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Sonic the Hedgehog Review

Whenever you see an established video game title slapped across a film poster in all its colourful, stylised font, you can't help but wince. It is only one of the obstacles that Sonic the Hedgehog would need to overcome before his big screen debut. Last year's first trailer reveal that provoked ridicule, confusion and disgust over the CGI star’s unsettlingly appearance was probably the biggest one; potentially tripping before it had a chance to stretch its legs. But a visual overhaul later, Sonic the Hedgehog is here and it continues to jump through cleanly (near enough) through the rings of expectation. Jeff Fowler’s directorial debut, adapted by screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller from the Sega video game franchise, gives you enough nostalgia for the die-hard fans, enough light-hearted fun for the kids, and minimal fart jokes for the adults.  

In the tranquil town of Green Hills, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is the extra-terrestrial hedgehog with super-speed and has remained hidden from the inattentive eyes of the local populace. James Marsden plays unsatisfied town sheriff Tom Wachowski who is looking for more excitement from his line of work. When the titular hedgehog stumbles into his garage, he immediately shoot him with a tranquillizer dart, only to then help Sonic to retrieve his lost world-teleporting rings from San Francisco. Sonic's existence has already drawn the attention of nutcase scientist Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) after an energy blast from Sonic knocked out the power along the Pacific West Coast.

A lot of attention has been put into actually making you care about what happens to the prickly blue speedster. His isolation has made him incredibly lonely, resorting to playing games of ping-pong with himself, and having to play from pitcher, to batter, to fielder on an empty baseball field. When he does beginning to interact with people, that he is an overly talkative chap, that Tom continuously complains about. Its not all void of cringy lines, but the dialogue is snappy enough and witty hum or permeates from their conversations.

Then you have Carrey, who is a loose-cannon in every sense of the word. It happily reminded me of how good he can be when Carrey is allowed to riff. His performance sturdies the film's already accepted silliness, from his twirly moustache and flailing mannerisms. It is a gamely distraction from the film's shaky plot and inconsistent characters. And Fowler keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace and includes a few scenes that are enough excitement going for it, including its own Quicksilver slowed-time chaos from X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Sonic the Hedgehog lives up to its video game character roots; fun and fast that doesn't overstay its welcome.

3/5

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The Rhythm Section Review

Coming from the studio that runs the 007 franchise, it is not surprising that their newest vegence-fuelled espionage thriller has all the trimmings of a female-lead Bond film. Stephanie Patrick (Blake Lively) is a British-born lass, with the blood-thirsty, grief-ravaged cause and a license to kill. But instead of being a crack shot assassin, she has the near-incompetence and susceptible mortality that gives her the relatability most other film assassins cannot evoke. Lively is the compelling central force that a film like this needed. 

It's a sad world, filled with sad people where the prospect of a happier existence is a very long way off. Patrick has hit rock-bottom after a plane crash that killed her family. Her grief has lead her to a scuzzy area of London, down a path of prostitution and heroin addiction. It is when a journalist called Proctor (Raza Jeffrey) reveal his investigation about her families deaths being more than just an accident, that her thirst for vengeance spurs her to seek training as an assassin by a cynical ex-MI6 agent (Jude Law). 

The film has meandered up to this point, but its Law's training of Lively, teaching her the importance of being calm and decisive, and provoking her to attack him while she’s in the middle of eating breakfast, is the trigger for the film to pick up the pace. This also has sprinklings of Luc Besson's Leon, with grizzled Jean Reno schooling young Natalie Portman in the assassin's conduct.

Based on Mark Burnell's series of novels (Burnell has also wrote the script), director Reed Morano has his finger on the pulse more with the combat sequences. Bone-crunching fist fights, and a particularly exciting car chase, have a claustrophobic structure which makes for a number of tense moments. But this is at the cost of the plot which becomes more silly as time passes. Lively remains impressive throughout - her unblemished English accent and her clear physical commitments to the role; if only the film was as taut as her performance deserves. 

