Tag: Universal Pictures

Review: Dune – Part Two

Despite a long-held belief that Dune was unfilmable, Denis Villeneuve proved quite the opposite in 2021. It wasn’t just that previous filmmakers hadn’t understood the premise or had access to the right level of special effects, they perhaps didn’t have the capacity to give the material breathing space. With DUNE: PART TWO, Villeneuve defies the old adage to prove that very good things come in quite large packages.

Picking up shortly after the events of the first part, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) survives the Harkonnen attack, allying himself with the Fremen of Arrakis to bring down the invaders. Thanks to the machinations of his mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), Freman leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) believes Paul and Jessica have been sent to bring about a prophecy. However, warrior – and Paul’s love interest – Chani (Zendaya) sees the prophecy as another tool of oppression.

Glossu Rabban Harkonnen (Dave Bautista), nephew of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård), fails to control the spice production and destroy the last of the free. So, the Baron sends his other nephew Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler) to finish the job. From afar, Princess Irulan Corrino (Florence Pugh), the Emperor’s (Christopher Walken) daughter, is convinced of Paul’s survival and prepares her own plans.

From the moment a voice booms “Power over spice is power over all”, Villeneuve immerses audiences completely in his version of this world. There’s no recaps or pandering to an audience with short memories: we’re straight into the desert, running skirmishes against Harkonnen and tripping out on the holy waters of worm juice. This is pure cinematic storytelling of the highest order.

Yet even with the long running time – at almost three hours, it comes in slightly longer than the first half – there are moments that feel artificially compressed. At one point, there’s a massive build-up to Paul’s trek across the desert, as though it will be his ultimate test. Then it’s kind of over, and he’s in a relationship with Chani. As with Zendaya’s moments in the first film, Pugh feels sandwiched in to establish something that’s not wholly explored here.

Which is not to diminish the film’s many accomplishments. The intricacies of building not just a narrative but an entire mythology are daunting for any storyteller. Bringing Herbert’s vision to screen has vexed many filmmakers before Villeneuve, and will no doubt do so again in the next wave of remakes and reimaginings. Still, the boldness of a film that challenges the very foundations of prophecy, religion and holy wars will not be lost on viewers in 2024.

On a purely audiovisual level, it’s still difficult to say where the practical ends and digital begins. Sure, a giant skull-shaped tank in the middle of a desert isn’t something that exists, but there are moments where it feels just as much art documentary as wholly created. As complex as the story remains, without quite the same level of world building needed, Villeneuve allows himself some visual indulgences. During an arena sequence at House Harkonnen, for example, almost all colour drops from the picture to give audiences a laser focus on the moment. At other times, the climactic moments of worms crashing on the scene are just cool.

It’s no secret that Villeneuve is planning Dune: Messiah to complete the cinematic trilogy, so we are ultimately left with a story just beginning. Indeed, taken by itself it’s still half a film and must be considered together with Dune at the very least. At the end of the day, DUNE (in its totality) has elevated the notion of what a modern blockbuster can be. If cinema as we know it is prophesied to die out, it’s now up to audiences to read the right signs and demand more like it lest we face an entertainment landscape as barren as Arrakis.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Denis Villeneuve | WRITER: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts | CAST: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Souheila Yacoub, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (US) | RUNNING TIME: 165 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 28 February 2024 (Australia)

March 10, 2024
Review: Argylle

Earlier this year, a novel by the name of Argylle innocuously dropped on unsuspecting readers. Ostensibly by Elly Conway, the in-universe hero of Matthew Vaughn’s film ARGYLLE, the Internet immediately set about speculating who actually wrote it. With names like Taylor Swift thrown into the mix, the debate became more interesting than anything in the book. Or, as it turns out, the movie.

Already established as a kinetic action director – with a series of Kick-Ass, Kingsman and X-Men films under his belt – Vaughn wastes little time throwing viewers into the fray. Aubrey Argylle (Henry Cavill) cavorts around in Greece with partner Wyatt (John Cena), but it turns out that they are just characters in Conway’s (Bryan Dallas Howard) bestselling books. Or are they?

