Tag: 2019

Review: Men in Black International

The fourth film in the Men in Black franchise had a strange journey to the screen. A few years ago, Sony was hacked and it was revealed that a crossover between MIB and the 21 Jump Street franchise was planned. While that was scrapped, the Thor: Ragnarok duo of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson slip into the black suits for a global outing.

Atop the Eiffel Tower in 2016, Agents H (Chris Hemsworth) and T (Liam Neeson) fight off the Hive to save the world. 20 years earlier, young Molly witnesses an incident that will lead her to obsessive pursue recruitment by the MIB as an adult (Tessa Thomspon). She achieves her goal, but the H she encounters is a cocky shell of his former self.

MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL doesn’t stray too far from the formula, pairing a rookie with a veteran to uncover a hidden secret within MIB itself. Screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (best known for Iron Man and Transformers: The Last Knight) are interested in the chaos of the franchise, pinging from London, to Marrakesh, Naples, and back to Paris.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest appeals of this chapter is the wonderful team-up of Hemsworth and Thompson, fresh from being Asgardians of the galaxy in the MCU. At the film’s best, the self-aware verbal sparring and mismatched buddy comedy works well. The addition of a small digital friend in Pawny (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) adds a fun dynamic, although the character won’t be for all tastes.

On the other hand, there isn’t a villain as strong as Vincent D’Onofrio’s cockroach in the first film, which is perhaps the weakest link in the movie. There’s the element changing Twins (played by French performers Laurent and Larry Bourgeois a.k.a. Les Twins), who silently rip up cities and send the heroes running. When the overarching villain is revealed late in the third act, it should come as no surprise to anybody who has seen a film in the last few decades. (Hint: just look at the cast list).

Where MIB continues to shine is in the effect department, building on the canonical aesthetic and updating the future tech for modern palates. The Twins have some neat effects of morphing the environment around them, although no effect seems to have been able to deal with a poor choice in wigs for Rebecca Ferguson.

While MEN IN BLACK INTERNATIONAL may not be as fresh or engaging as the original, it has enough consistently fun moments to tip it over the rankings past Men in Black 3. The denouement wraps things up a little too neatly but paves the way for a sequel, and despite any minor quibbles with the formula, it would still be great to see this team back in black.

2019 | US | DIR: F. Gary Gray | WRITER: Art Marcum and Matt Holloway | CAST: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Rebecca Ferguson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rafe Spall, Laurent Bourgeois, Larry Bourgeois, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson | DISTRIBUTOR: Sony Pictures Releasing (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 13 June 2019 (AUS)

June 13, 2019
Review: Chasing the Dragon 2: Wild Wild Bunch

Given the period setting of Chasing the Dragon, it is little surprise that CHASING THE DRAGON 2: WILD WILD BUNCH (追龍II: 賊王) is a throwback in every sense of the word. Set just before the 1997 handover in Hong Kong, this old-school thriller brings back another great tradition: sequels with no discernible connection to their predecessor.

Criminal kingpin Logan (Tony Leung Ka-Fai) – based on the notorious Cheung Tze-keung – takes advantage of Britain’s benign neglect of pre-Handover Hong Kong, staging a series of high-profile kidnappings of the sons of Hong Kong regals. Detective Sky He (Louis Koo) goes undercover to infiltrate the gang.

Veteran writer/director Wong Jing re-teams with cinematographer/co-director Jason Kwan on this follow-up to the 2017 Donnie Yen/Andy Lau vehicle. Where that film was a era-spanning tale about cops and robbers on the frontier, and a remake of the award-winning 1991 film To Be Number One, this “sequel” is more of a thematic continuation of Hong Kong’s true crime stories. That said, aside from the backdrop of a real series of crimes, Wong and Kwan craft their own narrative.

Gone is the grainy retro aesthetic and funky gangsters (not to mention any trace of Donny Hathway’s ‘The Ghetto’). Instead Wong and Kwan adopt the action stylings that have served the Hong Kong industry well for the last few decades: a slick series of montages of criminal activities culminating in a ridiculously tense series of high-speed car chases, shoot-outs, and literal ticking time bombs. Indeed, it’s the latter trio strung together that makes up the film’s climax, and it’s a cracker.