The Rhythm Section is a sound movie-night thriller, with Blake Lively making the film more engaging than it should be.

3/5

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Cats (The Film) Review

This holiday season was my first experience with the outrageously popular 'Cats' phenomenon, and I feel like I've jumped on the wagon at the wrong stop. From what was originally TS Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, which became the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage musical of the 1980s, it was already deemed as a weird and somewhat pointless exercise. Director Tom Hooper doesn't do much to change people's unanimity, nor does it stop the uninitiated from thinking the same thing. To me, Cats amounts to being 2-hours of some of today's finest actors, wandering around and pretending to be stray cats. Seeing the mighty Ian McKellen reduced to a hunched, whiskered humanoid feline made me feel sad, but did draw a small smile out of me.

It is one of the best examples of a stage-to-screen adaptation that was never designed to be. Certainly, time and effort was invested in the state-of-the-art digital fur technology, which though impressive technically, isn't always consistent. On stage, the actors wear skin-tight leotards and painted-on stripes and whiskers. But the film pitches a tent in the 'uncanny valley' and refuses to budge. Plus, the neon-lit neglected London district with all its oddly scaled set pieces to fit a cat's world feels like your in the recesses of Theodor Seuss Geisel's mind. 

Of the plot we are actually given, the white kitten Victoria (Francesca Hayward from the Royal Ballet) is just abandoned by her presumed owner. She finds herself among a community of “jellicle cats”, who themselves are competing to be granted the chance to be reborn in a form of cat heaven. Judi Dench’s Old Deuteronomy is the one who judges their worthiness by having them sing, which means we end up 75-minutes into a 102-minutes where we are still introducing new and slightly varied cats. Victoria is supposedly our main character, but its nearly an hour before she gets to do anything meaningful. She is shown as just another spoke on the wheel, which will keep turning if you removed her from the equation.

The musical numbers alone may save Cats from ending up as nothing more than a regurgitated furball in the litterbox of Hollywood. Lloyd Webber and Trevor Nunn’s songs are given a bit of visual flare, from the like of pop-singer Jason Derulo as the energetic Rum Tum Tugger, as well as the ever talented Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella (who also has the most fleshed out character here). You'll tap your foot and bop your head, but you'll quickly snap back into reality, feeling like you are watching an overly flamboyant halloween party, where all the guests have put a lot of effort into their costumes (and they all ignore the fact that they've turned up wearing the same thing).

The curtain quickly falls on the Cats film adaptation and lands with a thud into Hollywood's litter-box.

1/5

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Jumanji: The Next Level Review

The success of the 2017 rebooted Jumanji meant it was never going to be just a one-off.  Like The Rock's bulging triceps, these comes in pairs. But the title 'The Next Level' implies that we are ranking up from your previous adventure and triumphs. While the sequel doesn't quite reach what it is stipulating, it is still a funny and entertaining companion piece, with the returning and new additions to the reboot's cast, seemingly having as much fun as the audience.

Last time, the four teens who conquered the Jumanji video game have moved on from high school. The shy girlfriend Martha (Morgan Turner), footballer Fridge (Ser’Darius Blain) and the pretty and popular Bethany (Madison Iseman) are going their grown up thing and are very happy with life. But the bookish boy Spencer (Alex Wolff) is at a low. So much so, he decides to reboot up the infamous game that nearly killed him and his friends for some sort of fulfilment. Finding this out, the teenage adventurers follow him back into the game to rescue him. Inadvertently, they drag Spencer's grandpa Eddie and his estranged pal Milo (Danny Glover) for good measure. 

