Teyonah parris | Screenlife Reviews

It may take saying his name five times to summon Candyman, but it only took his film franchise two mediocre sequels to seemingly spell his doom. That is until now, with Nia DaCosta’s sequel reviving the franchise in spectacularly bloody fashion. Retaining the original film’s moody, sullen tone, DaCosta has crafted a sequel that is sufficiently spine-tingling and gory whilst packing in enough biting indictment of the struggles of the African-American experience to really make an impact on the horror genre, rather than the hollow cash-grab it could have been. Favouring that social commentary instead of an all-out orgy of violence for its finale may leave some viewers wanting, but a star-making performance from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ensures that Candyman’s revival is as glorious as it should be.

Taking a page from 2018’s Halloween reboot, Candyman acts as a direct follow-up to the first film, forgoing the mediocre sequels in favour of a story set 30 years after Helen Lyle’s tumultuous investigation into the urban legend of Candyman in the Chicago housing projects of Cabrini-Green. Here local artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) struggles to find inspiration for his next project, fixating on the local legend of Candyman and setting off on an investigation into his reign of terror that leads him to Burke (Colman Domingo), a local resident who considers himself an expert on the subject. As mysterious murders begin to mount around Anthony, he finds himself disconnecting from the world, experiencing strange visions of violence that drive a wedge between him and girlfriend Breanna (Teyonah Parris). As his obsession turns to fear, Anthony sets out on a desperate attempt to end the curse he feels he is under, but is it too late for his salvation?

Candyman has kills aplenty: throats slashed, innards spilled and limbs severed. The gore is sufficiently stomach churning for a modern horror film, but what sets it apart is the tone Nia DaCosta establishes – thanks in no small part to Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe’s chilling score – that ensures you are never truly comfortable as you watch. You might not be out of your mind terrified at all times but there is a constant dread lingering in the back of your mind that the Candyman may strike from anywhere. DaCosta wisely builds her big set-pieces around this, knowing when to hold back to build suspense and when to go balls-to-the-wall crazy.

In this same way she and co-writers Win Rosenfeld and Jordan Peele build the social commentary into the script: rarely loud and in your face, preferring that you make your own conclusions rather than holding your hand to find the social message at its centre. That message isn’t particularly subtle but it is powerful, the gentrification of the Chicago suburb of Cabrini-Green has always been at the heart of the Candyman story, and DaCosta presents a new perspective, questioning Anthony’s contribution to that very problem by purchasing a new apartment in the traditionally low-income suburb and his profiting off of the suffering of Candyman’s victims by way of his art. DaCosta digs a little deeper in her exploration of gentrification, with a discussion of art and the artist’s role in the social problem, but it is somewhat lost in the film’s larger commentary, with the powerful finale choosing to focus on the problem in a very literal way instead.

The star of the piece, however, is undoubtedly Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He is simply impossible to turn away from, bringing a charisma and energy to Anthony that is fascinating to watch slowly chip away as Candyman’s influence spreads. Moments when he experiences these dream-like states of unawareness are incredibly unsettling to watch, as Abdul-Mateen II’s eyes slowly lose focus, with DaCosta often choosing to shoot him looking directly at camera, as if Candyman is lingering over your very shoulder. Whilst more time could have been spent developing the relationship between Anthony and Parris’ Breanna, particularly the complicated dynamic between partners and gallery owner/artist, this is a minor gripe and a testament to the strength of the performances that you want to spend more time with these characters. Parris’ character isn’t the focus for much of the film but still gets some standout moments, easily conveying the pure terror she experiences through widened eyes alone.

Nia DaCosta clearly has a lot of love for the 1992 original Candyman, linking Anthony’s story to Helen’s in genuinely surprising ways and maintaining a tone that feels consistent with that film but which still manages to be its own dread-filled beast, with social commentary that is smart and biting, but never enough to draw the attention away from Candyman himself, who is represented here in a truly spine chilling way. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s performance is a standout in a year full of horror standouts, a haunting examination of one man succumbing to obsession and the dark forces it brings with it. You might not be able to utter his name in front of the mirror more than once, but you’ll be dying to see Candyman again and again.

