After a seven-year absence from the big screen, Baz Luhrmann returns with "Australia," an epic journey about an English aristocrat who teams up with a stockman to drive her cattle across Australia’s most unforgiving land, only to face the Japanese bombing of the city of Darwin. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star. Here's what online critics have to say about the film:

• Cinematical's Jeffrey M. Anderson: "It reeks of Michael Bay's 'Pearl Harbor.'"

• Katey Rich at Cinema Blend: "A gorgeous, earnest, reckless, and brazenly captivating mess, nearly three hours of pure entertainment, but a jumble rather than a clear love letter to home."

• Brian Orndorf at Collider: "For the more inclined, "Australia" is a dramatically fertile, immersive gem: an epic with true epic intentions and execution, reinvesting in patient storytelling and widescreen magnetism."

• Joblo's Chris Bumbray: "Despite the over length, and cartoonish villainy of Wenham’s character, I still really enjoyed 'Australia.'"

• Brad Brevet at RopeOfSilicon: "It's billed as a love story, but you will soon realize the love story isn't even really the film's true intention and on top of that it isn't even all that romantic as much as it is obvious."