Category: Movie Reviews

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Post author By Mark
Post date May 6, 2022

We’re now over 30 entries into the MCU and in that time we’ve seen just about everything from epic space-operas to tales of gods and devils. What we’ve rarely seen in the MCU is a film that truly embraces the style of its director (Thor: Ragnarok aside); that contorts the usual trappings of a Marvel movie to fit around an auteur rather than the other way around. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness fundamentally feels like a Sam Raimi film through and through, and that is a massive win for a franchise that has seemed to grow increasingly similar across instalments. Bringing with him heavier elements of horror and a unique visual eye for the camera, Sam Raimi has crafted one of the most stylistic entries into the Marvel canon, bursting with energy from start to finish.

When America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), a mysterious young girl with the power to create portals through universes, arrives in New York City with a demonic monster hot on her heels, Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and the now Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Benedict Wong) work quickly to intercept her. Believing that her powers could inadvertently cause irreparable damage to the entire multiverse, Strange turns to an isolating and clearly traumatised Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) for assistance in protecting the girl. As Wanda’s true motives become clear, however, Strange and America are forced to go on the run between universes in a bid to protect the girl and find a way to lock away the evil pursuing them.

What could have been another run-of-the-mill Marvel film is so elevated by Raimi’s style; the usual visual effects heavy madness given new life with inventive camera movements and editing choices that place a lot of emphasis on the horror elements Raimi brings to the table. For die-hard fans of The Evil Dead and Drag Me to Hell wondering whether Raimi would lean more towards his horror roots or his Spider-Man history, fear not, this is as close to a body-horror fright-fest in the MCU as possible. Long, suspense-filled shots end with shocking jump scares, kills are gorier than ever and Danny Elfman’s eerie score – filled with shrieking strings and ominous wailing – add weight to what could have been a far more lighthearted trip through the multiverse. Raimi even goes so far as to add in an element of the slasher genre, with the constantly looming presence of Strange and America’s pursuer never far behind, providing an urgency to their actions that makes for an appropriately panicked, fast-paced affair.

Somewhat expectedly, after months and months of post-No Way Home speculation, there are plenty of fan service multiverse moments here sure to please fans, even if they can’t possibly fulfil every wild wish and fantasy. Reports that these were added in following the release of the latest Spider-Man, whilst unconfirmed, would prove reasonable, as this is also where the film’s pacing slows down significantly, as it attempts to unload chunks of exposition at you to explain its, at times, incredibly confusing central premise whilst throwing new faces at you. These appearances are by no means necessary, and don’t further the overarching MCU plot in any significant ways, but Raimi manages to have a lot of fun with the surprises, going in unexpected and gleefully macabre directions that only the man who gave us the off-kilter masterpiece Evil Dead 2 could pull off.

As is the case with majority of Raimi’s films, there is a healthy heaping of cheesy humour thrown in for good measure; a lot of which doesn’t work in the usual Marvel manner. It isn’t bad by any means, but with everything going on and with the audience constantly being swept from location to location, it falls by the wayside in the bigger picture. Still the final act does feature some of the best prosthetics work in all of Marvel, in a scene that could have been pulled directly from the Evil Dead franchise; showing one of the biggest proponents for campy humour at his campy best.

Being only his second solo outing since the original Doctor Strange in 2016, there is a lot of room here for an exploration of Strange’s character and how the tumultuous events of his Avengers appearances have affected him. Michael Waldron – writer of last year’s Loki – tackles the material on a much more intimate level, crafting a multi-dimensionally sad story for Strange and any potential hope for a life beyond his superhero duties with former flame Christine (Rachel McAdams). It’s an emotionally meaty storyline that Cumberbatch sinks his teeth into, giving less of the arrogant surgeon that we saw in 2016 and portraying the former Sorcerer Supreme as a much richer character who has seen and evolved from all he has experienced.

On a similar journey of self-discovery is Wanda who, following on from the events of WandaVision longs for the children she has lost, with Elizabeth Olsen taking the characters to some truly dark places in her desperation. It’s her best performance as the Scarlet Witch to date, as she continues to make this deeply tragic woman one of the MCU’s most interesting characters.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness won’t be to everyone’s taste. It’s a drastic shift in the tone we have come to know, given Marvel’s miraculous willingness to commit to Sam Raimi’s vision and unique style. Cumberbatch and Olsen are the best they have ever been, telling a touching, intimate story on such an enormous scale whilst Raimi ensures we are always entertained, constantly finding inventive filmic techniques and genre trappings to tell an MCU story in a bold new way. Forget Wong’s warnings, you’d be mad not to dive into this multiverse.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness stars Benedict Cumberpatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Bruce Campbell & Michael Stuhlbarg – In cinemas now.

9/10

Tags Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Elizabeth Olsen, Marvel, Marvel Studios, Rachel McAdams, Sam Raimi, Xochitl Gomez

Movie Reviews

The Northman

Post author By Mark
Post date April 28, 2022

The Northman is Robert Eggers’ most elaborate film to date. That’s saying something for a guy who made both The Witch and The Lighthouse, two of the most gorgeously presented films in recent memory with an incredible amount of detail stitched into every frame. And while his typically fine-tuned storytelling falls prey to cliché here, The Northman more than makes up for it in terms of sheer scale and the amount of raw ferocity on display, alongside a healthy heaping of Eggers’ textbook weirdness. For fans of Eggers this is another feather in the cap of one of the most exciting directors working today, and for newcomers this is by far his most accessible film to date.

After witnessing the brutal murder of his father, King Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke), at the hands of his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang) as a child, a vengeance-fuelled Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) sets out on a brutal quest across Iceland to avenge his father, save his kidnapped mother Gudrún (Nicole Kidman) and his bring his uncle to justice once and for all. Along the way he must contend with visions of the Gods, shocking revelations and an unexpected relationship with Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), a slave claiming to be a witch, who holds the potential to free Amleth from the lust for revenge slowly tearing him apart.

