Ben Hall appears to be facing a new destiny in his life as he returns to a state of fuss over the appearance of his old friend John Gilbert. One day, their lives change together as they both become among the most wanted men in Australian history.
Often the word "legend" in a film title can be a fairly good indicator that you're not in for a breezy frolic, but that still doesn't prepare you for the ponderously protracted slog that is "The Legend of Ben Hall."
There's a story here somewhere but I suspect the nub of it is at the beginning of Hall's bushranging career, rather than the end. Whatever the truth of it, Holmes is too tentative in his attempts to tease it out.
Holmes' unfocused screenplay makes clear that his subject was an honorable thief (Hall never took a life), but the writer-director never makes any of it matter.
This is far too long (half an hour could have easily been trimmed) and the actors aren't always up to it, and yet it's still worth persevering with, right down to the you-saw-it-coming, sub-Bonnie And Clyde ending.
The long-neglected tale of bushranger Ben Hall - there was an ABC TV series way back in 1975 - receives a pretty good going over in this impressive, ambitious, incident-packed feature from writer/director Matthew Holmes.
As portrayed by Jack Martin, the bushranger is an imposing figure, tall craggy, blue-eyed and charming when he wants to be. But his motivations, except for the fact he wants his son back, remain sketchy.
Writer/director Matthew Holmes steers and controls the film's tone with a single minded focus that serves the film well, appealing to the serious historian and invested film lover
