Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire

★★★1/2

Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten

Eons past, in a distant star system, the Motherworld Empire, ruled by the evil Regent Balisarius (Francis Martin Fee) waged a destructive war against rebel forces. One of his military leaders, Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) arrives at the farming planet colony of Veldt with his army in tow, seeking to plunder its resources, only to discover that a wanted fugitive named Kora (Sofia Boutella) was hiding amongst its inhabitants. Determined to protect her newfound home, Kora embarks on a mission to recruit fighters to help her ward off the Admiral's impending attack on Veldt.

Let's get to the bad first. This is nowhere close to the best that Zack Snyder has ever done. I've not seen Army of the Dead or the Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, but this is easily at the bottom-most of all his films I've seen. Putting aside whatever grievances you'd have with Snyder in terms of his treatment of story and characters, you have to admit that the man has a strong sense for visuals. However, I was surprised to find that quality lacking here, with a messy aesthetic that seems to randomly blend styles and genres without a clear direction. I understand that it wants to do a Western-samurai-World-War-II-medieval sci-fi hybrid like Star Wars, but the difference between the two is that Star Wars merged the best visual elements from those genres, whereas Rebel Moon felt like it was picking from the leftovers. I've already felt this when I saw glimpses of its teaser trailer, that unease you feel as an artist or designer when you can tell that it's an early draft being submitted as the final work. Also very uncharacteristic of Snyder was how drab the camera work and compositions were, as if he shot the film without any storyboards to refer to, in contrast to his past works where every shot felt precisely crafted. I was really surprised to see so many basic static medium shots of dialogue scenes. In a typical Snyder flick, a character's hair, cape or trench coat would be billowing through wind and rain while hyper-masculine lines are being spewed out of bristled jaws. I know some of you hate that crap, but I don't know why you'd want realism in everything - it's so overrated, sorry Nolan fans. I wonder if it was a very tight budget that gave it a TV movie-like feel. After all this was funded by Netflix, so Snyder may not have the same resources at his disposal like he did with the other major studios.

Anyway, despite all those complaints above, I still enjoyed it. It's just your regular sci-fi fantasy actioner, and I don't think it ever pretended it was anything more than that. There are space ships and strange planets and weird aliens and people getting killed with frickin' laser beams. The action is somewhat decent, and doesn't use shaky cam. The best thing about it are the actors, who are generally good. Snyder went the super-serious route with this one, so the actors were on full-on dramatic mode. Many critics have praised Boutella for handling both acting and action duties, and rightly so. Ed Skrein always does a highly despicable villain so effortlessly, and I like that they didn't make his character a buffoon. His Admiral Noble is terrifying. This movie has a better villain than a lot of the Marvel flicks if you ask me. Surprised to find out that Ray Fisher (Cyborg from the Justice League movies), Anthony Hopkins, Cary Elwes, Jena Malone and Corey Stoll were in this movie. Great to see acclaimed Korean actor Doona Bae in a badass role. Charlie Hunnam does another bad accent here - he was ok, didn't bother me. I like how the Imperium soldiers act like absolutely detestable Nazi-esque bad guys, so it was really satisfying when they finally get their comeuppances.

I also think there are some strong moments here. The one with the robot (Anthony Hopkins), Kora confronting the soldiers on Veldt, when Noble negotiates his terms with the village head (pretty intense), Tarak riding the giant bird, and the VFX for the spider-lady was surprisingly good. Anyway, these are just my own thoughts. Overall, it's a fun, one-time watch for me.

The Equalizer 3

★★★★1/2

Mild Spoilers

Directed by Antoine Fuqua
Written by Richard Wenk, Michael Sloan and Richard Lindheim

I suggest that you go watch this one before reading my review. You won’t regret it. I came out of the cinema with an adrenaline high. A little emotional too. It’s that good!

The Equalizer 3 is kind of a mystery. It opens with our hero Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) in an unexplained situation where he is in Italy, Equalizing a bunch of baddies, but we don’t know why. Then he gets entangled with more baddies, helps out a small Italian town, and somehow gets Dakota Fanning involved in the fiasco. But it will all be explained in the end.

If you’ve seen the first two movies or even the TV show they are based on, you know that McCall is some kind of retired secret agent badass who goes around helping regular folks with his particular set of skills. I might be remembering the past two movies wrongly, but I didn’t recall that the character was this ruthless, because McCall v3 is one scary mofo in this one. I know John Wick is the boogeyman among criminals and assassins, but he was fearsome because of his efficiency in killing. But McCall is more frightening because of how brutal he gets and how much he seems to actually enjoy it, not unlike a serial killer. The bad guys here are merely sadistic and cruel, because they haven’t yet met McCall. It was glorious to see these Mafia scumbags get their gruesome comeuppances when they realised too late that a far bigger alpha male was in town.

It’s not the most original of stories, with many of the action movie cliches we’re very much accustomed to, but I always felt that it’s the execution (executions?) that matters in this genre, and the movie delivers in spades on that. And I loved that they put the effort to set up and pay off with some nice surprises and reveals in the end.

Denzel Washington is really good in the role. Not sure if his sometimes odd and bizarre demeanour was a symptom of his character’s OCD, or just Denzel doing his Denzel thing. Nice to see Fanning reframing with Washington again since Man on Fire, chemistry from that flick still intact here. Man on Fire fans will not be disappointed.

Heard this was the last one, which is sad because I actually want to see more adventures of Robert McCall now.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

★★★★

Mild Spoilers

Directed by James Mangold
Written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp and James Mangold

Like a lot of franchises nowadays, Indiana Jones is also back for one last ride, but perhaps for this franchise, it might just stick. Harrison Ford, who is already in his 80s, did announce that this was his final time playing his most famous character. In the fifth Indiana Jones movies, the intrepid archaeologist is once again in pursuit of the Antikythera mechanism, a real-life artifact believed to be as old as 205 BC that can predict astronomical events. But Nazi scientist Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) believe the device has other uses and is hell-bent on obtaining it at all costs. Also hot in pursuit of the artifact is Indy’s goddaughter and stealer of rare antiquities Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge).

Going into this one, there is one thing I know for sure I will not be getting: Indiana Jones pummelling and getting pummelled by hordes of goons while leaping from tanks and trucks and horses like he’s still in his prime, because Indiana Jones is now a septuagenarian. I can see why they did the opening flashback with a de-aged Indy in 1939. (EDIT: It’s 1944, sorry.) For several minutes into the film, we get a taste of younger Indy battling Nazis again in pursuit of a Christian artifact and it was joyous! This is the Indiana Jones a lot of fans have been craving to see that Crystal Skull did not successfully deliver on. It was exciting and funny, but also serious and violent; the “flavour” that was lacking from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Once this itch was scratched, I was ready to accept the unavoidable latter “old man Indy” section of the movie, which I thought was going to be a more slower paced endeavour. But thankfully, the rest of the movie also managed to maintain this key essence of the series, albeit with a much less athletic lead, though he still gets to do quite a bit more action than you’d expect someone of his age to.

