Film Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Don't get cocky, kid . . .

Solo: A Star Wars Story (12A)

Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson., Donald Glover

Director: Ron Howard

The Plot: As a young man, Han Solo (Ehrenreich) escapes from a life of servitude on Corellia but is separated from his love Qi'ra (Clarke) in the process. He joins the Imperial Navy to escape, vowing to return for her, but three years pass before a chance encounter with the rogue Beckett (Harrelson) offers him hope: the pirate life appeals to Han and, freeing a certain Wookiee from imprisonment, they join Beckett's crew. They're forced to take a job for the dangerous criminal enterprise Crimson Dawn, where Han is surprised to find Qi'ra has risen up the ranks, but if they're going to pull off a heist from Kessel they're going to need an extremely fast ship to do it - fortunately, Qi'ra knows a certain Lando Calrissian (Glover), who owns the fastest one in the galaxy . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: As a huge Star Wars fan, I'll be honest and say that when Solo was first announced, I wasn't excited about it at all. Quite the opposite in fact - while I'm all for more stories from the incredibly rich Star Wars universe, particularly after how fantastic Rogue One was, I just wasn't interested in seeing the origin story of Han Solo. I was quite happy with the older, Harrison Ford version from the existing films, and I was worried that a younger actor wouldn't be able to recreate the charm of the character as Ford does so well. My concern only grew with the news of the film's production problems: very late into the original production (depending on the report you read, it was anywhere up to 80-90% complete), the original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were unceremoniously fired from the project due to "creative differences" and replaced with Ron Howard. Even for a director of his talent, having to come on and reshoot almost an entire film, and one as important as this one, is a hell of a challenge. But as trailers for the film dropped I became more optimistic and, following the most recent one which I linked above, I found myself looking forward to it. After seeing the film, I'm pleased to report that Howard has done a terrific job - Solo is a fun, exciting film that captures the essence of the character extremely well.

Let's start with everything that I liked and why this makes the film work so well. First of all, I liked what they did with the story: after the first act is complete and we've been introduced to the characters, it basically turns into a big heist movie - and that's a good thing. I like heist movies, and taking this approach not only suits Han's character but also makes the film feel very different from a traditional Star Wars story, but still feeling very much at home in its universe. It also allows the set up of some great action sequences - Han's first job with his new crew involves robbing an Imperial cargo train high up in the mountains, which is a terrific sequence, and their later incursion into Kessel is also filled with action and very exciting. The visual effects and music are both top notch throughout as well, which you'd expect given they're powered by ILM. Of the music, the score is largely an original one but with some hints of existing Star Wars themes, which again helps the film to stand out on its own.

As a film that tells Han's origin story it also ticks several important boxes: we learn where he gets his last name from, how he gets his famous blaster, how he meets and rescues Chewbacca, we see him winning the Millenium Falcon from Lando in a game of sabacc, how the Falcon goes from looking sleek and new to the hunk of junk we know and love, and we get the moment where Han realises that shooting first is the way to succeed. We even finally get an explanation for why Han boasts about making the Kessel run in 12 parsecs, something that has irked fans for years. Most importantly though, the version of Han presented here is very much identifiable as the one that Harrison Ford made so famous - he doesn't consider himself a hero, and is very much motivated by money and self-preservation, but at the end of the day he still does what's right.

It helps that they found a strong cast for the film. Alden Ehrenreich will be unknown to the majority of audiences (although he's been working for several years - I last saw him in 2016's Hail, Caesar! from the Coen Brothers), but this will likely catapult his career. It must have been nerve-wracking to step into the considerable shoes of this character and the aforementioned Mr. Ford, but he pulls it off - he looks the part, he's funny, he has good chemistry with Chewy (now played by Joonas Suotamo, who also does a great job as our favourite Wookiee), and most importantly he manages to find that charm about the character that Star Wars fans love so much. In another perfectly cast role, Donald Glover is terrific as the young version of Lando. Perfectly capturing the look and mannerisms of the character, Glover fits the role like a glove and manages to be both charming and funny, getting some of the best lines in the film to boot. Of the rest of the cast, Woody Harrelson does well with his role as Han's mentor Beckett, but both Emilia Clarke as Qi'ra and Paul Bettany as the villain of the piece Dryden Vos are hampered by the script - they both do fine with what they've been given, but what they've been given isn't the best.

The film also contains a number of easter eggs and references to other films in the franchise that will delight the really big Star Wars fans: we see Han's lucky dice that he hangs in the cockpit of the Falcon, which Luke will eventually return to Leia in The Last Jedi; Qi'ra demonstrates and then mentions that she's been trained in the martial art of Terӓs Kӓsi, which is a really deep cut into Star Wars lore; there's the return of a certain villain from The Phantom Menace which caused several excited yells in the screening I saw, and there's even a shoutout to Bossk - motherfucking Bossk - which I was amazed at.

Now, you won't be surprised to learn that there was some stuff that I didn't think worked so well, and most of it comes from the script. How much of that is due to the rewrites and reshooting that went on, we'll probably never know, as it's doubtful that we'll ever get to see the version of the film that Lord and Miller shot. But anyway. Firstly, we don't get any mention or reference of Chewy owing Han a life debt. I felt that this was an important thing that should have been set up, because this is the reason (as the older Han explains in the original trilogy) why Chewy sticks around with him and doesn't go back to his family - under Wookiee custom Chewy has to follow and serve Han until he feels the debt has been repaid, hence why he's still with him in The Force Awakens. We get what presumably is the act here, as Han helps free Chewy from enslavement by the Empire, but the life debt is never mentioned and Chewy's agreement in joining Beckett's crew is presented as a desire (like Han) to earn money.

