Tag: Fox

Review: Jojo Rabbit

A film about Nazis in 2019 is not as unexpected as it might have been a few years ago. You know, because of that whole international wave of white supremacy that poses a very real threat to democracies across the globe. Still, there’s nothing about this film that is entirely expected.

Loosely based on Christine Leunens’s book Caging Skies, Waititi’s screenplay introduces us to Johannes “Jojo” Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), an enthusiastically nationalistic 10-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson). Jojo is so jingoistic that he imagines Adolf Hitler (Waititi) as his best friend, yet his indoctrination is put to the test with the discovery that Rosie has been hiding Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie), a young Jewish girl, in their home.

Waititi’s idiosyncratic humour shines through the first act – and make no mistake, it is very funny – disarming us with a smile and sideswiping us with a barrage of one-liners. Yet once the initial jokes have run their course, the surprisingly sanitised and politically centrist combination of Wes Anderson by way of Roberto Benigni doesn’t quite glue all its ideas together. Like the latter, Waititi almost runs the risk of diminishing the impact of the Second World War by turning Nazism into a cinematic reference rather than the source of historical horror.

Which is a real problem. In a 2018 US poll, two-thirds of ‘Millennials’ could not correctly identify what Auschwitz was. If Nazis are merely characters in media – whether it is the foe in the Indiana Jones films, something to shoot at in Wolfenstein or lampooned in JOJO RABBIT – there’s a tangible possibility that the real world threat of neo-Nazism is taken less seriously.

The cast is excellent though, especially the two young leads. While their exchanges are frequently didactic, they help us navigate through some incredibly sharp emotional turns that the film takes. Waititi gives himself the plum role of Adolf, goofing on the dictator purely by being a variation on his familiar persona.

Johansson is at her best too, not only demonstrating some wry comic timing but breaking our hearts at key moments as well. Sam Rockwell as the closest gay Captain Klenzendorf is a standout, but all the awards should go to Jojo’s friend Yorki (newcomer Archie Yates). Every time he’s onscreen, it’s pure comedic brilliance.

By the end of JOJO RABBIT, it’s tough to know exactly what Waititi is trying to say here. Hitler lampooning has been done (and rarely bettered) since Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator. Waititi wants to remind us about embracing diversity, war being bad and the evil of Nazis, although one also suspects the majority of the audience aren’t the choir that needs converting. Still, if people walk out of the cinema a little more tolerant to others – ideally wearing the fabulosity that is Sam Rockwell’s cape – then Waititi has achieved something.

2019 | US | DIRECTOR: Taika Waititi | WRITERS: Taika Waititi | CAST: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS), Jewish International Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 26 December 2019 (AUS)

November 25, 2019
Review: Ford v Ferrari

From Bullitt tp the Fast and Furious franchise, cinema audiences just can’t get enough of films about cars racing each other for dominance. FORD V FERRARI picks up on the twin threads of historical rivalries and true life legends, kind of mixing the narrative ambition of the 2011 documentary Senna with the conventions of modern race photography.

In director James Mangold’s account, a failed buyout attempt of Ferrari by the Ford Motor Company results in a bitter rivalry between Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts). Determined to upset Ferrari’s winning streak at 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ford enlists car designer and former racer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to help them win. He rankles against the execs with his choice of driver, the talented but acerbic Ken Miles (Christian Bale).

Historical dramas where we know the outcome tend to have a bit of the life sucked out of them from the start, but the addition of fast cars and the even faster passage of years makes this a pretty engaging yarn from the get-go. While we must take some of the “factual” elements with a grain of salt, screenwriters Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Jason Keller spend most of their time building up a fractious dichotomy between the pure racers and the suits.

In this murky water we get some mixed messages, with the film either being staunchly about the power of individualism over the machine or possibly the triumph of institutionalised American exceptionalism. The character archetypes are reduced to good suit versus bad suit, the good driver, the bad boy driver (and his wife) and a pair of automotive titans representing corporate power at its top end.