Other things that I enjoyed:

The villains are back to being serious, menacing antagonists who mean business, and you get a bigger satisfaction here when they finally get their comeuppances than in Crystal Skull, which felt as though the filmmakers were pulling their punches.

*
There are properly choreographed set pieces and chases, and no “shaky cam” was applied. The standout was definitely the opening flashback sequence.

*
I like that they bothered to make us care about some of the characters here by adding some unexpected drama and tragedy for the actors to work with.

*
I spotted Ford impersonator Anthony Ingruber in a bit part! I wonder if he got to do more than just this blink-and-you-miss-it cameo, if you know what I mean.

*
I like the finale, which I can understand why some people might think it was a bit goofy. I still prefer it over Crystal Skull’s, and I think they paid it off with that emotional moment with Indy and Shaw.

*
John Williams’ score. Bliss.

Some things that could have been better:

*
Although I did like and understand what they did with the finale, but I do wonder if there was another better way. I believe a lot of fans are going to gripe about this one, and that is just going to be hella annoying to read for years to come. At least I get to chuckle at some of the snarky memes.

*
Also, another point of contention for many people would be the character of Helen Shaw. There’s no hiding the fact that she is somewhat a Lara Croft-esque character that some are already decrying as Lucasfilm’s attempt to replace Indiana Jones. I doubt that is ever going to happen, nor was it ever their intention. At the very most a spin-off, but it’s not like she’s donning the hat or anything close. There was no “passing the torch” moment at all. But my problem isn’t with all that (though I’m not looking forward to all the inevitable bitching.) Waller-Bridge did a commendable job, but I didn’t think she had enough of that sassy energy that you need in a larger-than-life, eye-brow-arching character like Helen Shaw. Think Angelina Jolie or even Karen Allen as young Marion. I’m not saying Waller-Bridge isn’t capable of a similar performance, but she chose a more subtle approach. It wasn’t a wrong choice, but I don’t think it was the best choice.

*
Other than the opening action sequence, the rest of the action set pieces are serviceable, but not as memorable as anything from the first three films, though they are better and more grounded than Crystal Skull’s.

*
The movie does bring closure to Indy’s character in a way, but it didn’t feel like a satisfying close to the entire series of films, which I thought they should have done. It felt a tad too dreary and sombre for a movie that is supposed to be about adventure and excitement.

*
James Mangold is a good director, but he’s no Spielberg. I missed seeing those hidden long takes and dynamic camera work that Spielberg is so good at, and there are always a few of that in all his Indiana Jones films. Even if you don’t notice technical things like this in movies, you can feel that the scene is somehow a little more special than usual. Even James Gunn does this in his own movies. But I didn’t notice any in this one.

*
The deepfake was a little rough, but admittedly I didn’t really care.

I know that I wrote a little too much on the negative side, but I’m actually quite positive on this one. It manages to bring back the glee and excitement of the Indiana Jones of old that the last one didn’t. The opening sequence alone is already something I see myself revisiting a lot, and the movie did an apt job in making an appropriate close to the Indiana Jones series, although I would have preferred a more upbeat one. Moving ahead, I hope they (and the fans) would consider the possibility of rebooting the franchise and reset Indiana Jones’ adventures back to the 1930s, because the opening sequence is proof of how much we really missed and want more of that part of Indiana Jones. Doing a modern take or a spin-off is just pointless and a show of a lack of understanding of what makes Indiana Jones special in the first place. Ingruber is even in your movie, he’s right there, grow some balls and use him!

Also, my ranking of the films:

1
Raiders of the Lost Ark

2
The Last Crusade

3
Temple of Doom

4
Dial of Destiny

5
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The Mandalorian, Season 3 (Disney+ Series)

★★★★★

Massive Spoilers

Directors: Rick Famuyiwa, Rachel Morrison, Lee Isaac Chung, Carl Weathers, Peter Ramsey, Bryce Dallas Howard

Writers: Jon Favreau, Noah Kloor, Dave Filoni, George Lucas

Reading how people are complaining about The Mandalorian Season 3’s final episode, their hearts must be frozen cold to be able to idly dismiss one of the greatest Star Wars battles ever put onscreen involving Mandalorians and Stormtroopers with jetpacks, or that they felt nothing when Bo Katan charges forward with the Darksaber in hand alongside the Armorer and dozens of Mandalorians behind them. Their souls must be made of rock if it mattered not to them that the three deadly Praetorians who dispatched Paz Vizsla last episode were hewing down IG12 with Grogu in it while the blast doors closed behind a wounded Din Djarin who could only watch in horror.

But my favorite moment of the episode wasn’t even any of these, or Bo Katan fighting a Beskar-ed Moff Gideon, or Din going full John Wick on a bunch of Stormtroopers with just a f***ing dagger, or even when Grogu saved Din and Bo with the Force while his emotionally soaring theme played in the background. No, the scene I loved the most, that got me all welled up, was during the initiation scene at the Living Waters of Mandalore, when Din finally, officially adopts Grogu as his son. The orphan who lost his family now becomes the father of another. It didn’t happen in this episode, but I’m looking forward to the upcoming one where he no longer calls Grogu “kid”, but “son”.

Stay bitter and aloof all you want. Feel proud of your refined cinematic palate that The Mandalorian somehow failed to appease. Pick the series apart for its plot holes, lack of logic, and cameos of people you detest to your heart’s content. But I will continue to enjoy the heck out of the 24 glorious episodes of the best, most faithful, exciting and heartwarming Star Wars show since the original trilogy, and more if we’re lucky. This IS Star Wars. This IS the way.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

★★★★★

Mild Spoilers

Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley

Written by Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley and Michael Gilio

Story by Chris McKay and Michael Gilio

Set in an alternate medieval fantasy world, thief Edgin (Chris Pine) and a ragtag team of wizards, warriors and more must embark on a quest to save the city of Neverwinter from being usurped by the nefarious Red Wizards, and rescue Edgin’s daughter Kira from the clutches of the Lord of Neverwinter (Hugh Grant).

The synopsis above doesn’t really do the film justice, because the movie is a lot more fun than it sounds. It takes its inspiration from movies like The Princess Bride, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and even Army of Darkness. You can say it’s a silly, low-brow action comedy, a parody even, but with a bit of class and wit. I’m not sure if the movie has satisfied the expectations of D&D fans, but for me this is a welcomed return to the kind of comedy that I thought Hollywood has forgotten how to make. Some of its highlights include the graveyard scene, certain magical spells and artifacts, a guy named Jonathan, and I kid you not, Regé-Jean Page. Yes, the dude from Bridgerton and The Grey Man was FUNNY. There are even unexpected cameos and funny Easter eggs from the game and other reiterations.