Candyman stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett & Colman Domingo – In cinemas now.

8/10

Standing out is hard to do in the superhero genre, leading the ever-churning Marvel machine to try increasingly experimental ways of delivering their patented brand of superhero shenanigans to audiences post Endgame. The first attempt at that new normal comes in the form of the first Marvel television show to hit Disney+: WandaVision. Doing what most other Marvel projects don’t proves to be the series’ greatest strength here, placing the focus on character rather than action in its exploration of two of the lesser developed Avengers; Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany’s robotic Vision. That development goes a long way to increasing the viability of this behemoth of a franchise without franchise stars Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans but it isn’t without its flaws, namely a lack of spectacle in its eventual action, a poorly fleshed out villain and enough filler to give the Netflix Marvel shows a run for their money.

Of all the Avengers not in the core cast of heroes, Wanda may just be the most interesting, as well as the most powerful. Her story is one of the most tragic in all of the MCU and her previous appearances have all been as part of a larger story, with key moments central to her character serving as lynchpins for bigger stories, never zeroing in on her own experiences. This is a character who has survived a bombing as a child, been turned into a mystical being with a magic wand, helped a killer robot lift her home country out of the sky and drop it like a meteor, accidentally killed thousands mismanaging a bomb and watched her robotic boyfriend die at the hands of an alien being. That takes a toll on anyone and yet we know next to nothing about Wanda. WandaVision’s biggest strength is the fleshing out of her character, something Elizabeth Olsen is clearly relishing exploring as she imbues the character with a fun, witty charm that belies the dark effects of the mental trauma brought about by Vision’s death in Infinity War. It’s her best work to date as the Sokovian native, clearly priming her for a bigger role going forward and proving that she has the chops required to bear that weight.

We find the magical Avenger inexplicably living in some sort of a sitcom reality, with earlier episodes shot in black and white and costumed to perfection to emulate the styles and humour of shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show and Bewitched. With Vison somehow by her side, all seems well for Wanda living out her days in suburbia with the occasional unannounced drop-in from nosy neighbour Agnes (Kathryn Hahn) to spice up an episode. These first two episodes of the show are by far the most impressive visually, with sets borne out of the look and feel of sitcom houses of the past, evolving and changing to suit the era of television being parodied whilst always feeling like an evolution of the one house. Similarly, that black and white look requires a great deal of technical wizardry, covering everything from the lighting to the colour of paint Bettany was covered in as Vision to best bring his elaborate costume into the golden age of television. It all combines to showcase a deep reverence for television that goes beyond a cheap gag in Marvel’s first foray into the small screen.

As the story goes on, the style of the show begins to evolve into a more modern television setting, and as Wanda starts to notice strange occurrences in her idyllic home of Westview the action begins to shift to a team of operatives and scientists attempting to gain access to this “world” Wanda has created, seemingly unbeknownst to her. This team consists of previous MCU side-characters; FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) from Ant-Man and the Wasp, theoretical physicist Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) from the first two Thor films and the adult version of Monica Rambeau (Teyonnah Parris) from Captain Marvel on a mission to prevent Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) – director of SHIELD replacement organisation SWORD – from launching an all out attack on the out-of-control Avenger, imploring him to appeal to her better nature rather than seek violence. For fans of the more traditional MCU plot threads, this storyline will be more to your liking, even if it is light on meaningful characterisation or impact in the grander scheme of things. These characters are like comfort food, taken from the more lighthearted MCU instalments and constantly cracking jokes as they explore the world of Wanda’s self-imposed television show.