While it’s not quite the mega-pairing of Andy Lau and Donnie Yen, the union of of Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Louis Khoo makes for a charismatic duo. It unfortunate that one of the few female characters, Sky’s handler Bunny (Sabrina Qiu Yinong), is used primarily as eye candy in a series of skimpy outfits. She does, however, get to face-off against Sky in an early car chase that’s reminiscent of early Bond.

WILD WILD BUNCH‘s focus on a single era sets it apart from the first film in what could rapidly become an anthology series, kind of a Chinese version of American Crime Story. While some of Cheung’s antics have been alternatively sensationalised for the cameras and sanitised for the censors, there’s a solid crime thriller in here that should satisfy fans of retro fun.

2019 | Hong Kong | DIRECTOR: Wong Jing, Jason Kwan | WRITERS: Wong Jing, Lui Koon Nam, Chan Kin Hung | CAST: Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Louis Koo, Sabrina Qiu | DISTRIBUTOR: China Lion| RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 13 June 2019 (AUS)

June 12, 2019
Review: The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil

Following an out of competition screening at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, THE GANGSTER, THE COP, THE DEVIL (악인전) makes its way to local cinemas. A follow up to director/writer Lee Won-Tae’s 2017 period piece Man of Will, his latest effort is a sharply contemporary thriller.

A serial killer (Kim Sung-Kyu) is stalking is going around stabbing businessmen after rear-ending them with his car. Hothead Detective Jung Tae-Seok (Kim Moo-Yeol) is having trouble convincing his bosses that there’s a connection between the killings. When mob boss Jang Dong-Soo (Ma Dong-Seok) is the only person to survive an attack, it’s a race against the clock to catch the killer before the mob does – at least until Jung puts aside his hatred for gangs and works with him.

Allegedly based on a true story, the thriller takes place in August 2005 against the backdrop of gangs running illegal slots in Korea. Despite the ‘period’ setting, or perhaps because of it, director Lee delivers something that feels both entirely modern in its approach while being a throwback to a kind of kitchen-sink serial killer thriller that could’ve come out of the late 1990s.

Amidst the typical investigative montages and Se7en inspired sprawling-yet-precise notebooks of a serial killer, Lee stages some impressive action as well. There’s at least two top-notch car chase sequences, and one on foot that takes us into the surprisingly tense environment of a karaoke parlour. Lee also uses the physicality of Ma Dong-Seok at every opportunity, whether it’s lauding over his minions like a kingpin in an expensive suit, using a foe as a punching bag, or fighting off a horde of minions alongside Kim Moo-Yul.

Crafted as a showcase for the two main leads, there’s a good bit of chemistry in their interactions. The prolific and multitalented Ma Dong-Seok would be interesting in a bathrobe, and his role his as a villain with a heart of gold is made for him. Kim Mool-Yeol (fresh off the remake of Illang: The Wolf Brigade) is equally charismatic as another anti-hero, a cop with integrity but also a short fuse.

While Lee’s film may have a far too convenient ending, exchanging realism for some dramatic courtroom hijinks, the overall execution is slick one. Indeed, Sylvester Stallone’s production company has already hired Ma for the US remake. So, even if Se7en meets Heat formula may be well worn, but this is proof positive that there’s still room for engaging entertainment with those time-honoured narratives.

2019 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Lee Won-Tae | WRITERS: Lee Won-Tae | CAST: Ma Dong-Seok, Kim Moo-Yeol, Kim Sung-Kyu | DISTRIBUTOR: Kiwi Media Group| RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5 June 2019 (AUS)

June 10, 2019
Review: Judy and Punch

As the lens of debut feature filmmaker Mirrah Faulkes chases a small child through a church courtyard, complete with a Danny Elfman-esque score, it’s clear we’re in for something a little bit different. Whether that difference is something you’re into is an entirely separate kettle of fish.