But what impressed me more was how it also did the other stuff just as well. Firstly, every one of the main cast of characters are likeable. Each has his or her own story arc, cool skillsets and relatability, and brought to life perfectly by the actors playing them, which includes Pine, Michelle Rodriguez (from the Fast & Furious movies), Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), and Sophia Lillis (It: Chapter One and Two). There are even some genuinely touching moments that are testaments to how well-realised these characters are. The action sequences were surprisingly well-choreographed, from the hand-to-hand combat to the magical melees. Hugh Grant was effortlessly great as the awkwardly charming villain.

Honestly, for an obviously commercialized endeavour to promote the Dungeons & Dragons brand, it delivered a lot more than it ever needed to on a creative level. It could have been the Top Gun: Maverick of 2023 because of how similarly well-put-together it was, if only it did just as well box-office wise. Don’t let these detract you from watching the movie, though. If you enjoyed movies like The Princess Bride, you’re going to love this one, I guarantee it.

John Wick: Chapter 4

★★★★1/2

Mild Spoilers

Directed by Chad Stahelski

Written by Shay Hatten, Michael Finch and Derek Kolstad

Previously, on Chapter 3: Fueled by vengeance, the renowned ruthless hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) launched a one-man campaign against the international assassination syndicate known as the High Table, only to be betrayed by ally Winston (Ian McShane) and left for dead. But Wick survived, and with the help of the Bowery King (Lawrence Fishburne), Wick recovers from his injuries and continues his warpath towards the High Table members in Chapter 4. But unbeknownst to him, the High Table has appointed one of its members, the Marquis Vincent de Gramont (Bill Skarsgård) to hunt Wick down, with the help of Wick’s old acquaintance, known only as Caine (Donnie Yen).

If you’re new to this series of action films, it helps to check out at least the first John Wick movie just to know who he is, what he can do, and why he is doing all of this. Not that it’d make any more sense, but it’s ludicrously fun to watch how a simple revenge quest escalated into having hundreds of bad guys killed, which sets it apart from other more generic action movies. John Wick is the kind of movie where you see a goon knocked violently into the air by a car, most likely dead from impact, yet John Wick shoots him anyway, multiple times, while his body is in mid-flight, just because. It’s a story about what happens when the world’s most feared assassin turned against his own organization. The John Wick films are highly influenced by Hong Kong action movies, with its elaborately choreographed action sequences and martial arts battles, and painful-looking stunt sequences. If you like what you’ve been reading so far, then you’re going to love all the Wick movies, including Chapter 4.

THE GOOD:

The best thing about Chapter 4 is its cast, beginning with Keanu Reeves, who is a bona fide action star that deserves a place with the likes of legends such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li. From regulars Ian McShane, Lawrence Fishburne and Lance Reddick to new additions Donnie Yen (also an action legend), Hiroyuki Sanada, Bill Skarsgård, Scott Adkins, Shamier Anderson, Clancy Brown, Rina Sawayama and Natalia Tena, they ranged from good to impressive, and were not superfluously used. Yen’s character is called Caine and carries a cane (ha ha) but gets to do more than just being another laconic villain muscle. Unlike many of his other Hollywood roles, he gets to up-play his innate charisma in both the dramatic and the action scenes. And my god, the guy still got the moves at 59! The surprising standouts were Anderson’s Tracker that became increasingly likeable throughout the film, and Sawayama’s Akira doing an impressive chunk of the action during the Osaka Continental scene. If you managed to stay away from all the posters and trailers, then you’re in for a surprise with Adkin’s character. I really loved that Sanada got to do way more action here than he did in Bullet Train. It’s sad that Reddick passed away just before the film’s premiere. He was always great in everything he did, and I will miss seeing him at the New York Continental.

The cinematography by Dan Laustsen, who also shot John Wick 2 and 3, is astounding. It’s like watching the most expensive looking action movie ever. The movie also boasts impressive production and costume design work, with the many opulent European sets and backdrops, and the exquisite suits and designer dresses the actors were wearing.

THE BAD:

Story-wise, Chapter 4 wasn’t as tight and cohesive as the original film but is on par with the other sequels. It also suffers a similar problem with the others where it relied too much on made-up arbitrary rules of the High Table that conveniently saved characters from certain death, or even reinstate outcasts out of technicality despite all the bad blood caused. Chapter 4 does at least attempt to give the single-minded protagonist a little more depth, albeit just a tinge. But there’s no hiding the fact that the screenplay was designed first and foremost to incorporate the action set pieces at the expense of the story. I did like the unconventional ending that relied more on smarts than fisticuffs or firepower.

THE UGLY:

Don’t get me wrong – this is Hollywood action at its best, and seeing Wick dispatching bad guys with a variety of weaponry and techniques never gets old for me. But compared to its predecessors, Chapter 4’s action choreography seems less elegant and not as clever. There were brilliant moments like the one involving nunchucks, but some of the close-combat sequences were getting a bit too repetitive. Reeves himself was already looking sluggish even back in Chapter 3, and he is no different here, not surprising since he’s already pushing 60 years of age. Regardless, his intense dedication to his work is undeniable, and what he pulled off here is still incredible and highly commendable. There was a great action scene near the end involving vehicles that I wished didn’t incorporate that many obvious CG effects. I understand the safety reasons, but I’d rather have realistic but simpler, safer stunts over fake looking elaborate ones that needed CG for them to work.

Overall, this is still a high recommendation for this three-hour film that didn’t feel its length, as long as you are able to surrender yourself to its ludicrousness and just enjoy it for what it is – a classily made Hong Kong-style action movie with a big Hollywood budget.

Note: There is one end credits scene.

RANDOM SPOILERY THOUGHTS:​

• My heart sank when Charon was very quickly dispatched early in the film. An eerie, freaky coincidence that is still felt until now.

• Like I mentioned before, I really liked that the ending was more about outsmarting the Marquis than simply resolving it with more brute force. It’s clever that they concealed the true stake of the duel – Caine’s daughter. I believed Wick, Winston and Caine had already planned this earlier on, offscreen. The whole conceit rests heavily on the Marquis’ bloated ego, which explains why Winston was fanning the Marquis’ flames during his final meeting with him before the duel.

• I guess John Wick finally dies, and it does look definitive - the vision of his wife, the epitaph. The character has nowhere else interesting to go, so it makes sense to end it now.

• Caine and Akira’s conflict is very Kill Bill-like, which was also echoed in the end credits.

• I like how the Tracker has “nuts” as an attack order for his dog.

• Funny how some people were dissing the Osaka Continental action set piece, but I thought the weakest one was Killa’s nightclub. Osaka has Sanada and Sawayama doing their own action, and that nunchucks sequence, which I was nervously giggling at the brutal way Reeves was using it to continuously bash people’s head with. The Paris action set piece was undeniably the best. The top-down view of the chateau battle, the explosive shotgun shells, the Arc de Triomphe vehicular mayhem, and the fight up the Montmartre stairs were exhaustingly thrilling.