On a story level it might be easy to pigeonhole The Northman alongside similar genre fare like Gladiator and Braveheart; after all it operates as a fairly straightforward revenge mission with few genuine surprises along the way, but to do so would be to diminish a truly exciting and technically masterful film. Each frame feels so carefully put together, with no secret being made of Eggers’ deep commitment to realism and historical accuracy, and while that doesn’t do anything to make up for the blander elements of the story, it does create a visually stunning and immersive world that envelopes you in Amleth’s story.

The places where Eggers does steer his story into the more mythological is where it separates itself from its peers, with hypnotic, hallucinatory sequences of Gods and Soothsayers guiding Amleth along his sacred quest. These scenes will certainly not be to everyone’s tastes, but make for a much richer exploration of the society at the time that Eggers so clearly cares for, providing context for the intense, almost zealot-like commitment to family loyalty that drives Amleth.

Eggers’ terrific eye for visual flair extends to the action scenes, most of which operate as mesmerising one-shot sequences, with the camera panning and spinning around brutal scenes of violence. The harsh, unforgiving world that Amleth operates in extends to these sequences, and Skarsgård imbues his character with a tremendous physicality as he detaches from reality in a blind fury for his opponents. It’s a performance that doesn’t require much in the way of Eggers’ usual complex, period-specific dialogue, but is no less affecting in the raw physicality and heaving body movements that Skarsgård is constantly performing as the perpetually enraged berserker.

More so than Eggers’ other works, The Northman takes aim at the topic of toxic masculinity and how an unchecked commitment to it can erode a person’s very being; with only the presence of Olga able to lift Amleth from his increasingly animalistic ambitions. It’s a no-holds barred, extremely literal approach to tackling the theme, leaving very little to the imagination as you see experience the violent trail of death Amleth leaves in his path in his quest to fulfil his father’s dying wish.

As the story progresses though and certain secrets are revealed, you get the sense that Eggers is attempting to unpack more, but is held back by his inability to waver from where the story must naturally go. It’s a last ditch attempt to expand beyond the point he is trying to make to finally get the audience truly on-side with Amleth – who had up until that point been more of a walking, revenge-fuelled vehicle of violence than a fully developed character – that sadly gets lost in the beats the film has to hit to succeed. An unfortunate sacrifice, but in a world this brutal, sometimes they simply have to be made.

The Northman is a blood-soaked journey through Viking history told through Robert Eggers’ extremely unique, punctilious sensibilities that opens his style up to a much wider audience whilst retaining the visual opulence that fans have come to love. The genre trappings and the limitations of the somewhat basic story being told do the film an injustice at times, limiting our ability to fully connect with the characters in a way not seen in his work before, but the sheer technical achievement of it all combined with the obvious passion on-screen make this a ridiculously entertaining and memorable watch nonetheless. Charge to the cinema to see it.

The Northman stars Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Willem Dafoe, Gustav Lindh, Eldar Skar & Björk – In cinemas now.

9/10

Tags Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang, Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman, Robert Eggers, The Northman, Willem Dafoe

Movie Reviews

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Post author By Mark
Post date April 15, 2022

Everything Everywhere All At Once is a cinematic anomaly. It shouldn’t work at all, let alone as brilliantly as it does here; a cosmic, mind-bending exploration of Hollywood’s latest trend: the Multiverse. But where films like Spider-Man: No Way Home and the upcoming The Flash seek to use the concept to open up their properties to even more characters, the Daniels (writer-directors Kwan and Scheinert) have crafted an epic tale of love and forgiveness, anchored by a career defining performance from Michelle Yeoh, set against one of the most inventive, batshit crazy worlds ever put to screen.

In dire financial strife – and unbeknownst to her, on the verge of a divorce – Evelyn (Yeoh) struggles to balance an impending audit appointment, her well-meaning but irritating husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), and the upcoming introduction of her daughter Joy’s (Stephanie Hsu) girlfriend to Evelyn’s ageing father Gong Gong (James Hong). When a mysterious note appears amongst her tax documents at the IRS offices, Evelyn is accosted by an alternate version of her husband, who informs her that she is the key to stopping the evil Jobu Tupaki from wreaking havoc across all the universes in existence. Forced to learn how to draw upon the power of alternate versions of herself with unique skills, Evelyn must look inward to discover the true key to saving the Multiverse.

Part The Matrix, part Martial Arts movie, part raunchy comedy and a heaping help of completely batshit strangeness, Everything Everywhere All At Once lives up to its name in defying explanation and being all these things at once; a celebration of cinema whilst being its own completely original thing. As you’d expect it takes a minute before you fully understand what is going on, with the Daniels throwing new world mechanics and terminology into the mix constantly. At a certain point however, everything just clicks together and this cinematic ride whisks you along with it; the visuals of Michelle Yeoh snorting a fly or Jamie Lee Curtis walking around with hot dogs for fingers being completely plausible as you explore this constantly inventive world the Daniels have created. From the people who gave us Swiss Army Man, a film about Daniel Radcliffe’s farting corpse, would you expect anything less?

Not only do they throw completely wild ideas on the screen, most of which shouldn’t work, but the Daniels manage to infuse it all with so much emotion that you will be a weeping wreck by the time the credits roll. At the core of all the zaniness is family and Evelyn’s relationship with hers is relatably complex, having let the everyday complications of life become her priority instead of the people around her. As she is allowed glimpses of herself in these different universes, she comes to understand the importance of the relationship with her husband and daughter in all of them, and it is this emotional core that drives the action, leading to a hilariously wholesome final act.

Michelle Yeoh, a veteran of the screen, is given a rare role for an actor here; a chance to break away from the pre-conceived notions of what she can do by doing… just about everything. The range on display is truly astonishing, to the point where individual frames present wholly new versions of Evelyn, often featuring elaborate make-up or prosthetics and a distinct facial expression from Yeoh. These glimpses into alternate Evelyns may only be on-screen for a fraction of a second, but they all work together to hammer home just how epic in scope this adventure is, whilst remaining intimate. It also helps to further prove that Michelle Yeoh can do anything.

