#what a performance rhys ifans is putting in too

[lemonhemlock]

More on Otto as a tries but fails girl!dad and the non verbal communication with the greens. Just how he shows care for his daughter, even though he dooms her. He loves her, wants what's best for her, the family the realm but in doing so he has essentially signed off her execution.

When he tells her to once again visit the king and reprimands her for her self harm he holds her hands

One could argue that this is simply a manipulation tactic and while i don't completely disagree I have other evidence I'd like to present.

Look at how they're holding each other like this is a final goodbye. Neither knows when they'll see each other again. I know he (rightfully) warns her about Rhaenyra he cradles her face. Like it's something precious 🥺 (it is)

Who is this look of devastion for? The imaginary audience? He was not only fired but ripped away from his only daughter. Realizing the mess he's put her in. How she is now truly alone.

We know Criston was her sworn sword and one of the few people she trusted. It makes sense he stand behind her. He's got her back, but look Ottos there too.

In this episode when she was worried about her brother she looked at dad for reassurance and he provided it. Knowing just how concerned she must have been.

Whether or not he's being a manipulative bastard when he does this stuff before he steers her in his own direction, using this to keep her tethered to him, it's quite clear that he understands how important these moments are for his daughter. Can you genuinely look me in the eye and say that Tywin would do this with Cersei? Hold her like she's the most precious thing in the world to him? Nope he'd just command her to do stuff and as her father it is seen as his right to do so.

This family is so dysfunctional. You can love your child and wants what's best for them from the bottom of your heart, with all that you have but still mess up. In the modern day he'd probably be pushing her to a stable career like doctor or lawyer or whatever because he wants her future to be secure without realizing that it's not necessarily what she wants and being blind to how truly miserable she feels.

Sidenote: Wasn't Helaena his favorite grandchild, someone who was not a boy thus a potential heir? Otto is a girl! grandpa too. (If I'm not mistaken 😂)

When it comes to the girl! dad wars he wins because he taught his daughter accountability and how to not get screwed over in a bad trade deal, like idk give someone what is rightfully yours in exchange for being a consort to a king wiyh questionable lineage (Sorry couldn't help but shade the Viserys and Daemon)

OTTO DRIVES ME INSANE HE IS SUCH A DAD BUT HE IS SUCH A MAN TOO!!!!! WHY ARE FATHERS OF DAUGHTERS ALLOWED TO BE MEN???????

HE IS A GIRL GRANDPA TOO OH MY STARS 😭 They should show him with Jaehaera next, so he could add girl-great-grandpa to the allegations 😭

I also wish they had scenes together with Gwayne! In the books Alicent has multiple unnamed brothers, but Gwayne would have been enough, like can you IMAGINE the dynamics with him thrown into the mix??? Him with his DAD and his SISTER and his SISTER'S BOYFRIEND Ser Criston???? He got so shafted like he is the only person in this effed up family not to have a psychosexual obsession with Alicent?? Unfair!

I imagine they wanted to highlight Alicent's isolation as a source of her growing paranoia, but could you imagine??? Her having at least one more person is her small circle?? Standing up to their dad for her??? Holding her hand through her pregnancies??? Throwing shade at Rhaenyra together?? Bonding with Ser Criston over how much they want to commit regicide??

I'm not sure he stayed in King's Landing for all this period, but he could have at least visited once in a while? What we know is that he is named second-in-command of the Gold Cloaks at the start of the way. ALSO OTTO INTERACTING WITH A MALE RELATIVE OF HIS OWN GET THAT IS NOT A COMPLETE FUCK-UP??

[starkjoy]

Freddie Fox On Gwayne

I just listened to Freddie Fox's latest interview on the Pilot TV Podcast—it's full of great insight into Gwayne's character, including a potential hint at where he's headed. I highly recommend listening yourself, especially because Freddie is so lovely, but I've included my favorite bits below (including him calling Fabien "Fabs" and "Fabby").

On Gwayne and Alicent in Episode 6

"I loved that conversation he has with Alicent. In fact, it was a scene we ended up reshooting...I was glad to have another shot at it, actually, because I wanted to give it a couple more extra beats in there that I think really show what their relationship was, which is one that's been very distant. But one that is quite loving, even if only in sort of theory, rather than practice...I did a lot of backstory on him and I feel he was very much raised by his mother who he lost very young. He's sort of been an abandoned child. And so consequently, reaching out—as well as he knows how—to his sister in that scene I thought was very touching."

On Fabien, and Gwayne and Criston

"[Fabien] is amazing fun...Fabs and I get to spend a lot of our time together, and I really, I can't put it more frankly by saying I felt like I'd known him for 20 years after having met him for 24 hours. And that's really lucky, because we do have to spend a lot of time together.

And you do need to feel, over time, that these people—who are really on opposite ends politically in the court do end up, sort of, skirting each other, and then finding common ground. So it was lovely to feel like we could do that quite easily because we had a good friendship straight away."

More under the cut:

On Gwayne's Relationship With Otto

"I'm such a fan of Rhys Ifans' work generally anyway, but he has such poise and command as a performer...I watched him quite carefully thinking, is there a way I can take some of his body language into my own and see if I could, you know, sort of trace the familial kind of thing between us through body language.

That being said, it sort of then dawned on me really that we'd not really spent much time together as father and son. He's always been preoccupied with the work at Court, being this sort of Rasputin, really, character, and I'd been brought up by my mother in a completely different place."

Hints for a Gwayne Finale Arc...

"There's a mercurial element to him which is quite smart, and rational, whilst also sometimes being loaded with preconceptions as well. He really humanizes over the course of the series. I won't spoil what happens in the final episode, but it made me really endeared to him as a person going, look, you know, he's someone who perhaps was raised with a bit of a silver spoon in his mouth and was a little quick to judge initially, but as time goes on and the battle completely breaks him down, he becomes a very human, kind person."

...And potentially a return for Season 3?

"I will watch Season 2 in anticipation of prepping Season 3, but I'm not watching any of it as it comes out. It's sort of on principle, I suppose, not wanting to get too caught up in it when I'm doing other work. But I couldn't resist watching that episode [Rooks Rest, I think] and I text Fabby afterwards, and just said 'Wow, we were part of the whole thing there, that was really cool.'"

[hotdaemondtargaryen]

TOM GLYNN-CARNEY INTERVIEWED BY AV CLUB MAGAZINE.

KNOWING WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO AEGON IN EPISODES FOUR AND FIVE, HOW DID YOU WANT TO PLAY UP HIS STATE OF MIND BEFORE HE DECIDES TO RIDE ON SUNFYRE STRAIGHT INTO BATTLE? WHAT WERE THE CONFLICTING EMOTIONS YOU WANTED TO TAKE THE TIME TO DEPICT?

"I think the focus was to show he’s pushed to the limit in a way he hasn’t before."

"He’d just been painfully reminded about his biggest insecurity of being seen as weak and useless."

"Alicent said that to him in no uncertain terms."