• If you found Adkins’ fat suit offensive, I think what they were trying to do here was to give a nod to legendary Hong Kong action star Sammo Hung, who is famously rotund and yet is capable of performing mind-blowing martial arts moves and stunts. And Adkins did do some sick moves in the suit.

• I believe the arm branding during the Ruska Roma scene was a homage to David Carradine’s Kung Fu show. Shaolin monks do not practice this, if you’re wondering. Complete fabrication.

• I thought there’d be some significance or foreshadowing with Clancy Brown’s amputated wedding finger, but they didn’t do anything with that.

• When Winston whispered “farewell, my son” in Russian, does that imply Winston is Wick’s daddy?

• Greatest, unexpected and most satisfying utterance of an expletive by Caine after the Marquis told Caine to “remember your daughter”.

• Missing in action: The Adjudicator, Abram Tarasov (Peter Stormare), the previous Elder played by Saïd Taghmaoui (I think he died offscreen), Sofia (Halle Berry) and her dogs, Aurelio (John Leguizamo), Cassian (Common), Yayan Ruhian and Cecep Arif Rahman, and a missed opportunity to introduce Ana de Armas’ Ballerina.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

★★★1/2

Directed by David F. Sandberg

Written by Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan and Bill Parker

Events from the first Shazam movie caused the barrier between two worlds to crumble, and the Daughters of Atlas, goddesses Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) traverse to the world of Men to exact vengeance on the race that imprisoned them. Standing in their way are Billy Batson (Asher Angel/ Zachary Levi), Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer/ Adam Brody) and the Shazam family.

Here we have yet another one of those with the same stupid plot about otherworldly villains who want to destroy the world through yet another one of those conveniently available magical artifacts. Their finale would always be set in a city on the verge of destruction, with the heroes saving it just in the nick of time. If you’re expecting more of the same from Shazam 2, you’re not going to be disappointed.

I was not a huge fan of the first, even though I liked some things about it, so expectations were low going into the sequel. I thought the characters in the first film were interesting, especially Freddy and some of the dramatic moments were really strong, like when Batson reunites with his mother. There are some good albeit brief familial drama here, but the actors sold it really well. I also enjoyed the humour, with quite a number of pop culture-related ones, as well as some self-referential stuff. I appreciated all of that since I found the superhero stuff to be very rote.

It’s also weird that there seems to be two protagonists given almost equal importance, but I felt that Freddy’s character was way more compelling that Batson’s to the point of overshadowing the main star. This time round, Freddy’s pining for new girl in school Annie (Rachel Zegler of West Side Story fame). Although Zegler’s character didn’t have much depth, but Zegler and Grazer had such great chemistry together that I was rooting for them despite how predictable their teen romance got. Batson’s character got really underserved here with yet another routine discover-the-hero-in-you arc that was repetitive, unfocused, and not very interesting.

I was also quite surprised by the action in this one, which looked very well planned and polished, and much larger in scale. I will admit it was a lot of fun watching the six caped superheroes going about saving people. The VFX looked really good. Normally, you could see the transition from a live-action shot to a rubbery CG double, but I think the tech has gotten so impeccable that I can’t really tell anymore. The VFX shots of citywide destruction looked solid, and there were a lot of them. This is an expensive looking show.

It was fun to see Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu play baddies in a comic book flick. Mirren came off a bit better as she was the only one who got the funnier moments, but I thought they both played it a bit too straight. Would have loved to see them ham it up instead as that would have better suited the lighthearted tone of the movie.

Usually, I would have ended the review here by saying that this is an enjoyable but imperfect movie, go watch it and all that, but there’s more. The movie has one unexpected cameo (at least for me; I heard they revealed it in recent trailers - I don’t watch trailers), and two end credits scenes that was surprisingly puzzling to me, since James Gunn announced earlier in February that he was going to set a new trajectory for DC, and that the Snyderverse is no more. I get that they’re putting out the last few Snyderverse films that were already in production or completed before the upheaval, but since you’re not continuing with the Snyderverse, why still leave these scenes in, especially when you could have easily excised them with no impact to the film? There’s even one end credits scene that connects the film directly to one of Gunn’s own DC projects. Does that mean some remnants of the Snyderverse would remain while others are jettisoned? Why even tease these stuff if you’re not going to do anything with them anyway? It’d be real funny to see the WB suits scramble to do an about-turn if Shazam 2 unexpectedly makes massive B.O. money. (It flopped. - Wei from the future.)

Avatar: The Way of Water

★★★★★

I don’t know if it will have longevity in the physical media format, or that its breathtaking spectacles would translate well on the small screen, but Avatar: The Way of Water is a sight to behold on IMAX 3D. James Cameron may be asking us to pay a little more than twice the ticket price to see it, but boy did he make every cent count! The 3D effects were fantastic, but what’s more impressive is how the CG has gotten so advanced that my eyes just surrendered and accepted that Pandora and every living thing on it is real. The attention to detail is also just insane (wait till you get to the underwater bits), and is integral in selling the realism. The visuals are truly a huge part of what made this movie amazing, thus it is imperative that you see it on an IMAX 3D theatre.

But all is for naught if the storytelling wasn’t good. I have to admit, the story here is pretty standard affair, but a very well executed one. The reason the film was three hours long was because Cameron actually took the time to establish all of his characters, and gave each one a distinct and likable personality, so that when things got real serious, you’d actually care. Once you’re emotionally invested with the characters, it doesn’t really matter if the same plot device from the first act was recycled for the finale. I was impressed that they even created some shades of grey to some of the characters on both sides of the fight that added an interesting dynamic to their relationships. This actually made me want to watch the sequels now because I’m dying to know how this is all going to turn out in the end. So, yes, generic story, lazy even, but done better than any crowdpleasing affair like this ever deserved to be.

Overall, Avatar: The Way of Water is visually stunning, emotionally engaging, and one heck of a thrill ride! A true blockbuster film in every sense.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

★★★1/2

Before I proceed with my assessment, there are two things that need to be mentioned.

One, with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther 2 team, led by returning director Ryan Coogler, has an unenviable task of continuing the franchise without their star lead. Should they recast, and if not, how are they going to explain the absence of such a popular character as King T’Challa, the Black Panther? For that, I’m truly grateful of the work and effort they have done here, to honour Boseman in a movie that also needed to be popcorn entertainment.

Two, that many of us are still mourning two years after. Boseman’s friends and colleagues were probably already working on the sequel when it happened. They needed an outlet for their grief, and the film needed to reflect that in some ways, and it did. The tone of the film was more sombre and darker than the first. Grieving fans would also be expecting and appreciative of an acknowledgement of his loss in the film. The film was successful on this part.

These two components should be enough to make a great Black Panther sequel, taking into consideration the circumstances, and it has been for many people. I was saddened by what has happened, and I do feel with the rest of you. The movie is a great tribute to the star, and I am glad that everyone is loving it immensely.