The first film thrived on the body swap device and all the hilarious shenanigans that came from that. Devito and Glover now operate the avatars Dr Bravestone (Dwayne Johnson) and Mouse Finbar (Kevin Hart) respectively. They are the comical heart of the sequel and steal the show, with Johnson's doing his best brash, brooklyn accent and Hart's slow and gristle of Glover's delivery. The other switcharoo is Jack Black now doing the African-American jock thing. Karen Gillan returns and Awkwafina is drafted in as the cat burglar named Ming, whose owns DeVito impressions gives Johnson a run for his money.

Other than the people, the plot is near enough identical to its predecessor. Another smouldering bad guy in possession of a ancient McGuffin that our heroes need to save this video game world. But what matters is the laughs and arcady action set-pieces. It seems as though director Jake Kasdan and screenwriters Jeff Pinkner and Scott Rosenberg, have the motto of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Jumanji: The Next Level has enough all-round zaniness to make it an enjoyable second play-through.

3/5

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Midway Review

When seeing that German director Roland Emmerich was helming a film about the true events of the 1942 naval battle of Midway, bad memories of Michael Bay's attempts at the cinematic retelling of Pearl Harbour sent a chill down my spine. Like Bay, Emmerich has always looked more at home when things are blowing up, and when a Midway film will involve dive bombers plummeting from the skies, dropping lethal payloads in the midst of savage anti-aircraft fire, this would be right up Emmerich's alley. After the arty-pulsed war films of Dunkirk, Midway won't earn many plaudits for its grandiose over ambiguity , but Emmerich's attention to historical details, plus a more balanced version of events from behind both flags, makes for more mature entertainment.

Saying that, the film plays like an action/disaster movie from the past. A two-hour video game with a barrage of CGI flying around our ears. The dive-bomber runs, plunging us earthward behind propeller blades and AA projectiles are gut-churning sequences, at first, but its repetitive usage makes it lose any credible tension and amounts to just another movie-making gimmick. But the hardware is always only one side on the coin on the battlefield. The soldier and military officers (still more pro-American than Japanese) have a interesting focus to them, particularly Patrick Wilson’s Japanese-speaking intelligence officer Edwin Layton; guilt-ridden for the intelligence failure of Pearl Harbour and determined to make amends. Ed Skrein is entertaining enough as maverick pilot Richard Best, and Woody Harrelson gives a notable performance as Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Midway breaks no new ground, but will strike a cord with war-film fans and history buffs alike.

3/5

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Terminator: Dark Fate Review

There! Was that so hard? The Terminator franchise has clanked along with rusting, old joints since 1991’s landmark Terminator 2: Judgement Day, seemingly destined for the scrap heap. All it took was reuniting the people who made it so great from the start, mixed with a refreshing and also comforting approach from Deadpool director Tim Miller, to give this robo-sci-fi franchise a much needed jump-start. Some visually-impressive action that doesn't skimp out on the gore, and a low-key genre-thriller opulence is a remedy which we all wished had come 16 years ago.

By this point in the franchise's lifespan, you can already expect how things will begin: Two nude entities, one of human origin and the other a metal-muscle mesh, drop out of a future in the same past, with a mission undertaking that will inevitably lead to them clashing heads. The Rev-9 model (Gabriel Luna) is hunting the young auto worker Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), but augmented super-soldier Grace (Mackenzie Davis) swoops in as her from-the-future protector - all normal so far. It is the appearance of Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, in battle-ready garb and wielding a rocket launcher is when the anchor of the film arrives.

This new Terminator film bills itself as the direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day; effectively, and wisely, rendering Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009) and Terminator: Genisys (2015) as obsolete and thrown in the junkyard. The franchise's concept of time travels allows such narrative logic to past by most fans of the series. But the scrapping of parts and structures from those previous films does make up much of the Dark Fate plot, in an attempt to revert back to basics. Arnie's Terminator sharing space with Hamilton’s Connor found me nostalgically awe-struck. The bitterness and crusty humour were also a delight. 