"So I think he felt like he was backed into a corner and felt this was the only thing he could do."

"At least that’s how I justified his actions."

"And in doing so he realizes he’s not naturally a warrior."

"He doesn’t have that sort of brave, fearless mentality of some of the other characters."

"So he needs something to numb his fear and gets absolutely blind drunk and gets around to it."

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINI IT WEIGHS ON AEGON THAT HE HAS TO FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS FATHER?

"Viserys [Paddy Considine] was the only sort of positive male figure on the show."

"Not positive to Aegon necessarily, but at least to the masses, so that’s his experience."

"I think seeing the way the small folk responded to Viserys while he was growing up showed Aegon his father was a good king who was liked and well-respected."

"He’s forged good and healthy relationships with people, so I definitely think it’s an element Aegon wants to replicate."

"You see that in episode one."

"But there’s a very, very quick realization that Aegon isn’t Viserys."

"He’s a completely different beast who has to play to his strengths."

IN EPISODE FOUR, AEGON IS FIGHTING MELEYS AND RHAENYS, THEN FEELS RELIEF WHEN AEMOND SHOWS UP, AND IT QUICKLY TURNS TO FEAR. WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO PORTRAY THIS RANGE IN SO LITTLE TIME? WHAT TALKS DID YOU HAVE WITH ALAN TAYLOR ABOUT YOUR PERFORMANCE IN IT?

"Yeah, as you said there wasn’t much time."

"We did like bullet points of moments we wanted to bring to life and what needs to be a priority."

"Yes, he sees his brother coming on Vhagar and the goal is to show that Aegon thinks it’s to rescue him."

"But the melee continues because that’s how the dragons are and that’s how the fight is going."

"There’s no escaping that fire and whatever else is coming Aegon’s way."

"Of course, people can make their own decisions on what Aemond’s intentions are, that bit is up for grabs."

"We didn’t want to fully spoon-feed that either."

"We spoke at length about these moments, especially seeing fear in Aegon’s eyes but also showing that he’s driven to prove himself."

EPISODE FIVE REVEALS THAT HE'S ALIVE BUT BADLY BURNED. THERE'S ONLY ONE LINE OF DIALOGUE YOU GET, WHICH IS "MUMMY." IT FEELS VERY VULNERABLE AND UNDERSTANDABLE THAT HE REGRESSES TO THIS CHILD-LIKE STATE AND CALLS AFTER HIS MOTHER.

"Exactly."

"He’s completely disfigured."

"He can’t breathe or see or talk. talk."

"I’m sure we all would regress to a child-like state."

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO PLAY THIS VERSION OF AEGON NOW AND HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO GET INTO CHARACTER IN TERMS OF THE MAKEUP AND PROSTHETICS?

"There’s less acting required of course but it didn’t feel too different or that I was doing less work."

"Getting the makeup done took a long time though, especially in the early stages."

"It was taking seven hours and we gradually got that down to fewer hours."

"It’s still a long time, and I was also in that armor for the full day."

"Luckily, I was surrounded by a gorgeous team who were so accommodating, helpful, and encouraging."

"It was great when it could have been more difficult, let’s put it that way."

A KEY SCENE FOR AEGON IS WHEN HE FIRES OTTO HIGHTOWER (RHYS IFANS) AS HIS HAND. DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT MARKED A TURNING POINT IN HOW HE SAW HIMSELF OPERATING AS A RULER? WILL HE REGRET DOING IT NOW?

"I don’t think he regrets it because Otto was restricting and filtering Aegon."

"He was slamming the brakes the entire time, he was like a handbrake."

"And as soon as that happened, he sort of snapped free."

"He felt like he could make progress even if it wasn’t an immediate success."

"So no, I don’t think he regrets it."

"It’s for sure a turning point as well because I think finds strength in it."

"You really see him step into being the king and using his power."

"He’s been in the same room as Otto many times and knows he’s one of the most powerful people."

"That status shifts at that moment for Aegon."

"I find it so stimulating because here’s this person who is the patriarch of the family and is just being reduced to a little boy who has to take his badge off and give it to someone else."

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO WORK WITH EWAN MITCHELL, ESPECIALLY AS AEGON AND AEMOND'S BROTHERLY RIVALRY COMES TO A HEAD THIS SEASON?

"Oh, yeah, I love Ewan."

"He’s great, it’s always a joy to scare scenes with him."

"We both dive in and take it seriously when we’re living in these characters, but it’s a lot of fun."

"As for the brotherly bond, everyone thinks Aegon is ripping Aemond, but then he calls him out too at the small council meeting [in Valyrian]."

"It’s the same thing. It’s bullying as well."

"So what happens in that brothel scene."

For example, if you walk in and find your brother there, you’re not going to go: — 'Sorry guys, I’ll leave you alone.'

"You’ll make fun of him, too."

YOU'VE SAID BEFORE YOU WATCHED THE ENTIRETY OF GAME OF THRONES IN THREE WEEKS ONCE YOU GOT THE HOTD ROLE. DID WATCHING IT INFLUENCE YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THIS SHOW AT ALL?

"No, I find that dangerous, in that you can start to try and replicate a template that’s already been set for some by someone else."

"The beauty of a show like ours is that we’ve got a lot of actors jumping into it with fresh ideas."

"And we’re not making Game Of Thrones even if it’s part of the same world."

"It’s a different show entirely."

"What has been great to see this season is the newer characters and people working on it come in with their own opinions and brave, bold choices."

"It’s multi-layered and colorful."

YOU'RE ABLE TO BRING MORE LAYERS TO AEGON THIS SEASON, AND IT'S EASY TO FEEL BAD FOR HIM AT TIMES. WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE ABLE FLESH OUT HIS COMPLEXITIES SO HE'S NOT A ONE-NOTE VILLAIN?

"It’s great to be able to spend longer with a character because you end up getting to know them more and your choices become more informed."

"Aegon feels more lived in now because I’m coming at it from a greater depth and investigation."

"A lot of that work has been done."

"So yeah, it’s great because the character becomes a part of you in a way."

"After all, you’ve played them for so long."

"Aegon has increased responsibility this time so I like riding the wave of where they’re going with it."

"It’s brilliant that he’s a pivotal character in the story even now after episode five."

[wild-as-a-winter-storm]

Okay, thoughts on this episode of HOTD... and I'm not going to lie guys, I though it was really good! So many brilliant scenes, great content for all the characters... yeah :)

But let's get into the details.

Aegon was great again this episode, Tom Glynn-Carney gives an excellent performance of his angry grief. I also love how young and almost childish aegon feels.

Helaena too... she's just so broken, it's heartbreaking. Her with the shroud saying "this is for my boy," and her panic during the funeral procession... wow.

Alicent too, particularly in her first scene, is clearly so distraught about it, Olivia is amazing!!