When spy Aidan (Sam Rockwell) arrives and tells Elly that her books are a little too close to the truth, the shy author and her cat are whisked off on a global adventure. Pursued by an evil syndicate led by Ritter (Bryan Cranston), every new encounter gets her a little closer to reality.

ARGYLLE sets itself up as a fun action adventure filled with dancing, action and often dancing and action together. Yet beyond these opening scenes, and all known publicity, the film is a very different beast. Which, for a time at least, is a very good thing. A sequence set on a train – in which Rockwell fights off a horde of baddies – is a slick, albeit long-winded, affair.

Which might just be a good summary of the film. Swinging from one locale to the next, Jason Fuchs’ script is an often exhausting series of encounters. Borrowing liberally from prominent spy thrillers (think The Bourne Identity through to The Winter Soldier and pretty much every spy film in between), Fuchs and Vaughn aren’t interested in the bigger picture so much as the moment-to-moment gratification. It scarcely matters that it’s continually revealing things that force us to throw out everything we know so far, contradictorily dragging its feet and constantly moving through the back half of a bloated runtime.

This kitchen sink approach, reportedly backed by a $200 million budget, is aggressively reliant on CG even in otherwise unextraordinary location shots. There’s an especially egregious sequence on a rooftop in London, where a cringeworthy digital kitty is thrown from a rooftop. There’s no attempt to even hide the clear green screen work that follows. So, while much has been made over the last year about the poor conditions that digital artists are forced to work under – a plight highlighted by 2023 films The Flash and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – it seems little of that big budget has gone to supporting them.

The film’s climax continues the descent down the digital rabbit hole. There’s a staggeringly bad series of moments, from ice skating on oil to more CG cat work. Yet the climactic action sequence bottoms out with a piece shrouded in colourful smoke bombs, ones that not only obfuscate and muddle the action but highlight how artificial it all looks. (Indeed, the aesthetic is more phone commercial than action film at this point).

Much was made in the lead-up to the film about keeping its secrets, but the film never gives us any worth remembering beyond a scene or two. (Indeed, a central ‘secret’ was revealed in the publicity over three years ago). Fuchs and Vaughn compound matters further with a confusing ending that appears to set up in-universe crossovers and follow-ups in a series of stingers that seem almost smugly proud of their own impenetrable illogic. So, as the first major studio release of 2024, ARGYLLE sets an incredibly low bar for entry.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Matthew Vaughn | WRITERS: Jason Fuchs | CAST: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures, Apple Original Films | RUNNING TIME: 139 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1 February 2024 (Australia), 2 February 2024 (USA)

February 2, 2024
Review: Blue Beetle

Blue Beetle is one of those deep dive comic book characters that’s either really important to you or entirely inconsequential. It all depends on when you started reading comics. For some, he’s an integral part of comic history, and the inspiration for Watchmen’s Nite Owls. There’s even a period in the 80s when Beetle, along with regular partner Booster Gold, were part of a joke era of the Justice League International.

For the character’s live action film debut, DC has wisely chosen to focus on the more recent Jaime Reyes iteration. This immediately provides the film with a point of difference from the early-to-mid-century, whitebread origins of the majority of the canon. Here Jaime (Xolo Maridueña) returns home to Palmera City from Gotham Law University, the first of his family to earn a degree, but finds that his family faces eviction thanks to the Kord Industries developments.

That company’s ruthless CEO Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon) has recently acquired a mystical scarab she hopes to harness for her One Man Army Corps (OMAC) project. Yet when rebellious niece Jenny Kord (Bruna Marquezine) steals the scarab to help protect her father’s legacy, the powers of the object are unlocked – and naturally latch onto Jaime.

Originally slated for release on Warner’s (HBO) Max streaming service, BLUE BEETLE occasionally betrays its lower budget origins. The neon future stylings of the fictional Palmera City, replacing the comic book setting of El Paso, look wholly artificial. Director Ángel Manuel Soto and cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski shoot most scenes in the most functional manner possible.

Yet when the film splashes out into some key action sequences, mostly involving fight sequences with henchman Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo), we do see where some of the money went. Like the similarly colour-themed Green Lantern, this Blue Beetle’s powers can manifest anything he imagines. This not only leads to some fun and fancy fights, but injects a healthy sense of fun into the plotting.

