Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

mortalalexh Gallipoli was one of the most ambitious and tragic events and outcomes that ultimately shaped WW1 as a whole, and shaped the whole Australian nation forever. Gallipoli the miniseries follows four young men: Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson (Kodi Smit-Mcphee), Bevan Johnson (Harry Greenwood), Cliff Sutton (Tom Budge) and Dave Klein (Sam Parsonson) as they are sent off to war to fight in the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. Being an avid WW1 enthusiast myself, this show brings in everything right about what you should expect from a WW1 portrayal. You live through the entire campaign throughout the seven episodes, and follow the characters through the eyes of Tolly Johnson, the youngest out of the group. Before I delve into what's right about the series, let's just brush off some negatives. First of all, Tolly's background story. So at particular points throughout an episode the scene may flash-back to Tolly's home life, which usually involves Bevan's girlfriend, Celia. This has to be the worst part of the series, as the whole series of sequences in total feel out of place and unneeded. I'm guessing the short plot goes that Celia is starting to feel affection for Tolly while dating Bevan, but is trying to hide it from him. These 5 minute sequences don't amount to anything or build up to anything, they are just there, to create some sort of mood, but It takes away from the experience of the rest of the part of the episode. A very minor point are some little historical inaccuracies that are picky, but to save time, I'll only go through one. The first episode, 'The First Day', recites the infamous landings on ANZAC Cove, to which literally only several boats with a few dozen soldiers land, with more coming at sunrise. In reality, thousands of soldiers would of landed at the same beach that night. Ok done with the negatives. It's not just the four main characters that are centre point, you also follow the story of two more characters; Sir Ian Hamilton (John Bach) and Charles Bartlett (James Callis). Ian Hamilton was a senior British army officer who was in placed in charge as a general of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the campaign. During the show, the struggles and turmoil of the ANZAC Headquarters develop rapidly, and really capture what Gallipoli was really like, false and lack of communication, heated debate, and Hamilton's personal struggles as well. Charles Bartlett, a well known journalist during the campaign, has a very strong presence all throughout the show, sort of acting as a slight comic relief, but not overdone or placed in the wrong time. The show even manages to recite famous quotes from the actual time period from characters. Episode 5, 'The Breakout', is by far the best episode of the series, retelling the horrific events at The Nek, a narrow stretch of ridge among the peninsula. The 8th, 9th, and 10th Light Horse regiments were set up among the ridge, expecting to take and hold the strip of land. This is truly saddening, as the failed bombardments among with the massacre of hundreds of soldiers in the span of 5 minutes as they are forced over the top really gives a sense of hopelessness and intense fear, as you can see the soldiers' faces as they witness men being mowed down, wave after wave. This aspect of showing war is what it is always should be like. There are no heroic moments, no honourable and brave sacrifices, no incredible fantasy breakthroughs, it's gritty and horrifying, and it's not boring in any sense, it just shows it how the Great War was: hell.

Murat As a devoted history reader, I also try to follow such shows, films, and series because I just wanna feel that "connection".This production is far from the best historical adaptation but as a great-grandson of a Turkish martyr that fell on Gallipoli, I must admit I felt more than just a simple "connection". It honestly brought tears to my eyes at a certain point.True, the character development is a little off. True, many moments from the show might seem cliché. Also, I don't know about all the actors but the Turkish speakers had to work on their pronunciations a little bit more.But to see an Australian production that shows the Turks the respect that we have shown to them is just a sign of a beautiful thing in my opinion. Sure, some moments felt off, definitely. All things considered, I find this show beautiful, touching, brutally honest about some aspects of the war. For the people who think about watching the show, I can only say that if you're looking for "Saving Private Ryan: WWI Version", you won't find it in this show. This is different. Really different. It definitely is worth a shot.

rutledge3512 Overall I thought Gallipoli was a top-notch mini-series with high production value, but held back by a few unnecessarily flaws...The major flaw being the very distracting back-story of Tolly & Bevan (the main characters/ brothers in the series) ... and the girlfriend back home. The way this side story is woven into the series unfortunately makes it seem to be far more defining to the main character... than the war itself. A somewhat slow paced production like Gallipoli can work if it ends up carrying the sort of gravitas it was aiming for (and that the story deserves). With a few changes this could have been accomplished, but fell completely short due to the girlfriend back-story. With a better choice of "side-stories" and a few casting changes, this could have been in the major leagues ... but ultimately is just a very good minor league series. Worth watching, but not as great as it could have been!

tomsview One powerful memory I have of growing up was a photograph on the mantelpiece in my Grandmother's house of her brother who was killed on the second day at Gallipoli. He was a signaller; it would have been hard to get insurance for a man whose job was to stand up in full view and wave a couple of brightly coloured flags. Inevitably his luck ran out - he was 21 years old.Even without that family connection, I have always found the Gallipoli campaign fascinating, not just for the battle, but for what it means to Australians, and how our collective memory about it has changed over the decades. Each generation reinterprets it to fit the times we live in.And that is the big problem for any filmmaker: which Gallipoli do you make? The one with the Anzacs as exceptional warriors who showed the British, Turks, and the world a thing or two - more or less the memory that existed between the two world wars and into the 1950's - or do you go for the Anzacs as tragic victims, sacrificial lambs to the incompetence of senior officers and politicians; the image that has been finely-honed over the last couple of decades.The filmmakers have gone for something between the two. Getting the tone right was the critical thing. There is no glorification of war here. The series is built around pale-looking Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson played by Kodi Smit-McPhee, although hardly the epitome of the Bronzed Anzac, he nonetheless demonstrates inner strength as the campaign progresses.And as for the first day of battle, which occupies the whole of the first episode, I think the filmmakers caught a feeling for the event as described in the many histories, however there are two things worth pointing out.The first could be put down to artistic licence. Although real shots of the terrain are married with recreations shot in Australia, the hills beyond Anzac Cove were actually more densely covered in underbrush in the beginning of the campaign than shown in this depiction. Of course it would have been just as hard to film in dense brush as it was to fight a battle in it.My other point is more critical. What about the Kiwis? New Zealanders have often felt that Australians have hi-jacked the whole of the Anzac story - not so if you read C.E.W. Bean - but they may have a point here. Although the filmmakers have gone for an impression of the landing, with an amalgam of actions fought by various units, it seems to take place mainly on the left of Anzac. New Zealanders do appear in later episodes, but the scriptwriters could easily have included them on the day of the landing because in reality they arrived with fresh troops in the afternoon to reinforce the exhausted Australians on the left - it was a decisive moment.That aside, this is a brave attempt to tell a complex story. Although some budget limitations do show - the big Turkish counter-attack needed a bigger canvas - the aftermath with the armistice and the burial of the bodies really hits home.It's more polished than the "Anzacs" mini-series, but does not eclipse Weir's "Gallipoli" that 'buddy movie' par excellence set against one momentous event in a big campaign. Instead, this "Gallipoli" covers that big campaign including the Diggers on the beach, the Turks in the hills facing them, the High Command at sea sipping scotch and sodas, the journalists trying to expose the whole mess, and even a few flashbacks showing happier times before the war. It was a lot to cram in, but it all works once you get a feel for it, and there are touches of brilliance; John Bach's General Hamilton in particular.There are more episodes to come, but the tone has been set. On one level, the filmmakers have made an affecting drama, while on the other, they have given those who know little of the story a better understanding about what happened in that terrible place one hundred years ago.