At first I was really annoyed at how insensitive otto was being, but I have to admit by the end of the ep I was loving what he had going on! The scene with him and aegon and Cole where he gets fired was BRILLIANT! I don't know if it was purely the otto content and him saying what he did to aegon, or if it was more just rhys's performance- he definitely did a great job. well done rhys ifans, I loved it!

Him being angry about the ratcatchers being hanged was an interesting touch (and aegon's "oh. I had them hanged," was so funny). I'm glad they included that detail from the books, though it would have been cool if they hadn't shown Cheese among the hanged, instead having him escape like in Fire and Blood- put the lie to what aegon said about one guilty man. The dog looking up at him was a good moment though, and aegon coming in to kill Blood was chilling!

Let's go to aemond next- I know quite a lot of people didn't like the scene with him in the brothel and found it icky but I thought it was good! I like that it was weird and that his mommy issues were on full display. It's supposed to be fucked up! And things like him saying he regretted what happened with luke and how daemon is scared of him... please 😂

And then Cole... oof I have to admit the whole him knowing he should have been the one to protect jaehaerys and then accusing arryk of that very thing was.... yeah that made me angry. Going on about purity and not sullying the white cloak! He was projecting his guilt, and also I suppose trying to put arryk's loyalty into question so that he could pressure him into going to assassinate rhaenyra.

Talking of, the twins' final confrontation was great, powerful! the whole two souls in one body thing, them killing each other but still telling each other they love each other... it's what I want from a jaime/cersei death scene!

And now onto the blacks. As others have said, rhaenys immediately knowing it was daemon was great, as was rhaenyra's change in expression as she turns to her husband and realises after two seconds that yep it was him. Her being so indignant about people thinking she might have done something so horrible was really interesting, and particularly to helaena, who is an innocent and her sister.

And I loved the big daemon and rhaenyra argument, that was a brilliant scene and really well acted. Love their dynamic, I'm a big daemyra fan and think it's fun for them to have a bit of drama.

Even though it was only a short moment, I really liked addam watching seasmoke, that was great. And we've got our little glimpses into Hugh the hammer too, fun.

I heard that some of the writers had said that this series looks at the smallfolk more and it does seem to be living up to that so far which is nice- I have to admit something which annoyed me in the first season was so many viewers seeing rhaenys bursting up through the floor during the coronation on meleys as this big badass moment and not really paying attention to the innocent smallfolk being killed? It's always them who suffer most when the targaryens have a spat.

Talking of rhaenys though, I liked the scene with her and Corlys :)

So yes, overall, great episode! really loved so many different little scenes. (Ooh I should talk about the ending a bit, alicent's scene with otto," I have sinned," and then aegon crying and alicent walking away, and then her hitting criston... that was such an interesting selection of scenes for her, wow). No wonder I had a lot to say! Will be interesting to see if there's as much to talk about next week.

I am really looking forward to more- guess we're going to get the sowing of the seeds set up next, and getting ready for some actual battles. Burning mill might be next ep, and then rook's rest in episode 4. And of course we need to finally see shit going down at harrenhall, that's going to be fun :)

[mhevarujta]

Otto in 1x05 + book spoilers

Otto Hightower had a single scene and it was SO IMPORTANT for his character.

I don’t agree with the fans who are claiming that Otto was manipulating Alicent by saying that Rhaenyra will have to put her sons to the sword and I genuinelt believe that, from his perspective, he’s doing the best for the kingdom.

Let me expand on this a bit:

Otto is a traditionalist and the product of a misogynist society. He loved his wife and he loves his women, something that we really saw because of Rhys Ifans’ expressions during that hug, but he is still an awful person for a woman to be around because he believes that women are meant to play their roles, to comply and to endure. He knows that in their society women do not choose their lives, do not rule and further men’s plans, claims and ambitions and he accepts that as the way of things without seeing anything wrong with it.

Otto ALWAYS cared for the kingdom, and this is not acknowledged enough. He initially supported Rhaenyra over Daemon because he considered him a plague (’better the Realm’s Delight than Lord Flea Bottom’).

Nevertheless, he is genuine in his belief that a woman on the throne would eventually lead to war because she wouldn’t be accepted. Otto wanted a male heir and was in favor of Viserys marrying and having a male heir. Sure, as many peple did at court, he wished to fulfill his ambitions and to strengthen his house. But his support of a potential male heir was there either way. It was just even better if said heir was of his own blood. Also, his claim about Rhaenyra HAVING to kill Alicent’s son is actually true from his perspective. He didn’t claim that Rhaenyra would WANT to kill them. He just thinks that even if she doesn’t do so initially, she’ll eventually see that as long as there are male heirs she will never have the acceptance she wishes for and she would always be vulnerable because too many in that society believed in men’s claim being the only one that mattered. His logic says that if Rhaenyra is smart, she’ll grasp this and then she’ll have to act.

As a bonus, I’d like to add that Otto is an opportunist. He let Alicent be Viserys’ choice in a sense. But overall, he is very direct about what he wants. He openly kept pushing Aegon as the heir. He did not try to spread information about Rhaenyra’s presence at Flea Bottom indirectly. Even as the hand of his own grandson, he later furthers diplomacy over violence, for the good of the realm, to the point that Aegon II gets pissed and dismisses him.

He is not a good person. But I find him fascinating as a politician and as a character, and Rhys Ifans is a phenomenal actor in everything he’s been in and gives a beautiful performance.

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “The King's Man (2021)”

When Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) came out, I didn't have huge expectations for it. After watching it though, I was completely blown away by how much I enjoyed it. However, the sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) was quite disappointed with its nonsensical plot and pacing. After countless delays due to covid, the 3rd entry in the franchise, The King’s Man (2021), finally came out. It is a prequel set during WWI about how the Kingsman formed. So is the franchise back on track or is this another disappointing entry?

Firstly, the cast is great and all give great performances. Ralph Fiennes plays Orlando and is the founder of the Kingsman. He is just perfect casting and seeing him pull off some awesome fight scenes is just wonderful to watch. Gemma Arterton plays Polly Watkins who is a maid and agent to Orlando. She is an absolute joy when she is on screen thanks to her funny wit and quips. She and Ralph Fiennes surprisingly have great chemistry when on screen together. Djimon Hounsou plays Shola a butler and agent to Orlando. He is awesome to watch and he also works well on screen together with Ralph Fiennes. Rhys Ifans as Rasputin is the biggest highlight in this film. His deranged yet menacing performance is just a sight to behold! There is a surprisingly amount of well-known actors in the film even with their short screen time. They all do a great job with some actors wanting me to see more of them.