A lot of that feeling also comes from the family focus. Unlike most hero stories, where the brooding lead tries to walk a secret solo path, here the tight-knit family that surrounds the very likeable Jaime is filled with genuine character. From Adriana Barraza as the wise Nana with a past to the over-the-top George Lopez as the anarchistic uncle Rudy, these are not just background filler characters but essential parts of the Blue Beetle story. As a result, BLUE BEETLE does more for representation in single scenes than entire cinematic universes have done in dozens of films. Or as one Latino character puts it, “This time we get our own hero.”

Yes, it all comes down to a familiar clash of CG dolls with identical powers, but damn if it isn’t a lot of fun getting there. Although the film is ultimately left stranded in the limbo between Multiverses, neither referencing the DCEU nor the future of the franchise, there are also Easter eggs galore for the comic book faithful. With the door left wide open for the future of the DCU, here’s hoping that this isn’t the last we see of Jaime Reyes.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Ángel Manuel Soto | WRITERS: Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer (Based on the DC Comics characters created by Keith Giffen, John Rogers and Cully Hamner) | CAST: Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, George Lopez | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. (USA) | RUNNING TIME: 128 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 September 2023 (AUS), 18 August 2023 (USA)

September 15, 2023
Review: Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s epic biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb”, arrives with a moment of quiet contemplation. It’s immediately followed by a literally explosive assault on the senses, coupled with textual reference to Prometheus. In these few moments, Nolan signals how he intends to go on, framing a life like the series of chain reactions that haunt its subject.

Given the vein of quantum mechanics that runs through both OPPENHEIMER the movie and the man, it makes sense that writer/director Nolan tells this story in a nonlinear fashion. As such, we do not start at the beginning, as Nolan takes us back and forth between a private ‘trial’ of Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), his complicated and hostile relationship with Atomic Energy Commission chair Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.), and the development of the first atomic bomb.

If it already sounds mildly obfuscating, it’s because it is – and quite deliberately so. After all, it’s Nolan’s brand at this point. On one hand, there’s a straight line from Oppenheimer’s early days – where he is “troubled by visions of a hidden universe” – through to the establishment of his physics career, the Manhattan Project, the development of the bomb, and the furor over his connections to communism after the War.

Almost like a series of jump scares, Oppenheimer’s glimpses of that hidden universe make animalistic leaps at the audience. These are moments that blast us with the sound and fury of the inevitable mushroom cloud. It’s a testament to the practical and in-camera work of visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson (who won the Academy Award for his work with Nolan on Tenet) — not to mention the thunderous sound design — that you can virtually feel the heat emanating from the screen.

This all culminates in the first test detonation in New Mexico. Following a literal ticking time bomb motif, Ludwig Göransson’s enveloping score mixes with the unnerving twitch of a Geiger counter as the fateful moments approach. The cacophony of noise goes chillingly silent during the Vishnu moment: as Oppenheimer becomes Death, destroyer of worlds, there is an odd calm. The tangible blast that follows is both literal and political.

Nolan doesn’t conveniently end his film there. After all, the audience knows how this all turns out for the nuclear arms race. Nolan traces Oppenheimer’s attempts to halt the development of the H-Bomb and nuclear proliferation, a public stance that saw him pilloried as a communist. For the more chronological recent sequences, Nolan and regular cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema take a literal black and white approach, one that’s almost documentary in nature. This isn’t always as dramatically successful as the first two thirds of this gargantuan story, but it’s never anything less than fascinating.

Murphy doesn’t so much play Oppenheimer as embody him. When he dons the familiar hat and pipe, it’s as much a ritualistic act of putting on a costume as one of Nolan’s superheroes. Given that we are constantly reminded of Oppenheimer’s genius, including his relationship with Einstein (Tom Conti), both of his main antagonists (and sort of collaborators) are bureaucrats. During the war, it’s Army man Leslie Groves, played by Matt Damon in his most confident performance in some time, that pushes at Oppenheimer from a place of respect. Strauss is his antithesis, taking any minor slight as a declaration of war.

The two women depicted in this environment – Oppenheimer’s lover Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) and his wife Kitty (Emily Blunt) – fare less successfully. Both have stories that feel biopic worthy in their own right, although at various points both feel like supporting objects in Nolan’s hands. Only Blunt really has a strong agency in the final moments of the trial, and is perhaps the one voice in the narrative that can confidently tell the lead to pull himself together.