That greatness extends to the entire cast, with Stephanie Tsu’s frustrated and emotional portrayal of Joy, Evelyn’s daughter caught between loyalty to her family and striking out on her own. Jamie Lee Curtis pops up as a disgruntled IRS officer who follows Evelyn through the Multiverse, clearly relishing the weirdness and freedom of her role. But it is the return of Ke Huy Quan – Data in The Goonies and Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – that is most exciting, a familiar face who hasn’t lost any of the pure positive energy that he brought to those iconic roles back in the eighties. It’s heart-warming to see Quan return in a role this important and he knocks it out of the park, nailing his portrayal of the many versions of Waymond across the Multiverse.

Those endless possibilities in the Multiverse extends to the film’s technical aspects as well, with the Daniels constantly playing with everything from the shifting aspect ratio to the colour grading and use of filters to denote different genres, universes and thematic elements. It’s a visceral, immediately noticeable element that gives each universe its own distinct flair, as well as demonstrating a clear love for the history of cinema and the different types of films within it.

In an infinite multiverse, Everything Everywhere All At Once is an infinite list of things we love about the movies – reasons to laugh, cry and cheer. Michelle Yeoh gives the performance of her career in this endlessly creative sci-fi epic; one of the most original films in recent memory that deserves to find a huge audience. With countless layers to unpack underneath the fantastic action and raunchy jokes, this is a film that will only improve upon repeat viewings as it works its way into your list of favourites. In a world where you could do anything anywhere, choose to see Everything Everywhere All At Once now.

Everything Everywhere All At Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, James Hong, Tallie Medel, Harry Scum Jr., Jenny Slate & Jamie Lee Curtis – In cinemas now.

10/10

Tags A24, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jenny Slate, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, The Daniels

Movie Reviews

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Post author By Mark
Post date April 11, 2022

The original Sonic the Hedgehog film was a refreshingly uncomplicated, fun road-trip movie that knew exactly what it was. It didn’t shoot to directly adapt the stories of the video game series, but rather adapted the characters to a real-world setting and let the blue blur run wild with jokes and heart, in a way that was accessible for adults and kids, fans and newbies alike. This latest instalment ramps things up in typical sequel fashion; with more characters, bigger action and some questionable dance battles all thrown into a wildly entertaining, if somewhat inconsistent time at the movies.

Following his defeat of the evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is enjoying the spoils of victory, splitting his time between his loving adopted parents Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) and moonlight as a heroic, if slightly dangerous, vigilante speeding through crime across the country. With Tom and Maddie away on a Hawaiian vacation, Sonic is left to fend for himself, an easy task that takes a turn with the return of Robotnik from his mushroom-filled prison, alongside newcomer Knuckles (Idris Elba), a prickly red echidna with some shared history and a pretty big bone to pick with Sonic. Forced to team up with yet another new arrival – the technologically gifted, two-tailed fox Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) – Sonic races against time to ensure that Robotnik does not get his hands on the infinite power of the legendary Chaos Emerald.

In keeping with the first film, the plot here is not the most original, boiling down to a series of MacGuffin hunts that follow your tried and true hero’s journey arc. Thankfully it mostly moves at a pace befitting of Sonic, save for a few drawn-out, uninteresting sections that shift the focus from Sonic and Robotnik to Tom and his Hawaiian antics; and while these are necessary to set up an emotional finale, they do take their time, no doubt causing some restlessness in younger viewers.

Where the sequel truly shines, similar to the first, is in its combination of heart and humour. The emotional changes Sonic and his pals undergo are simple but wholly effective in endearing the audience to them as they figure out their place in the world while fighting evil. Writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington are able to harness some extra goodwill this time around by emphasising the found-family aspect of Sonic’s relationship to not only Tom and Maddie, but also to Tails and Knuckles; a device you could argue is cheap and cheesy, but which never fails to induce an “aw” from the audience.

Then there’s Jim Carrey, who continues his rejuvenated, high-energy performance as Dr. Robotnik on a level that makes you feel as if you are watching him perform in his 90’s prime. The joke delivery and improvisation is so fast and hits so much of the time that Jeff Fowler simply lets Carrey run wild with his scenes, ensuring he hits the story beats while leaving everything else up to the comedic genius. Robotnik almost rivals Sonic for screen time this time around and it’s a good thing too, with James Marsden and Tika Sumpter’s characters reduced to little more than filler as the series begins to flesh out its world with more complex elements from the game franchise.

The introductions of Elba’s rage-filled Knuckles (reminiscent of Dave Bautista’s Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy) and Colleen O’Shaughnessey’s timid but brilliant Tails are welcome counterpoints to the brash confidence of Schwartz’ Sonic, making for some excellent comedic banter as well as an interesting examination of Sonic’s place in the world and how he carries himself. It’s largely surface level, but a little extra depth in a film that also includes dance battles to Bruno Mars songs is always welcome for the adults.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is yet another delightfully light, enjoyable video-game movie in a genre famous for self-serious adaptations. It doesn’t shoot for the moon its loose retelling of the Sonic lore (perhaps to some game fans’ chagrin) and it is all the better for it, thanks to its talented cast of comedic powerhouses – led by Carrey and Schwartz – and while the film’s pacing at times falls behind the kind of blistering speed Sonic is known for, this is by and large another fantastic family film for kids of all ages. Stick around for the post-credits scene, it’ll have you racing to the inevitable sequel faster than Sonic himself.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 stars Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Lee Majdoub & James Marsden – In cinemas now.

8/10

Tags Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Jeff Fowler, Jim Carrey, Lee Majdoub, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tika Sumpter

Movie Reviews

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore

Post author By Mark
Post date April 9, 2022

It’s easy to forget that the Fantastic Beasts franchise is even a thing. Next to the monstrous popularity of the Harry Potter books and films and the wider franchise’s increasing controversy thanks to its contentious creator, these films barely register as anything more than a shallow attempt to recapture the magic. The third film The Secrets of Dumbledore leans even further into the Harry Potter mythos we know and love as a cheap nostalgia ploy to attempt to conceal yet another jumbled, poorly planned instalment filled with weak characters, zero emotional investment and more plot holes than J.K. Rowling herself could imagine.