There are some other things that also don't work so well. Han is forced to join the Empire in order to escape Corellia, and spends three years with them as a pilot and soldier, and the long term effects of this on his character aren't explored. We know that he hates the Empire, and we see him disagreeing with his commanding officer during a battle, but surely having to spend such a length of time undergoing their rules and training and being forced into battles would have a great effect on him - sadly it's not something that gets touched on, apart from a brief mention about working for the Empire from Han late in the film. His reunion scene with Qi'ra was also rather lacklustre, as rather than the emotional display you'd expect from someone who's been waiting for three years to return to his love, we get a rather low-key, subdued scene between the two, and this pattern follows in their subsequent interactions throughout the film. They never act like the two great lovers so tragically separated that the first act sets them up to be, and this felt a bit off, although to be fair Ehrenreich and Clarke do the best they can with these scenes. Finally, we have to talk about L3-37:  L3 is Lando's droid copilot and is the Marmite character of the film. She's an angry, self-righteous droid who believes in starting a droid revolution and uses every opportunity she can to free her brethren from their servitude. You'll either find her annoying or hilarious - I personally found her very funny (a moment where she engages in "girl talk" with Qi'ra about Lando was great), but I can see her being unbearable for some. She's voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who I know best from the really rather good 2015 film Man Up with Simon Pegg.

Despite these shortcomings though, this is a really great film. I'm thoroughly impressed with what Ron Howard and the cast have been able to pull off, and any fears I had have been thoroughly allayed. Disney has plans for two further Han Solo films, this one being left suitably open-ended, and provided the same people are involved next time, I'll be looking forward to more adventures with this young version of Han.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A fun, exciting film that manages to tell the origins of Han Solo in a story that's noticeably different from previous Star Wars films but still feels very much at home in its universe. A few issues with the script and characterisation prevent it from being truly great, but given its production problems this film is a fantastic achievement. More please! 

Film Review: Deadpool 2 (2018)

It feels bigger . . .

Deadpool 2 (15)

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin

Director: David Leitch

The Plot: After surviving a near fatal bovine attack, a disfigured cafeteria chef (Wade Wilson) struggles to fulfill his dream of becoming Mayberry's hottest bartender while also learning to cope with his lost sense of taste. Searching to regain his spice for life, as well as a flux capacitor, Wade must battle ninjas, the Yakuza, and a pack of sexually aggressive canines, as he journeys around the world to discover the importance of family, friendship and flavour - finding a new taste for adventure and earning the coveted coffee mug title of World's Best Lover.

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: It's everything you'd want from a sequel to Deadpool.

It's constantly hilarious.

It's fantastically crude.

It's incredibly violent.

There are more fourth-wall breaks and cameos than you can shake a stick at.

It takes itself even less seriously than the first film.

It has the best Basic Instinct scene since Basic Instinct.

The story isn't as strong as the first film, but that really doesn't matter.

The new, extended cast are great.

#TeamPeter

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Just brilliant.

Film Review: Entebbe (2018)

Actions have consequences

Entebbe (12A)

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Brühl, Eddie Marsan

Director: José Padilha

The Plot: It's 1976. German anti-fascist revolutionaries Brigitte Kuhlmann (Pike) and Wilfried Böse (Brühl) join with Palestinian rebels in a plot to hijack a plane carrying Israeli passengers and hold them hostage, believing they can use the incident to further their own cause and secure the release of political prisoners. They successfully carry out the hijack and land the plane in Entebbe, Uganda, where they are "hosted" by its brutal dictator Idi Amin. As the Israeli government scrambles to come up with a military response, Böse and Kuhlmann both begin to question their motives when, pressured by Amin, it appears that they will need to carry out their threat and begin killing hostages . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: To call the conflict between Israel and Palestine complicated would be a gross understatement, so long has it been going on for, with so many people killed and with so many countries and factions involved. I hold my hands up and admit freely that I know very little about it, and so I went into this film knowing nothing about the incident that it's based upon, the dramatic hijacking (and eventual rescue) of Israeli passengers in Entebbe. While the film is competently made and acted, it unfortunately loses its voice by trying to present the reasoning behind all sides involved in the incident, resulting in the audience not knowing exactly what message the film is trying to convey. The film was marketed internationally as 7 Days in Entebbe (seven days being the time period of the entire incident), but for some reason here in the UK the title has been shortened to just Entebbe.

The film opens with a brief title card describing the Israeli declaration of independence and subsequent events, before displaying what is a red flag for any audience: a card advising that while the film is based on true events, some scenes and dialogue have been dramatised. On the one hand, it's understandable that this needs to be done to tell the story, especially when you're dealing with something that happened some time ago, but on the other hand it cannot help but sow a seed of doubt when you're watching - unless you're an expert on history and on this event in particular, you're not going to know which parts of the film have been entirely made up.

The film is split between two central story threads, and a third smaller one. The first focuses on Kuhlmann and Böse, following them through the hijacking itself and then the subsequent period where they help the Palestinians keep the hostages captive in Entebbe, interjected with some brief flashbacks to them in Germany where they first decide to embark on the plan. The second main thread focuses on the Israeli government, where the Prime Minister clashes with his defence chief Shimon Peres (played by Eddie Marsan) over the best course of action - Peres flat out wants a military response, while the Prime Minister is wary. The third, smaller story thread follows an Israeli soldier called Hirsch, one of the unit eventually called in to rescue the hostages, and the effect his duty has on his relationship with his girlfriend Sarah, a civilian dancer.