So it might be irksome to hear any criticisms about the film. And I do have a few, despite my admiration and appreciation of what they have attempted to do. Apart from the great craftsmanship and work done by the crew behind the camera, the actors have all done exceptionally in front of it. Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba and many others did amazing work here. It seemed unfair that Letitia Wright had to shoulder the burden of the lead role and all the expectations and responsibilities that come with it. She is a real champ for pushing herself the way she did in this film.

But I wished Marvel would have given the team more time to come up with a tighter and more coherent story, because the end product felt like a patchwork of mismatching tones and intentions. It started off promisingly; it looked like we were getting a character exploration on Shuri, that we get to understand her as a character of her own, what makes her tick and what drives her. But then Marvel has to Marvel, so several new characters needed to be introduced and set up for future use, including comic book favorite Namor, who even got a lengthy flashback while Shuri only had brief wordless cutscenes from earlier films. Then we have Riri Williams here to promote her upcoming Ironheart series, and the return of (or a dropped-in-out-of-nowhere character if you’ve never seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series) CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine because they needed people to remember who she was when the Thunderbolts movie rolls out. There are some character moments for Shuri during the Talokan scenes, but it wasn’t enough. She has always been a peripheral character in all the films she has appeared in. Wright and Boseman did a great job establishing their relationships, but it was still surface-level stuff. Shuri desperately needed a Wandavision-like backstory, or like a flashback to her childhood with T’Challa to flesh out her relationship with her brother a little more, so that her grief would be a little more understandable, relatable and impactful when it culminated close to the finale. I find it puzzling that her arc was painted in quick and broad strokes, while the fish guy got more time for nuances.

I could be wrong about this. I was wrong about films like The Batman, The Dark Knight, and a few others, where my feelings changed for the better upon second viewing. But as it stands right now, and as much as I appreciate the work of these wonderful people who poured their hearts into this film, the movie still felt bloated and uneven at least to me, and I wished they had tightened the story a little more, and find a more coherent way to inject in all the future project tie-ins, if that is even possible.

But of course, the real burning question on everybody’s mind is:

Is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever better than Thor: Love and Thunder?

Yes.

And thus ends Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Bullet Train

★★★1/2

Mild spoilers

Brad Pitt plays a former assassin who has a simple snatch-and-grab job on a bullet train in Tokyo, but unbeknownst to him the briefcase he is supposed to retrieve is also being pursued by other assassins and mysterious figures, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji, Joey King and a snake*. Some actors have been left unmentioned to preserve the element of surprise for you.

The Empire Spoiler Special Podcast beat me to it by saying that the movie resembles the Joe Carnahan flick, Smokin’ Aces, where it also boasts a large ensemble featuring a cast of familiar and new faces playing killers from different factions in pursuit of a common target. It was the first thing that popped into my head once I realized what Bullet Train was going for.

Director David Leitch, known for being the co-director of John Wick 1, and the director of Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde, and Hobbs & Shaw, brings the stunt team from Nobody to work on the action in this film, which I believe are the same guys who worked on the John Wick films also? I could be wrong, couldn’t find that information on Google for some reason. Anyway, being one-half of the directing team responsible for John Wick, I was always looking forward to his solo efforts, but thought they were well-made films that were a little uneven in the the story and acting department. I think Bullet Train is his best solo effort where the story and performances are finally part of the highlights. Taylor-Johnson and Henry are the standouts here, and gets to play with some fun Tarantino-esque banter. Hiroyuki Sanada is as regal as ever, but I wished he had been allowed some humour to dabble with, as he seemed to be given the same dour role in every major movie he has been involved in. Brad Pitt plays a vanilla lead that underuses his talents, and almost felt like a supporting actor in his own movie. Like Smokin’ Aces, the story is playful but violent, and darkly comedic.

I wished it had a stronger central villain because that would have made it a four-starrer for me, easily. The film hyped up the Keyser Soze-like bad guy a lot, but couldn’t satisfactorily deliver on that expectation when he finally appeared. Also, Bullet Train doesn’t truly have an ensemble cast, but more of a string of fleeting cameos, with really only four central characters taking up most of the screen time. There are at least two characters in the film that are guaranteed to make you go “that’s all??”

Don’t get me wrong, this is still an enjoyable watch albeit one I’m not rushing to revisit soon, and is Leitch’s best if you were a little disappointed by his past outings.

*Yes, there’s a subtle Snakes on a Plane reference in the movie by the filmmakers. But now it’s a train, geddit? Snakes on a train? LOL, snort!

The Batman (2022)

★★★★★

Mild spoilers

A huge lesson I learned from my theatrical experience of “The Batman” is not to watch a movie when you’re tired. I came out of the show not too enamored by the film, even though I did acknowledge that it had many good scenes and performances. Somehow, they didn’t coalesce into a good movie in my fatigued eyes. Many weeks later, I managed to re-watch it on a 4K Blu-Ray, and I finally realized I couldn’t be more wrong. It went from “meh” to one of my top films of the year!

As a reboot of the Batman film franchise, “The Batman” had to do something to differentiate itself from past reiterations. Roughly there had been four: goofy (West), Burtonesque, campy (Schumacher), and realistic (Nolan). They decided to give what fans have been clamoring for all these years and made this one a detective story. More precisely, a horror-tinged, serial killer detective story. It references Seven a lot; from the glisteningly grimy, rotting aesthetics of its rain-soaked world, to its crime-fighting pairing of an angsty white young man and a cool-headed older black detective with a divine voice. Said older detective even has a scene where he reads a disturbing passage from a serial killer’s journal. There’s even a scene with a head in a box. The pair are in pursuit of a serial killer known only as The Riddler, who leaves cryptic clues in each crime scene that allude to a grander purpose. Yep, it’s practically a remake of Seven!

The cast ranges from interesting to great. Colin Farrell’s Penguin was the biggest worry for me because he had to perform under a lot of latex and fat suit, but he turned out the best, most charismatic performance in the entire movie, and is easily the best onscreen Penguin by far. Zoë Kravitz had the enormous pressure of several preceding iconic Catwoman performances, but she successfully made the role her own. I also liked Jeffrey Wright’s pre-Commish Lieutenant Gordon reacting to everything like a blue-collar cop would. I didn’t think Andy Serkis’ Alfred worked on first viewing, but on subsequent re-watches I finally appreciated his nuanced take, which felt jarring because I got too used to the larger-than-life roles he usually does. And then we have Robert Pattinson. I thought his Batman/Bruce Wayne worked and I kind of liked it. Amusingly, no one seemed to notice that he was still doing his Edward Sullen man-of-few-slow-spoken-words thing. He was almost as pale-looking, and there’s even a moment where he cringes away from sunlight. Batman as an almost literal vampire is actually rather clever, but forgive me if this was already done a hundred times in the comic books. I thought John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone was an unusual casting choice but he was effectively creepy. Peter Sarsgaard was great but he has a pretty small role. Paul Dano as The Riddler was reliably great to a point, but I’ll get back to this later.