Miller gives a robust intensity to the combat scenes, and some thunderous tension to the bigger action set-pieces, even though sometimes it feels like junkyard chaos for the hell of it. The frequent reverence to the original is offset by weaving in the current political climate and its strong themes of family and fate. It's a re-energized old recipe but with fresh ingredients.

Terminator: Dark Fate gives hope and heat to a franchise whose fire we thought has long dwindled out.

4/5

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Official Secrets Review

We are currently in a time where Western government's dishonesty is no longer a surprise, but in 2003, these were still seen as global scandals. Based on the true case of whistle-blower Katherine Gun, Official Secrets is part spy thriller, part journalism procedural and part legal drama. It certainly does no favours for the “alternative facts” blemish that circulates around modern politics, but its timely subject matters makes for an enthralling watch.

Keira Knightly plays Gun, a GCHQ translator who receive a group email, expecting her to spy on UN security council members to fix a forthcoming resolution vote for the Iraq war. Understandably outraged, she decides to leak it, despite the breaching of the Official Secrets Act that will be hanging over her head. The email finds its way to The Observer journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith) who wrote the original story. The journos and editors are already butting heads over its support or opposition of the war, this “fucking good story” is too good to not publish.

Knightly sympathetic portrayal of Gun is something refreshing for the depiction of many whistle-blowers in film. Professionalism and idealism aside, she is your everyday, blue-collar Jane Doe who had nothing to gain from leaking this information. And it is when her life is thrown into turmoil that we see the real strain this has on her.  When human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson (Ralph Fiennes) takes up defending Gun, then do we see that steely edge to Gun morality that has, up to now, been hidden by fear.

Director Gavin Hood uses his anatomical approach, which was so effective in his previous film Eye in the Sky, that works so well with real-life spy dramas. A cloak of darkness and anxiety permeates from every dimly lit scene, crowding out the closed-in frame with shadows. But it is the film's compassion that provokes its strongest moral response.

Official Secrets is a sharp and tense spy thriller that uses honesty over romanticism.

4/5

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Gemini Man Review

The motion-capture and de-ageing technologies are cinema's newest novelties, with a young-looking Robert De Niro also used in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman, and now with Ang Lee's globe-trotting spy thriller Gemini Man. Doubling up on its star Will Smith goes a long way to help propel Gemini Man up into a strangely immersive good time. Smith plays Brogan, a special-forces hitman with 72 confirmed kills, comes up against his toughest test yet, himself. After learning his his last assignment was ordered under false pretences, He finds himself a target of a familiar-looking assassin. The 23-year old, digitally rejuvenated Smith clone has been sent by Brogan's former boss Varris (Clive Owen) whose shady Defensive Intelligence Agency is hiding a secret from the pair of them.

Lee doesn't end with the facial tinkering of Smith with establishing his unique vision on the story. Shooting in 3-D at 120 frames a second, this produces a crystal-clear picture like watching on a motion-smooth plasma television. It maybe jarring to many at first, but it will be interesting to see if this trend of an increased frame rate will shift the conception of cinematic clarity. It certainly makes the slick action scenes jump out at you as the Smith-vs-Smith confrontations, both in chase and combat forms, come thick and fast. This does help the film power through the clunky dialogue and its by-the-numbers plot. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong are underused as Brogan's aides, so it is up to Smith to pull double-duty to keep this side-winding joyride on course.

Gemini Man and its unique visual conception has enough going on to keep your interest on the film, and its potential future.

3/5

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Ad Astra Review

"Apocalypse Now meets 2001: A Space Odyssey" has rolled off the tongue of every film buff to describe the latest space epic Ad Astra, written and directed by James Gray. But that synopsis comes with it, a metaphorical high bar to surmount.  Brad Pitt plays an astronaut who must travel into the deep confines of space, with underlying texts on amnesty for our sins and the effects of perpetual isolation. Some of its far-reaching ideas are left grasping for, but the 123-minute spectacle is a thrilling and alluring one at that.

