Tag: Warner Bros.

Review: The Accountant 2

The Accountant, directed by Gavin O’Connor and released in 2016, was packed with a spreadsheet’s worth of plot lines and formulas that didn’t all quite balance out. Yet in the nine years since its release, there haven’t been many moments when we’ve actively wondered what its protagonist might be up to. Nevertheless, the studio has crunched the numbers and filed a purchase order for a second shipment of action.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 acknowledges the passage of time between outings. Raymond King (J.K. Simmons), the former Director of the Treasury Department’s FinCEN, is now working in private investigations. While searching for a missing family, he’s shot and killed. Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), now climbing rapidly through the Department ranks after the events of the first film, is drawn into the case. She soon finds herself teaming up with Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), the kick-ass accountant, and his brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), as they track down the mysterious assassin Anaïs (Daniella Pineda).

Returning screenwriter Bill Dubuque recognises what worked the first time around—and, pleasingly, some of what didn’t. The core strength of this sequel lies in the mental calculations of its action hero with autism spectrum disorder, and this time they’ve built a whole industry around the non-verbal super-hacker Justine (Allison Robertson, replacing Alison Wright) and her team of students at Harbor Neuroscience. In other words, Batfleck has his Oracle.

Bernthal, whose star has risen considerably through The Punisher and a strong run of film roles over the past decade, has a much-expanded presence this time. Together with Affleck, he delivers some tight, well-executed action sequences, and their easy interplay makes for engaging viewing between the fights. He’s a great counterpoint to Affleck’s more reserved performance, and a joy to watch in most scenes.

On the flip side, Dubuque hasn’t quite left behind the excessive number of plot threads and parenthetical scenes that plagued the first entry. There’s always a lot going on—from the core investigation to Anaïs’ backstory, the brothers’ reconciliation, multiple villains, and even Christian’s love life. From a visit to a romance festival to a full five-minute line dance sequence set to the entirety of “Copperhead Road”, these touches add colour but tend to bloat an already stuffed narrative.

Nevertheless, O’Connor and Dubuque have mostly struck the right balance for a winning formula here. While the first film may not have exactly screamed “franchise”, THE ACCOUNTANT 2 pulls together enough fun elements to suggest a third entry is already in the works.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Gavin O’Connor | WRITERS: Bill Dubuque | CAST: Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, J. K. Simmons | DISTRIBUTOR: Amazon MGM Studios (USA), Warner Bros. Pictures (International) | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 24 April 2025 (Australia), 25 April 2025 (USA)

April 23, 2025
Review: Sinners

If ever there was a film of two halves, it’s Ryan Coogler’s sultry southern genre bender. From the moment SINNERS opens—with a bloodied figure entering a church in the Jim Crow South of Mississippi—Coogler firmly establishes a sense of time and place. He also sets up a mystery, one he’s in no hurry to unpack. Like the blues music that runs through the film’s core, it’s unhurried, soulful, steeped in history, and digs deep into the roots to find something resonant in every lingering note.

When twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) return to their southern hometown after several years in Chicago—and with ties to one of the city’s more infamous gangsters—they have big plans. Intending to open a gin joint on the outskirts, they rope in their younger cousin Sammie (Miles Caton), a preacher’s son with a gift for the blues. On opening night, a mysterious stranger, Remmick (Jack O’Connell), arrives with a band of musicians looking to play. But no one quite trusts them—and for good reason.

At first, SINNERS feels like a movie you’ve seen before. Coogler loads every frame with period detail and populates the world with figures from the brothers’ past, including old flames (Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku). A stretch of scenes with town shopkeepers Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo Chow (Yao) focused on low-stakes trades and dealings threatens to drift, but each piece serves a purpose. They all lead to one moment—a fiery visual collision of blues, African folk pasts and funk-drenched futures—that might be one of the most radical things Coogler has put to screen. And then, just as suddenly, he flips the table.

This is the part where most reviews would spoil the turn—some even in the headline. But part of the power of Coogler’s script lies in discovering exactly when and how it veers from sweaty southern gothic into something far more violent and otherworldly. It becomes a siege film, where the last few standing must battle something darker still.

If you’ve already pieced together where it’s going—or simply read about it elsewhere—you might find yourself briefly wondering whether Coogler has painted himself into a corner. At times, it feels less like the characters are fighting an external evil and more like they’re punching and shooting their way out of the film they’ve so carefully constructed up to this point.

Jordan’s dual performance helps ground these tensions, keeping the idea of duality—along with brotherhood, belief, fate—firmly in the audience’s minds. Steeped in music and mysticism, and shot with striking clarity on the expansive canvas of IMAX, Coogler’s touch ensures that SINNERS is anything but neutral.