Drilling down into the individual performances, audiences are more likely to find something to hook into. Damon dons a Tommy Lee Jones drawl and numerous Texan-sounding aphorisms (my favourite being “He thought you was just finer than frog fur”) to give him a down-home quality, while Bale is the cockney motor-poet with the heart of gold. Both are excellent in their respective roles, pushing through some of the more hockey dialogue to give gravitas to their characters. It’s unfortunate the same can’t be said for the one significant female character: Caitriona Balfe as Miles’ wife Mollie, who alternates between Mary Sue and abruptly irrational.

The final Le Mans sequence keeps the pace and is where the film (and frequent Mangold collaborator, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael) really soars. In between the agitated Italian hand-gestures and the alternately infuriated/bemused looking executives, the closed circuit machinations of a race in perpetual motion makes for a gripping final stretch.

The kicker comes in a brief epilogue that mostly stays true to the post-Le Mans 1966 timelines but may leave some audiences with a bitter taste in their mouths. Yet this is a solid but of heroic sports cinema with all the requisite villains and heroes. Who wears the white helmets will all depend on which side of the corporate fence you’re viewing this.

2019 | US | DIRECTOR: James Mangold | WRITERS: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller | CAST: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Caitriona Balfe, Jon Bernthal, Tracy Letts, Josh Lucas | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 152 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 November 2019 (AUS)

November 14, 2019
Review: Terminator: Dark Fate

From the opening scenes, lifted wholesale from 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, director Tim Miller’s TERMINATOR: DARK FATE wants you to remember the franchise’s past. Well, specific parts of it at least.

Ignoring the sequels created between 2003 and 2015, screenwriters David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray – working from a story co-credited to series progenitor James Cameron – literally blasts the past in the opening sequences and rewrite the franchise history. It’s now 2020 and Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a cybernetically enhanced human from the future, arrives to protect Daniella “Dani” Ramos (Natalia Reyes) from a newly arrived Rev-9 model terminator (Diego Luna).

It’s barely a compliment to say that this is easily the best sequel since T2, as the quality has rapidly declined across the three alternative timeline sequels. The action sequences are about as generic as they come, but they are relentless and comfortably familiar, which is a credo that could easily apply to the whole film. In terms of pure spectacle, there’s several set-pieces – including a highway sequence that reintroduces Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) – that should get the adrenal glands working in all but the most jaded viewers.

Yet it all still feels like a missed opportunity. The events of the opening sequence conclusive hit the reset button on the franchise, giving Miller and his crew a chance to take the film’s own advice and make its own fate. Instead they play it safe with a soft relaunch and what is ostensibly a remake of T2, right down to the “liquid metal” meanie. SkyNet may have been stopped, but the future feels like history repeating.

Even so, it’s great to see two-thirds of the original cast back together again, with Hamilton ultimately reuniting with Arnold Schwarzenegger for the final showdown. Playing a character known simply as Carl, it’s a strange and fun new direction for the ageing actor. You’ve never heard a T-800 discussing drapery before, have you? In fact, there should be a whole Twin Peaks style spin-off dedicated to this version of Arnie’s famous role.

In the end it’s a fun ride that plays with the current political environment, but one that feels entirely inconsequential as soon as you’ve stepped out of the cinema. It’s the third chapter in a story that never needed a sequel, even if the action-loving world is forever grateful for having T2 in our lives. While it sets us up for more films, this is as good a way as any to bring some closure to at least two characters, and it might be best to let sleeping cyborgs lie.

2019 | US | DIRECTOR: Tim Miller | WRITERS: David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Billy Ray| CAST: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, Diego Boneta | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 30 October 2019 (AUS)

November 1, 2019
Review: Ready or Not

Every now and then a film comes along that just makes you smile. Sometimes it’s a film that speaks to the heart of your human condition. At other times, it’s because it’s gently charming. READY OR NOT is neither of those things, but damn if I didn’t have a grin on my face for most of this throwback splatterfest.

After opening on a violent parlour game in a stately manor, we jump forward 30 years to the pending nuptials of Grace (Samara Weaving) to Daniel Le Domas (Adam Brody), one of the presumptive heirs to the Le Domas gaming dominion. Given a snobbish reception, she soon discovers that it’s tradition to play a random game at midnight to welcome her into the family. Drawing a card labelled “hide and seek,” all hell breaks loose when the bloody reality of the rules becomes apparent.