The 17th century town of Seaside, which is decidedly nowhere near the sea, is a little bit devoid of culture thanks to its hysteria over witches. Apart from the regular stoning days, the puppet show from the alcoholic Professor Punch (Damon Herriman) and his wife Judy (Mia Wasikowska) captivates the town. It’s the latter who holds their lives together, so when tragedy besets the family thanks to the violent actions of Punch, their marriage and the small town of Seaside is set for a revolution.

Although not entirely consistent in its tone, Foulkes aims for an inky black comedy as a means of exploring a culture of violence against women. At the start of the film, the comedy is quite broad: from doddering old folks to a dog running off with sausages. It culminates in a jaw-dropping moment involving the couple’s infant, a cross between a macabre episode of The Simpsons and Monty Python, that will undoubtedly be the point of no return for some viewers.

The mood shifts dramatically after this point, turning darker and more violent. Punch’s hair-trigger temper and hysterical villagers might feel like a heavy-handed commentary on male violence and the culture of fear, but if we’re being honest it’s not a far stone’s throw from the 21st century. If you think persecution is a thing of the past, just read any Twitter thread or comments section to see how quickly verbal violence emerges and hate escalates.

Foulkes’s alternative to this darkness is a collection of misfits living out in the woods, practicing Tai Chi and moving on whenever the gaze looks like it might turn back on them. The solutions all seem a little bit too easy, but there is a truth to the contradictory puritanical ethics of Seaside.

JUDY AND PUNCH is likely to be a divisive film. Indeed, there were multiple walkouts from punters and critics alike during the Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival. Nevertheless, the lush production design and over-the-topness of it all is likely to earn this a cult following in the coming years.

2019 | Australia | DIRECTOR: Mirrah Foulkes | WRITERS: Mirrah Foulkes | CAST: Mia Wasikowska, Damon Herriman, Tom Budge | DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Entertainment (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 105 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 8-13 June 2019 (SFF)

June 10, 2019
Review: Pain and Glory

For the 21st film in his illustrious career, the 69-year-old Pedro Almodóvar has written and directed a film about facing mortality. Like the lead character in PAIN AND GLORY (Dolor y Gloria), he has penned something of a naked confessional for film literate audiences that also has a universality in its appeal.

Almodóvar’s proxy in this tale is Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), a filmmaker in a creative rut suffering a range of physical and mental illnesses. A revival of an old film prompts him to reach out to its lead (Asier Etxeandia), and the reunion after 30 years leads Salvador to try and become addicted to heroin.

The contemporary story is juxtaposed with his earlier life. The heroin sparks dreamlike flashbacks to growing up with his father and mother (Penélope Cruz) in a village apartment that resembles a cave. What emerges is a tapestry of a life, the history of Salvador’s sexuality, and a love letter to cinema.

You don’t have to look too deeply into PAIN AND GLORY to start calling comparisons to Federico Fellini. While there is definitely a parallel with 8½, a film that has inspired everyone from Woody Allen to Charlie Kaufman, this is unquestionably an idiosyncratic drumbeat present that Almodóvar has been beating for decades. After all, the lead is a gay director whose back catalogue sharply resembles Almodóvar’s own, arguably making this his most personal work to date as well.

Banderas steps up to the plate to deliver one of his finest performances to date. Already winning him the best actor award at the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival this year, the line between the frequent Almodóvar collaborator and his director is blurred. One of his character’s directions to an actor is to look as though you’re about to cry all the time, which is exactly where Banderas sits for most of this. Cruz and Etxeandia are excellent in their respective roles. A small but significant part for Leonardo Sbaraglia (Red Lights) is one of the high points of Salvador’s arc.

Unlike his avatar in the film, Almodóvar continues to prove that he isn’t Despite some heavy themes and some honest emotional turns, PAIN AND GLORY offers a number of delightful surprises – including an infrographic tracing Salvador’s life – that is likely to leave you in the embrace of cinema’s warm glowing warming glow.

2019 | Spain| DIRECTOR: Pedro Almodóvar | WRITERS: Pedro Almodóvar | CAST: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Penélope Cruz | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures Films (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 115 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 7 June 2019 (SFF)

June 9, 2019
Review: Mystify – Michael Hutchence

If anyone was going to make a career-spanning documentary about Michael Hutchence, it was bound to be Richard Lowenstein. Apart from directing over a dozen INXS music videos, he helmed the cult classic Dogs in Space (1986) and the retrospective documentary We’re Livin’ on Dog Food (2009), both of which featured the singer in prominent roles.