What makes the Kingsman franchise great is the action scenes and this film still delivers on that. There is a mesmerizing fight scene with Rasputin himself that just put a smile on my face throughout. There is also a very gritty and brutal No Man's land sequence that is not like previous movies but was very well choreographed. The final action sequence has the level of ridiculousness expected from the franchise and it is very fun to watch. One thing this film does differently from previous films is a more serious and emotional story to tell. The relationship between Orlando and his son Conrad is the core of the film. Orlando wants to protect his son but Conrad wants to fulfil his duty and fight in the war.  I appreciated this part of the story and I think it was executed very well.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of tonal clashes in the film. It will go from this serious World War I film to a weird wacky film where a guy gets his thigh licked and then back again to a serious film. It happens a lot throughout the first 2/3 of the film and it can be a bit jarring that the director can't just settle on one. The story itself is also quite weak and a little overstuffed with it trying to cover the entire WWI events within it. The pacing is quite slow at points in the first half due to it trying to summarize the things that were happening at the time. It does feel a bit too long at 131 minutes and could have been cut by 10-15 minutes.

Harris Dickinson who plays Conrad (Orlando's son) is a bit dull. I wouldn't say it is due to his performance but more down to how his character is written. While every other character has these outward personalities, Conrad is just dull compared to everyone else. It's a shame as his character is the emotional core of this film but his character is not memorable. There is a villainous group in this film called the Flock and they are the ones manipulating things behind the scenes. Unfortunately, they are also a very bland villainous group with a generic motive and don't do much to stick in your mind. They are led by "The Shepherd" whose face is kept hidden until the end where it is revealed who he is. Unfortunately, the revelation is predictable and disappointing. He ends up being a very weak villain compared to the awesome Rasputin who probably should've been the main villain.

Overall, this film delivers if you just want entertaining action sequences. If you wanted an interesting story about how the Kingsman came to be then you are going to be thoroughly disappointed. It is a little difficult to say whether this is better than Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) as they are both flawed movies. This movie isn't a must-watch, even for people who watched the previous Kingsman movie. Nevertheless, it is still pretty enjoyable and you will have some enjoyment watching this.

For more reviews like this visit:

https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Spider-Man Movie Villains

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, he does whatever a spider can. And what do spiders seem really good at? Amassing huge quantities of hatred and animosity! True to the wily arachnids that inspired him, Spider-Man has quite the impressive gallery of foes, one that I might say rivals Batman as the greatest in comic book history with how colorful, crazy, and creative they are. Even villains derivative of one another, like Hobgoblin and Green Goblin or Carnage and Venom, manage to carve out unique niches that help make them fun and memorable.

And thankfully, these qualities usually translated pretty well to film! I’ve talked about how good Mysterio, Vulture, Kingpin, and Prowler are before, so now it’s time to cover the others all in one fell swoop! From the Raimi trilogy, we have Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Harry Osborn, Sandman, and Eddie Brock/Venom; from the Andrew Garfield duology, we have Lizard, Electro, Rhino, and Harry Osborn again; and leftover from Into the Spider-Verse we have Olivia Octavius, Tombstone, Scorpion, and that film’s brief take on Green Goblin! Oh, and why not throw in Riot from Venom while we’re at it, because he sucks way too much to get his own Psycho Analysis.

Motivation/Goals: A lot of villains are motivated by the classic motivation: revenge. All of the Green Goblins manage to have this as a main part of their actions, making them remarkably consistent and very easy to discuss. The Norman of the Raimi films wants to take out his anger at being frozen out of his own company, and his son wants revenge for his death, while the Harry of the Garfield films wants his vengeance because Spider-Man wouldn’t help cure him of his otherwise incurable disaease that would kill him (a fact made worse because Spider-Man is his actual best friend, Peter Parker, who is coldly condemning his pal to death). The only one who doesn’t really fit is the Spider-Verse take on Green Goblin, and that’s more because he has extremely limited screentime and spends all of it fighting Peter and being scary as hell.

Eddie Brock/Venom is a very interesting case as both halves of the character are motivated by different reasons. The symbiote half is, of course, motivated by the fact that Peter has tried to rid himself of it via using a church bell to kill it. Eddie, on the other hand, has the most absolutely hilarious motivation ever: He wants Peter Parker to die because Peter exposed him for submitting fraudulent pictures to J. Jonah Jameson. Eddie literally breached journalistic ethics but apparently Peter’s to blame for exposing his literal, actual crime! And he prays to God for Peter to die! This version of Eddie is cartoonishly hilarious.Finally, we have Max Dillon, AKA Electro, who is lashing out at a world that did nothing but belittle and demean him, giving him a far more sympathetic motive for revenge.

Kurt Connors is an interesting halfway point between the Doc Ocks and the villains above, because he is not really evil and his whole transformation came about for altruistic scientific reasons, as he tested his serum on himself because they were going to test it out on the public without consent. While the serum drives him mad, he initially only goes after those who were going to use his formula with people as guinea pigs.

Interestingly, the two Doc Ocks contrast each other. While both of them are doing evil deeds for scientific reasons, Otto Octavius is being forced by his tentacles and genuinely wishes to make the world a better place otherwise. Olivia, on the other hand, is a gleeful sadist who doesn’t care who she hurts as long as she can get some sort of scientific knowledge from it.

Sandman is interesting case because his motivations are entirely sympathetic and despite being the man who killed Uncle Ben, it was entirely accidental and he always regretted it. He only ever wanted to get money to save his daughter. It’s really hard not to sympathize with a guy who turned to desperate measures because the American health care system sucks even in a universe where a dude dressed in a bright red suit swings around New York.

Then there are all the rest. Aleksei Systevich, AKA Rhino, is just a criminal, and has barely any screentime to establish a motivation beyond that. This is especially hilarious because the ads really hyped this guy up, only for him to get maybe five minutes of screentime, with most of it at the very end of the movie before the credits (we don’t even get to see his final battle). Tombstone and Scorpion are basically just lackeys for Kingpin, with little established beyond that. Scorpion almost shows up entirely out of nowhere, just popping in for the fight at Aunt May’s house and then the final battle. And then there’s Riot, who just wants to start a symbiote apocalypse on Earth.

Performance: Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Thomas Haden Church as Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Sandman in the Raimi trilogy are, in a word, iconic. Dafoe brings a gleeful, cackling hamminess to the Goblin that perfectly suits him and manages to steal every single with how delightfully, cartoonishly evil he is combined with some hilariously chummy moments with Spider-Man. Molina as Ock goes in the opposite direction of hamminess, where instead of making Octavius cartoonishly evil, he gives him this air of gravitas to the point where he somehow manages to make this villain with giant metal tentacles that are controlling his mind come off as sophisticated and serious as Hannibal Lecter. Church meanwhile just looks eerily perfect as Sandman, as if he were ripped straight from the comics and put onscreen, and then of course there’s how well he manages to sell the emotional moments of the character.

The Harrys are a rather mixed bag, sad to say. James Franco and Dennis DeHaan aren’t really bad actors, but they unfortunately have the problem of living in the shadow of the actor who played their dad (Franco) or being in a really awful movie with a terrible script (DeHaan). Franco at least makes up for this by being hilariously, cartoonishly evil to the extent of his dad in the third Raimi film, but DeHaan unfortunately falls rather flat. Topher Grace as Venom is a choice that seems baffling until you realize Raimi cast an actor like this on purpose because he hates Venom so much he didn’t want to give him any dignity.