While this splitting of the story is interesting, it also unfortunately creates the film's two big problems: the first is that it doesn't focus long enough on any one area to allow us, the audience, to get a really good understanding of what's driving the characters to do what they do. The second problem is one I mentioned earlier - in the attempts the film does make to show each sides thinking and reasons for being involved, it doesn't actually come out with an overall message. It's very unclear what the film is really trying to say - while it could be interpreted as trying its best to give a balanced view of the affair by presenting every side of the story, it's difficult to accept that based on what we see.

      
The main story thread following Kuhlmann and Böse suffers the most because of this. While we do get some brief flashbacks to them initially deciding to undertake the plot, we don't learn enough about them to really understand them. We learn that they believe Germany to be a fascist state, and that they sympathise with the Palestinians due to them perceiving Israel to be the same, however we don't learn enough about why they believe this. While they're certainly not intended to come across as sympathetic characters (let's face it, they become terrorists), Böse gets more character exploration as he is revealed to be a bookseller and is shown repeatedly to be sympathetic to the hostages, ensuring they get as fair treatment as possible and helping them where he can. Kuhlmann, on the other hand, is far more willing to be forceful and seems to have no concerns or regrets about the possibility of having to kill the hostages. While both characters come to believe they have made a mistake in taking part by the end of the film, it takes Kuhlmann much longer to get there.

In attempting to offer a broad view of the incident, the film explores a number of topics with varying success: we get a look at the complex wrangling and backstabbing present in the high echelons of the Israeli government, where Peres plots against the Prime Minister to ensure a military response is chosen; we see the effect that military service has on the Israeli soldiers and the complications this can cause (Hirsch is told by his commanding officer to give up on having a girlfriend unless she too is in the military), and we also a get a view of Idi Armin and his hold on Uganda, which while far too brief to be effective, does include a chilling moment when he threatens to start killing the children among the hostages. Again, none of these are explored in depth enough, but remain interesting nonetheless.

While the film does have its problems with its presentation of the story, it is at least well made from a technical standpoint. The film is well shot, and the moment of the Israeli soldiers assault in the third act is, interestingly, interspersed with Hirsch's girlfriend Sarah performing a group dance performance. The performances from the actors are good throughout, although its another case of them doing the best with what they've been given: both Pike and Brühl are strong and each have a high moment, for Brühl this is a symbolic moment when Böse comforts one of the hostages, an older German woman who begins to have a breakdown, and he notices that the woman bears the tattoo of a holocaust survivor, while for Pike its the moment when Kuhlmann calls home to her lover in Germany from a payphone and confesses that she's begun to regret her part in the plot, a rare moment of vulnerability for the character. As good as the performances are though, they're not enough to solve the films problems.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
While this is an interesting take on a complicated incident in history, the attempt to show all sides means that the film suffers as a result, not giving us enough time with any of the characters and making it unclear as to what, if any, message that it's trying to present. While the performances are strong and the film is technically solid, the problems with the storytelling effect it deeply. If you're interested in this type of film its worth a look, but otherwise wait for the home release.

Film Review: Avengers Infinity War (2018)

Smile though your heart is breaking . . .

Avengers: Infinity War (12A)

Starring: Pretty much everyone from every Marvel film ever

Directors: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

The Plot: The mad tyrant Thanos has finally stepped into action to claim the six infinity stones that will make him all-powerful, and able to carry out his plan to wipe out half of the universe. Already in possession of the Power and Space Stones, he and his acolytes the Black Order spread their assault and the collective heroes of the Marvel universe find themselves divided and terrifyingly outmatched: Iron Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange are transported to Titan as they attempt to defend the Time Stone; Vision, badly damaged during an attempt to take his Mind Stone, is joined by Captain America, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Scarlet Witch and Hulk as they take him to the relative safety of Wakanda to join Black Panther and Bucky; Thor, having been found by the Guardians of the Galaxy, leaves with Rocket and Groot to head to Nidavellir, in the hope that he can forge a new hammer, while Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax and Mantis head to Knowhere to stop Thanos from claiming the Reality Stone from the Collector. With the sixth, the Soul Stone, unaccounted for, the stakes have never been higher . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Right, now that I've collected myself, I can begin. Infinity War is the first part of two films (the second film, coming next year, has a title that's yet to be released) that conclude "Phase 3" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is the studio's magnum opus, their biggest film yet in terms of scale, spectacle, cast size and run time, gathering together virtually every hero and character from the previous eighteen films in the series and concluding a grand storyline that can be traced right back to 2011's Thor, where we glimpsed one of the infinity stones for the first time. It's both an incredible challenge and risk for Marvel to attempt, even with their incredible success of the last ten years, but as you've no doubt guessed from my opening line, they've knocked it out of the park again.

This film is staggeringly good.

(Before I go any further, I'll point out the obvious fact that there are SPOILERS ahead. Huge ones. So if you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading now and go see the film. Then come back.)

There are many, many reasons why this film is as good as it is. But two of the biggest ones, which I want to talk about first, are the writing and direction, as these are two things that can't be understated here. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are the writers who had the unenviable task of putting this script together, trying to balance this huge cast of characters and tie up all of the story threads that have been weaving through the previous Marvel films, and they've done it, producing an epic tale that blends action, humour and tragedy (oh, the tragedy! We'll get to that later) incredibly well. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo then had the responsibility of turning that script into reality, with the colossal weight of expectation on their shoulders - it's fair to say that the eyes of the world were upon them - and they've stepped up to the plate and delivered, and then some. It no doubt helped that these four men previously brought us Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War, two of the best MCU films in my opinion (Markus and McFeely also wrote the first Cap film as well), and having clearly proved that they're capable of telling grand, emotional stories with large casts, they were an ideal choice for Infinity War.