Lowenstein doesn’t recover much of this ground in MYSTIFY: MICHAEL HUTCHENCE, a document of the 37 years that the rock star and passed through this mortal coil. Using a combination of concert footage, rare home movies, music, and interviews with people who knew him best, Lowenstein gives us a collage of a life.

Opening with concert footage of a massive stadium gig, Lowenstein – along with editors Lynn-Maree Milburn and Tayler Martin – refuses to stick to a linear structure. Cutting back and forth between his earliest childhood memories to moments at the height of INXS fandom, even ardent fans may be pleased to see the sheer amount of archival footage that Lowenstein has managed to cut into a lean running time.

The music will be familiar, but it is used only sparingly to underline certain moments in his life. For the rest of the film, we are treated to an oral history from managers, producers, ex-girlfriends, and family. Lowenstein has managed to get folks like Chris Bailey (The Saints), Jenny Morris, Bono, Helena Christensen, and even Kylie Minogue to reflect on Hutchence’s life. With the latter, we see some of the most intimate home footage of the film, a bubble of happiness in the life of an often troubled artist.

Some may find the approach too fragmented, but as the narrative goes on it fits the profile of its subject. In Lowenstein’s history, Hutchence’s turning point came during an accident in France (he was dating Christensen at the time), resulting in a delayed diagnosis of brain damage. It is used to explain the bipolarity of his behaviour in later years, increased dependence on drugs, and various affairs he had.

Following his union with Paula Yates, and the the highly publicised courtroom dramas with Bob Geldof, the last part of the film attempts to explain his death at the Ritz-Carlton. The final moments of the film give us an almost minute-by-minute analysis of the events leading up to his apparent suicide. Yet if anything can be learned from this drifting portrait, it’s that it’s impossible to capture what’s going on in the mind of any human.

2019 | Australia | DIRECTOR: Richard Lowenstein | WRITERS: Richard Lowenstein | CAST: Michael Hutchence, Helena Christensen, Kylie Minogue | DISTRIBUTOR: Madman Films (AUS)| RUNNING TIME: 104 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 June 2019 (SFF), 4 July 2019 (AUS)

June 7, 2019
Review: Red Joan

Melita Norwood may not be a household name, but her backstory is the stuff that spy fiction is made of. Which probably explains why director and theatre veteran Trevor Nunn (Lady Jane) has turned it into a film. The arrival of the British media on the Bexleyheath doorstep of the then 87-year-old Norwood in 1999 brought the former civil servant to the world’s attention, so it’s a shame that the telling of that tale isn’t as gripping as its inspiration.

RED JOAN opens in May 2000 with the arrest and interrogation of Joan Stanley (Judi Dench), a character very loosely based on Norwood. The elderly Joan recounts her past as a young physics student at Cambridge (depicted by Sophie Cookson) where she is drawn into Communism and radical left politics by friends Sonya (Tereza Srbova) and sometimes lover Leo (Tom Hughes). As her psychics knowledge gets her into top secret projects under the brilliant Max (Stephen Campbell Moore), her allegiances are tested.

When you hire Dame Judith Olivia Dench for a motion picture, you should make damn sure you use every inch of her talents. While the acclaimed actress is only used for the narrative framing device, most of her appearances are Nunn cutting to Dench looking tired in an interrogation room. Cookson, who is most recognisable from her supporting role in the Kingsman series, carries most the film.

While the trappings are a spy thriller, the core of the story is a love triangle between Joan, Leo, and Max. While one can’t begrudge screenwriter Lindsay Shapero for this narrative shortcut, it is disappointing that a promising story of a young woman caught between science and country is represented by the two men in her life. It robs her of significant accomplishments, not least of which was a young female scientist being involved in one of the most classified projects of the Second World War.

