Film

True History of the Kelly Gang

Name: True History of the Kelly Gang
Genre: Crime, Drama, Western, Thriller
Released: 2019
Cast: George MacKay, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis, Russell Crowe, Charlie Hunnam

Justin Kurzel's feverish, formally wild retelling of Ned Kelly's rise finds baroque visual language for a myth of colonial rage and Irish dispossession. It's hallucinatory and violent, more concerned with texture and mood than linear narrative clarity. For viewers drawn to style-first cinema and revisionist history told sideways.

TMDb rating

3.0

If you liked this

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford2007

A meticulously composed western that treats its outlaw subject as a contradictory myth in the making—image-obsessed, melancholic, and more interested in psychology than gunplay.

But Slow-moving and deliberately anti-climactic; some will find its three-hour meditation on celebrity and masculinity precious rather than profound.

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Hell or High Water2016

Modern neo-western with razor-sharp dialogue and a genuine moral ambiguity about robbery, debt, and systemic theft. Thrilling without ever losing its head.

But Relatively straightforward compared to Kelly's visual excess; if you're after formal experimentation, this plays it more conventionally.

Kes1970

British kitchen-sink realism about a working-class boy finding freedom through a hawk. Spare, furious, alive with class anger and tenderness alike.

But It's kitchen-sink, not baroque—a very different visual approach. Also heartbreaking in ways that need space to land.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from True History of the Kelly Gang

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Walkabout1971

Both use the Australian outback not as backdrop but as a moral and visual force; both are formally restless films about survival and cultural collision told through image-work that overwhelms plot.

Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece about two British children and an Aboriginal boy in the outback—a hallucinatory meditation on colonialism, civilization, and the Australian landscape itself. Visually comparable to Kelly's use of terrain as character.

But Glacially paced, almost wordless in places; the final scenes are ambiguous and unsettling in ways that frustrate conventional narrative resolution.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley2006

Ken Loach's Irish independence film burns with the same colonial grievance and political clarity that animates Kurzel's Kelly—but with documentary restraint.

But Deliberately undramatic in its style; if you loved Kelly's visual pyrotechnics, this will feel austere and slow by comparison.

Once Upon a Time in the West1968

Sergio Leone's masterwork about outlaws, land, and mythology. Every frame is composed like a painting; it understands western legend as pure cinema.

But Nearly three hours of deliberate pacing and mythic posturing; some will see it as self-indulgent rather than hypnotic.

Lawless2012

Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy in a Prohibition-era outlaw story with genuine style and a fascination with brotherhood codes and violent tradition.

But Trades in masculinity fetishism in ways that can feel adolescent; also more straightforward than Kelly's fractured approach to narrative.

Sweet Country2018

An Aboriginal-centered Australian western about injustice and resistance, shot with stark, elegant beauty. A genuine corrective to the colonial gaze.

But Quieter and more meditative than Kelly; less interested in style as spectacle, more in moral clarity.

The Last of the Mohicans1992

A kinetic historical action film that understands violent resistance against colonialism as tragically romantic. Visual flair, real stakes, a genuine love story.

But 1990s action pacing and earnestness might feel dated; lacks Kelly's formal ambition and cultural specificity.

Johnny Mad Dog2008

A shattering film about child soldiers in West Africa, formally experimental and morally uncompromising. Raw cinema made by someone unafraid of difficulty.

But Genuinely difficult to watch—not as a style choice, but because it refuses to flinch from real suffering. Bleak in a way that can feel punitive.

The Night Comes For Us2018

Both films privilege style and visual storytelling over narrative clarity; both use bodies in motion and violence as the primary language of moral truth. Both trust the audience to feel through spectacle.

An Indonesian action film of almost unbearable kinetic intensity—no plot worth mentioning, just expertly choreographed violence that builds emotional weight through sheer formal commitment.

But Subtitled, minimal dialogue, and structured entirely around fight sequences; if you need story to care, this will feel like an endurance test.

Stalker1979

Both films treat their settings as spiritual and moral spaces; both use visual digression and formal difficulty as the point rather than an obstacle. Both believe cinema can think in images rather than words.

Tarkovsky's three-hour science fiction poem moves through landscape and philosophy like a fever dream. Hypnotic in its refusal to hurry or explain. Russian cinema at its most uncompromising.

But Glacially slow, almost no plot, concerned entirely with mood and metaphor; not a film for anyone seeking conventional narrative momentum or entertainment.