Even so, this was a very important film for Marvel to get right, given how grand the concept is and the sheer scale of the story. And right from the get-go, it's clear that Marvel is not only up for the challenge but also unafraid to shake things up - the film opens with an incredibly bold, emotional scene where Thanos has slaughtered the Asgardian refugees aboard Thor's ship, the thunder god defeated and helpless to watch as the villain beats down the Hulk without breaking a sweat, before murdering both Heimdall and Loki and claiming the Space Stone. This is within the first five minutes of the film. Buckle up, kids.

I've already used the word "scale" more than once, and it's very apt when discussing this film as pretty much everything is bigger and better than anything Marvel have shown us before (and they've shown us some very impressive stuff already). The visual spectacle and action in Infinity War is astonishing, featuring some of the finest effects work and action sequences in the franchise to date and providing a real visual treat for the audience. Tony has an impressive new suit of armour that uses nano technology, giving him some great new abilities, and (as predicted) we also get to see Peter try out the Iron Spider suit that was teased at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, which includes the extra arms - it's awesome! There are some great moments where heroes that we've never seen fight together before team up, such as Star-Lord jumping across magical stepping-stones created by Doctor Strange and Black Widow joining with Okoye in an impressive three-way battle against one of Thanos's acolytes, and also some particularly eye-pleasing "wow" moments where both Scarlet Witch and Thor have incredible demonstrations of power. In the fight scene between Tony and Thanos, Thanos literally pulls a moon down from space with the Infinity Gauntlet to hurl at Tony. A fucking moon! It's jaw-dropping stuff. For all of this incredible spectacle though, one of the finest moments for me personally was one seen in the trailer for the film, where Cap blocks a gauntlet swing from Thanos and desperately struggles back against it, to Thanos's disbelief, in a very symbolic moment that harks back to our first introduction to the character where his motivation to fight is that he doesn't like bullies, whoever they may be. It's a fantastic moment that shows off not only Cap's physical strength but the strength of his character as well, which had taken a hit at the conclusion of Civil War.

The biggest surprise of the film, and one of the main reasons it works so well, is Thanos himself. Marvel recently gave us one of their best villains yet in Black Panther with Killmonger, driven by a terrific performance from Michael B. Jordan, but here in Infinity War Thanos is a step up again, and it's a combination of great effects work, acting and writing. Motion captured and performed by Josh Brolin, the CGI used to bring Thanos to life is incredibly impressive - it's almost photo realistic in places, and simply put this helps make the character believable (as believable as a purple giant can be, at any rate). One of the biggest problems in Justice League last year was the terrible CGI for the villain Steppenwolf, which made for a laughable experience for the audience, but there are no such issues here. But what really makes him work so well is the material that Brolin is given to work with here: Thanos gets a fleshed-out back story that explains where his obsession to extinguish half of the universe's life comes from, but we also get a fascinating exploration of his relationship with Gamora that reveals, surprisingly, that he actually does love her like a daughter, which sets up a powerful scene that I'll talk about later. Thanos is clearly insane but not in a stereotypically "crazy" way - he doesn't want to kill all life, and he doesn't even want to rule over it (his reward for completing his mission, he tells Doctor Strange, will be to sit back and watch the sunrise), but the fact that he's absolutely convinced about his concept of bringing balance to the universe by wiping half of it out, and showing absolutely no remorse for the staggering amount of death and destruction that he's caused (and will cause) makes him incredibly effective as a villain, especially when coupled with his power.

It wouldn't be a Marvel film without humour, and as I mentioned earlier the script balances this aspect of it very well. Given the seriousness of the story the moments of humour are both welcome and necessary, and you won't be surprised to learn that the majority of the comedy comes courtesy of the Guardians of the Galaxy. There are some hilarious moments such as Star-Lord putting on a deep voice to try and imitate Thor, jealous of the attention that Gamora is giving him, Thor continually referring to Rocket as "Rabbit", and Drax's claims of invisibility after interrupting a tender moment between Star-Lord and Gamora. And Mantis, oh how I love Mantis, who continues to be both hilarious and adorable whether she's putting on her game face, bouncing around in the low gravity of Titan or, when asked by Peter what it is that the Guardians do, replies with "Kick names, take ass!" Now that's not to say the rest of cast don't get their moments, as there's some good banter between Tony, Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange's cloak and Peter (which gets even better when Star-Lord joins them), while back on Earth there's a continual funny battle of wills between Bruce Banner and the Hulk, who refuses to transform, and Cap, introduced to Groot with "I am Groot" on the field of battle, replies with "I am Steve Rogers." There are plenty more funny moments and lines throughout the film which I won't spoil, but they're a good thing to have, because oh boy is it about to get sad.

I chose the tagline "Smile though your heart is breaking" because oh boy, this film is going to break your heart. It features some of the most emotional, sad and shocking moments of the series so far, and even though I went into the film expecting to see some the of the characters die, I was not prepared. Given that I'm posting this review over a week since the film came out you may have seen the twitter reactions and memes, as this film has put a lot of people through the emotional wringer. There's the aforementioned opening scene where we lose not only Heimdall but Loki - Loki! - whose final act is an attempt to stop Thanos and save his brother, a fitting attempt at retribution, but Marvel is only just getting started. The relationship between Scarlet Witch and Vision is handled very well and puts the couple in a horrible dilemma: Vision believes his Mind Stone should be destroyed, which will kill him in the process, and Wanda is the only one of them with the power to do it - to save untold billions of lives, she may be forced to kill the man she loves. There's a powerful moment where Tony falls to Thanos after their epic fight, stabbed with what appears to be a fatal wound, and Thanos stands over him and eulogises him, stating "I hope they remember you." But the real kicker for me was Star-Lord and Gamora. Oh man, this cut me deep. If, like me, you're a fan of these two characters together, the film is incredibly bittersweet - we finally get to see them kiss, and finally hear them declaring love for each other, but Gamora, in possession of the Soul Stone's location, makes Star-Lord promise to kill her should they fail, to prevent Thanos extracting it from her. This leads to a highly charged scene where he's forced to try and do just that, but that isn't Gamora's end - that comes at the hands of Thanos himself, who throws her to her death from the top of a mountain to claim the Soul Stone. It's a shocking moment that speaks volumes about Thanos, who sheds tears as he does it, and Star-Lord's reaction on learning of Gamora's fate is an extraordinary display of grief and fury.

