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Movie Reviews

Jungle Cruise

Walt Disney Pictures, 2021

Give a raise to the studio exec who came up with the idea of combining Disneyland’s most relaxing, mellow (some might even say boring) ride with Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, two of Hollywood’s biggest stars. The resulting film plays like a combination of all the best action adventure films – from Brendan Fraser’s Mummy films to Disney’s own Pirates of the Caribbean franchise – with breakneck pacing, non-stop action and two absolutely electric lead performances that will have you rolling in the aisles and punching the air with excitement. While it may get a little long in the tooth and doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the genre, Jungle Cruise does exactly what it sets out to do and takes you on a ride far more wild than the real thing.

When driven scientist Lily Houghton (Blunt) arrives in Brazil with timid brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) in tow, she enlists the services of local Amazon tour guide Frank Wolff (Johnson) to help her locate the Tears of the Moon – petals of an ancient tree with curative properties that could change medicine forever. As the unlikely group venture deeper and deeper into the jungle they must contend with German Prince Joachim (Jesse Plemons), hot on their heels in his own search for the Tears as well as the ancient explorer Aguirre (Edgar Ramírez), who has been cursed to live out his days endlessly in the jungle. With nothing but their wits and Frank’s knowledge of the Amazon to guide them, the trio battle against the odds only to discover that the thing they were searching for might not be as important as the bonds they make along the way.

Walt Disney Pictures, 2021

If you’ve ever been on the actual Jungle Cruise ride, you know it to be an avalanche of godawful yet great puns delivered by your “guide” as you cruise along the river eyeballing all sorts of animal-induced craziness. The film does its best to show respect to that original 1955 ride, with Frank throwing out many of the rides’ best puns in a corny introduction to his character; a charming shyster who tricks and scares his tourist clientele to bigger tips by steering them through a gauntlet of fake traps and costumed trickery. It also establishes that fun and light tone that remains a mainstay throughout even the darkest of scenes before Lily arrives in the jungle; bringing with her an army of pursuers hot on her tail that creates chaos for the coming adventure.

From here it is as classic action-adventure as you can get. Sure, the key dynamic between the gruff guide and his two untested sibling charges is pulled straight out of The Mummy – but it works. Johnson, Blunt and Whitehall are all fantastically funny and endearing leads, with great interplay and comedic chemistry between them (even if the romantic chemistry between Johnson and Blunt isn’t as believable). The best parts of the film aren’t the crazy, over-the-top action sequences but the quieter moments on the boat where the trio trade jabs and learn about each other’s pasts and problems. Johnson’s character has a fair amount of depth to him, as opposed to a lot of his other roles where he is reduced to the infallible muscle, and he has fun with the image of himself as the action hero. He still gets those heroic moments, but he stumbles along the way: a refreshing, self-deprecating turn for one of the action genre’s biggest (literally) stars.

Walt Disney Pictures, 2021

And there is a lot of action. German submarines destroying villages, cursed conquistadors chasing our heroes through native villages and one particularly playful Jaguar destroying everything in sight in a bar brawl. Again it’s all done with a light, playful tone and Lily and Frank’s constant bickering throughout does a lot to alleviate the boredom that could have set in with endless CGI explosions. For the most part, the action is fun and exciting but there is the occasional sequence that almost seems to exist simply for the sake of having an action set-piece to shake things up.

Edgar Ramírez’ cursed conquistador is essentially a duplicate of Barbosa from Pirates of the Caribbean, right down to his relationship with Frank, but unlike Geoffrey Rush’s classic character – who still managed to be fun whilst menacing – never comes across as anything other than another CGI baddie to take down. A meaningless obstacle rather than the truly terrifying threat the film would have you believe. Thankfully Jesse Plemon’s German prince of a villain is an absolute riot with his almost intentionally bad accent and strange idiosyncrasies. It is a performance that is a mish-mash of inspirations – from Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained to the stereotypical villains of classic cinema – as Joachim breaks into song before unleashing a machine gun salvo and offers meaningless pleasantries before every evildoing. Out of place in almost any other modern film, but a perfect fit for the lighthearted, early 1900’s set shenanigans of Jungle Cruise.

Walt Disney Pictures, 2021

Free from the complex lore of its other Disney ride contemporary Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise is able to just have fun with its characters and Amazonian setting, throwing audiences into the thick of things instead of floating past like the ride it is based on. The chemistry of Blunt, Johnson and Whitehall is without a doubt the film’s greatest strength, carrying you through all the CGI action and over-the-top craziness with genuinely endearing and layered characters. Some lacklustre villains and shaky CGI might distract at times, but it is never enough to throw things truly off course. All aboard, next stop Thunder Mountain.

