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First yes very sexy Orli walking with his hands in his pockets. Very sexy Orli on a horse, well pretty much stays sexy throughout the whole film, in fact I'd go so far as to say that as Ned gets hairier Orli gets sexier. Hehehe.

The Chinese thing. Trying to remember now. There's the bit where SPOILERS - Ned has just gotten out of jail and they're all in the local boozer, there's some Chinese blokes there too, and Joe has girls all over him, the Chinese blokes speak to Joe in Chinese saying that he's a lucky dog or something along those lines, you know what I mean, and as Joe is leaving with the bird he turns around and says something along the lines of how he can't help it, it's just natural talent. Can't remember exactly but that's the gist of it. And the way it just comes out seems very natural. I can't remember if he speaks Chinese again later in the film.

In the film Joe is the educated guy who, Ned gets him to read and write the letter and newspapers.

Yeah he's pretty much always in the coat, and sometimes in a wee hat.
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Was part of some research reviewing thing and my local cinema was chosen, about 200 of us, and they showed us the nearly finished product.

Actually in answer to Little Hobbit Foot's review, there are certain points on which I'd agree, I think namely that Naomi Watts performance may have been slightly superfluous and not necessarily worthy of third billing, and Geoofrey Rush was definitely under-utlised.

As for the accents, I think aside from Heath who as I mentioned before has improved greatly in his Irish accent from his initial attempts in the series Roar, probably could still do with a wee bit of work everyone else I thought was superb. I spent a year living and working with Irish men, and when listening to the accents of the other accents, especially Orli's I was very impressed, in a lot of cases I would not have been able to tell the difference, an Irish man probably could but that's neither here nor there.

When a little way into the movie after we are introduced to Joe Byrne he certainly comes out with a phrase in Chinese I think shock would definitely be the right word. I was actually with my Chinese friend watching this movie and she was startled, her comment was that his Chinese accent was actually okay. High praise indeed, since I still struggle with the couple of words she's taught me.

I think what worked especially well in Orli's case was his soft voice, coupled with an Irish accent is it deadly, and my fetish for men on horseback just made it work. It was nice to see Orli's training from LOTR paying off when he displayed a great command over his horse. I think also that as Joe he got to play a slightly more varied emotional range than he did as Legolas the elf, and it does him credit, you can tell immediately why people are signing him up left right and centre, he's a very talented man.

I don't want to disappoint but the love scene between he and Rachel Griffiths couldn't really be classed as a love scene. I don't know how the final cut will appear but this scene was very humourous, and once I got over the initial shock of seeing Orli leering at someone and overtly staring at her bosom, right before she jumped on him (who wouldn't?) it was very believable. In fact after getting over that he does make a very endearing ladies man. I certainly wouldn't say no. :-)

The final battle between the outlaws and the police saw the four Irishmen confronting the gathered Queens forces in their armour. While Little Hobbit Feet may have had a fair point in saying that they should have immediately shot for the arms and legs, at the same time you can see that the police are confused. There is smoke from all the guns going off, and none of the policemen at first can ascertain why the outlaws haven't been taken down by well aimed shots to the chest, and of course Officer Hare has been shot by Ned.

The outlaws are then forced to retreat inside where the final shootout begins. The police shockingly begin firing upon the building and as a diversion to allow the hostages to flee from the rear Ned goes back outside to draw fire from the policemen. Shockingly the police fire upon the innocent hostages as they leave the building, leaving 3 outlaws and a number of corpses within the building. Panic is being to steal over them and whilst Ned has collapsed somewhere outside the police again concentrate their fire upon the hotel.

Without spoiling things let me just say that Joe's death is swift without the gross overacting that sometimes comes from a fairly new actor, and the ending for the poor wee lads that are left is tragically sad, and left me quite close to tears.

I wouldn't say that Ned's ending was the best one, but it wasn't bad either, and there is almost a look of respect in Hare's eyes as the train pulls away from the station.

I must warn anyone that wants to watch this though that if you are a friend to animals you may be upset by certain scenes in the film. The film itself was obviously in need of some touch ups but only to the film and colour quality which they did warn us about before they screened it, but on the whole, and I would have to say that judging by the laughter in the crowd that the film was well received by this test audience. I liked it immensely and am really looking forward to the finished article when it is released.

Last night was one of the first screenings of The Kelly Gang and I just wanted to say that I saw it and it was fantastic. Orlando Bloom fulfilled his role with great success as the sexy, suave, smooth-talking sidekick Joe Byrne that seduces at least half a dozen women. (When Orli allures Rachel Griffiths’ character, Mrs. Scott, the whole audience was laughing and cheering.) He speaks a little Chinese to get his way with one woman. And by the way, you’ll even get to see Orli in the bathtub in this flick.  He’s really the only humorous character that brings some comedy into this action movie. However, this was a really grimy role for him. He dons the beard and a dirty face for a good portion of the film but his good looks don’t betray him then or ever in the movie. So I doubt that won't stop the thousands of Orli lovers from not seeing this film.  This movie is very violent and dark. A lot of shooting and blood and guts and some other disturbing scenes (Orli drinks horses blood because the Kelly Gang cannot find food or water) will undoubtedly make this film rated R.  Anyway, even though this movie belongs to Heath Ledger, Orlando holds his own as the faithful friend to Ned Kelly and he really stood out. A good portion of the audience only went to see how Orli would do without pointy ears, and let me tell you: there is nothing sexier than Orlando Bloom with tousled brown curly hair, those deep brown eyes, and gun at his side. lol. But on a more unfortunate note, be prepared for a really sad ending. Anyway, I recommend it to everyone, especially Orli fans.