If any pieces of your heart are left, the films ending will surely shatter them when (spoiler alert again) Thanos accomplishes his goal. With all six stones and a simple click of his fingers, he wipes out half of all life. Dozens of heroes die, dissolving into ash before the disbelieving eyes of those around them. It's a truly jaw-dropping moment - the cinema screen I was in was audibly shocked and hushed - and perhaps none of the deaths are more affecting than Spider-Man, who clutches Tony in a desperate hug as he begins to dissipate, telling his father-figure "I don't want to go."

Given everything I've told you about, it won't be a surprise to learn that the performances from the cast are top-notch, across the board. There were a number of stand-outs for me: RDJ, who basically is Tony Stark, is fantastic, bringing the character's usual humour (his exasperation with Star-Lord is great) but also getting a very serious side, clashing with Doctor Strange and allowing Tony's fears to surface. Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana are terrific as Star-Lord and Gamora, in both their tender moments and heartbreaking ones, and Saldana particularly gets some additional emotional scenes including the fateful moment with Thanos, and another where she's forced by him to watch Nebula be tortured mercilessly. Josh Brolin, as already mentioned, is terrific as Thanos himself, and I was impressed with both Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda and Tom Holland as Peter.

As brilliant as the film is, I'd be doing you all a disservice if I called it perfect. There are a few negatives to be found, but when you consider the things I'm about to talk about are the only criticisms I could make, I think it speaks strongly about the quality of the film overall. The first thing is probably to be expected: given the sheer size of the cast, there's a number of characters that are given very little to do - Falcon, War Machine, Black Widow, Bucky, Groot, Black Panther, Shuri and Okoye don't do much apart from participate in the film's final big battle. It's kind of understandable, as despite how good a job has been done with balancing the characters in the script and the long run-time, the sheer size of the cast means not everyone is going to get huge amounts of time. Of the characters given short thrift, Bucky is the most disappointing given how well his character was presented in Winter Soldier and Civil War, however for some of them there's the impression that they'll be given more time to shine in the second film. There were also some big moments that fans expected but either didn't happen or weren't explored fully: Cap and Tony don't meet at all in the film, which you know is going to be a huge moment, and the long-awaited reunion between Bruce and Widow is a single moment of greeting, which Falcon comments upon as being awkward. Again, hopefully these things will get to happen/get more time in the second film. Hawkeye and Ant-Man are absent from the film, and this is explained in a single rather throwaway line, and there was no explanation for the absence of Valkyrie, who was missing from Thor's ship and wasn't mentioned at all - a shame, given how great her character is. Finally, while this was no doubt due to time constraints, it's a shame that we didn't really learn anything about Thanos's acolytes the Black Order, who have cool names like Ebony Maw, Proxima Midnight, Cull Obsidian and Corvus Glaive.

I think, after waffling on this long, that you catch my drift. This is an absolutely phenomenal film, quite possibly the best that Marvel have done yet, and a remarkable achievement given the scale of the story, the multiple story arcs within it, and the sheer size of the cast. The performances from the cast are fantastic, the visuals are stunning, and the writing and direction are both strong enough to successfully pull off what is the grandest ambition from Marvel Studios to date. And this is only the first part - the conclusion arrives next year, and it has an incredibly tough act to follow. The film thrilled me, shocked me, broke my heart and put it back together again. I've seen it twice now, and I'm still affected by Star-Lord and Gamora and that truly shocking ending. It's already broken all kinds of records and is on course to be the highest-grossing film for Marvel to date, after only a week of release. It deserves it.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
A masterpiece. Visually stunning and emotionally devastating, this is the best superhero film I've ever seen and a true triumph for Marvel, who continue to push the boundaries of their cinematic universe and continue to deliver. You owe it to yourself to see this film. Just be ready for the emotional fallout . . .

Film Review: Rampage (2018)

Do you really need a tagline for this?

Rampage (12A)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Naomie Harris, Malin Akerman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan

Director: Brad Peyton

The Plot: Dastardly genetics company Energyne has been performing secret experiments in space on a pathogen that mutates animals, causing them to grow to gigantic sizes and enhancing their aggression. When the experiments go wrong, three samples of the pathogen crash-land on earth: one in Florida where it's consumed by a crocodile, one in Wyoming where it affects a wolf, and one in an animal sanctuary in San Diego where it's found by George, an albino gorilla that understands sign language. Primatologist and former special forces solider Davis Okoye (Johnson), George's carer, tries to stop the military from taking his rapidly growing friend but soon realises there's an even bigger threat - Energyne is sending out a signal summoning the animals to their building in Chicago, and the military is powerless to stop them. Okoye must team up with former Energyne scientist Kate Caldwell (Harris) to find an antidote at their building, before the animals destroy the city . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

 

Review: I'll give you a moment to recover from my description of the plot and the trailer, if you watched it. Yes, this is a film about The Rock trying to stop giant mutant animals from destroying a city - this should tell you enough about what kind of film this is and its intended audience. It's very loosely based on the 1986 arcade video game Rampage where players controlled three giant mutant animals (called George, Ralph and Lizzie) and attempted to gain the highest score by destroying cities and eating humans. Warner Bros acquired the rights to it back in 2011, but it wasn't until The Rock came on board in 2015 with his production company 7 Bucks that the project gained any steam - the script was written, director Brad Peyton (who directed Rock in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas, and will direct him in forthcoming sequel San Andreas 2) was recruited and shooting took place last year. The result is exactly what you'd expect - big, silly and lots of fun. I really enjoyed it.