Great direction and creative choices from Matt Reeves, who I shouldn’t have doubted after really liking his Cloverfield and the “of the Apes” films. I think he only managed an ok mystery-detective story here, but as serial killer thrillers go, it’s pretty good. His visual sense? Even better! Handling of the actor’s performances? Exquisite. I was shocked at how short his filmography was when I Googled for all of his films. Hope he gets a lot more work moving forward.

My apologies to Michael Giacchino too, whom I once chastised in the comments sections for ripping off Star Wars’ The Imperial March for Batman’s theme (which funnily the IMDb trivia section for The Batman actually acknowledges) but there were other wonderful themes throughout the film too. The wailing violins gave them a pretty obvious horror vibe. They also reminded me of the brilliant Bram Stoker’s Dracula score by Wojciech Kilar. My favorite is definitely Catwoman’s theme, which first appears in the “Don’t be Voyeur With Me” track.

Now, the quibbles. Let’s come back to Dano, who always puts out fine work, until he went a little too Jim Carrey. I know the character has been telegraphed very early on as an unabashed exhibitionist, but what he did in one pivotal scene was borderline comical, and he was supposed to be frightening. Another one: “savior” Batman is a nice idea, because he certainly needed to do more than just beat up criminals, but the Gotham Reeves and his team created was so utterly nihilistic that this optimistic development in Batman’s character felt a little out of place. Lastly, I need to mention that special cameo at the end. Though tastefully done, it still reeked of interference by studio heads too eager to mimic Marvel’s M.O. of planting sequel baits, which wasn’t needed here at all. Why make a superhero movie entirely in your own style, then throw in stuff to remind your audiences about your biggest competitor?

Overall, for one of the most oft-rebooted superhero franchises, I’m glad to say that they managed to pull it off yet again. It’s a visual feast with great performances that I have been enjoyably re-watching with no signs of fatigue yet. For that, I think it’s only right that I give it a 5-star rating, even though it’s not a perfect film. I acknowledge that I was incorrect with my negative assessments in past comments, but one that I’m more than happy to be very wrong about.

Hardcore Henry

★★★★

Presented entirely from the literal point-of-view of an amnesiac man named Henry, the movie begins with Henry waking up to find his wife Estelle (Haley Bennett) attaching a robotic leg onto his stump. They are in a high-tech lab, and a bad guy named Akan and his mercenaries are on their way to kill them both. Action ensues, Henry and his wife gets separated, and a mysterious person named Jimmy (Sharlto Copley, the star of District 9) appears out of nowhere to help Henry rescue his wife.

I know Hardcore Henry resembles very much like a first-person-shooter computer game (think Doom, Half-Life, Call of Duty, etc.) but I’ve got a feeling this was pitched to the studios with the popularity of found footage horror films in mind, but now it’s for the action genre. Unlike the movie adaptation of “Doom” starring Dwayne Johnson and Karl Urban, Hardcore Henry fully commits to the game’s first-person-perspective from start till finish, and I find it fascinating that they were able to roll with that for 96 minutes and still manages to keep the story compelling. They were smart not to make the entire film one continuous take like Sam Mendes’ 1917, so there are cuts to make scenes move quicker, although I don’t remember there were any significant time jumps in any of the cuts. Hardcore Henry’s story is still, at its core, moving in real-time. Even though Copley’s Jimmy is Henry’s sidekick of sorts, Copley is actually the true lead actor of the film and has the most screen time. We never really see Henry’s face or even hear him speak. Copley also got to play multiple characters with a variety of accents, which adds a lot of fun and humour to the proceedings.

The POV approach helped make the generic action sequences looked fresh and exhilarating. We’ve seen action heroes jump off buildings, but when was the last time you saw it happening through their eyes pre-, mid- and post-jump in one single take? There are many sequences like this throughout the movie, but the best one for me was the one with Henry climbing the side of a building, and continuing to an incredible rooftop chase later.

The downside to the POV gimmick is that some of the action got repetitive really quick, especially in the finale. There are only so many imaginative kills you can create for a horde of henchmen, so there will be some repeated deaths for each henchman, but because you can’t cut away from Henry’s point of view, you will have to sit through every one of them. Also, if you get motion sickness easily, you’re going to have problems with this one as you would with movies that use handheld cameras extensively. There have been reports of audiences almost falling over balconies or throwing up during a show. Lastly, the main villain is also rather generic and uninteresting, save for an out-of-nowhere but cool power set that is never explained. And because Henry is without a face, or a voice, or even any character traits, the only compelling character(s) left are Copley’s.

Overall, this is still a fun and unique twist to the action genre, if you have the stomach for it. I’d also say that this is easily one of the best video game adaptations that is not based on any actual game. And I’d recommend this over the Doom adaptation any day.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Prey

★★★★1/2

Since the plot is pretty straightforward, I will not mention too much except that it’s no secret this is a new Predator movie set in 1719 America centering on a Comanche girl.

As a connoisseur of action badassery, this one has my big seal of approval. My initial worry that this might be a cheap exploit of a long established franchise is highly unfounded. Although nothing groundbreaking or surprising in the overall plot, but the setting and the story of the Comanche girl makes it fresh, and it feels like someone in Hollywood finally realised that they have been writing way better Predator stories in comic books for decades and adapted one of those stories. Prey isn’t an adapted property, but it sure reminds me of those comic books and that’s a good thing. The action, the tension, the body count and the gore, it delivered on every one of them. The original Predator was more horror than action, and Prey understands that’s what make it special, and adheres to the formula perfectly. The finale doesn’t feel as epic as Dutch’s showdown with the ugly mofo, but it need not be. Prey’s ending is absolutely satisfying in its own way, and is more fitting for its clever heroine. I will watch this again. Anytime.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Overlord

★★★★

No spoilers, but the movie doesn’t really have any twists

During World War II, a group of paratroopers are on a mission behind enemy lines to blow up a German radio tower, unbeknownst that the Nazis are conducting strange experiments in a secret lab below it.

Overlord is a good war movie. It takes itself pretty seriously on that front. If this had been based on true accounts of the experiences of paratroopers during the war, this would have been a very decent one. But since this was marketed as a horror movie, it’s no spoiler that our heroes will face off a few monstrosities conjured up by the aforementioned laboratory. The problem with this movie is that there were too little of the horror elements. This isn’t the Wolfenstein movie adaptation you were waiting for. If you removed that element entirely from the film, it still works perfectly as a war film. According to IMDb, the original script actually had more horror action, but they toned it down in the script rewrite.

Don’t get me wrong, the film is really well put together, even the horror parts. Nice VFX and practical effects. It is relentlessly thrilling and nerve-wrecking. There are a few really cool long takes that predates Sam Mendes’ 1917. The acting performances were pretty good, and you can tell that director Julius Avery knows what he’s doing. My big gripe was that the pay-off in the end wasn’t satisfying enough and felt too small-scale.