OPPENHEIMER isn’t a film you watch but one you experience. It may not all work, with those leaps and bounds backwards and forwards through time potentially requiring a few watches to get one’s head around, but that scarcely matters. As with Oppenheimer’s Manhattan Project, Nolan has built his opus in the middle of the cinematic desert and it’s up to us to take it from there. Just like its subject, it may take us years to fully appreciate the impact of its detonation.

2023 | USA/UK | DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan | WRITERS: Christopher Nolan | CAST: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 180 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July 2023 (AUS), 21 July 2023 (US/UK)

July 20, 2023
Review: Barbie

The road to the Barbie movie, at least for most punters, has taken us on a range of reactions as diverse as the titular doll’s career. What began as a curiosity, thanks largely to the presence of indie monarchs Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach, rapidly gave way to mega hype, followed by acknowledgement of the perfect casting, then some fatigue at the bombardment of marketing, and ultimately back to genuine curiosity again.

As BARBIE is finally launched on very suspecting audiences, there was still a sense that we didn’t know precisely what to expect in the way of a story. After all, even with the mammoth advertising budget, the trailers told us very little beyond it being a spin on The LEGO Movie’s basic premise — with a splash of the good old-fashioned fish-out-of-water motif.

Which is exactly where Gerwig’s film kicks off. When we meet the Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie), the Narrator (Helen Mirren) reliably tells us Barbieland is a place where all the women have come together to make life better for each other. People have their lots in life, and everything is awesome every day. Except Stereotypical Barbie can’t escape impending thoughts of mortality and (shock horror) cellulite.

So begins her journey to the Real World, to heal the rift by meeting the mother and daughter (America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt respectively) whose emotions may be impacting Barbie’s psyche. Ken (Ryan Gosling) hitches a ride in the back seat, learning about the patriarchy and horses in the process. Meanwhile, the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell) tries to contain the escape of their fictional dolls into the real world.

BARBIE the movie is like the doll of the same name. It takes a scattergun approach to its themes, trying them on like so many outfits. As an audience member, it’s almost like watching the storyboarding process in real time. As a visual feast, Gerwig’s film works best when it skewers the plastic world, emulating the effortless imagination of play, and replicating details right down to the decals in the fridges. Here it has broad appeal to younger viewers while allowing knowing audiences in on the joke.

Of course, we saw all that in the trailer, and it takes a while for the film to really get beyond that schtick. Indeed, there’s a whole section in the middle where it feels like it’s just people going back and forth between the Real World and Barbieland. Ferrell’s character feels most superfluous at this point, almost as if he’s only there because Mattel corporate wanted to flex control with a literal representation on screen.

When the film shifts gears late in the third act, centered on an electrifying speech from Ferrera about the impossible standards women are held to, we finally get to the heart of Gerwig and Baumbach’s pitch. It’s a lightning rod moment, and that it came from a major studio picture sponsored by a toy company makes it all the more powerful. Yet this too is almost immediately enveloped by the (admittedly impressive) dance sequences, warring Kens, and last wave of cameos. Like the Kens and Barbies, here is a film tonally at war with itself in its last minutes. This is, after all, still a branding exercise.

Robbie and Gosling are unquestionably perfectly cast as the visual representations of Stereotypical Barbie and Ken, but with the knowing sense of humour to make the self-referential material work. Everyone from Simu Liu to Kate McKinnon, Rob Brydon, Issa Rae, and even Rhea Perlman make for some fun Easter egg spotting. While Michael Cera might play to type as Ken’s buddy Allan, he gets some of the best one-liners as well.

Which cannot be emphasised enough: BARBIE is smart and funny. It’s a sharp take down of the binary paradigm, referencing everything from the Snyder Cut to men who make their partners watch The Godfather. It’s as though Gerwig and Baumbach have quietly absorbed all of the toxic internet behaviours and reflected them back to us. If it’s not clear enough, there’s literally a scene where Mattel executives try to put Barbie back in her box.