  

The Rock (I can't refer to him as Johnson, he was and always will be The Rock to me) is box office gold these days. The charisma that electrified pro wrestling audiences has carried over to his film career and by now he's proved that attaching Rock to a project, no matter how silly it is, virtually guarantees success - he's reached the level where people will go to watch a film simply because he's in it. Rampage benefits from this and it's fair to say that it wouldn't work as well as it does without him being there to carry the film from each action set piece to the next. His character doesn't have much of an arc - it's established quickly that Davis prefers the company of animals to people, hates poachers, and this doesn't change - but it doesn't matter in a film like this. He's likeable and charismatic enough to make you accept that a hulking great special forces soldier can also be an expert primatologist and teach sign language to a gorilla. He and George even exchange a bro fist, after the gorilla first flips him the bird. That's the kind of film this is.

The film makes no apologies for what it is - it's a big, silly popcorn film that invites you to leave your brain at the door and enjoy the action. As such it excels where you'd expect it to, namely the visuals and the big action sequences, and also falls flat where you'd expect it to as well, in the quality of the plot and the acting. But do you really care about how stupid the plot is in a film like this? Do you care that the talented Naomie Harris is wasted on a role like this, when she sparks well with The Rock? Do you care that Malin Akerman (as Claire Wyden, CEO of Energyne) plays the most stereotypical villain ever? The answer is no, you don't - these things aren't important, and don't effect your enjoyment at all. You're here to watch large monsters fuck some shit up (within 12A limits), and you won't be disappointed in that regard.

The action and spectacle are where the film really delivers. The CGI is, mostly, very good and does a really good job of conveying the scale of how large the animals have become, particularly the crocodile. Following George's initial escape and another in which he wreaks havoc aboard a plane, there's an exciting sequence where a team of military contractors are sent by Energyne to put down the wolf and get wiped out. This is all building to the film's grand third act where all three of the animals, driven by the signal being sent out to them, arrive in Chicago and chaos ensues. The action on display here rivals any disaster movie as whole buildings get levelled and the military is wiped out by the beasts in an orgy of destruction, and then goes one further when George (in a plot thread you saw coming from the film poster) is cured of his rage via the antidote and teams up with The Rock to take the other animals down. This is exactly what you came to see and it delivers. To the films credit as well it doesn't try to make Rock appear superhuman - while he's a dab hand with a helicopter and a grenade launcher, he isn't taking the animals on hand-to-hand and it's George who puts in most of the work.

Oh yeah, and the wolf can fly. Because why not?

The film turned exactly as I predicted it would when I first saw the trailer several months ago. It's big on action and spectacle, it's funny in places, and it's a vehicle for The Rock, which isn't a bad thing. Bonus points for Jeffrey Dean Morgan and his drawling OGA ("Other Government Agency") spook who does the world's most obvious character turn. You don't come to a film like this for the quality of the script, or the acting, or the direction. You come for a visual thrill-ride and that's exactly what you get - it would be unfair to penalise it for its obvious flaws. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and you will too.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Exactly what you'd want a film like this to be - big, dumb, and high on spectacle. The Rock is entertaining as usual, it's funny in places, and the visuals are terrific. Leave your brain firmly at the door and escape for an hour and three-quarters.

Film Review: Thoroughbreds (2018)

And we're off . . .

Thoroughbreds (15)

Starring: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin

Director: Cory Finley

The Plot: After several years apart, two upper-class former friends are reunited: blunt and to-the-point Amanda (Cooke) suffers from an emotional disorder where she feels nothing, having undergone years of therapy after harming a horse, while the submissive Lily (Taylor-Joy) is desperately unhappy living under the oppressive rule of her wealthy step-father. With Amanda's encouragement, Lily embraces her feelings of hatred and hatches a plan to get rid of her step-father by hiring a local drug dealer (Yelchin) to murder him, but the girls soon discover that they may need to get their own hands dirty . . .

Check out the trailer for the film below:

Review: This darkly funny, psychological thriller has taken some time to make it to cinema screens here in the UK, and it's also sadly the final film that Anton Yelchin completed before his tragic death in 2016 at the age of 27. It's been worth the wait though, as this is a fantastic, performance-driven tale of how emotion (or the lack thereof) can drive people to dark places.

The film was originally intended to be a play, and this is very much apparent: the film is driven by the performance of the two leads, with most of the scenes only featuring them and featuring a lot of dialogue, and very little use of score or incidental music (although where these do feature, they're effective). It has a short run-time of 92 minutes that's split into four "chapters", and the majority of it takes place in one location: the sprawling, lavish mansion that's home to Lily. For the type of story this is, which focuses on these two characters, on their reunion and developing friendship and the effect they have on the mental state of each other, it works. The rest of the cast are minimal by design, with only Lily's mother and step-father getting any significant screen time apart from Yelchin's character Tim, and this is deliberate.

This isn't a horror by any means, but it is a very dark film in tone and there are some quite clear echoes of The Shining going on in the framing of this film and its centralised location of Lily's home. The house itself is a monument to decadence - a vast, lavish complex that's eerily silent, devoid of life except for the scurrying servants and serving more as some kind of trophy cabinet for the trappings of wealth. I loved the camerawork in this film - its use of framing, close-ups and focus pulls is very clever and draws your attention to and from Amanda and Lily at just the right moments. There's rarely a shot where one or the other of them isn't present, and for good reason.