While it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’ve seen this all before, READY OR NOT delights in shocking us with a series of gory demises once the dangerous game begins. There’s a running gag of maidservants being dispatched perfunctorily, and the repetition doesn’t make it any less funny. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett find normalcy in the incredulity of the situation, making this a grand bit of gore in the tradition of Evil Dead.

If The Babysitter and Mayhem weren’t proof enough, Samara Weaving was made for this kind of star vehicle. From panicked to kick-ass to being totally over the family’s shit, it’s a perfect vessel to show off her comedy chops and emotional range. Of course, the ghoulishly great family around her sells the historic horror, especially the gleefully grim Nicky Guadagni, who looks set to murder us all with her piercing gazes.

You may walk out of the cinema with the same expression as the lead characters: shellshocked, wearied, and covered in crimson goo. Yet it’s hard to imagine that you haven’t had a ball along the way, inadvertently cheering on every deadly dispatch while wondering how the stakes will next be raised. So kick off your wedding hells, replace them with some comfortable footwear, and settle in for the ride. READY OR NOT has all the hallmarks of a cult classic in the making.

2019 | US | DIRECTOR: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett | WRITERS: Guy Busick, R. Christopher Murphy| CAST: Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O’Brien, Henry Czerny, Andie MacDowell | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 25 October 2019 (AUS)

October 27, 2019
Review: Ad Astra

There is a sub-sub-genre of slow space cinema that has rolled out at a measured pace over the decades. From 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris through to Gravity and Interstellar, man has been slipping the surly bonds of Earth and touching the face of something otherworldly. Director James Gray’s AD ASTRA follows in this tradition, mixing ennui with exploration.

At some point in the not-too-distant future of humanity, evidenced by a giant space antenna in the opening scenes, our Solar System is struck by a series of threatening power surges. Cool-as-a-cucumber astronaut Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) is tasked with journeying into deep space to stop the pioneering astronaut that Space Command believes is responsible: Roy’s father, H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones).

From the moment Pitt starts plummeting towards Earth in the opening scenes, Gray ensures that this is one of the more “realistic” space films of recent memory. Eschewing the clean Star Trek future, or the gothic space trucker leanings of Alien, the production design team aim for something more timeless here. Until we see the commercialisation of the Moon’s colonies – a more sanitised version of Paul Verhoeven’s Total Recall – this could be set in any time or place.

Gray steadily builds on this aesthetic by adding in logical escalation points. Space travel is not simply a warp speed away from one’s destination: Pitt’s character must fly commercially to the Moon, avoid space pirates (in a brilliant, almost silent, chase sequence), hitch a ride to Mars, before stowing away to his final destination. There’s a wonderfully tense scene that uses nightmare logic: Pitt runs towards his destination, but due to the gravity and his suit, his steps don’t seem to be getting him any closer to the ship.

Yet this is all there to sell the more intimate personal drama. Despite the sci-fi shopfront, this is a character piece about a man incapable of intimacy thanks to his unresolved issues with his father. Pitt’s unemotional facade borders on the robotic, but the emotion tap bursts at the right moment. A (inter)stellar cast includes Donald Sutherland in a small but crucial role. The very male-focused script sees a barely present Liv Tyler as a character who exists largely in memory, while the formidable Ruth Negga turns up for a few lines of exposition in a wasted opportunity.

Which might be where some people land on AD ASTRA. While it follows the trend of current space cinema, landing somewhere between The Martian and Interstellar, it may leave some viewers out in the cold. Even so, the ultimate resolution is an uplifting one, and perhaps an unexpected one given the bleak outlook of the rest of the film. It’s a reminder that while our terrestrial interests may be mired in commerce and war, there’s a great big beautiful universe just outside the borders of our big blue marble. Plus: there’s also space monkeys.

2019 | US | DIRECTOR: James Gray | WRITERS: James Gray and Ethan Gross | CAST: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, Donald Sutherland | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 19 September 2019 (AUS)

September 22, 2019
Review: Stuber

Not since Mac & Me has a corporate identity been so integral to the plot of a major motion picture. Inspired by the gig economy, and the company that’s synonymous with ride sharing, STUBER puts the brand right in the title. Yet Michael Dowse’s film doesn’t have any official sponsorship, which might be a good thing for the global monolith.

