century Australian outlaw Ned Kelly was a charismatic figure who won the adulation of the Irish immigrant masses there, Heath Ledger as that romantic revolutionary of the film's title breathes astonishing vigor into the role.

| May 26, 2007

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Director Jordan fails to deliver a film worthy of such mythical figure.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Mar 16, 2005

The story might have more resonance with Australians, since compared to American folk heroes Ledger's Ned Kelly comes off as a bit square and self-serious.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 27, 2005

[A] tricky film, punctuated by bursts of staccato surrealism and bitter humor...

| Sep 8, 2004

Rises above its own shortcomings through Heath Ledger's electric embodiment of Ned.

| Aug 8, 2004

Ned Kelly suggests that not only do you not need anything of interest to watch, but you don't even need to see it at all.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Jul 28, 2004

Ultimately, Jordan's vision is so murky that Ned Kelly remains as foreign to us as wombat stew.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 14, 2004

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 24, 2004

A ride that doesn't take us far enough.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 14, 2004

Details such as the film's stark Victoria locations and the clunky suits of steel armor the Kellys fashion for the climactic showdown root things in a distinctive time and place, allowing viewers to experience the familiar storyline in a fresh way.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 3, 2004

A hefty dose of Australian history and legend, magnificently enhanced by a landscape that serves as more than just travelogue.

| Mar 30, 2004

If Ned Kelly is supposed to be an anti-hero to root for, his speeches border on parody and his cause is really unclear.

Full Review | Mar 29, 2004

Ned Kelly picks up a bit as it builds toward the showdown that made a legend of the man.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 28, 2004

This is a traditional western, not a great one...

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 27, 2004