Following his climactic encounter with Grindelwald (formerly Johnny Depp, now Mads Mikkelsen) in the events of The Crimes of Grindelwald Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) finds himself on yet another quest at Albus Dumbledore’s (Jude Law) request to recover a Chillen, a mythical creature with the ability to identify the purest of heart amongst the magical community. With Grindelwald’s follower Credence (Ezra Miller) – newly revealed to be a Dumbledore – hot on their heels, Newt, his brother Theseus (Callum Turner), Professor Hicks (Jessica Williams) and muggle Jacob (Dan Fogler) must embark on a desperate mission to prevent Grindelwald from gaining power over the entire magical world, encountering all sorts of terrifying beasts and dangerous magic along the way.

The most unforgivable curse the Fantastic Beasts series casts is its complete lack of planning. Film to film, the connective tissue just isn’t there, with each subsequent movie never feeling as if it is written to continue character arcs or even basic story threads. The Harry Potter films were convoluted, sure, but here it feels as if every scene introduces a complicated new concept or set of rules before throwing them out the window shortly after and dumping needless exposition on us to explain why those rules were broken. It leads to a larger story that feels muddled and totally unsure of what it is even about. Who is the audience supposed to view as their protagonist at this point? Newt seems moved to the side of what was once his franchise, Dumbledore postures a lot but his contributions to the action are minimal and Grindelwald remains the ever present threat, rarely seen but often mentioned.

Claudia Kim’s Nagini, framed to become a much larger piece of the puzzle in Crimes of Grindelwald is completely absent here, as is Katherine Waterston’s Tina Goldstein – a franchise stalwart gone without a trace save for one small, unexplained appearance. Then there’s Gellert Grindelwald, essentially this franchise’s Voldemort, who has undergone a change in actor with each film. The shift from Depp to Mikkelsen was necessary, and Mikkelsen does a fantastic job at finally establishing a character that is charismatic enough to warrant the legions of wizards and witches that pledge themselves to him, whilst harbouring a darker side that makes him a sufficient threat to Dumbledore.

Still, Farrell’s original shift was unnecessary and means that each subsequent actor has had to work harder and harder to make Grindelwald the threat these films constantly remind us he is. After 3 films of a planned 5, he is only now coming into his own as the villain he has always been positioned as and whether intentioned or not, that makes for significantly less investment than Potter had garnered through Ralph Fiennes’ Voldemort after the same number of appearances.

Then there’s Credence, a character once considered the linchpin of the series due to his powers as a mysterious Obscurus, who is unceremoniously tossed to the side; his lineage – the prior film’s big cliffhanger – warranting mere minutes of mention before the film promptly moves on to some new confusing plot point. Simply adding new wrinkles to a character’s backstory without addressing the previously established beats is lazy screenwriting, and while it likely means the end of Ezra Miller (good riddance), it yet again makes for a messy, unfocused film.

With the state of the franchise in general covered, we can focus on this latest car crash. Grindelwald, for one, is given an utterly ridiculous arc; shifting from the most wanted fugitive in the world, to an acquitted freeman without even being caught, to a sudden nominee for leader of the entire magical world (a political position that you think would have been important during Voldemort’s reign but was strangely absent) in the blink of an eye. It’s an unsettlingly close Hitler allegory that even relies on the German Minister of Magic to set the pieces in play for Grindelwald’s rise to power. As if that wasn’t enough, the dark wizard’s political platform is entirely based around cleansing the world of muggles, a view that gains far too much traction too quickly amongst the wizarding community. Oh, but it’s ok, because the leader must be chosen by the Chillen, an animal that can detect the pure of heart and has been tasked with deciding the leader of the entire magical world because… well your guess is as good as mine.

The only thing that can prevent this rise to power, of course, is Dumbledore, who is unable to act against Grindelwald thanks to the powers of a blood pact the two made decades ago. It’s a spanner in the works for all of five minutes as both Grindelwald and Dumbledore set their minions to do their dirty work for them, despite the film showing us that either will literally perish if they do this. By the end of the film it’s all swept aside, meaning this becomes yet another filler film on the way to the two former lover’s inevitable showdown. Speaking of showdowns, the action is the film’s only bright spot – with several engaging set-pieces sparking brief glimpses of the magic of old, largely thanks to familiar props and musical cues from the Harry Potter films. A cheap but effective form of nostalgic manipulation that manages to be the only thing the film does competently.

The Secrets of Dumbledore is yet another misfire for a franchise that has no idea how to escape the shadow of the much more successful Harry Potter or how to further that lore in a meaningful way, through a story that actually warrants telling. Each scene seems to contradict the one that came before and needless complications cloud an unsure, poorly planned story from ever becoming anything other than a series of events vaguely reminiscent of a world that was once beloved. With two more films confirmed to be on the way, it is going to take a hell of a lot of magic to bring the fantastic back to this franchise.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore stars Eddie Redmayne, Jude Law, Dan Fogler, Ezra Miller, Jessica Williams, Callum Turner, Alison Sudol, Richard Coyle, William Nadylam, Katherine Waterston & Mads Mikkelsen – In cinemas now.

3/10

Tags Alison Sudol, Callum Turner, Dan Fogler, David Yates, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Fantastic Beasts, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Jessica Williams, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Mads Mikkelsen

Movie Reviews

The Bubble

Post author By Mark
Post date April 7, 2022

The latest instalment in the Jurassic World franchise, Dominion, has had an extremely rocky road to release. As one of the few films to strive forward with filming during the initial stages of the pandemic, the production faced a seemingly never-ending slew of COVID-related struggles and when comedy directing icon Judd Apatow heard about it, well, he decided to make his own movie about that movie’s making. Confused? Don’t worry, watching The Bubble you’ll never be confused as to what is going on, just to why so little of it is actually funny. Apatow’s latest should be a scathing satire of the Hollywood production’s hubris and the larger-than-life figures that populated it; in reality it is a lukewarm series of disjointed, overly long jokes that don’t come together in any cohesive way to say much at all about anything.