RED JOAN is ultimate a portrait of someone who had a misguided sense of moral correctness. When caught, Joan Stanley argues that she only wanted Russia to be on an equal scientific footing with the West to avert further atrocities like the Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Yet it’s a drably told tale, one that misuses its otherwise excellent cast, and rarely gives us a reason to pin our allegiances one way or the other.

2019 | UK | DIR: Trevor Nunn | WRITER: Lindsay Shapero | CAST: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Stephen Campbell Moore, Tom Hughes | DISTRIBUTOR: Transmission (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 109 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5 June 2019 (AUS)

June 7, 2019
Review: Dark Phoenix

All credit where it’s due: long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe imprisoned Tony Stark in a cave, Lauren Shuler Donner and Fox were building their own world based on Marvel Comics. Even more than that, when X-Men dropped in 2000 it also began the era of the modern superhero film. So after 19 years, DARK PHOENIX ends the saga not so much with a bang but a shrug.

Following the events of X-Men: Apocalypse, the X-Men have achieved some modicum of fame and public trust. Professor X (James McAvoy) even has a bat phone to the President. On a mission in space, the team barely escapes with their lives before Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is imbued with a cosmic force that unlocks her psychic abilities. Powerful and afraid, it’s a race between a mysterious alien (Jessica Chastain) and her friends to stop Jean before she does more harm than good.

Set in 1992, long time fans will undoubtedly connect the film and its lineup with the X-Men animated series that started that year. Yet where that series was an almost slavish adaptation of the source material – which included a version of Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s comic arc – writer/director Simon Kinberg (in his directorial debut) crafts his finale around a disintegrating family.

This is where it is strongest. In her handful of scenes, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) questions the ethics of Xavier’s mission and is violently proven correct. As Magneto (Michael Fassbender) has moved on with a hippie mutant commune, it seems that the future they were fighting for has arrived.

Yet Kinberg, who also wrote the last attempt to bring this story to life in X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), isn’t batting his A-game. The entire arc featuring Chastain plays out like a sub-plot, adding an extra villain for some reason – because apparently a limitless cosmic power wasn’t threat enough for the X-Men. It all culminates in a fight sequence that feel less like a finale than it does a second act dust-up.

Very few of the “First Class” are left at this stage in the game, and those that are left are wasted. Turner, having just come of the final season of Game of Thrones, is sometimes a commanding figure but is consistently portrayed as a victim by Kinberg’s script. Tye Sheridan is a presence so beige that you may forget he’s in the movie, even when he’s on screen. Even the dude with mutant dreadlocks gets more memorable moments than Quicksilver (Evan Peters), who is promptly forgotten after a brief intro.

Mired by endless delays, rewrites, and reshoots, the lacklustre finale was plagued by production woes. So, it’s no surprise that much of DARK PHOENIX feels like several films stitched together. With the franchise now in the hands of Disney and the MCU, the future remains unclear. Yet regardless of the less than impressive outing, it’s still worth remembering that the X-Men were responsible for some of the best superhero cinema, and will be again.

2019 | US | DIR: Simon Kinberg | WRITER: Simon Kinberg | CAST: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alexandra Shipp | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5 June 2019 (AUS)

June 5, 2019
Review: Tolkien

The grand saga of jewels and rings found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium is arguably one of the most popular stories of the last century. In attempting to distill the creator’s life and works into a bite-sized chunk, director Dome Karukoski (Tom of Finland) captures the high level biography without any of the footnotes or detail.

Structured around a series of dramatic flashes throughout the First World War, we first encounter a young Tolkien just before his mother’s death and being sent to private school in Birmingham. There he forms firm friendships with the boys who would become the T.C.B.S. (Tea Club and Barrovian Society), meets the love of his life Edith Barrow (Lily Collins). As Tolkien becomes a young man (Nicholas Hoult), he must choose between his academia and his love life.

Biopics are known for messing with timelines and compressing facts to suit modern storytelling, and TOLKIEN is no exception. David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford’s screenplay constantly foreshadows the myths Tolkien would become famous for with heavy-handed references to bonds of friendship, war, and duty. While there is nothing necessarily inaccurate in the content, every moment is so layered with symbolism as to make it sometimes feel like a work of fiction.