Still, it’s really hard to say exactly who the audience for BARBIE might be. If you’re looking for a brightly coloured version of the character coming to life in the real world, you’ll get that – for a time. If you want a timely exploration of toxic masculinity, that’s there too. Younger audiences will enjoy some of the humour, but may tune out for the speeches. Older audiences will wait through two acts of capering before they get to the meat of the piece.

The messaging might ultimately be a positive one, that anyone can be either anything they want, or nothing at all – and that it’s okay either way. Yet in trying to be everything to everyone, it’s a lesson the film itself might have failed to learn. Nevertheless, it’s very vivid acknowledgement that we’re all human, trying to get through this thing called life one day at a time.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Greta Gerwig | WRITERS: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach | CAST: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (US) | RUNNING TIME: 114 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 July 2023 (AUS), 21 July 2023 (US)

July 19, 2023
Review: Fast X

Sometimes we need a reminder that these films used to be about boosting DVD players in Los Angeles. In FAST X, the eleventh series outing since the 2001 kick-off, director Louis Leterrier, along with screenwriters Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin, take pains to reiterate this for the audience. Or just let us know they are in on the insanity of it all.

Indeed, after a cold open that takes us back to the glorious vault chase sequence of Fast Five in Rio de Janeiro, it’s LA where we set our scene. Dom (Vin Diesel) and his family are settling into suburban bliss, but no quicker than you can say “and introducing Rita Moreno as abuelita” then they are off on another adventure for the Agency.

Yet all are deceived. Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) seeks revenge for the death of his father in Rio, and is manipulating the family to cause maximum damage. Separated and disgraced, it’s a fight for survival, with a fair bit of driving thrown in for good measure.

Let’s be honest: at this point you’re either all in or it’s not your cup of tea. With our critical radars set to off, what we really want to see is some fast-driving action, some stuff blowing up, and impossible stunts. Given that nobody seems to be able to die in these movies, the stakes are never terribly high, meaning we can happily watch the destruction of a city safe in the knowledge it’s all in the name of our immediate gratification.

Pinging from location to location, the film clocks up its frequent flyer points via splashy title cards for Naples, London, Rio de Janeiro, Portugal, and even Antarctica – sometimes all in the space of ten minutes. The centrepiece sequence is a massive chase across the streets of Rome, with the McGuffin of a large rolling bomb causing chaos and thrills in equal measure. Acting as a microcosm for the series as a whole, and consciously referencing previous films, it’s big and dumb but unquestionably fun.

Yes, it’s very much sturm und drang, but it’s held together by one of the best villains to date. Momoa, dressed to the nines in lavender, laughs maniacally as he takes repeated punches to the face. As an agent of chaos, he’s every bit a comic book arch-nemesis, and precisely the antidote to the stone-faced seriousness of Diesel. (A friend described him as The Joker to Diesel’s Batman, and it’s hard to unsee that – even if they’ll always be Aquaman and Groot). That said, essays could be written on the whether this queer coded character is problematic as a villain.

He’s not the only recognisable face, of course. There are cameos from just about everyone who ever set foot on Universal’s backlot, and it scarcely seems to matter whether they are canonically dead in the series. Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Jason Statham, and Charlize Theron are all in the mix. Hell, even Australian news reporter There’s so many people, in fact, that it sometimes feels like they’re all operating in separate films. So, you know we’re all waiting for Diesel to yell ‘Family! Assemble’ at some point.

That said, if you’re expecting any kind of resolution, or family-focused barbeque time, to round out this entry then you can forget it. It’s probably no spoiler at this stage in the release cycle to say that this is Part 1 of a bigger story. Which is just fine and dandy with us. Even if we ultimately get diminishing returns on this series, it’s still a hell of a ride every time.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: Louis Leterrier | WRITERS: Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin | CAST: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Alan Ritchson, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Rita Moreno, Jason Statham, Jason Momoa, Charlize Theron | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 141 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 19 May 2023 (AUS), 5 May 2023 (USA)

May 31, 2023
Review: Shazam – Fury of the Gods

It’s been four years since the joyful Shazam hit cinemas, and in many ways it feels as though the world has moved on since then. With the DC Extended Universe all but abandoned by its parent company, David F. Sandberg’s sequel is very much the abandoned child of a neglected franchise. Hell, even some of the kids are old enough to play adult versions of themselves now.

So, SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS wastes little time in establishing its basic setup. Old world gods Hespera (Helen Mirren) and Kalypso (Lucy Liu) have returned to claim the magical staff that gave Billy (Zachary Levi/Asher Angel) and his adoptive family their powers in the first film. They don’t want to stop there, of course: some of these gods want to reclaim the world.

It couldn’t come at a worse time. Billy is feeling some serious imposter syndrome. Rejected by his city, and holding on too tight to a family he’s afraid of losing, even visions of the Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) are barely enough to hold it all together.

As the James Gunn-led DC Universe gets ready to relaunch the hero brand onto the world, SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS feels like an attempt to throw a little bit of everything against the wall and see what sticks. In fact, it quite literally covers the walls of sets with posters and iconography from other studio-owned franchises. After all, this is a sequel that comes saddled with not one but six (or more) heroes and very little time to explore them.

Even the set-ups feel like a mishmash of borrowed ideas from other films. The first set-piece action sequence is a collapsing bridge, the kind we’ve seen fall and down in [checks notes] literally every action film ever. There’s a pinch of Doctor Strange in Anthea’s (Rachel Zegler) powers. There’s a dragon. Terraforming. At one point, the film seems to empty out the archives of Ray Harryhausen’s workshop onto the streets of Philadelphia. Skittles joins E.T.’s Reece’s Pieces in the realm of promotional considerations as plot device. Hell, the back half of the film seems to be borrowed from Under the Dome (or The Simpsons Movie if you prefer).

You know what else it is? Fun. It’s nowhere near as unabashedly joyful as the first outing, and you can see the conscious machinations pedalling furiously behind every laden scene. Yet even if the setups are familiar, the goofy charm of these characters continues to shine through. Riffing on the (name-dropped) Fast and the Furious notion of family, you can’t help but root for these little guys in the face of adversity.

Zegler makes a terrific new addition to the cast, arriving off the back of several critically acclaimed roles. You’ll see all of her character turns coming, but she wears them well. Mirren and Liu feel like they’ve walked straight out of a Power Rangers tribute and into the DCU, but Mirren in particular lends the film some weight. Plus, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Liu ride a CG dragon over the City of Brotherly Love. On the downside, these new additions to an already stacked cast means that the some of the more interesting arcs (such as D. J. Cotrona’s) are given perfunctory resolution.

The film’s technical elements are solid too. While contemporaries have run into a mess of pre-visualised muddiness, SHAZAM’s final major sequence is a reliably old-school city smasher. Filling Philly with overgrown plants and creatures, it briefly gives each of those characters something to do – even if it’s only for 20 minutes or so. The soundtrack, swinging from Bonnie Tyler to remixes of Elvis Presley, is perhaps emblematic of the ‘let’s see what works’ storytelling.

While SHAZAM: FURY OF THE GODS ultimately lands as a mostly self-contained entity, and can be enjoyed whether you’ve seen any previous entries or not. Yet it wouldn’t be a modern event film without pointing other pathways to the future. At the time of writing, we couldn’t possibly comment on how and where they are going. Still, if they maintain the basic DNA of this series, that can’t be a bad thing.

2023 | USA | DIRECTOR: David F. Sandberg | WRITERS: Henry Gayden, Chris Morgan | CAST: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Ross Butler, Meagan Good, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, Helen Mirren | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. (US)| RUNNING TIME: 130 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 16 March 2023 (AUS), 17 March 2023 (USA)

March 16, 2023
Review: M3GAN

From the opening scenes, a faux TV commercial for the in-universe toy company Funki, it’s clear that Blumhouse’s M3GAN has its tongue planted firmly in its silicon cheek. While the basic model of this hostile doll horror is familiar, it’s the campy world-building that will be remembered long after the credits have rolled.

After young Cady (Violet McGraw) loses her parents in a car accident, it falls to her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams) to care for her. Gemma is a roboticist for a large toy company, under pressure to produce a new product for her demanding boss (Ronny Chieng) and has little time for Cady. Gemma’s real passion project is the Model 3 Generative Android (or M3GAN for short).

You know where this is all going right? The lifelike M3GAN requires a human child to pair with, and soon Cady and her new companion are inseparable. Yet M3GAN is designed for two things: to protect Cady at all costs, and to learn and adapt quickly. Nothing could possibly go wrong.