Stu (Kumail Nanjiani) is a hapless sporting goods employee who drives an Uber between shifts and is nicked named “Stuber” by his douchey boss (Jimmy Tatro). When grizzled LA cop Vic (Dave Bautista) is temporarily vision impaired, he recruits Stu to drive him around the city while he hunts for the terrorist.

Tripper Clancy’s screenplay is one of those things that requires an immediate suspension of disbelief. You have to accept that Vic’s shocking eyesight hasn’t hindered the performance of his police duties before now. You must submit to the idea that Stu’s desperation to get a 5-star rating outweighs his own sense of self preservation.

There’s the very clear sense that STUBER is a film that started its journey without the GPS on. Filled with random music choices and episodic sequences through the comedy version of LA’s underworld, Clancy’s script quickly falls back on reliable tropes, including a running gag about electric cars, and more than one stereotype. As one friend put it, “Thanks for the casual homophobia in 2019.”

STUBER ultimately relies on the twin personalities of Nanjiani and Bautista to carry this film. With stronger material, the duo would have made a killer team, but they feel just as lost in the material as the audience is bound to be. As it stands, the comedy often grinds to a halt when the action starts and vice versa. On the few occasions when they mix the two together, such as an extended fight between the leads in a sporting goods store, it feels shoehorned in from another film entirely.

There’s some top-notch talent in this film, not least of which are Karen Gillen and Mira Sorvino, who are barely given any screen time despite their importance to the overarching plot. Similarly, the comedic excellence of Betty Gilpin (Glow) is squandered on being nothing more than Stu’s romantic goal.

A throwback to the broad buddy comedies of the 80s and 90s, it’s only the ride share app of the title that really betrays this as a 21st century film. In all other respects, this is exactly the kind of film that you would see in a pre-show VHS trailer and pick up in a bundle deal at the video store. Also: if there’s a sequel, they are definitely calling it S2ber.

2019 | US | DIR: Michael Dowse | WRITER: Tripper Clancy| CAST: Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan | DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox (AUS) | RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11 July 2019 (AUS)

July 10, 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: Alita: Battle Angel

You couldn’t find two filmmakers who sit at polar opposites more than James Cameron and Robert Rodriguez. Cameron, one of the Master of Modern blockbuster filmmaking, goes for long stretches between films and has quietly built an empire. Rodriguez, on the other hand, still makes his movies with the same intensity of the indie filmmaker who crafted excitement on a shoestring budget. ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL represents the coming together of those minds and the results are a spectacular but uneven visual effects marvel.

Based on the manga Gunnm by Yukito Kishiro, we are introduced to the post-disaster world of 2563 as Dr. Ido (Christoph Waltz) digs through the scrapheap. There he finds the mostly intact remains of a young cyborg girl that he soon dubs Alita (Rosa Salazhar). After she befriends the teenage Hugo (Keean Johnson), Alita begins to learn things about her past, Ido’s true calling, and the connection with enigmatic Vector (Mahershala Ali) and Chiren (Jennifer Connelly), Ido’s ex-wife.

ALITA is an ambitious film. When Rodriguez joined the production, he reportedly condensed Cameron’s 186-page shooting script and 600 pages of notes into something more manageable. Cameron and co-writer Laeta Kalogridis’ script definitely bites off a lot more than it can possibly chew through in the final 2-hour edit, pinging from moment to moment in an episodic and sometimes disjointed fashion.

It’s a good thing that those individual sequences are pure cinema, baiting the audience with the principal of escalation. A neighbourhood game of ‘Motorball’ – a hybrid of basketball and a roller derby – is a dynamic and fluid showcase for the titular character’s CG, one that pays off in the climactic final act. When the fighting starts, the CG-heavy violence employs every inch of the lessons Rodriguez learned on El Mariachi through to Sin City, rarely relying on the spectacle to replace thoughtful choreography.

It’s a hell of spectacle though. Given that Cameron’s Avatar popularised modern 3D, this is one of those rare instances where it adds layers to the world-building. Crowded city streets are layered with the same amount of detail Cameron put into the crockery choices on Titanic, and this extends to every scene in the film. Then there’s Alita herself, one of the most advance combinations of motion capture and CG the screen has ever seen, exaggerating her facial features just enough to avoid the uncanny valley. We’re a long way on from Jar Jar Binks (who turns 20 this year!)

