This was a fantastic action film. Liam Neeson was excellent as usual, and oh-so-scary when he would go into his "cold, calculating, kill these jerks because they've stolen my daughter" mode. He was ruthless and violent. I think my husband had fingernail marks after the movie where I had held his hand. Would not recommend for children!!! LOTS of dead guys and inappropriate theme.
Australia is a wonderful movie. I went with my husband, my 15-year-old daughter and my 10-year-old son and all of us loved it. Hugh Jackman is HOT! Nicole Kidman, while not always my favorite actress, did a very good job and her on-screen chemistry with Jackman was pretty steamy. The child who played Nalluh was absolutely beautiful and a promising little actor. There are some high-powered aussie actors in this film which makes its message all the more powerful.
I was actually really looking forward to seeing this movie, although I hadn't seen the first one. I was assured by a friend that I didn't really need to see the first to understand the second. I think it would have helped, though, to have seen the characters develop in the first movie. I assume Abraham et al were in the first movie as this second movie seemed to take for granted that the viewer knew their backgrounds. At any rate, this movie was good... but, that's it, just good. The acting was pretty bad but the characters were somewhat endearing. It was good light summer fare, but nothing to write home about, so to speak... I would recommend friends to wait for it to come out on DVD.
I thought this was a great movie. Very funny. I grew up watching the original TV series, but I much preferred Steve Carell's "Maxwell Smart" and Anne Hathaway's "Agent 99" to the series. I would definitely recommend it even if you've never seen the original series. Good summer movie fare!