With production for Cliff Beasts 6 forging on ahead in spite of the ongoing COVID pandemic, former franchise star Carol Cobb (Karen Gillan) is forced to reunite with her old cast-mates after a failed side-project almost derailed her entire career. As the cast and crew hole up in a palatial English estate it appears that old grudges are forgotten as the group – including the film’s stars Lauren Van Chance (Leslie Mann), Dieter Bravo (Pedro Pascal), Sean Knox (Keegan-Michael Key), Dustin Murray (David Duchovny) and director Darren Eigen (Fred Armisen) – party together and look forward to having another hit film on their resumés. When the realities of pandemic-era filmmaking settle in however – frequent PCR tests, sudden isolations, social distancing – the group begin to turn on each other and long for escape from their high-class prison. It is up to the film’s producer Gavin (Peter Serafinowicz) and his team of COVID-protocol staff to ensure that a film gets made and his actor’s survive the process.

The Bubble feels like a drastic departure for Apatow, whose style usually leans towards a mixture of witty, reference-heavy comedy and real-life situations and stakes. Here the absurdity of the whole situation is dialled up to eleven, in a clear attempt at satirising our collective human reactions to the pandemic and the quirks that come with it. There are flashes of relatable, hilarious observations – a montage of whacky responses to invasive PCR tests – but these are few and far between amongst the otherwise long, drawn-out sequences of actors bickering over poor scripts or going to insane lengths to survive their isolations.

One such sequence involves a cast member projectile vomiting on another cast member after vehemently denying being sick. It’s a shocking, viscerally disgusting moment that merits a laugh, but Apatow beats a dead horse by having more and more actors vomit for what feels like an eternity. This over-commitment to the bit happens in each and every big scene, to the point where the film feels more like a series of sketches sewn roughly together than a fully fledged movie with a central narrative. The only through-line here belongs to COVID and besides immediately dating the film as a product of this moment in time, Apatow forgets to write characters that are anything more than hollow caricatures of the spoiled Hollywood actor.

You could argue that Apatow is attempting to poke fun at that stereotypical rich, whiny actor but doesn’t have anything to say other than unfunny, mean-spirited jabs. Without characters that we can sympathise with, an actual story-line or decent jokes, the only thing the audience is left to be is bored; a fact that isn’t helped by Apatow’s usual overstuffed runtime. Still, the entire all-star cast commendably commits to even the silliest bits, making for some laughs in the ridiculousness of seeing Pedro Pascal and David Duchovny pulling off TikTok dances. Newcomer Harry Tevaldwyn deserves mention too; excellent as the film’s quiet but sharp-witted COVID officer, it is a shame he doesn’t have a better overall package to make his debut in.

The Bubble is a total misfire for Apatow, who proves with this film that his strengths lie in the grounded comedy-dramas of Knocked Up and This is 40 rather than this absurdist look at the pandemic. While his intentions are admirable and the concept is rife with comedic potential, the end-result is a painfully bloated and unfunny series of gags that fail to provide any new perspective on the pandemic that hasn’t already been beaten to death in the past two years through twitter jokes and memes. Like the virus itself, this is one pandemic-era product that should be left in the past, sorry to burst your bubble Judd.

The Bubble stars Karen Gillan, Pedro Pascal, Iris Apatow, Leslie Mann, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key, Kate McKinnon, Guy Khan, Peter Serafinowicz, Maria Bakalova & David Duchovny – Streaming on Netflix now.

3/10

Tags David Duchovny, Fred Armisen, Guz Khan, Harry Trevaldwyn, Iris Apatow, Judd Apatow, Karen Gillan, Kate McKinnon, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Maria Bakalova, Netflix, Pedro Pascal, The Bubble

Movie Reviews

X

Post author By Mark
Post date March 29, 2022

Indie horror darling Ti West returns to his roots with X, another A24 produced horror film with much more under its Texas Chainsaw Massacre-inspired surface than meets the eye. The often glacially slow pacing of West’s earlier work like The House of the Devil remains, testing audiences’ patience at times, but is made up for by the sheer level of craftsmanship on display in every small detail and the clever thematic through-lines West unpacks as things unfold, ultimately making this one horror that you’ll want to revisit time and time again.

The year is 1979. In the rural backwoods of Texas, the free-spirited lifestyles of the “free love” movement have yet to fully take hold, battling against long-held conservative values. This sets the scene for pornographic film producer Wayne’s (Martin Henderson) latest get-rich-quick scheme: an erotic film shot by wannabe art-film director RJ (Owen Campbell) that will make superstars of its actors – Wayne’s girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth), Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and Jackson (Kid Cudi) – through its experimental spin on the tried and tested porno flick. When the aged caretakers of the guesthouse Wayne is renting to shoot the film – Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (Goth pulling double duty) – discover the group’s intentions, they set out on a crusade to uphold their Christian values at any cost, no matter how much unspeakable violence they must inflict to do it.

X feels like Ti West at his most fun; taking his time to establish this world, the colourful characters that inhabit it and the inherent hypocrisy in the violence at the film’s core. Snow and Cudi are integral to the film finding its footing; hamming up their porn-star personas in wildly over-the-top fashion that entertains whilst West lays the groundwork for Howard and Pearl’s evil machinations off the back of an exceedingly creepy performance from Mia Goth. The dialogue in these scenes will have A24 die-hards in the audience thrilled as West deftly deconstructs the humble slasher film; with tongue-in-cheek meta commentary aplenty as he draws comparisons between the 70’s hard response to the scuzzy horror films of the time compared to the embracement (in some places) of the porn industry in the mainstream.

If this sounds a little like Texas Chainsaw Massacre crossed with Boogie Nights, that’s because it is. West proudly wears his inspirations on his sleeve, with a set-up that hews closely to Hooper’s classic and a house that looked as if Leatherface himself lives there, but sheds this facade as the story progresses, moving into territory so strange and uncomfortable that it more than earns the title. While some of these developments do cause the film to lose some of its horror steam – with only a few genuinely shocking scares – in favour of an unsettling comedy, it is perhaps more effective in making the audience squirm in their seats than another generic Texas Chainsaw copycat. But the real terror comes in the quiet moments between the violence and the sex: long, uninterrupted sequences that establish an impending dread and slowly let the situation unfold as the audiences become voyeurs into this impending nightmare.