Jamie Foxx as Electro seems odd at first, but I feel it’s actually a great casting choice, and despite how unbelievably stupid the script is, he’s actually able to do a fairly good job. If his character was in a better movie, he’d probably get a lot less flak (and he’ll be getting his chance soon enough, apparently). Overall, he’s the best part of the Garfield films. Rhys Ifans and Paul Giamatti as Lizard and Rhino are serviceable, but neither film they’re in really gives them much to work with. Giamatti at least gets to steal the show with his brief scenes by being an absolute ham, but Ifans is sadly a bit forgettable in his role (though not for lack of trying on his part).

Now onto the Spider-Verse ensemble! Considering how I gushed over her delightful performance as the Wicked Witch of Westview in WandaVision as well as the fact she is solely responsible for me resurrecting this series from its long hiatus, it should come as no shock at all that Kathryn Hahn as Olivia Octavius is just perfect. Controversial opinion, I know, might get some flak for this hot take. Jorma Taccone as Green Goblin, Joaquin Cosio as Scorpion, and Marvin Jones III as Tombstone all do well for what they’re given, but it’s clear most of the love among Kingpin’s henchmen was given to her (and Prowler, but he got his own review where I talked about how great he is).

Oh, right, Riot. I forgot about him. Riz Ahmed, who plays the human villain Carlton Drake I forgot to mention because he’s incredibly boring, is a really good (and sexy) actor. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get to be quite as good and sexy as an actor like him should be in his dual role. In an interesting subversion of how things usually go, he ends up being rather bland compared to the hammy, bonkers hero. This was Tom Hardy’s show, and no one was stealing it from him.

Final Fate: The Raimi films were all made during a time when, if your name wasn’t Magneto and you were a superhero movie villain, you were dying, a trend I’m certainly glad is finally starting to die off. Thankfully, Green Goblin manages to stick around and posthumously influence Harry, so in his case it’s not so bad. Harry and Doc Ock both manage to overcome the darkness in their hearts at the end and sacrifice their lives to help save the day, while Eddie dies after becoming such a simp for the symbiote he leaps into it while Peter is blowing it up. With Sandman, Peter actually has a touching reconciliation with Sandman at the end, forgiving him for the death of Uncle Ben before Sandman dissolves into dust and floats away on the breeze. And no, this is his power, not Thanos’ snap reaching across time, space, and dimensions; Sandman actually gets out of these films alive.

The other villains actually get off easier, as most of them go to jail. From the Amazing Spider-Man films, DeHaan’s Goblin and Rhys Ifan’s Lizard both end up in prison, and it’s safe to assume that the villains of Spider-Verse are going to jail alongside Kingpin. Octavius was hit by a bus, sure, but considering how popular she ended up being it would be really dumb to have that actually kill her. With Electro and Rhino though, it’s really ambiguous, the former because he’s made of electricity and the way he was defeated means it is possible he survived, and the latter because we never actually see the outcome of his battle with Spider-Man. If the film they were in was actually good and warranted sequels, we may have found out what their true fates were, but at the very least Electro is moving over to the MCU alongside Molina’s Doc Ock.

Oh, right, forgot Riot again. He dies.

Best Scene/Best Quote: I’m combining these this time just to make it easier on me, because in at least in a couple cases the two are the same.

Green Goblin has a lot to choose from, to the point where it’s easy to cop out and just say every scene he’s in is amazing. I’ve always been fond of his chummy chat with Spider-Man on the rooftop, or the scene where he terrifies Aunt May, or the scene where he attacks the parade and vaporizes the board of directors with pumpkin bombs.

Dock Ock is easy: the train battle. This might be one of the best action scenes in any superhero movie ever, and since he’s the villain in it, it almost goes without saying..There’s a reason this scene is singled out so often.

Eddie Brock and DeHaan Goblin actually have their best scenes also be their best lines. Eddie praying for God to kill Peter Parker and DeHaan!Harry screaming “YOU’RE A FRAUD, SPIDER-MAN!” after Spidey refuses to give him a life-saving blood transfusion are just so absolutely hilarious and memorable that you can’t hate them.

Aside from the powerful forgiveness moment at the film’s end, I think it’s really indisputable that the best scene from Sandman, and perhaps the Raimi trilogy as a whole, is the scene of Sandman’s creation. Words really can’t do it justice, so just watch:

Electro’s best moment isn’t even actually part of the movie, unless you want to count his rendition of “The Itsy-Bitsy Spider.” No, his is from a Tumblr post, proving definitively that Electro’s power can not be contained.

For Olivia, I’d say either of the reveals for her are great. You can go with the twist that she’s the Doc Ock of Miles’ universe, or the twist that she might have fucked Aunt May. Either way, you can’t really go wrong.

The rest of the villains… yeah, I’ve got nothing. At least with Rhino you can say his entire time on screen was fun, but the rest? Nope. They’re kind of just there.

Final Thoughts & Score:

Green Goblin

Where to begin with this guy? He is everything I look for in a great villain: he’s hammy and cartoonish, he can be terrifying and threatening when he wants to be, he has a ridiculous yet memorable costume, every word out of his mouth is hilarious and memorable, and he’s played by an amazing actor. It’s hard to dispute that Doc Ock is the best villain in Raimi’s trilogy, but Goblin is definitely the most fun. If you thought he’d get less than a 10/10, you thought wrong.

Doctor Octopus

Aside from Green Goblin, Doc Ock is Spidey’s most iconic and memorable foe, nd this adaptation of him does not disappoint. By making him a more tragic and somewhat anti-villainous figure and putting him in the hands of someone as awesome and talented as Alfred Molina, they managed to make such a cartoonish villain retain that comic book silliness while still being a legitimately imposing antagonist. I suppose it helps that a director who knows how to balance silly and serous like Raimi helps. It’s absolutely not a shock that the MCU wants to bring Molina back, because really, I can’t see anyone making the dubious doctor nearly as cool as the 10/10 performance Molina gave.

Harry Osborn

Franco’s Harry has an interesting arc, but one that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense under scrutiny. Frankly, his descent into villain is handled well but when he actually gets to be a villain in the third film, things fall apart.. But at any rate, he gets to be cartoonishly hilarious while he pettily ruins Peter’s life, so I think a 3/10 is warranted just for how goofy he is.

Eddie Brock/Venom

For the longest time, I hated Eddie Brock, but loved the Venom symbiote for its fantastic design… A design hampered by the fact Topher Grace keeps sticking his face through the symbiote and talking in his normal voice. But then one day I remembered Eddie literally prays to God for Peter Parker to die, and I realize that as crappy as this version of Venom is, he’s undoubtedly hilarious. A 3/10 mainly because of how hilariously bad he is, though the design of the symbiote is unironically great. Shame Grace kept sticking his face through and that Raimi hates the character.