Pitt plays Major Roy McBride, the emotionally-stoic astronaut who remains calm and at mission-ready, even in the most harshest of circumstances that the cosmos can throw at someone. A terrifying power surge which send McBride into free-fall from his space-station back to Earth (a breath-takingly visual opener), barely breaks a sweat on his weathered forehead. But there is a source of these electrical surges could be traced back to the ghost of the “Lima project”, headed by Roy's father Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones). All of Roy's dedication and emotional self-control, came from a man now believed to have gone rogue and is causing these earth-endangering surges.

Pitt is our anchor on this space voyage, and it is his subtle and raw performance that gives the film a lot of its rigid veridity. He reiterates that he does not want to be his father, but it's his flawed devotion that is leading him to walk the same path. This is also likely to have cost him his marriage to Eve (played by the underused Liv Tyler in flashback format only). His mental state begins to fade and he makes more emotionally-charged choices, as the thought of his father's continued existence gnaws at his psyche.

The expanses of space are made to feel small compared to the unfolding family drama, but that doesn't mean Gray skimps out on the detail of his visualised future. Interstellar cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema captures all the beautifully, weightless awe of space, while Gray provides a less fantastical, more witty depiction of a commercialised frontier (anyone want a Subway from the Moon?). Carnivorous baboons and an action-packed moon buggy chase make for occasional improbability upturns but they still prove to be fun and exciting detours. 

Like Event Horizon with a PhD, Ad Astra makes for visually-arresting viewing, and deeply examines ideas of future and humanity.

4/5

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Hustlers Review

Thinking of a mix of Ocean's Elevens and Goodfellas, but with former exotic dancers is not what many would have thought when walking into Hustlers. But director and writer Lorene Scafaria has crafted a surprisingly gripping, female empowering take on the rise-and-fall crime caper genre. Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) plays Dorothy, a.k.a. Destiny, the new stripper at a high-end Manhattan, and the savvy, successful Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) see her potential and mentors her in raking in the money from drunk Wall Street fat cats. But after the financial crash of 2008, the resourceful girls begin to lead a criminal enterprise of drugging and exploiting the credit cards of the unsuspecting bankers. 

The film blends a successful combination of old-fashioned film-making, with a contemporary, post-recession interpretation of the entertainment industry, much like Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike did. Based on the 2015 New York Magazine article by Jessica Pressler, it tells the events in flashback, and Scafaria has a heavy-focused on the morally flawed characters, rather than their choice of voyeuristic profession. The world of the film provides the objectification of women that comes with the territory, but Scafaria's camera steers clear of doing such a thing. Both Wu and Lopez are compelling and charismatic leads, but it is Lopez who steals the show, giving a magnetic and layered performance from start to finish. Even when the film strays slightly in its middle, its this gang of charming girls that makes the plot's meandering still enjoyable.

Hustlers is a slick and tense tale of sisterhood that is purring with charm and value.

4/5

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The Informer Review

This bare-knuckle crime thriller doesn't hold anything back. From the early stages, the mentality of brawn over brains is apparent, with a willingness to barrell over any plot barrier laid in front of it. It's a story of an FBI informant who, despite reassurance of one final job, is forced to continue the deception, now behind bars. Joel Kinnaman is the ex-con Pete Koslow, working for both a ruthless Polish drug gang and as a mole for FBI agent Wilcox (Rosamund Pike). A sting operation is botched when a New York detective, working the same deal, is gunned down by one of their overly-animated gangsters. To appease his crime boss for the infraction, Koslow must break his parole and return to prison and oversee the gang's drug distribution network, which Wilcox, with a heavy-heart, tells him to go along with the scheme.