X is very much Ti West’s love letter to the slasher genre, particularly those scuzzy, brutal classics of the 70’s. Often a homage but never beholden to retelling the same stories of those films, West’s take on the genre goes to exceedingly strange places, never losing sight of the often hilarious characters at its core. While the violence and horror elements may get lost in the shuffle of balancing its core cast with the narratives twists and turns, strong performances from the entire cast and a breakneck final act ensure that X gives it to ya, and then some.

X stars Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, Jenna Ortega, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure & Kid Cudi – In cinemas now.

8/10

Tags A24, Brittany Snow, Jenna Ortega, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson, Mia Goth, Owen Campbell, Stephen ure, Ti West, X

Movie Reviews

Deep Water

Post author By Mark
Post date March 21, 2022

Hailing from the man who all but perfected the erotic thriller genre with films like Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal and 9½ Weeks, director Adrian Lyne’s return to the genre after 20 years, Deep Water, carries with it some lofty expectations. And while the star power of Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas (not to mention their real-life relationship) helps bring pedigree (and one would assume chemistry) to the project, it does little else for this unromantic, stilted drama that twists and turns in ways that may seem interesting at first but which never fail to unravel into a sloppy, disjointed mess.

Affleck plays all-around weird dude Vic Van Allen – a morally ambiguous retired millionaire thanks to the sale of a computer chip to the military – who plays at being a doting dad to daughter Trixie (Grace Jenkins) while his wife Melinda (Ana de Armas) sets tongues wagging in the neighbourhood, indulging in the company of men who aren’t her husband in a very public way. Vic doesn’t seem to mind too much, however, as he and his wife have an agreement that allows her to flirt with these men as long as she stays within the confines of her marriage. As Melinda’s actions become more and more lewd and neighbours begin to question Vic’s role in the mysterious disappearance of one of her “friends”, Vic’s mask of indifference begins to slip as jealousy rears its ugly head, prompting him down a dark path in order to put an end to his wife’s antics once and for all.

First and foremost, yes, the film would cease to exist if the couple took the obvious course of action and got a divorce. Situations like this are literally what the concept was made for but if that happened then hey, we wouldn’t have a movie. I don’t bring it up to nitpick, but rather to point out that things don’t make sense abound here and the easiest way to enjoy the film is to switch your brain off early. Yes, we’re supposed to believe that Affleck adores his wife as he so frequently reminds her, whilst giving her nothing but filthy looks the entire film. Yes, Vic spends a portion of his riches cultivating snails in a garden shed in his backyard and no one thinks anything of it, except for one smart cookie who wisely realises this as serial killer behaviour. Neither Melinda or Vic seem particularly happy to be in each other’s company and that really is the hardest aspect to ignore. It’s almost impossible to invest in anything either character is doing to spite or save the other if the central relationship is this wooden and uncaring.

The film also seems unsure of who exactly it wants us to side with as our protagonist. We spend the most amount of time with Vic, viewing Melinda’s indiscretions through a lens that seems designed to draw rage from the viewer – grinding away on strangers ten feet away from her husband and shooting him flirtatious looks while she does it – always feeling as if he is teetering on the edge of doing something terrible. When he does, it isn’t a massive relief or shock but just an event that happens. From here there are attempts to shift our view of both Melinda and Vic but they are both such rapid and significant changes to the behaviours we have seen for the last hour that the result is a complete emotional detachment entirely. You can argue both parties are wrong and deserve some sort of retribution, but the film’s real victim is their young child, who gets strangely little development or involvement in the plot, content to be used as little more than window dressing than the central pillar of the relationship that she obviously is. She also exhibits some severely unsettling behaviour for a child that somebody should look into immediately.

Admittedly there is some fun to be had in the tension of Vic stalking Melinda’s lovers, often inviting them to awkward group dinners where Affleck is free to belittle and intimidate them before the inevitable. It’s a performance strangely – and uncomfortably – similar to his Bruce Wayne and while it works to create that tense atmosphere it falls apart in the romantic element at the film’s core. For an erotic thriller, Deep Water feels strangely limp, telling us about the obsession Vic displays while never showing it. There are scenes that attempt to spice things up, sure, but they are always shot in a painfully uninteresting way or feel strangely timed – your child is asleep in the back seat, this is not the time for that Melinda. It all culminates in one of the most unintentionally hilarious final acts that offers no conclusion, raising more questions about character motivations than it answers as we fade to black.

Adrian Lyne has made some fantastic films in his storied career: Deep Water is not one of them. From the jump nothing about it makes a whole lot of sense; as character motivations constantly shift and the very premise strains credibility at every turn. Ben Affleck commits to a performance that is often bad but strangely watchable, alternating between complete psycho and a total schmuck on a dime as Ana de Armas does what she can with a terrible role. As a proof-of-concept for divorce, Deep Water is a textbook example of an extreme case for it, but as an erotic thriller, it feels strangely impotent.

Deep Water stars Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Grace Jenkins, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Blanchard, Tracey Letts, Dash Mihok, Kristen Connolly, Brendan Miller & Lil Real Howery – Streaming on Hulu in the US and on Prime Video in Australia now.

4/10

Tags Adrian Lyne, Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck, Deep Water, Grace Jenkins, Jacob Elordi, Lil Rel Howery, Tracey Letts

Movie Reviews

The Adam Project

Post author By Mark
Post date March 18, 2022

The Adam Project is its name, nostalgia is its game and thanks to the re-teaming Free Guy duo of director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds, it does it well. A time-traveling adventure reminiscent of 80’s classics like E.T. and Back to the Future, Reynolds latest is at its best when it is tugging on your heartstrings or embracing the comedic patter the Deadpool actor is so well known for, in a way that succeeds far more than many of his recent projects, thanks to the addition of newcomer Walker Scobell. It is when The Adam Project feels the need to tick the Netflix blockbuster boxes that it is let down; with awfully trite villains, forgettable action set-pieces and a story that never gives characters outside of the central pair much time to breathe.

