It makes sense that Australian director Justin Kurzel would get around to making a film about Ned Kelly, Australia’s most infamous outlaw. Kurzel has been preoccupied with violence for his entire career and the most thrilling moments of “True History of the Kelly Gang” are arguably the best work he’s done. The climax of the film is a dizzying shootout punctuated by a strobe-lighting effect and some thrilling sound design. It’s simultaneously thrilling and exhausting to watch, and comes after the film has worn you down with its rage. And it is rage that runs through the film, giving Kurzel’s inconsistent but exciting would-be epic a through-line that every aspect of the film clings to.