All the moving parts involving feds and mobsters don't stop there. The NYPD launch their own investigation into the death of their officer, lead by Detective Grens (rapper and actor Common) leaving shady FBI boss Montgomery (Clive Owen) constantly on edge. Its a third perspective of events that, despite Common being strong and realistic in the role, just tangles the web even more. But The Informer remains entertaining throughout, even with director Andrea Di Stefano being more at ease with the bloody and violent pretenses and having leaky particulars. Trading out the Stockholm-set setting, from Anders Roslund crime thriller novel Three Seconds it is based on, onto gritty streets of New York and the prison scenes are also fittingly claustrophobic.

The Informer gives you a lot to chew, but does provide ample bite when it needs to.

3/5

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Angel Has Fallen Review

He has taken down a North Korean takeover of the White House, and them took on Muslim jihadists across London. Now Gerard Butler’s Secret Service agent Mike Banning is the target of America's last enemy that any Hollywood screenwriter could have turn to; Russia. After going the improbable and tasteless routes for enemies in the previous films, this franchise scrapes together a derivative plot for the third film; think of The Fugitive but tripling up on the camp and violence. After being offered the role as the agency's director, Banning is implicated in an assassination attempt on President Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) involving a swarm of kamikaze drones which wipes out all of the agents, except for Banning. He’s forced to go on the run with the FBI agents hot on his heels, and Moscow calling the shots.

There are flickers of inspiration dashed here and there. The physical and mental toll on agents like Banning, as well as their families encourages empathy from the audience, and like in last year’s Hunter Killer, Butler is given room to stretch his acting chops. Banning is also reunited with his grizzled, combat veteran of a father (Nick Nolte) and they exchange ropey dialogue about the futility of war. But the film will contradict itself when it revels in the explosions and the alarmingly high body count. Director Ric Roman Waugh offers up the usual shaky-cam, iffy green-screen work and choppy editing that the franchise is known for. The testosterone-fuelled nonsense will satisfy action junkies, others will think they may have developed a form of Ménière's disease.

Angel Has Fallen ends the trilogy, falling victim to the predictable and tiresome formula of its two predecessors.

2/5

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Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw Review

It shouldn't come as a surprise when I state that this spin-off of the Fast and the Furious franchise is largely held together by the characters played by Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham from the seventh and eighth films. Around them is a serviceable action flick; complete with a thrilling car-chase through London, and many bone-crunching fight scenes. John Wick and Atomic Blonde director David Leitch's delirious craftsmanship does thin itself out as the overly lengthy film begins to show signs of fatigue toward its climax - but its ludicrous abandonment is expected and satisfying.  

Johnson as Security Service agent Luke Hobbs is the muscle-mountain philosopher who eats coffee granules straight from the tin. While Statham is the sharply dressed Deckard Shaw who can see-off a fresh cold pint, hair-of-the-dog style. These two embodiment’s of action-movie masculinity are unwillingly teamed up to avert the threat of the rogue bionic operative Brixton Lore (Idris Elba), and protect both Shaw's MI6 agent Hattie (Vanessa Kirby) and a new deadly super-virus, downloaded into her body? I know... silly plot MacGuffin... just roll with it. Ryan Reynolds and Helen Mirren both have small part roles as Hobbs' CIA handler and Shaw’s banged-up mum, respectively.

The constant volley of insults is a more rugged, machismo banter of David and Cal's "you know how I know" back-and-forth from 40-Year Old Virgin, while they both try to out-do one another bad-ass ways of kicking ass. Whether that's running down a skyscraper along a zip-line or riding down an elevator without its brakes.

Hobbs & Shaw can't quite keep pace with other films in the franchise, but it is their two balded juggernauts that gives it the fuel to be a fun time.

3/5

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The Lion King (2019) Review

Disney's live-action do-overs continue to spin that lucrative money-making wheel, with no signs of it slowing down. Already this year, Guy Ritchie's Aladdin has smashed through the $1 billion revenue threshold, that all Hollywood blockbusters now see as the benchmark for financial success, and Jon Favreau's The Lion King remake has done this and then some. But the profitability of these reboots are masking the more questionable elements of such a corporate mission, like its necessity and meaning. For The Lion King, the remake is a case of a film that creates absolutely realism, but far from being something truly real as well. It is still the Hamlet-derived fable with talking and singing animals, but its digital reclamation is a detriment to the audience's required ability to use their imagination.