As it leans so heavily on them, the film wouldn't work without strong performances for Amanda and Lily. Thankfully, both Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy are fantastic here and have been given two very interesting characters to explore. I was talking about Cooke only last week in my review of Ready Player One where she's great as Art3mis - I've been a fan of her since seeing her brilliant performance in 2015's Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. In Thoroughbreds as Amanda, she has the challenging prospect of playing a character who, by her own admission, doesn't feel any emotion, and she absolutely nails it. She manages to portray Amanda as flat and emotionless but without being monotonous, and the moments where she "switches on" brief moments of emotion (such as the scene where she explains "The technique" to Lily for faking crying) are exceptional. A lot of the film's dark humour comes from Amanda, who says what she thinks without any filter, and she's also the more disturbing of the two girls - her lack of emotion makes her unable to see why certain actions would make people uncomfortable or are just plain wrong, and the scene in which she recounts how and why she harmed the horse is chilling.

Anya Taylor-Joy is another actress I'm a fan of, having been introduced to her in 2016's Split (for which she'll return in its sort-of sequel Glass next year) and then subsequently the odd sci-fi Morgan in which her performance was the standout. Compared to Amanda, Lily undergoes a big transformation over the course of the film which Taylor-Joy nails. When the film begins she's nervous and submissive, having grown used to hiding her true feelings lest she draw the unwanted attention of her step-father Mark (who is a grade A prick). Through Amanda's influence though, Lily begins to embrace her hidden emotions and speak her mind, and her true hatred of Mark is revealed. It's Amanda who first suggests the murder ("You ever think about just killing him?") but Lily is the one who agrees to it and, later, has to be physically restrained by Amanda from doing it herself. Lily's character shifts dramatically over the course of the story and Taylor-Joy is excellent throughout.

Anton Yelchin's role is a small one, but one that he does well with. Tim is a low-level drug-dealer who has grand dreams of being a big-time player but is ultimately all show: he does his best to try and intimidate the two girls when they approach him with the offer to murder Lily's step-father, but his cowardice is soon revealed and allows for a funny scene where, after being hit over the head with a vase by Amanda, he laments about how he's going to explain his injury to his father. The performance certainly wasn't a stretch for Yelchin, but it will prove to be a sad reminder of the talented actor that's been lost. 

The dynamic between Amanda and Lily is what remains the most interesting part of the film, more so than the plot and eventual murder itself. Amanda, for all her lack of emotion, is clearly incredibly lonely and the renewal of their friendship is more important to her than she's willing or able to express until the finale. Lily is both fascinated by and wary of Amanda, in awe of her matter-of-factness and willingness to say what she thinks but also unnerved by her past actions and the emotionless way in which she views things. This shifting dynamic makes it hard to predict where the story is headed and ultimately makes it more interesting.

I thought that this was an excellent film. Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy are both fantastic, and it's darkly funny, tense, chilling and uncomfortable in equal measure. It won't be to everyones taste (particularly the ending), but I loved it.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

An excellent psychological thriller that features some dark humour and two brilliant performances from Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy. As writer/director Cory Finley's debut this is a promising start for him that explores the dark places that emotions can drive us to. Highly recommended.

Film Review: Ready Player One (2018)

Game on!

Ready Player One (12A)

Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Mark Rylance

Director: Steven Spielberg

The Plot: It's 2045, and the world has become a harsh, overcrowded place. Humanity finds escape in the Oasis - an immersive virtual reality haven where players can do anything and wear the avatar of any character they choose, in a world dominated by the pop culture its creator James Halliday (Rylance) loved. Wade Watts (Sheridan), who goes by the name Parzival in-game, is a "Gunter" - players who are seeking a hidden Easter egg within the game, left by Halliday - this Easter egg takes the form of three incredibly difficult challenges, and the first player to locate and beat all three will win ownership of the Oasis. Parzival teams up with fellow top player Art3mis (Cooke) in a race to win the challenge before Nolan Sorrento (Mendelsohn) - a crooked CEO of a powerful company that wants to claim the Oasis for its own, and isn't afraid to attack them in the real world to do it . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: Before I really dive in I need to make two things clear: the first is that I haven't read the novel Ready Player One that the film is based on. Written by Ernest Cline and released in 2011, the book became a cult favourite but for some reason it didn't cross my radar, so as such I can't make any kind of comment as to how faithful an adaptation this film is or anything like that. From what I can tell, a lot of changes have been made for the film - including pretty much all references to Spielberg's films being removed, at the director's request - but Cline himself co-wrote the screenplay, so any die hard fans of the novel should be happy knowing that the author is involved. Secondly, I hold my hands up and say that I am, without a doubt, the target audience for this film, so it was a given that I was going to like it - I mean, come on, it's called Ready Player One, one of the most iconic phrases in video game history. What this film is, is a pure, exciting rush of nostalgia and geekery, a thrill-ride unlike any other that I've seen that, while flawed, is an incredible achievement.