Sandman

Sandman is a villain who deserved a better movie. Sure, Spider-Man 3 is fun and funny, but a character with this much depth and emotional weight deserved a film of the caliber of Spider-Man 2. At any rate, he adds a bit of class and dignity to the proceedings, and Thomas Haden Church really nails it. He’s a 9/10 for sure.

Lizard

Lizard is just a very boring villain, which is a shame because Lizard is not a boring villain in the comics and other media like the cartoons. I don’t really know if he was the best choice for Spider-Man’s first outing; I’ll at least give him that he’s a more inspired choice than doing the Green Goblin again, but that doesn’t score him higher than a 4/10. As boring as he ends up being, that library fight was pretty cool and had a great Stan Lee cameo, so I can’t say he’s the bottom of the barrel.

Electro

Electro is a villain who desperately deserved a better movie. While his backstory as a nerdy fanboy who got kicked around by the world is nothing new, or fresh, or original, Jamie Foxx manages to make the character work fairly well even though almost everything around him is unbelievably stupid. The fact he managed to make “Don’t you know? I’m Electro” sound cool and badass is a testament to his skill, and thankfully he’s coming back in the MCU in some way, so I guess Electro’s power can not be contained to a single movie. Still, this iteration only manages to get to a 6/10, because while all the elements of greatness are there, he’s hampered by the abysmal writing.

Rhino

Paul Giamatti certainly looks like he’s having a blast here. His attitude is almost infectious, but alas, his time is too brief to bring any great joy, and his jarring appearance out of nowhere at the end of the film certainly do him no favors. Still, Giamatti keeps Rhino from sinking any lower than a 5/10.

Harry Osborn

This Harry is just a joke. His arc makes no sense, his actions are unbelievable, and he ends up looking like a really poor Warwick Davis Leprechaun cosplayer. The only thing of note about him is that he’s a Harry who becomes the Green Goblin before his father, something that doesn’t happen very often, and that’s not enough to score this loser higher than a 2/10. Not even killing Gwen Stacy makes him any more impressive, and that’s a real shame.

Olivia Octavius

Olivia Octavius is widely beloved by just about everyone who sees the film.. myself included. This is just a really fun, clever twist on Doctor Octopus, and it’s the sort of character you really hope gets a Harley Quinn-level break into becoming an iconic character across multiple forms of media. Kathryn Hahn’s fun performance and the wonderful design and fight sequences really make Olivia a 9/10.

Tombstone

Tombstone is a villain you might actually forget is in the movie, which is a damn shame. He’s an albino black man, a badass bodyguard, and has a striking design, but he gets a single line of dialogue and is tasked with bodyguarding a man who not only has cyborgs under his employ, but who murdered Spider-Man with his bare hands. Tombstone ultimately feels really superfluous, which is a shame because around the same time Into the Spider-Verse came out he had a very memorable and well-liked appearance in the Spider-Man video game. It’s a real shame but I gotta give this version of Tombstone a 2/10.

Scorpion

Scorpion has a lot of problems of Tombstone above, but he makes up for a lot of his flaws by having a really cool and striking design. Does it really make him a great villain? No. He’s not particularly well-characterized and he’s really just there to look cool and give Olivia backup. He’s a 4/10 at best, saved from being lower only by his awesome look. Looking cool really can get you far in some cases.

Green Goblin

Out of all the really minor villains in Spider-Verse, this version of Norman might be the best. His role is tiny, only appearing during the scene where the Peter Parker of Miles’ universe gets killed, but his battle with Spider-Man is what sets the entire plot in motion. His cool and terrifying design definitely help make him stand out enough to earn at least a 6/10.

Riot & Carlton Drake

Look, there’s a reason I kept forgetting these guys. They’re not memorable in the slightest. Venom may be a fantastic work of art, but that’s because Tom Hardy kills it in his dual role as Eddie Brock and the Venom symbiote. Drake is just a boring corporate villain, the kind I hate talking about and the kind I’d only ever even bother mentioning in a review like this. And Riot is just a generic Big Gray CGI Monster for the hero to have a final battle with. Neither of these two are particularly interesting, and neither deserves more than a 2/10.

That’s it, right? There can’t be any more villains, I must have covered them all. Well, not quite. There’s one more character who is most certainly an antagonist and who I really, really want to talk about. And you’re absolutely not going to believe who it is.

You ready?

Psycho Analysis: Emo Peter

“Now wait,” you may be asking, “Emo Peter? Really? How does he count as a villain?” Well, as Schafrillas pointed out in his video on Spider-Man 3, Emo Peter is actually the antagonist for much of the second act. Peter, influenced by the symbiote, becomes a raging jackass and hurts and alienates everyone around him by being a colossal douchebag, not to mention how violent he gets as Spider-Man. This is very much an extreme case of the hero’s greatest enemy being themselves, because literally, Peter’s enemy in the chunk of the movie with Emo Peter is his own overinflated ego

Motivation/Goals: I mean, at the end of the day, it’s still Peter. He still wants to do the typical Peter Parker stuff, he’s just a jackass while he does it.

Performance: It’s Tobey Maguire busting loose and getting to act like an absolute doofus. There is literally nothing about this that isn’t amazing and I’m sorry if you can’t see it.

Final Fate: Peter eventually comes to realize that maybe the symbiote making him act like an egomaniacal tool is not a good thing, and so rebels against it, ultimately leading him to the roof of a church where Eddie Brock is praying for him to die and, well, the rest is history.

Best Scene:

Best Dance Move:

Final Thoughts & Score: Emo Peter has gotten a bad reputation over the years, but Schafrillas’ video really made me rethink why. As he puts it, Emo Peter comes off not as someone cool, but as what a loser thinks a cool person would be (which makes him still a loser). It seems fairly likely that the audience isn’t supposed to be rooting for Emo Peter or finding him cool, but instead finding him insufferable, ridiculous, and funny. We’re supposed to be laughing at Peter’s egomania, at his absurd and hammy showboating, not cheering him on and desiring to emulate him.

And that ultimately makes it more satisfying when Peter overcomes his ego and decides to rid himself of the symbiote. It might seem like I’m giving Spider-Man 3 a lot of credit here, but even Sam Raimi half-assing a movie wouldn’t leave things completely devoid of underlying brilliance. Emo Peter isn’t a villain in the sense that he’s some superpowered antagonist, he’s a physical representation of the negative impacts of fame and ego on Peter. This is Peter letting go of what makes him a hero and just reveling in being an absolute jerkwad to everyone around him.

