Most critics land in the middle on Australia, and they broadly agree on what it is: a big, old-fashioned melodrama that knows exactly how much it wants to be loved. Where the praise clusters is on Brandon Walters, whom several reviews name as the emotional heart of the film and the one performance everyone warms to. The cattle drive comes next, singled out repeatedly as the stretch where spectacle and story pull in the same direction, and the Outback landscapes earn steady praise even from the doubters.
The reservations cluster around length and tone. Most find it overlong and overblown, with a final act that several describe as contrived or simply falling apart, and a few note patchy digital effects and choppy cutting. The spread is wide. The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian are won over despite the excess, while Eye for Film dismisses the film outright as tedious and poorly acted, a view no one else shares.