In some ways, we’ve seen this all before. Twilight Zone’s ‘The Living Doll.’ George Romero’s Monkey Shines. Child’s Play. Hell, it was parodied in The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror segment ‘Clown Without Pity.’ Yet screenwriters Akela Cooper (Malignant) and James Wan (The Conjuring) are acutely aware of this. After all, Wan was partly responsible for introducing Annabelle to the world.

So, Gerard Johnstone’s M3GAN dances in with an irreverent attitude that acknowledges all of this. Telegraphing the toy’s sinister turn from the beginning, we spend a lot of our time nervously laughing as the doll placidly watches events unfold with her resting murder face. It’s a matter of when not if, and Johnstone delivers a surprising amount of restraint for what could have easily been an on-rails genre picture. (That said, film was reshot to get down to a PG-13 rating after being deemed too violent).

Which, to be fair, it doesn’t entirely avoid. A couple of deaths into the film, everyone starts to cotton onto the doll being set to evil and reacts predictably. It culminates in the kinds of dumb decisions (mixed with a cocktail of avarice and grief) that makes a counterattack (almost) too late. This is not a spoiler, mind you: this is a formula.

It certainly helps that there are some excellent performances from the two young actors. McGraw is believably grief-stricken and obsessive over her new friend. Amie Donald, who is the child under the silicon mask (voiced by Jenna Davis) , gives the titular character an unnerving physicality. This is especially true of the Tik Tok friendly dances or sudden movements attached to a face shipped directly from the Uncanny Valley.

After taking us through this unnerving ride, M3GAN ultimately lands in safe territory with a wink at the audience. Leaving the door wide open for a sequel (which might confusingly be called M3GAN 2), it ticks off the last of the expected pieces in the modern genre game. Nevertheless, it might play to a formula but it has a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Gerard Johnstone | WRITERS: Akela Cooper, James Wan | CAST: Allison Williams, Jenna Davis, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 12 January 2023 (AUS), 6 January 2023 (USA)

January 12, 2023
Review: Violent Night

As the memes say, there are two people in the world: those who believe Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and those who are wrong. With VIOLENT NIGHT, we no longer have to choose.

When we meet this version of Santa Claus (David Harbour), he’s drowning his sorrows in a Bristol pub. Having forgotten why he started doing it in the first place, he sets off to drunkenly finish his deliveries for what might be the last time.

Meanwhile in Greenwich, Connecticut, estranged couple Jason (Alex Hassell) and Linda (Alexis Louder) take their daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) back home to see their wealthy and tyrannical matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo). However, a paramilitary group led by “Mr. Scrooge” (John Leguizamo) invades the home in search of a vaulted fortune. Santa, stuck there without his reindeer, has to go full John McClane to save the day.

Santa Claus films come in all sorts of flavours. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a mall Santa, a secret Santa, or a traumatised fellow having a silent and deadly night. They are all real to me. So, David Harbour as a kick-ass Santa plays into so many of my wheelhouses that I will opt out of any façade of objectivity right now. In my heart, all Santa films start at five stars.

As the title would imply, VIOLENT NIGHT sits somewhere on the spectrum of Silent Night, Deadly Night to Rare Exports by way of Bad Santa. From an opening sequence in which Santa vomits from his sleigh, it’s clear that director Tommy Wirkola is aiming for a bloody, chaotic, and glorious mess. An action film with the still-beating heart of slasher gore, this Santa eats through the bad guys like a plateful of cookies.

Yet this level of violence manages to avoid a grinchy vibe. It’s all done with such gleeful irreverence that it can scarcely be taken seriously. Whether it’s Harbour swinging a giant hammer, or the almost obligatory use of a woodchipper, this is so over-the-top it’s practically pulled by reindeer. Yet it’s also a film that seems to genuinely love the Christmas season, and is clearly literate in all of the holiday film tropes.

Harbour is perfectly cast as this version of Santa, who screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller have invested with equal parts modern world weariness and old Norse violence. His downbeat Claus is counterbalanced by Brady’s gee-whizery, Leguizamo having a ball gnawing on the scenery, and D’Angelo’s total lack of fucks given.