I love the memes as much as everyone else of course, but Emo Peter is also a pretty clever symbolic foe. But even though I’m giving him an 8/10, we all know the real reason why he’s scoring so high:

Ok, but that’s it now, right? No more Spider-Man villains? Well, maybe for now. But don’t forget:

There’s gonna be Carnage.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Rewatching the HP and FB movies

I have a tradition of rewatching HP movies at least once a year. This year, I added the two FB movies as well. I know lots of people have well deserved issues with a lot of thing with the franchise and I do too, but I still thoroughly enjoy the movies. All of them. Certainly there are some big issues I have, like how Kloves treated Ron starting from GOF onwards, and how Hermione kind of became a mary sue, and definitely some of the things that were added or removed, like the removal of some of the Riddle memories in HBP, removing the pretty fascinating Dumbledore backstory in Deathly Hallows, the silly inconsistencies like polyjuice not changing the voice of the characters etc... But in general, I still think the movies did a great job capturing the spirit of the books and the casting was just incredible. Especially the adult casting. I know we have only seen one version of Harry Potter on the big screen, but I envision these actors, especially the adults, when I’m reading the books now. Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Robbie Coltraine, Mark Williams, Julie Walters etc... are now the faces I see when I think of those characters. Richard Harris was a terrific Dumbledore for the first two movies, where he had more of grandfatherly, twinkling, vibe. I know people are critical of Gambon in GOF and he admittedly did get the characterization wrong, but I feel he was excellent in POA, OOTP, and especially HBP. Alan Rickman was just so outstanding in the role of Snape. I genuinely feel he should have gotten some Oscar consideration for his performance in DH2. But he was incredible even when he had only a few scenes and had to be super dry in his dialogue delivery. Maggie Smith was similarly wonderful. But these were just the adult regulars, but equally incredible were the phenomenal actors who came for just a few films. There are so many. Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Imelda Staunton, Helena Bonham Carter, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Emma Thompson, Jim Broadbent etc... among many others. A lot of these actors only had a film or two where they had a significant presence, but they showed up in cameos in other films, particularly in DH2. I have a lot of respect for the casting directors for this franchise since they cast basically half of all of British’s well respected acting thespians. Even someone like Bill Nighy appeared, just for two scenes in DH1. Rhys Ifans came in DH1 and was terrific in the two scenes he was in. Ciaran Hinds also was in just one or two scenes and he was also very good. And all these actors felt like they gave it their all and that it wasn’t just a paycheck role.

When it comes to child casting, what strikes me is the amazing continuity the series kept. Its one thing to be able to keep the core child actors like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Tom Felton, but one of the most satisfying aspects of the series is that a lot of the core group of side characters were continuously played by the same actors. Not just Matthew Lewis and Bonnie Wright  and the Phelps brothers, but also Alfred Enoch as Dean, Devon Murray as Seamus, and Joshua Herdman as Goyle. It would be very easy to replace some of these side characters over time and no one would notice, but the continuity makes it so much more enjoyable when in DH2 Seamus helps Neville blow up a bridge based on the fact that we know Seamus from the first movie was known for blowing stuff up. Its the small things that make it so great. Possibly the most accurate bit of casting was Evana Lynch as Luna. I honestly can’t think of a single actor more perfectly cast in the series than her. The core quartet were all lovely. Not always consistent, but more than good enough. I actually think Dan was the weakest actor when the series started, but he made remarkable improvement in the back half of the series, especially OOTP onwards. He is outstanding in DH2 I thought. Tom Felton didn’t always have to do much until HBP, but he was excellent in HBP. He does seem to have been stereotyped a little in the other roles I’ve seen him in but it still means he was great. Emma Watson’s performance fluctuated a bit. She was very good as a kid, then she was kind of bad in GOF and in parts of OOTP, but she found her footing again in HBP and especially in DH1, which I still consider to be her best acting performance to date. I think Rupert was always the most natural actor of the lot. He was probably the most hard done by the Kloves because they kind of typecast him as the comedic sidekick, but I can’t fault Rupert because he was a pretty gifted comic. Like Emma, when he got more scope in DH1, he did an incredible job. I would say Bonnie Wright is maybe the only one who didn’t fully grow into the role for me. It probably has a lot to do with writing, but she also really didn’t share any chemistry with Dan which made that relationship feel pretty flat and forced. But all in all the casting really made these movies and they elevate the movies significantly. But I admit all the craft behind it. Also, some of these movies are close to two decades old and the effects hold up quite well. I think there are scenes in the first movie that look a little dated, particularly the flying scenes, but subsequent movies seemed to find the right blend of practical and visual effects to make the movies look pretty timeless. 

I think all the directors did their job really well. Columbus did a good job of bringing the childlike wonder of the initial books to life, Cuaron brought his more adult quality as the kids grew up, Newell ramped up the scale and the scope, and Yates managed to bring home the darkness. Definitely the films weren’t flawless. Like I mentioned before, there were times when some characterizations were off, some key subplots were eliminated or not handled well, some things added which were not needed etc... but the spirit of the books remains. I have a deep fondness for the movies as I feel I grew up with them as I am basically the same age as all the main child actors in the movie so I grew up and watched them grow up. So while they aren’t in the league of greatest films of all time, but its a remarkably consistent and enjoyable franchise that lasted an entire decade.

When it comes to Fantastic Beasts series, I was excited that Yates and Rowling were developing something new but I also feared what would happen given they didn’t have the structure of a book series to guide them. The fears ended up being fairly valid. The first FB is a pretty enjoyable film. I do think they did a good job creating a likable quartet of main characters and the actors all did a pretty remarkable job. It was also a refreshing change to watch Magical World from an adult POV as well as experiencing a new location and time period as well. The issue with the first film is that the film has two separate storylines which don’t really merge well together. The story of Newt, Jacob, Tina, and Queenie finding and recapturing the suitcase of magical creatures is actually very charming. The film does a nice job of creating some unique magical creatures and adding something new to the Magical World, but then there is a dark and gloomy second plot which doesn’t work as well because it essentially isn’t much of a story other than just showing Credence being abused and manipulated time and time again until the climax. It neither merges well tonally, nor plot wise. The way they try to put Newt at the center of the climax felt very clumsy and unearned. Overall, the first film still has sufficient enjoyable charm and I certainly like Redmayne, Waterston, Fogol, and Sudol. Farrell was a damn good villain. Miller was a little too mannered for my taste but I understand what he was going for. Voight is there for no reason at all in a perplexing subplot that goes nowhere. But still, more positives than negatives. FB2 is where the franchise really dropped the ball for the first time and Rowling’s inexperience as a movie screenplay writer became very obvious. The film is literally a setup for future movie, designed to get characters into certain places where the real story can start. the film essentially has no plot other than a bunch of wizards across Europe are looking for Credence and Credence is searching for his identity. There is really nothing else in the movie. The movie is overpopulated with characters, and Newt ends up even more incidental in this movie since he has no interest in going after Credence himself at all for 2/3 of the movie. All the things that were good about the first movie are lost as Jacob and Queenie only share two scenes together, Tina and Newt only share the last act or so together, Newt and Jacob end up only have a couple of scenes together. Its all rather boring and dull. The performances are fine. Depp was a good enough Grindelwald but I don’t think he was given any more to do other than just be surface level evil. One of the most inspired casting decisions was Jude Law as Dumbledore. While he doesn’t ape Gambon or Harris, he does capture the twinkling spirit of Dumbledore and his scenes are the best. The film also has a rather odd plot concerning Leta Lestrange. It is simultaneously important and completely pointless at the same time. I felt that the character had a compelling backstory and interesting potential but the film barely has time to address it any sort of depth before she gets pointlessly killed off at the end. The film also does a pretty bizarre character assassination of Queenie who makes decision that I really don’t understand. I guess this all boils down to the fact that this story may have worked in Rowling’s head as a book where each character’s internal thought could have been given more depth but what happens is that pretty much every sub story is pretty unsatisfying. Its certainly not an unwatchable disaster, just rather dull and devoid of the spark that the wizarding world movies should have. I hope they can turn things around because the film leaves things at a very peculiar juncture which doesn’t make much sense based on what we know of the HP canon.