After the movie ended, I was wondering who the “overlord” was because he never appears or was mentioned about. Thanks to IMDb trivia, it’s actually the real-life code name for the Battle of Normandy. Sorry, spoilers if you haven’t seen world history.

Some familiar faces here. Wyatt Russell plays the co-lead and leader of the squad. You’ve seen him as John Walker in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bokeem Woodbine is a character actor that you’ve seen in a lot of movies like The Rock and Spider-Man: Homecoming and he has a small role here. I was surprised to see Joseph “Eddie Munson” Quinn from Stranger Things 4, but don’t too excited as he only has a few lines. Pilou Asbæk, who is Batou in the live action Ghost in the Shell, is the big baddie. The protagonist is actually played by Jovan Adepo, who has been in Denzel Washington’s Fences, the Watchmen series and the recent mini series adaptation of The Stand. I read that there were other actors from Game of Thrones, but I haven’t seen that show, so I don’t know who they are.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

The Spoiler-ific Companion Piece to The Gray Man Review

Spoiler-alert! Here are some random thoughts about The Gray Man.

• Ricardo Hohl Jr (a friend on Facebook) pointed out that there were quite a few similarities to the Schwarzenegger film Commando. The following are some that I can think of:

  • The hero has to escape from inside a plane.

  • The hero has to fight and kill at least one person from his outfit.

  • The female supporting actor has a scene where she uses an explosive projectile weapon.

  • Evans’ sociopathic, mustached villain is reminiscent of Bennett. He even has a knife battle with Gosling in their final showdown. Both Bennett and Hansen died from a fatal injury to the chest.

  • Both finales involve rescuing a pre-teen girl held hostage in a large mansion.

• Evans called Gosling a “Ken doll”. If you know, you know.

• There is a scene with a jeep with a henchman poking out of its sunroof with a machine gun who looks like Al Leong. This is funny if you know who Al Leong is.

• Empire FB group member Gregory Webster pointed out to me that the film is based on a series of books by Mark Greaney. Based on the synopsis, the film seems to deviate quite a bit from the source.

• Though some people have been complaining about the “terrible” script, there are still some cool lines and comebacks like “it’s just another Thursday,” “boring”, and “please remove yourself from my personal space!”

• Things I’m looking forward to in Part 2:

  • Sierra One, Two, Three and Five.

  • The “Old Man”, revealed to be none other than Six’s dad, so that they can shoehorn in a Star Wars moment. How did he survive being shot and killed by Six? Unclear. But I’m sure they’ll find a way.

  • I haven’t read the books, but I bet Six’s brother is also a Sierra.

  • Denny and Suzanne getting their due comeuppance.

  • Dhanush’s Avik San returning to kick ass in style.

  • Lloyd’s twin brother, also played by Evans, plotting his revenge against Six. He’d be meaner and crazier than Lloyd, but without a mustache. It’s stupid, but it’d fit naturally in this trope-ridden world.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Spoiler-free review, here.

The Gray Man

★★★★

No spoilers

The Gray Man is an action movie directed by the Russo Brothers. They’re also the director of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, so my anticipation for this one is pretty high, probably because I haven’t seen their previous movie, Cherry, which not many people liked. Stars Ryan Gosling as a CIA assassin who disobeyed orders during a mission and goes on the run. Believing that he possessed important information that could implicate his employers, they sent mercenary-for-hire Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans) to kill him.

This isn’t the smart spy thriller I was looking forward to. I was waiting eagerly to have the rug pulled under me, but I knew it wasn’t to be after the umpteenth action thriller trope was being introduced. It’s really just an unsophisticated action movie designed for spectacle and crowd-pleasing moments.

What it does right are the action stuff. No shaky cam here - everything’s meticulously choreographed and shot. There are two major set pieces that are going to please the action aficionados, and a number of smaller ones, mostly hand-to-hand melees that may not have the creative glee John Wick’s fights have, but they’re still very entertaining. Gosling handles the action scenes well, and I enjoyed his nonchalant attitude whenever a situation’s escalating. Evans is having a blast playing an absolute bastard who is also pretty funny. I was surprised to see Ana de Armas here as I’ve forgotten she was in the movie. She probably kicked the most asses here out of all the movies I’ve seen her in. Yes, a lot more than even No Time To Die. She was great. The cast also includes Jessica Henwick, Billy Bob Thornton, the guy from Bridgerton, and the little kid from Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

I’m disappointed that this came from the Russos, whom I expected to offer more from the story perspective, but for some reason they opted the safe and familiar route instead. It’s not a total loss, as the movie is still a very enjoyable, albeit generic action film. The two set pieces alone are worth the price of subscription.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, Big Movie Freak.

Thor: Love & Thunder

★★★1/2

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

We are already way past the point by a few movies where making a synopsis for a Marvel film would inevitably spoil any other Marvel film that came before that you haven’t seen. I will only say that this one takes place after Avengers: Endgame (2019, #22 film/show) and not Thor: Ragnarok (2017, #17 film/show). And I don’t think a synopsis like “after the defeat of Thanos, god of thunder Thor goes on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find new purpose in his life after seceding his throne to Valkyrie, but returns to New Asgard to find a reconstructed Mjolnir in the hands of a new master, ex-girlfriend Jane Foster” is going to be of help to any newcomers. Yes, the MCU has literally become homework.

To the initiated, Thor: Love and Thunder is the direct response to the enthusiasm over Ragnarok’s revision of the Thor sub-franchise, meaning more Flash Gordon-esque goofy, irreverent humour and Thor behaving like a buffoon while saving the universe. I wasn’t a fan of that in Ragnarok; it was enjoyable and refreshing, but I’ve always preferred the space regal drama. So it’s amusing to now see people complaining online about the very thing they enjoyed and wanted more of from Ragnarok and wanting Thor to go back to the Branagh version, which they also once said was boring or going stale. Personally, I still think this is the right direction for Thor since there really isn’t a more compelling direction that they could go with the character that will appeal to mass audiences. The other inevitable move would be to end the run of films and put Thor on the bench with the other reserves like Hulk and Hawkeye.

Love and Thunder is still a fun and funny film. I won’t deny I didn’t have a few LOL moments, especially with a pair of animals and an unexpected (to me) cameo from an actor I’ve always liked. Christian Bale was great as Gor the God Butcher albeit underused, unsurprisingly. There are touching moments, and even cleverness in parts. Nice to see Natalie Portman return to do something more than just ogle at Hemsworth’s pecs.

Some complaints. The plot felt pretty inconsequential, especially when you are made to feel unsympathetic towards the beings who are under threat in this story. Some people complained about the story being a “fetch quest” akin to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Many movies have been fetch quests, and I have no issues with that plot contrivance, except when it feels like an afterthought. There’s a difference between characters being motivated to advance to Point B, and simply being told to go to Point B for no compelling reason other than because the story needs to progress.