Struggling to return to a sense of normalcy after his father was killed a year ago, 12-year old Adam’s (Walker Scobell) life is thrown into chaos with the arrival of his older self from the year 2050. Injured and desperate to find his missing wife Laura (Zoe Saldana), this older Adam brings with him the threat of Sorian (Catherine Keener), a woefully underwritten big bad who made a fortune off the invention of time-travel, stolen from Adam’s father Louis (Mark Ruffalo). Realising the only way to prevent Laura’s disappearance is to stop the invention of time-travel altogether, the two Adams journey back to 2018, before their father died, in a last-ditch attempt for the trio to save the day and right the wrongs of the future.

On its surface, The Adam Project is the typical big-budget Netflix blockbuster. All the glossy bells and whistles have been thrown onto the screen in the action sequences, drawing from a host of obvious sci-fi action influences, and it all feels for naught. The action has such a clean and polished look to it that you never feel as if the characters are truly in danger, with Ryan Reynolds leaping around like a CGI rag-doll with a lightsaber. I’ve no doubt it may be the most spectacular thing in the world for a child who hasn’t seen the myriad of films these scenes are a hodgepodge of – and for a film so obviously emulating the Amblin movie spirit that’s a great thing – but for everyone else this aspect is easily the film’s weakest. For its part, the time-travel mumbo-jumbo is quickly dismissed as just that, acting to kickstart the adventure before fading away into the background.

After a slew of post-Deadpool Ryan Reynolds films where his rapid-fire wit has almost become a crutch at this point, The Adam Project is a rousing success in revitalising that comedic energy to hilarious effect. This is primarily due to Walker Scobell as the younger Reynolds, who is fantastic in capturing his wise-cracking smartassery in an endearing way. The problem that has frequently befallen many of Reynolds films is that no one is ever a real match in keeping up with his quick wit, so it makes sense that the best person to go toe-to-toe with Adam is… Adam. It’s a charming dynamic that never fails to put a smile on your face every time Scobell’s Adam comes back with an absolute zinger, also working as a kind of deconstruction of Reynolds schtick, turning it on its head and making him look like a fool more than once. It’s refreshing for an actor of his calibre to be so receptive to poking fun at his image, especially when that image essentially launched his leap to superstardom.

Where The Adam Project really succeeds – like Levy’s other Netflix project Stranger Things – is in its ability to evoke nostalgia to such an all-around endearing effect. From the production design of Adam’s childhood home to the music choices and even certain fashion choices, it all feels designed to evoke classic 80’s family and sci-fi films like E.T. and Return of the Jedi. That might seem like a surface-level coat of paint but Levy doesn’t forget to take the best parts of those films and apply it to his own: the heart. For a film that could be seen as a forgettable action romp, The Adam Project packs a surprising amount of depth into it, tackling issues of abandonment, resentment and unresolved father issues. Seeing the Adams and their father reunite makes for some flashy action set-pieces sure, but more importantly allows for some serious deep-diving into how Louis’ death has impacted his son at different points in his life and how the young Adam can directly impact his future. It’s the heavy, emotionally fulfilling stuff hiding under the surface that will surely leave the adults in the room with a tear or two while the young ones are busy having enjoying the fireworks.

The Adam Project both is and isn’t something of a surprise. As a big Netflix action film it hits every note it needs to with little we haven’t seen before, weighed down by a nonsensical story and poor villain. But – looking beyond that – this is a film with a surprising amount of heart, and one that completely revitalises the Ryan Reynolds formula thanks to a great pairing with up-and-comer Walker Scobell. As a wannabe Amblin, 80’s style action comedy, Levy knows exactly which buttons to hit, and while you won’t be yearning to travel back in time to experience this for the first time like some of its influences, The Adam Project is a fun enough throwback.

The Adam Project stars Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Zoe Saldana, Mark Ruffalo, Catherine Keener, Alex Mallari Jr. & Jennifer Garner – Streaming on Netflix now.

6.5/10

Tags Catherine Keener, Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Netflix, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, The Adam Project, Walker Scobell, Zoe Saldana

Movie Reviews

The Batman

Post author By Mark
Post date March 8, 2022

It seems like only yesterday that Twilight heart-throb turned indie darling Robert Pattinson’s casting as the Caped Crusader broke the internet, inciting Batfleck fans into riots while others rallied around the man. A few years later and we’re finally seeing what all the fuss was about with director Matt Reeve’s gritty, sprawling crime noir: The Batman. And while Pattinson certainly proves the haters wrong with his physically imposing, chill-inducing take on Batman, Reeves’ film struggles under the weight of all the ideas it tries to juggle. Majority of what is here is solid, if not utterly fantastic at times – the stunningly dark visuals of Gotham city, the investigative aspect of the story and Michael Giacchino’s enthralling score – but the epic run-time grinds to a standstill all too often and Paul Dano’s unhinged Riddler performance is wasted on a story that leaves much to be desired in a film that too often prioritises style over substance.

Picking up two years into his crime-fighting campaign as the Batman, we find a tortured and angry Bruce Wayne (Pattinson) relying on fear to quell the rising tide of crime in Gotham City. When a deranged psychopath calling himself the Riddler (Paul Dano) starts picking off important political figures within Gotham, police lieutenant James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) reaches out to his vigilante ally to help prevent the next murder. As their investigation leads them through Gotham’s criminal underbelly, Bruce finds himself besotted with young thief Selina Kyle (Zoë Kravitz) – herself on a personal revenge mission – and the two team up to determine how mob boss Carmine Falcone (John Turturro) and his right-hand man Oswald Cobblepot (Colin Farrell) fit into this murderous web of deception. As the body count begins to rise, Bruce begins to discover just how important Batman is to the Riddler’s plan for the total destruction of Gotham, setting him on a path from which he cannot escape unchanged.

