if the term itself be not geographically and semantically meaningless and one might well refer to ned kelly a an australian western . for the people down under and ned kelly be and apparently and a folk hero bandit akin to robin hood and jesse james and bonnie and clyde and and butch cassidy and the sundance kid . the descendant of irish immigrant and kelly become a fugitive and an outlaw after he be falsely accuse of shoot an australian law officer and a crime for which his equally innocent mother be put into prison . to get back at the government for this mistreatment and kelly and his brother dan and and two other companion and become notorious bank robber and win over the heart of many people in the countryside while strike a blow for justice in a land where irish immigrant be often treat with disrespect and disdain by those who run the country . perhaps because we have encounter this gentleman bandit scenario so many time in the past and ned kelly feel awfully familiar and unoriginal a it pay homage to any number of the genre stereotype and clichés on it way to the inevitable showdown . ned be the typical heart of gold lawbreaker who kill only when he be force to and and even then and only with the deepest regret . he also have the pulse of the common folk and a when and in the middle of a bank robbery and he return a valuable watch to one of the customer and after one of his gang have so inconsiderately pilfer it . what movie on this particular subject hasn not feature a scene like that . it act of selective generosity like this and of course and that earn him the love and respect of all the little people who come to secretly admire anyone who can get away with stick it to the power that be and the status quo . geoffrey rush play the typical bedevil law enforcer who feel a personal stake in bring down this upstart troublemaker who keep get away with tweak the establishment . there even the inevitable episode in which one of the lady be hold up go into the next room and have sex with one of the robber and so turned on be she by the romantic derring do of the criminal lifestyle . and the film be riddle with one hackneyed scene like this after another . heath ledger fail to distinguish himself in the title role and provide little in the way of substance to make his character either interesting or engage . it doesn not help that he have be force to provide a droning voice over narration that underline the sanctimoniousness and pretentiousness of both the character and the film . ned kelly might serve a function of sort a a lesson in australian history and but a an entertainment and it just the same old story tell with different accent .