[aion-rsa]

The King’s Man Has the Best Action Scene You’ll See This Year

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This article contains mild spoilers for The King’s Man.

It doesn’t matter what you thought of the previous Kingsman movies directed by Matthew Vaughn. Nor is it particularly important what you think of the new film’s trailers and overall concept about a goofy spy adventure set during World War I. Believe it or not, the one crucial thing you need to understand about The King’s Man is it has the most delightfully batshit fight scene you’ll see at the cinema this year. And that, dear reader, is worth the price of admission.

The sequence in question involves Ralph Fiennes’ dapper English Lord, Orlando Oxford, his son Conrad (Harris Dickinson), a trusted valet they call Shola (Djimon Hounsou), and perhaps most importantly Rhys Ifans as Grigori Rasputin. Ifans is an interesting character actor who’s done solid work in the margins for decades, including memorably as the schlubby roommate in Notting Hill. However, he’s not a performer I normally associate with martial arts—or Russian spiritualism for that matter. Yet he fiendishly hams it up at both when he portrays the historical figure of Rasputin—a turn of the century holy man who kept the Tsar of Russia under his thrall.

Yes, there were those, including the Russian royal family, who believed Rasputin was a wizard with magical powers. But in Vaughn’s giddy Christmas Eve sequence of The King’s Man, he’s portrayed with maximum boorishness and such excessive vulgarity by Ifans that he leaves all pretenses of good taste behind, coming across like a neolithic swinger determined to get either Fiennes or his son into his bed. And when that fails, he settles for showing off high-kicking Cossack dance moves. The ensuing chaos blurs the line between ballet and martial arts as the Russian lech crosses swords with all three Brits, including a disrobed Fiennes, as Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” plays and Christmas decorations get decimated.

It’s absolute madness that is difficult to put into words other than to acknowledge it measures up to the excessive glee Vaughn and Brad Allan, the stunt coordinator/second unit director on all three Kingsman movies, instilled in the first Kingsman’s iconic action sequence where Colin Firth wiped out an entire church of Southern bigots, or the gonzo joy they staged in the Hit-Girl fight scenes in Kick-Ass more than a decade ago. Vaughn very much appears to be a filmmaker who never outgrew the thrill of smashing his action figures against one another. Yet, unlike so many other filmmakers of similar boyish interests, he went on to study the craft of visual storytelling and production design in detail.

In other words, as with Vaughn’s other best action set-pieces, the real crackerjack moments in The King’s Man involve dynamic stunt work and camera blocking that thrill by largely avoiding the crutch of CGI noise (although there are digital effects here too). The scenes also act as an unintended but lovely wake for the late Allan, the stunt coordinator who passed away earlier this year. His recent credits also include Shang-Chi and Wonder Woman, but it’s with Vaughn and his last credited film as stunt coordinator that you get the real sense of the tremendous talent that was lost.

These elements, plus the typical cheeky civility one associates with the Kingsman movies, go a long way in overcoming the newer film’s actual obstacles, not least of which is the likelihood of it being able to attract an audience. Originally intended for release in late 2019 before the Disney-Fox merger, and then COVID, delayed it for over two years, the film arrives almost seven years after the charming first movie, and more than four years since the leaden and ultimately exhausting The Golden Circle sequel, which let all the air out of the franchise’s balloon. Now that it’s finally being pushed out during the same holiday season as Spider-Man and The Matrix Resurrections, it very much feels like Disney is casting this movie into the wilderness to die. Which is a bitter shame.

Admittedly, one could see why the Mouse House would be perplexed about what to do with the 20th Century Fox leftover. It’s happily crude at times, extravagantly violent, and all-around sardonic in its droll temperament. Which is to say it doesn’t play like a modern PG-13 superhero romp. Rather The King’s Man is the type of movie where a protagonist will name drop he’s buddies with Archduke Franz Ferdinand and say they should go visit him during his tour of Serbia. The next shot is of the heroes riding along with the doomed royal in a roofless automobile. If you know your world history, it’s a bold choice.

There are so many big choices like this that the movie is fairly top-heavy, especially early on as it tries to balance the central narrative about a father (Fiennes) who doesn’t want his son (Dickinson) to go off in the First World War with a broader plot about the many historical figures who let the world light itself on fire for four years.  Some of those choices are clever, such as having Tom Hollander play all three major monarchs (and cousins) during the war—King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia—which underlines the innate meaninglessness and interchangeability of monarchy. Others are a little more ham-fisted, such as the real reason it’s revealed American President Woodrow Wilson didn’t intervene earlier in the conflict.

All of it can make the movie appear somewhat overstuffed, even at 130 minutes, with the first act taking a particularly long time to get going as the groundwork is laid. This also leaves affable supporting actors like Hounsou’s veritable His Man Friday and Gemma Arterton as the Oxford estate’s plucky housekeeper-turned-spy, Polly, with relatively little to do.

Even so, unlike The Golden Circle’s script, Vaughn and his co-screenwriter Karl Gajdusek are able to keep all the balls in the air and even land them with a genuinely exciting and twisty finale which is taken straight out of The Guns of Navarone (or For Your Eyes Only for Bond fans). In fact, the movie has the extra meta-joke of working as a yet-more pointed critique of the modern Daniel Craig era of James Bond. Craig’s tenure as 007 just ended on a melancholic and largely tragic note. But here, Craig’s second M, Ralph Fiennes, gets to play a far more dashing and jovial superspy in a performance that gets back to the type of British Empire fantasy that first inspired Ian Fleming as a boy.

Indeed, at its heart, there is something very old-fashioned at work in this movie. The aesthetic is practically defiant with its antiquated “Rule, Britannia” notions when it’s revealed in the Kingsman universe that World War I was ignited due to a SPECTRE-like conspiracy intended to weaken His Majesty’s power and finally make the sun set on the British Empire.

In this way, the film is a love letter to a time when not serving in the war would earn you four white feathers, and servants knew their place (which often involved standing in front of the lord of the manor as a bullet is fired). It’s the kind of romanticized Britain that the Bond character was created to protect, and at least in the Kingsman movies, it’s never looked better defended than when a pantsless Ralph Fiennes attempts to disarm Rasputin on Christmas Eve.

The King’s Man opens in the U.S. on Dec. 22 and in the UK on Dec. 26.

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