You see, the way we perceive Wanda’s world as an old-school television show, so too do those living outside of her field of influence, with Darcy and Jimmy quite literally watching the same “episodes” of her show as us on high-tech computers. When we move to a new era of television, more cracks begin to show in both Wanda’s world and the story of WandaVision itself. Twists, in the form of cliffhanger endings, plague the middle run of episodes, constantly introducing new storylines and characters to the point where there simply aren’t enough remaining episodes to address it all. One cliffhanger in particular introduces a character with potentially enormous ramifications for the greater MCU (no spoilers here), which hangs over multiple episodes as we believe this person is being controlled by Wanda and thus not their true self. The reality of this person’s presence is far less interesting than what could have been, with the rushed conclusion to their storyline coming across as cheap and manipulative of the die-hard Marvel fanbase rather than witty and clever as likely intended; retreading the divisive twist of Iron Man 3 to poor effect once again. Seriously Marvel, stop doing that.

Once the ultimate villain of the piece reveals themselves, we’re treated to an admittedly delightful piece of music taking us through this person’s manipulations that raises more questions than it answers; the “big reveal” fooling absolutely no one and making what had come before feel like filler rather than a slow burn given there was something off about the villainous character from day one. Despite their visual proficiency, the first two episodes can really be skipped in their entirety, adding nothing to the overall story other than setting the scene, something which can be gleaned from a quick “previously on…” segment without losing anything of the experience of WandaVision. There is a sense that the creators of the show may have foreseen a response like this, retroactively detailing all the villains nefarious machinations throughout these episodes to middling effect, as we know from watching that nothing of consequence came from these episodes. All that remains is a hollow villain – the hallmark of far too many Marvel projects – whose paper-thin motivations never go beyond attaining inexplicable power and destroying Wanda. It’s a tired, rote tradition that goes against the very ethos of WandaVision’s originality, causing the rushed final episode to lose a lot of the momentum and goodwill it had built up with a generic shoot-a-thon of a final conflict. Even the television spoofing tradition of earlier episodes is turned into a hollow gimmick after a few episodes, with a later attempt to give the show a Modern Family-esque mockumentary style falling short as it clashes against the more traditional Marvel movie feel.

Despite all that, the characterisation of Wanda and Vision shines through – with Olsen and Bettany’s chemistry holding it all together. The reborn Vision may exist largely as a physical manifestation of Wanda’s grief rather than his own fully fledged character, but Bettany still comes to play, spouting some truly profound and emotional one-liners that cut the confused Wanda to her core, prompting some desperate soul-searching that will be compounded in future films. In a somewhat minor spoiler (consider this your warning), the show introduces Tommy (Jett Klyne) and Billy Maximoff (Julian Hilliard), Wanda and Vision’s twin sons borne from her magic. Their presence adds yet another emotional layer to Olsen’s performance, with the role of motherhood now thrust on the already mentally unravelling Avenger amidst a sea of other troubles. Olsen takes all these new aspects of her character introduced throughout the season and folds them into Wanda with ease; paranoid and uneasy as life as she knows it begins to crumble around her. The twins’ appearance also sets up some intriguing storyline’s for Wanda going forward, with that deep maternal connection providing a replacement for the deceased Vision that feels like a natural evolution of the character.

WandaVision is a fascinating gamble from Marvel; one that alternates between feeling wholly original and frustratingly familiar. The decision for Marvel’s introduction to television to play with the concept and history of the medium is a stroke of genius that sets it apart from what has come before in more ways than the size of the screen. Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany prove to have the best chemistry in the franchise since Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, selling the absurdity of an android and witch living in suburbia with ease and leaving you with an uneasy sadness in the back of your mind at the thought of Vision’s temporary revival ending. The uniqueness of its television spoofing format does feel like a gimmick at times – one which leaves many questions unanswered and storylines half-baked – and the villain fails to live up to the standard of a Loki or Thanos but at the end of the day WandaVision is about its namesake characters and Wanda and Vision have never felt as fully formed and interesting as they do now. If this is what the future of Marvel looks like, then bring it on.

WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, Randall Park, Josh Stamberg, Julian Hilliard, Jett Klyne & Evan Peters – Streaming on Disney+ now.