The most obvious thing to talk about first is the references. Oh boy. The world of the Oasis is one that is shaped by video games, movies, television, music and pop culture from the 80s all the way to the present day, with particular emphasis on the 80s and 90s, modelled as it was by its creator Halliday on all the things he loved and gleefully embraced by its inhabitants who can take on the avatar of any fictional character from any film or video game that they want. As such, the number of different visual and audio references to other films, video games, television, music and general pop-culture is simply astonishing and I cannot do any justice with words to just how much is going on here. There are interactions, mash-ups and battles between characters from all kinds of franchises that are the stuff of a geek's wet dream, in what can only be described as a love letter to this particular period of time. I know for a fact that I didn't catch everything, so crowded are many of the shots with so many difference characters, but just some of the things I saw and recognised references from are:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Battletoads
• The Dark Crystal
• Hello Kitty
• Ryu, Chun-Li and Blanka from Street Fighter and Goro from Mortal Kombat
  
• Batman, Batgirl and Harley Quinn
• Spider-Man and Wolverine
• Multiple references to John Hughes movies
• The Holy Hand Grenade
• Spartans from Halo, Lara Croft, Dante from Devil May Cry and Duke Nukem
• Starships from Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Alien
• Tracer and Reaper from Overwatch
• Robocop, Freddy Krueger and Chucky
• Duran Duran, and the "Pure Imagination" song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Wil Wheaton on a poster next to the election poster of the mayor from Back to the Future, whose director Robert Zemeckis is named-checked with The Zemeckis Cube
• The magic spell used to activate Sorrento's barrier is "The Charm of Making" from Excalibur

And that's just scratching the surface! This is without a doubt a very visual film, with the vast majority of it taking place within the Oasis (I'd say about 70% of it) so CGI is king, and thankfully it's up to the task - this is an incredibly beautiful film, filled with brilliant visual effects and music. It makes the scenes with all of these recognisable faces all the more effective, and the film wouldn't have worked if it wasn't up to scratch in this area.

Where the flaws are to be found, however, are in the script. There's no getting away from it - this is a remarkably cheesy story, that isn't helped by some downright terrible dialogue. The hero goes through three tough challenges, defeats the bad guy and then gets the girl. It's something out of any old video game, or movie . . . but that's kind of the point, isn't it? The film makes no pretences about what it is - it's a huge blockbuster that you come to for the visual thrill-ride and the hearkening back to a nostalgic time period, and as such the story and character development take a back seat. Personally I'm fine with this when the rest of the film is so exciting, but I'm sure that some viewers will be bothered by this a lot more and find more detailed flaws to pick out. I personally would liked to have seen more time given to Parzival and Art3mis's relationship developing and a bit more to flesh out the state of the real world they live in.

The story as it is though, taking in their journey to find and complete Halliday's three challenges, does make for some spectacular set-pieces that are the high points of the film and really allows those terrific visual effects to shine. The films most incredible moments include:

• The first challenge, which takes the form of a high-speed race through a twisting version of New York City. Parzival drives the DeLorean from Back to the Future, Art3mis rides Kaneda's motorcycle from Akira, and the other competitors drive vehicles including the Bigfoot monster truck, the 66' Batmobile, the Mach 5 from Speed Racer, Mad Max's Ford Falcon, the A-Team van and the possessed Plymouth Fury from Christine. And did I mention the racers get attacked by the T-Rex from Jurassic Park and Kong himself from King Kong?
• A beautiful scene where Parzival (dressed as Buckaroo Banzai) meets Art3mis at a night-club and the two dance in zero-gravity to the Bee Gee's Stayin' Alive, in an homage to Saturday Night Fever
  
• The second challenge, which features an astonishing recreation of The Shining where the characters visit the Overlook hotel, complete with creepy twins, naked bathtub lady and elevators of blood
• The final battle, where Parzival rallies the inhabitants of the Oasis (using the boom box from Say Anything) to take on Sorrento's forces who are guarding the citadel that holds the third challenge. The sheer number of different characters that go to battle alongside each other is mind blowing, and culminates in a scene where one player jumps out of the starship Serenity from Firefly, turns into a Gundam mecha, and then teams up with The Iron Giant to take on MechaGodzilla. I mean . . . come on!

The performances are a bit hit-and-miss, but seeing as the leads had to spend a great deal of time wearing motion capture suits I'm inclined to be more lenient. Tye Sheridan is fine as Perzival/Wade, who at least isn't shown to be the perfect hero from the get-go and has to learn how to be the leader that the Oasis needs and also to be the kind of guy that Art3mis wants. I'm a big fan of Olivia Cooke, who was excellent in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and as Art3mis/Samantha she's extremely likable, getting some of the best lines and proving to be as good as (in some cases better) a player than Parzival, and she does well with the real-life scenes that tell her back story. She and Sheridan both would have benefited from more time to flesh out these scenes and their characters developing relationship. Ben Mendelsohn is your typical villain as Sorrento, not being stretched by any means of the imagination, but Spielberg favourite Mark Rylance gets more to work with as the Oasis's creator Halliday, a socially awkward individual who has constructed the three hidden challenges around the biggest regrets of his life. It's always a pleasure to see Simon Pegg, who pops up here as Halliday's ousted partner Ogden Morrow, and I also liked Lena Waithe as Parzival's friend Aech, a girl who hides behind a huge male avatar to cover her insecurities about her own appearance.

As an avid gamer, film fan and child of the 80s and 90s this film connected with me in a deep way, but if you aren't in any of those categories then you won't get as much out of this film as others will. It's flawed, to be sure, and I honestly can't call it perfect, but this is such an exciting rush of nostalgia that it more than makes up for its faults. It's an open love letter to all things pop culture, and if you've ever dreamt of driving the DeLorean or fighting as your favourite video game character then this is something you really need to experience. Spielberg magic at its finest.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
An astonishing visual spectacle that takes viewers on an exciting trip through more films, video games, music and pop culture references than you could possibly imagine. The story is incredibly cheesy, the dialogue terrible in places and the performances mixed, but when you have the sheer amount of nostalgia and fantasy on display those issues fall to the wayside. This is absolute heaven for geeks, film fans, gamers and anyone who grew up from the 80s onward - a must see.

A little treat to finish - as part of the marketing for Ready Player One, loads of iconic film posters from the 80s and 90s were remade using the characters from the film. Some of them are incredibly clever, and all of them are awesome. Check out a selection of them below!