So, it’s disappointing that the second and third acts of the film get a little muddled, trudging through these episodes rather than the possibilities of the handsome environment. What’s most disturbing is the way the narrative rapidly descends into a teenage robotic sex toy fantasy. Following her characterisation as someone who will “do whatever you want for you,” Alita’s body is literally replaced with something more adult and “more touch sensitive.” It gets a little icky when you consider that actor Johnson has been crafted as Rodriguez’s avatar, complete with bandana and leather jacket.

The rest of the cast don’t get nearly as much attention. Ido’s backstory is sputtered out when needed, while Connelly and Ali mostly get to stand around looking alternatively cool and annoyed. There’s some serious talent here, but the bulk of the heavy lifting is done by Salazar. It would have been nice, for example, to give the accomplished Idara Victor more than three or four perfunctory lines in the whole film.

If ALITA is a success, and the sequels roll out like so many Motorballs, then we make reflect on this film as an accomplished first act in a large story. After all, it has over 9 volumes of manga and other stories to pull on. The late reveal of the actor portraying the uber villain certainly indicates there’s bigger plans for this battle angel. Despite the weaknesses in story structure, this is a fun ride if you’re willing to switch your own brain circuits off for a few hours.

2019 | US| DIR: Robert Rodriguez | WRITERS: James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis (based on the manga by Yukito Kishiro)| CAST: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein, Jackie Earle Haley, Keean Johnson | RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes | DISTRIBUTOR: 20 Century Fox (AUS) | RELEASE DATE: 14 February 2019 (AUS)

February 16, 2019
Review: The Kid Who Would Be King

The Arthurian legend just lends itself to remixing. Indeed, the modern version that forms the basis of our stories comes from Sir Thomas Malory’s romanticised Le Morte d’Arthur in the 15th century – some 500 years after the first datable mention of King Arthur. From musicals to motorbikes, there’s few cultural touchstones that haven’t been influenced by the once and future king.

Writer/director Joe Cornish, who served up the brilliant Attack the Block back in 2011, brings the myth the contemporary Britain with a primarily pre-teen set of characters. It’s the kind of high-concept adventure that dominated the box office in the 1980s: bullied kid Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) suddenly has his life flipped and turned upsidedown when he pulls Excalibur from a concrete block at a building site.

Cornish’s script is a refreshing change of pace from overcomplicated exposition. Alex is the inheritor of the sword, he finds the sword without much preamble, he goes on a quest to stop the evil Morgan Le Fey (Rebecca Ferguson), who threatens to chew all of the Earth’s scenery apparently. Yet that same matter-of-factness keeps the film on rails, at at 120 minutes it’s a little sluggish in the middle.

In the wrong hands, the film would be interpreted as a return to British national values. After all, these kids answer the call by doing a spot of National Service, wot wot. Released in the midst of a failed vote on Brexit, Cornish is unapologetic in his politics but it’s an anti-Brexit message he’s delivering, preaching unity and and a call for fresh values at every turn.

Case in point is the ragtag group Alex surrounds himself with. Best friend Bedders (Dean Chaumoo), and bullies Lance (The Dark Tower‘s Tom Taylor) and Kaye (Rhianna Doris) must ultimately learn to put aside their differences if the country is to survive. It’s a wonderfully charming lesson for younger audiences, capably delivered by Merlin (played respectively by Angus Imrie and Patrick Stewart). Sir Pat’s wig work is exceptional by the way.

As the film eventually gets around to its schoolyard battlefield conclusion, in the form of the obligatory CG slugfest, Cornish again reminds us that “A land is only as good as it’s leaders.” It may not be subtle, but it’s a timely message for a younger generation, and one that has a bit of fun in the delivery.

2019 | UK| DIR: Joe Cornish | WRITERS: Joe Cornish| CAST: Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Tom Taylor, Rebecca Ferguson, Patrick Stewart | RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes | DISTRIBUTOR: 20 Century Fox (AUS) | RELEASE DATE: 17 January 2019 (AUS)

January 17, 2019