So, as a straight-up biopic, Karukoski achieves a capable abstract of a life. All the fragments are there: tragic past, literary passion, great love, friendship, and the generational impact of war. One just can’t help feel that it would have benefitted from a few different slithers, such as Tolkien’s time with the Inklings and meeting C.S. Lewis.

Hoult is charming and humble in the lead. Collins doesn’t have a massive amount to do but engagingly brings chemistry to the Ronald/Edith relationship. Colm Meaney and the criminally underused Derek Jacobi serve as the two mentors and father figures in the film, along with being pillars of Tolkien’s twin passions of religion and language.

Where TOLKIEN sets itself apart from most biopics is during the brief cutaways to war, where the looming threat and Tolkien’s future are foreshadowed by wraith-like mists, or fire-breathing dragons that morph into German flamethrowers. This angle would have been a more interesting take if it had been sustained throughout the film, but it only serves to highlight how by-the-numbers the rest of the relationships are drawn.

The famously protective Tolkien Estate has issued a statement saying that they don’t endorse this film, and it’s easy to see why. Where a coda tells us about the elven tale Edith and Ronald’s grave is marked with, their love story on screen doesn’t even come close to showing us how it inspired Beren and Lúthien. As the film coyly finishes with a pipe and a reference to a famous creation, you can almost hear Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings score surreally floating in the periphery. At least this saga didn’t take nine hours to tell.

2019 | US | DIR: Dome Karukoski | WRITER: David Gleeson and Stephen Beresford | CAST: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Derek Jacobi | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 111 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 5 June 2019 (AUS)

June 5, 2019
Review: Godzilla: King of the Monsters

The sequel to 2014’s Godzilla has been a long time coming, but Legendary Pictures has been very slowly building a universe in the interim. Together with Kong: Skull Island and the forthcoming Godzilla vs. Kong, the MonsterVerse shows us just how crowded it can be in this first direct sequel.

After suffering a family tragedy during the 2014 stompfest, paleobiologist Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) and animal behaviuoralist Mark Russell are estranged. When Emma andher daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) are kidnapped by environmental extremists for device capable of calming down the “titans,” the embittered Mark joins forces with Monarch scientists and soldiers to help track them down.

If Godzilla was frequently accused of not showing us enough of the monster, then GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS goes in the other direction. In an attempt to squeeze in as many of Toho’s famous kaiju as possible, the film’s MacGuffin (the aforementioned device known as the “Orca”) is used to revive and attract the heavy-hitters of the historic franchise: Mothra, Rodan, and Ghidorah.

To the film’s credit, it at least attempts to expand on the canon and give us a point of difference from the 34 films that preceded it. From alien influences to ancient civilisations and numerous references to Skull Island, here’s a franchise peddling as hard as it can to build an empire. Yet it does so at the expense of the human moments or the slow-building tension of its predecessor.

When it concentrates on several key characters, not least of which are the handful of beautiful climactic moments with Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ishirō Serizawa, writers Michael Dougherty and Zach Shields show us what a human-centred monster flick could look like. Beloved characters are dispatched without ceremony, while others are barely developed beyond their introductory scene.

The film is naturally in its element during the massive monster clashes. Clearly previsualised and planned out to the Nth degree, some of these give us the film’s most visually stunning moments. There’s one moment where a beastie is visualised against a ruby red sky atop a kind of Bald Mountain. You can almost hear the Mussorgsky. In isolation, these digital backdrops are gorgeous.

Yet they also speak to one of the key issues with the film. Krampus director Dougherty is so intent on matching up as many monsters as possible that it all just becomes a messy and static series of storyboards brought to life. The post-credits show the way towards the future, but we’re not sure there’s anything left standing in Gojira’s wake.

2019 | US | DIR: Michael Dougherty | WRITER: Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields | CAST: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Bradley Whitford, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, Aisha Hinds, O’Shea Jackson Jr., David Strathairn, Ken Watanabe, Zhang Ziyi | DISTRIBUTOR: Roadshow Films (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 132 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 30 May 2019 (AUS)

June 2, 2019