1Walt Disney Pictures, 202

Jungle Cruise stars Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Jack Whitehall, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti, Veronica Falcón & Edgar Ramírez – In cinemas and streaming on Disney+ with Premier Access now.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

8/10

Categories
Movie Reviews

Gunpowder Milkshake

StudioCanal, 2021

There’s a point in Gunpowder Milkshake where everything clicks and the film begins to live up to the craziness of its title, branching away from becoming another run of the mill John Wick impersonator. A hallway skirmish with a twist: our hero has been dosed with a muscle relaxant ahead of her fight with a trio of beaten-up wheelchair-bound and crutch-dependent goons. It’s where a unique sense of levity and absolute insanity takes form like a shot of adrenaline, propelling the film towards an absolute bloodbath of a finale. The characters and general plot might not be anything new, but you’ve never seen girls kick ass like this before.

Abandoned as a child by her mother and infamous assassin Scarlet (Lena Headey), Sam (Karen Gillan) has turned to a life of crime herself, following in her mother’s footsteps as a one-woman cleanup crew for The Firm, a mysterious group of men with their fingers in all the pies of the underworld. When a mission goes awry and Sam is forced to exact a bloody massacre – including the murder of crime lord Jim McAlister’s (Ralph Ineson) son – a target is placed on her head, prompting her handler at the Firm, Nathan (Paul Giamatti) to send her on a new mission to recover lost funds while he can soothe McAlister. When this run-of-the-mill mission takes a turn and Sam finds herself a babysitter to recently orphaned Emily (Chloe Coleman) and on the run from McAlister, she must turn to Madeleine (Carla Gugino), Florence (Michelle Yeoh) and Anna May (Angela Bassett) of the sisterhood of assassins that raised her for help clearing her name.

StudioCanal, 2021

Style is the name of the game here for director Navot Papushado, but not at the expense of substance, centering the emotional core around Sam’s abandonment issues with her mother and the maternal role she takes on for the freshly orphaned Emily. The film takes a while to get to this point, taking its time setting up the world of the Firm and the Diner, a location that acts in the same way as the Continental hotel from John Wick – a gun-free meeting place for underworld figures. This introduction skews closely to the model of Keanu’s franchise, but stands out with a hyper-stylised flair; with rich neon lights filling the screen and endlessly badass and over-the-top introductions to all the key players.

StudioCanal, 2021

Gillan proves she can easily lead her own action-intensive franchise having graduated from Marvel, channelling her character of Nebula from that franchise into Sam; her low, matter-of-factly menacing tone delivering statements of warning before preceding to kick ass. It’s almost impossible not to compare her to Wick and in that sense the characters are set up in much the same way: vague, mysterious individuals that endear the audience through their actions and the unfortunate situations they are put in rather than through their boisterous personalities.

We care about Sam because she is constantly put in the thick of things and scraps her way out, fighting to stick with Emily like her mother never did with her. All the supporting players around her – Coleman, Gugino, Basset and Yeoh – are great; each with their own distinct personalities and styles that make them a ton of fun to watch in combat, but Headey is the standout; effortlessly cool slaughtering dozens of men but completely inept at actually communicating and making amends with her daughter. Similarly, again to Wick, is Ineson’s villain; a means to an end to allow for all sorts of bloody shenanigans as Sam and her friends mercilessly plow through his men in gloriously violent fashion.

StudioCanal, 2021

Where the style meets that substance so well is in the action. It’s exquisitely shot and the stunning fight choreography is always given the chance to shine, with slow, long pans allowing the audience to see every punch thrown and kick delivered – no shaky cam here. The muscle relaxant fight is easily the highlight, with so many inventive and darkly comical moments that would be out of place in other, more serious films, but feel right at home in this strange mish-mash of tones. The characters are all deadly serious but the action is so fervently ridiculous and insane that it is impossible not to get caught up in the macabre fun of it all. The grand finale is a huge explosion of more brilliantly choreographed chaos – worthy of a film with Gunpowder in the title – but it doesn’t quite live up to the earlier bout in terms of inventiveness.

Gunpowder Milkshake is a colourful, chaotic blend of highly stylised action, engaging leads with a genuinely compelling emotional arc and a stellar female supporting cast, much like the beverage it is named after. While it apes John Wick for a brief time to set things up, it soon explodes into its own weird and wonderful cocktail of colour and carnage, moving from one outstanding action sequence to the next. If action films are intent to follow in the footsteps of Keanu’s opus, Gunpowder Milkshake has all the right ingredients to stand out from the crowd – and it slaps a bright red cherry on top.

StudioCanal, 2021

Gunpowder Milkshake stars Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Chloe Coleman, Ralph Ineson, Michael Smiley & Paul Giamatti – In Australian cinemas now and streaming on Netflix in the US.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

7/10