VIOLENT NIGHT is one of those presents we get to unwrap before Christmas arrives, and one suspects the gift will keep on giving for years to come. A cult favourite in the making, it’s one of those rare instances where a whole lot of random weirdness comes together successfully. Hey, it’s Christmas magic. We don’t really know how it works either.

2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Tommy Wirkola | WRITERS: Pat Casey, Josh Miller | CAST: David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Cam Gigandet, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Edi Patterson, Beverly D’Angelo | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 112 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1 December 2022 (AUS), 2 December 2022 (USA)

December 1, 2022
Review: Black Adam

The DC Extended Universe is at something of a crossroads right now. Following the eventual release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Matt Reeves’ The Batman took a step away from established continuities. Then Discovery, Warner’s new business daddy, dumped Batgirl as a tax write-off. With Wonder Woman 1984 failing to excite audiences or critics, it’s been left to the historically second tier characters of Aquaman and Shazam to bring some light back to this comic book world.

Black Adam emerges from the pages of the latter, traditionally being a foil and anti-hero to Shazam’s misfit family of heroes. In director Jaume Collet-Serra’s adaptation, his story begins in the fictional kingdom of Kahndaq in 2600 BCE. A tyrannical ruler makes the citizens mine for the rare Eternium in the hopes he can craft a mystical crown. When a rebellious child stands up to his oppressors, the wizards of Shazam save him to become their champion, Teth-Adam.

By the time the story proper picks up, the rest of the backstory has become legend. Modern day Kahndaq is under the thumb of the criminal organisation Intergang. Multiple parties are in search of the ancient crown, including the wanted Adrianna Tomaz (Sarah Shahi) and her family. The quest results in the unleashing of the destructive Teth-Adam (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) on the modern world, although his motivations are now ambiguous. Suicide Squad’s Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) activates the Justice Society to take him down, including Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo).

BLACK ADAM is, to put it bluntly, chaos on wheels. Swinging from scenes that are thuggish smash and grabs to other high-octane set pieces, it leaves very few moments for reflection in its two-hour running time. The many tonal shifts are exacerbated by a soundtrack that pings about from the Smashing Pumpkins through The Rolling Stones, Ennio Morricone, Kanye West and Player’s ‘Baby Come Back’ (used twice!) Lorne Balfe’s score is competent, but has no strong motifs to distinguish it. Mind you, none of this means that it isn’t also crazy fun at times.

In a crowded market of action movies, the screenplay (from Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, and Sohrab Noshirvani) has an each way bet: we get to see The Rock tearing through henchmen with violent indifference, while there’s a hero squad who seem to be there purely for fanservice. (Mind you, it’s the Rock, so we know that he isn’t going to finish the movie as a completely bad guy). After small screen appearances in the Arrowverse/The CWverse, I have to admit to getting a little bit thrilled seeing a stacked Dr. Fate and Hawkman mixing it up on the big screen.

The characters are a bit of a mixed bag though, often feeling like they’ve stepped in from another movie entirely. Brosnan is refined and cool as hell as Fate, even if his powers and motivations are ill-defined. Hodge’s Carter Hall comes off as a dick more often than not, combining several of the many incarnations of Hawkman over the years. Cyclone (who first appeared in the Elseworlds graphic novel Kingdom Come) and Atom Smasher were total missed opportunities though, mostly wasted as filler characters or set-ups for future stories. The Rock abides.

BLACK ADAM may not reach the dizzying heights of DC’s most epic stories, or the sheer fun of its sibling Shazam, but it is still entertaining for the duration. As for where the DCEU heads next, much of that will probably depend on the box office results of this and the next few films. If you stay until the mid-credits teaser, you will get a pretty strong indication on who that might involve. (Hint: it’s very exciting). For now, Warner is taking a swing at a new direction, and maybe only Dr. Fate knows where it will land.

2022 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jaume Collet-Serra | WRITERS: Adam Sztykiel, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani | CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari, Quintessa Swindell, Bodhi Sabongui, Pierce Brosnan | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (AUS), Warner Bros. Pictures (USA) | RUNNING TIME: 124 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 20 October 2022 (AUS), 21 October 2022 (USA)

October 20, 2022