That said, I don’t think the sky is falling on the MCU. The Marvel movies have always been entertainment for mass audiences that occasionally elevates above expectations in terms of storytelling and acting performances. Unfortunately, Love and Thunder isn’t one of those occasions, but it is still an expectedly enjoyable outing.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Top Gun: Maverick

★★★★★

No spoilers

I have only seen the original once decades ago. I only remember the bare gist of the plot. There’s a bunch of hotshot Navy pilots. Something happens and someone dies. The song Take My Breath Away played while some people are having sex, or a bunch of sweaty naked men were playing volleyball, or both at the same time, I can’t really remember. There was a jet fighter battle, the heroes blow up the bad guys, the end. Stars Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise’s smile. You can see that I had a lot of expectations going into the sequel. But I came out of Top Gun Maverick with a list of things that I didn’t expect to discover in this film.

First, I didn’t expect this not to be a blatant sequel cash grab. It is still obviously a sequel cash grab, but a blatant one wouldn’t have cared about the story. This one did. The mission was intriguing and thrilling. Maverick has an emotional character arc. The whole training bit was not boring at all. They even bothered throwing in a twist or three. And I even liked the love story. I was not expecting to get the feels, but there were a few moments that got my eyes welling. Yeah, the sequel to Top Gun made me want to un-ironically cry, the world has gone mad!

I also didn’t expect to like the characters, especially Maverick who I thought was going to be the same smug and cocky guy from the first film. But he has aged and is a little different here, and Cruise did a phenomenal job portraying him. Also, I was more than ready to dislike Miles Teller and Glen Powell’s characters, who also seemed like smug a-holes at first, but now I’m fans. Connelly’s great, so was Hamm, the supporting cast, and a few others for you to discover yourselves.

Also did not expect a large chunk of the aerial sequences, the main selling point of the movie, to not be fully CG. They could have just saved the money and went 100% green screens, but they actually shot a ton of footages of the actors strapped into in real jet fighters doing actual aerial maneuvers that their facial reactions to the intense G-force were actually real! I’m pretty sure there were a number of CG shots but they blended in with the practical shots seamlessly that I didn’t notice. There’s something about shooting things practical that your brain just instinctively knows it’s real, and it adds realism to the sequences, which also heightened the thrills and excitement. It also helped that the action finale was very well thought out and was properly set up throughout the film in such a way that even us, the audiences could understand the tasks and the stakes at hand when it finally happens.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing really groundbreaking to be found here. But it’s just such a very well put together blockbuster film, and I haven’t felt such sheer enjoyment for a film in this way for a long time. It’s a high recommendation from me for sure.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

★★★★1/2

No spoilers

Laundromat owner Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) must grapple with a multitude of issues, including potential eviction from her premises, being emotionally estranged from her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), feeling disappointed with husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan) and being a disappointment to her father Gong Gong (James Hong). But things are about to get worse when another Waymond from another multiverse (also Ke) appears to recruit Evelyn to fight in a multiversal war and save the world.

It’s interesting that there are two separate movies about the multiverse (the other one being Dr Strange 2) playing at the same time right now that couldn’t be more different in feel and approach. But they both have protagonists with a third eye on their foreheads. It’s like they’re each their own multiversal branch-offs. I’m a Sam Raimi fan, but even I have to admit that the title Multiverse of Madness would have been better suited to this far more bonkers Michelle Yeoh flick. The multiversal concept is more creatively utilized here whereas Raimi’s film only conservatively toys with it.

Fret not, this isn’t a stuffy arthouse treatment, but a surprisingly fast-paced, genre-leaning, effects-laden sci-fi actioner with a strong dose of family drama at its core. So, not only do you get to see Yeoh bringing her action chops, but flex her acting ones too. I still think her best performance was in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but she gets to do more here, and it’s a blast to see that.

Another great highlight is the “return” of Ke Huy Quan playing a lead role as Yeoh’s husband Waymond, most well-known for his role as Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s hard to believe that he has done very little acting in almost 40 years, because he so effortlessly juggled a myriad of alternate Waymond characters like a pro, including one that could have been a Tony Leung role in a Wong Kar Wai flick. His character struck close to home for me, but that’s a discussion for another time.

It’s no secret that 93-year-old legend James Hong is in this film also, and no, it isn’t just a fleeting cameo, but there was one other casting that was a genuine surprise for me, and she was terrifically funny and was completely relishing her role. I won’t spoil it here for those who don’t watch trailers and follow entertainment news. Stephanie Hsu also did a decent job here having to go toe-to-toe with so many acting legends during the dramatic moments.

The only very minor gripe is that the Daniels (directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert of Swiss Army Man fame) piled on the silly or gross-out humour a little too much, that they sometimes took the wind out of a few dramatic moments.

Nevertheless, this is still a very heartfelt, adult story about family, nestled within a visually frenetic and funny film where sex toys can be used to access the multiverse. For people who griped about the lack of originality in blockbuster films, it’s time to walk the talk and watch this film instead. Highly recommended!

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

★★★1/2

Medium-level spoilers

Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Michael Waldron

For those who were complaining about Moon Knight being meandering, fret not, because the MCU theatrical division is back with its 28th outing that is jam-packed with all the razzle dazzle that you’ve been missing from its more contemplative and episodic brethren from Disney+. But is that a good thing? Straight out of the gate, we are plunged into a multiversal action set piece involving new MCU character America Chavez, Doctor Strange and… the monster from Edge of Tomorrow? There is a mysterious and powerful threat at play, so Strange seeks help from incumbent Sorcerer Supreme Wong, and also Wanda Maximoff, who may be the only person powerful enough to stop it.

Overall, it was a bit of a muddle. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be a Strange-Christine romance, a buddy-sorcerer movie with America, or Wandavision 2. With only a two hour runtime, they should have picked one story thread to focus on. As a result, none of the major plot threads have a satisfying enough of a conclusion, especially Wanda’s.

As a Sam Raimi joint, this felt too reined in. I was anticipating cackling demons, Dutch angles and morbid humour sometimes involving his brother Ted, but there were only very rudimentary Evil Dead-ish references that were oddly sapped of his trademark cheesy humour. His Spider-Man films were way more Raimi-esque in comparison. I don’t understand why you’d hire someone like Raimi and then shackle him.

What about the multiverse parts, you say? They did have some good fun with it. Those who have been speculating some things about the movie is going to enjoy what they see. Exciting though the implications may be, but this is the multiverse we’re talking about here. Things can still very much change if you think about it. But I was surprised by how little they did with it. At the end, I was like, is that it? Five movies in and still no signs of Kang, or Mephisto.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a fairly enjoyable flick. The first Doctor Strange film remains his best outing to date, and I really loved how innovative and clever that one was. I like Multiverse of Madness more than Black Widow and Eternals, but No Way Home and Shang-Chi remain the best of the Phase 4 films.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Required viewings: Doctor Strange and Wandavision. There are mentions of events from Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home, but they aren’t as integral to the main story as the other two.