When I say this is still The Lion King, this should be taken as literary as possible. The young lion prince Simba (voiced by Donald Glover) will one day inherit the African wilderness from his father King Mufasa (A returning James Earl Jones at his booming best). But the wicked Uncle Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) will satisfy his thirst for power, by any heretical means necessary. The first images of Mufasa, standing from the ledge of the still phallic-looking Pride Rock, every hair from his sun-soaked mane makes you want to reach out and stroke it. And the reinforced vocal talent is spot on, with both Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter making the roles of Simba and Nala their own. Billy Eichner’s Timon and Seth Rogen’s Pumba take the mantle as the film's humorous life-blood.

But for what this Lion King viscerally improves on, it fails to retain the emotion and heart that its animation had in acres. One of the most heart-wrenching moments of the story is compromised here, as that beautiful rendered fur and eyes of Simba becomes wet with tears, it doesn't have the emotional connection that is paramount. Maybe that is because real lions can't cry, and it is that digital crutch that keeps throwing you out of the mood. Favreau chooses to stick very closely (sometimes shot-for-shot) to the original, and although this may strike you as faceless, his Lion King remain an enjoyable 2-hours of nostalgia. And this will hardly harm children's experience with this dazzling-looking entertainment.

Favreau's The Lion King sorely misses the simplicity of the 1994 animated classic, but hits a stride in a more logistical way.

3/5

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Spider-Man: Far From Home Review

It was probably wishful thinking of me to assume Marvel would now have a bit of an off-season, especially so soon after the intergalactic agony of Avenger: Endgame. Even Peter Parker (Tom Holland) mentions, "I didn’t think I would have to save the world this summer". It is back to basics with a very mainstream Marvel picture. Written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers and directed by Jon Watts, it is more of an opportunity to have some breezy fun with Spider-Man, as he jet-sets off to Europe with the exotic climates and many famous tourist landmarks. That means it is time for some CGI-charged destruction abroad in a final climax that borders on overkill. But the kid-friendly lightness to proceedings is very much welcome after the tragic Thanos saga in the MCU.   

What has now become known as “the blip” where those who disappeared have returned five-years older physically, but the same age mentally from before. That helps to explain Parker's mid-twenty physique but is still in high school. He sees his class trip to Europe where he can just be a regular teenager again, and maybe even tell MJ (Zendaya) his romantic feelings. This youthful angst makes Holland still a winner as Spider-Man. Early on, the film is almost a free-flowing teen comedy, with Parker's panicky best friend Ned (Jacob Batalon) and the neurotic school teacher (Martin Starr), amongst others lending to the renewal of its predecessor's chemistry and some awkwardly funny moments. 

But Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) is the gravity that bring us back to earth. He needs someone to fill the big iron boots of the late Tony Stark, especially when elemental forming monster begin attacking these old cities. Inter-dimensional combatant Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wears a fishbowl helmet and an emerald green cape is struggling to hold them off on its own. But Parker isn't dealing with the thought of being positioned as Stark's heir very well, especially since he has not finished grieving over the passing of his mentor. He is passed a billionaire-dollar pair of high-tech sunglasses that nearly contribute to running his schoolbus off the road.  

Watts keeps a steady but loose grip on the franchise, even crossing too far into cheesy silliness at times.  But Spider-Man has always excelled when at its most mischievous, and its humble ambitions will keep you having a good time. 

The post-Thanos MCU is still catching its breath, and Spider-Man: Far From Home acts as refuelling, hydrating fun.