Setting themselves in the same vein as Christopher Nolan’s grounded trilogy of films, Reeves is similarly fascinated with exploring the idea of Batman as a symbol and the impact of that symbol on Gotham. A thrilling opening sequence sets up the idea that this iteration of Batman is one that operates through fear, and in his rampant obsession with being this symbol, Bruce has sacrificed the Wayne legacy and the people around him. Where Nolan’s film’s succeeded in exploring this concept is where Reeves’ largely falls short. Michael Caine’s Alfred and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Rachel were fully realised, emotionally impactful characters that had a very obvious and meaningful impact on Bruce’s life. The torturous choice between the call to justice and the promise of a happy, fulfilling life of normalcy was the driving force of that trilogy. Here we find a Bruce very much committed to his mission and Reeves does a fine job of beating us over the head with this fact, but never fleshes out Andy Serkis’ Alfred (Bruce’s closest companion) in a way that evokes much emotional response from the audience. When he attempts to pull on that thread, it rings hollow; drawing the same cold, detached response from us that this Batman reserves for his enemies.

For their part Zoe Kravitz’ Catwoman and Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon are constantly along for the ride with Bruce, but they rarely coalesce into more than side characters using each other to achieve their own ends. That fits in with the dark, twisted tale of shifting morals and betrayal that Reeves is telling but fails to convey just how their interactions have changed him in any meaningful way. Sure there are the obligatory Batman voiceovers – with Pattinson’s eerily low register working wonders in these moments – but the moral shift isn’t anything that hasn’t been seen before, and is a shockingly small amount of growth in the titular character for a film so massive.

This interpretation of the caped crusader falls somewhere in the middle of Christian Bale and Ben Affleck – an angsty, brooding Batman driven by vengeance that is physically imposing without the need for Affleck’s hulking mass of muscle. Pattinson’s Batman is brilliant; you completely buy into the idea of this young man barrelling his way through criminals, stumbling as he learns the ropes. The fight choreography is tight and minimal – a train station fight early on is never topped – and Reeves does a great job of conveying how new Bruce is to all this, never feeling like he makes it out of a fight without taking a beating. It adds tremendous weight to these early bouts, before the third act stumbles into the usual overblown comic-book action finale that unfortunately overshadows these smaller, much more engaging fight sequences.

Where Pattinson’s portrayal falls short is in his decidedly different take on Bruce Wayne; foregoing the traditionally suave billionaire playboy for a moody recluse so deeply entrenched in his mission that he has shut himself off from society. Credit goes to the man for making a choice but it never feels particularly interesting, coming off as brattish and privileged rather than deep. Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig also make a rather strange choice to limit Bruce’s dialogue, barely saying anything that isn’t brushing off people’s attempts to connect or immediately arriving at the answer to one of the Riddler’s supposedly impossible clues. The dichotomy of Bruce Wayne against Batman – arguably one of the franchise’s most defining traits – just isn’t here in the same way as other instalments and that makes the character a lot less engaging. It’s a step backwards for Pattinson, who has carved himself a niche for playing strange, morally ambiguous characters in the years since Twilight. Batman certainly fits into that mould, but here lacks the depth of characters Pattinson has played in films like The Lighthouse and Good Time.

A lot has been made of the decision to ground this Batman adventure as a serial-killer chasing detective film. Reeves has cited Zodiac as an influence multiple times and at times the appearance and overall tone certainly manage to capture that unsettling atmosphere, but the constant shift between the Riddler’s killing spree and the tale of mob supremacy make for a tonally jarring, inconsistent film, especially in regards to how Reeves and Craig attempt to stitch it all together. On the detective side of things, Batman too often feels like a passive participant in the investigation; a chess piece moved around key locations to witness important events instead of exercising any actual agency over how things unfold. Sure you could argue that this is all part of the Riddler’s grand scheme but for the supposed “World’s Greatest Detective” he doesn’t do an awful lot of detecting, getting by with a lot of help from the police. The mob-focused story is where Reeves is able to have the most fun, leaning into Batman’s cheesy comic-inspired history with an absolutely riveting car-chase scene, but there is such a constant battle between the two types of story that it never truly coalesces. The third hour is the result: a messy attempt to unite all these threads that culminates in a boring, lifeless battle against goons – the usual modern comic-book finale – that betrays the film’s previously grounded approach to this story.

Where The Batman truly excels above all other films in the series is in its portrayal of Gotham City. From the dreary, rain-soaked streets to the grimy underground, criminal-populated drug dens, Gotham truly feels like the scummy hive of crime and chaos that every Batman film has tried to present, and a living, breathing character in its own right. The production design is truly awe-inspiring; a fusion of New York and Nolan’s Chicago-filmed streets combined with a gothic architecture that brilliantly illustrates the city’s struggle between its crime-filled past and the promise of a brighter future. What makes it truly special is just how brilliantly the production design coalesces with the thematics of Batman’s journey; ruthless criminal gangs stalk the streets, trash is piled high on street corners and even Batman himself claims that he is only one man – and must systemically change the city from the ground up in order to affect real change. Let’s not forget Michael Giacchino’s fantastic score. Fearsome and delicate at once, it is truly impressive how much power he is able to extract from four notes, crafting a theme (alongside an amazing overall score) that will stand the test of time as one of Batman’s most iconic.

The Batman isn’t the defining cinematic Batman story that it could have been – that honour still firmly belongs to Nolan’s trilogy – but it does show promise of an intriguingly dark new take that has potential to expand into (hopefully) weirder territory. In trying to tell such an epic, defining story, Reeves ends up with two warring tales of a deranged serial killer and shadowy mob betrayals that culminate in a disappointingly clichéd final act. Still, Robert Pattinson proves himself as the worthy follow-up to Christian Bale (sorry Batfleck fans) and when the story does manage to align with its excellent production design and score it is truly something special. Reeves’ first step into the world of Gotham might not be the definitive Batman film but it is a damn good one when it wants to be.

The Batman stars Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, Jayme Lawson & Colin Farrell – In cinemas now.

7/10

Tags Andy Serkis, Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Matt Reeves, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Robert Pattinson, The Batman, Zoë Kravitz