3/5

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Men In Black International Review

In another attempt to add a laser blast of juice to a franchise losing its spirit, Men In Black goes on the road; with the 'international' meaning that we are now off to the London branch of MIB, where the assignments are no longer congregated to a one-city domain. But the studio's ethos of using new and tropical locations, and updating the franchise's leading buddy-cop duo with the youthful Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson (reprising their pairing from Thor: Ragnorok) end up beaching on the same rough ground as did its two previous sequels; a generic dullness to the story, with both of its leads showing as much enthusiasm as the plot expects. The dark glasses cannot hide the dead-eyed look underneath them.

Thompson’s Molly, the naive probationary agent is dispatched to London by Agent O (Emma Thompson), whose only contribution is to point out the secret organisation's gendered name. Molly's new partner, Agent H (Hemsworth), the handsome but reckless agent and the former partner of the branch's leader High T (Liam Neeson). Hemsworth and Thompson look great in their suits; it is their chemistry that lacks the same sharpness. There is a real dead air between the two, but does gain a bit of life when a tiny alien ally (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) lends a much-needed comedic hand. They are hardly aided by a dim-lit script that either tries to hard, or not hard enough. The duo are dispatched to protect an galactic Macguffin from a doomsday alien duo of the The Hive, while a mole running around inside MIB sub-plot unfolds that isolates the obvious culprit to the audience long before it is made official.

The story slogs more than it strides. The gimmick of secret government agents battling aliens feels more archaic than ever. Director F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious) is drafted in but his little care for some sort of visual flair only magnifies the film's vapidity . There are moments that shows the film has a pulse, no matter how faint it maybe. There is a well-done parallel fight scenes in a Naples' villa, and Thompson begins to show more vigor as the film wears on. It is Hemsworth's blank stare down the camera that will forever define MIB International as a mere rainy day exercise. 

Men In Black International doesn't halt this franchise's string of CGI-dependent uniformity.

2/5

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Dark Phoenix Review

Dark Phoenix is practically a remake of 2006s X-Men: The Last Stand. This is viable after 2014s X-Men: Days of Future Past carried out a reset of the franchise's timeline; now filmmakers are able to call upon the franchise's beloved mutant characters but as their younger selves, and attempt to redo its earlier stories with a youthful perspective. However, director and writer Simon Kinberg seems to have brought the new timeline full circle to where it is making the same old mistakes, and the X-Men series has another bizarrely anticlimactic end, before winding up in the MCU behemoth somewhere down the line.

Sophie Turner reprises her role as Jean Grey. Her story starts when her disturbed, unfocused powers lead to a devastating car crash, and she is brought up as a mutant prodigy of Dr Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). In the now early 90s, the X-Men are rescuing the crew of a NASA Challenger shuttle from an evil cosmic forces; something that Jean Grey absorbs and amplifies her mutant powers, becoming Dark Phoenix.

The film has an interesting aspect to it, involving McAvoy's Xavier. He has become more reticent, particularly involving Grey and his choice of actions to help her mental instability. He is drinking more heavily and in an attempt to keep political opinion on the mutant's side, he is more risky with his pupil's lives to please the authorities, as well as his own ego. Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) calls him out on this and we see an Xavier for something other than his usual idealism. 

Other than this, there is a real sense of this franchise running on fumes. We are heading for the same good-vs-evil drama that lacks any real imagination. Particularly with the climatic battle on an armoured train; where stunt men get thrown around a rolling tin can in a flurry of sub-par visual effects. The film's exhausted qualities rubs off on the acting, with only Turner looking as though she has a pulse in her performance. A shape-shifting alien species, led by Vuk (Jessica Chastain) want Jean's phoenix powers for themselves, and will either use her or kill her to get it. Magneto (Michael Fassbender) is once again brought out of semi-retirement with another traumatic incident to send him into another blood-fuelled rage.

Dark Phoenix could have done with some much-needed Quicksilver wit, but the brooding and dull proceedings sends out the X-Men with a whimper.

2/5