Having gone from Fruitvale Station straight into the blockbuster arena with Creed and Black Panther, Coogler proves here that prestige drama and box office spectacle aren’t mutually exclusive—but they don’t blend without a bloody fight. Even after the climactic showdown, he still has a few tricks left up his sleeve. It’s a rare thing to be genuinely caught off guard by a film, and Coogler deserves real credit for making such bold, uncompromising choices.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler | WRITERS: Ryan Coogler | CAST: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’Connell, Wunmi Mosaku | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 137 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 17 April 2025 (Australia), 18 April 2025 (USA)

April 17, 2025
Review: A Minecraft Movie

The lesson we should have taken from Barbie—beyond its critique of societal expectations and perfectionism—is that big-budget films about female empowerment resonate with audiences. Yet the counters of beans have instead fixated on the value of co-branding a film with an existing product, sidestepping the messy business of having to explain a new concept to prospective viewers.

Which brings us to A MINECRAFT MOVIE. By the time the story proper kicks off, we’ve already had two expository voiceovers laying out the rules of the world we’re about to enter. Taking a leaf from the Jumanji playbook, we see Steve (Jack Black) pulled into the cube-shaped Overworld after discovering a mysterious glowing orb. He builds a wonderland of his own imagination—until the evil Malgosha (voiced by Rachel House) sets her sights on the orb for her own devious purposes.

Where the five (count ’em) credited writers take this next is fairly predictable. After introducing us to a quirky town built around a chip factory—about the only place where Napoleon Dynamite director Jared Hess gets to showcase his offbeat humour—we follow creative kid Henry (Sebastian Hansen) through the portal to the Overworld. Along for the ride are his guardian and sister Natalie (Emma Myers), Dawn (Danielle Brooks), and Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Jason Momoa), a former ’80s video game champion hopelessly stuck in the past.

The traditional problem with these kinds of films is that they have to play within the specific parameters of the brand’s world. Minecraft, much like LEGO, has the minor advantage of encouraging open play and imaginative exploration. Yet with that comes the challenge, as director Hess once put it, of how to “adapt something that doesn’t have a story.”

Hess’ film has a story—it’s just wholly subservient to the form. Where The LEGO Movie gleefully broke as many rules as it laid out, here he’s forced to tick off familiar totems rather than develop the characters: the fried chicken, the zombies, the stash, the diamond mines, and so on. Other elements are simply abandoned, perhaps assuming the target audience wouldn’t notice or care.

Natalie and Dawn are sidelined for long stretches, seemingly just to make room for Black’s comedy dance routines or his double-act with Momoa. Meanwhile, an entire romantic subplot between Henry’s vice principal and a cube-shaped villager who wandered into the real world serves no purpose—except to remind us that Jennifer Coolidge is a precious natural resource that shouldn’t be squandered on a throwaway role.

All other characters are computer generated, keeping with the blocky source material. The brightly coloured background gives some visual appeal, and stays authentic to the game’s origins, even if the tactile nature of the textured mapped pig flesh is somewhat unnerving. As such, the voice acting is key, and while it’s always great to see Rachel House’s name in the credits, here it just feels like a first pass recording.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE is a frustrating enterprise because it’s so close to being something more. There are genuinely funny moments, especially when the film plays with the quirks of the real world (which, honestly, could have been a whole movie on its own). At the screening event, one young fan, surrounded by McHappy Meals and giant recreations of blocks, was heard to remark, “I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.” And maybe that’s the lesson Hollywood really took from Barbie—that brand loyalty will always win out in the end.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jared Hess | WRITERS: Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, Neil Widener, Gavin James, Chris Galletta | CAST: Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Emma Myers, Sebastian Hansen | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 3 April 2025 (Australia), 4 April 2025 (USA)

April 3, 2025
Review: A Working Man

Over the last decade or so, actor Jason Statham and director David Ayer have each carved out their own distinct legacies. Statham has built a career on playing relentless, no-nonsense tough guys waging one-man wars on wrongdoers, while Ayer has made a name for himself with gritty crime films featuring characters brooding with guns pointed in different directions. It was only a matter of time before their paths crossed.

Following their first collaboration on The Beekeeper, Statham here plays Levon Cade, a widowed, former military badass now going straight with a construction job. He struggles to make ends meet for his young daughter, whose grandfather wants to legally separate her from his influence. But when Jenny (Arianna Rivas), the college-aged daughter of Levon’s boss (Michael Peña), is randomly kidnapped by Russian human traffickers, Levon is drawn back into his old life of violence.

Based on the books by Chuck Dixon and with a screenplay penned by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone, A WORKING MAN wastes no time getting down to brass tacks. Taking a page from every revenge-rescue thriller in living memory, Statham gets to spread his particular set of skills across the screen at regular intervals. Each excruciating torture scene, fistfight, or shootout serves to reinforce Levon’s (and by extension, Statham’s) physical supremacy. The constant cutaways to his child provide the requisite moral high ground.

Ayer paints on a splashy, almost cartoonish canvas. Mobsters are rendered in broad strokes—Dimi (Maximilian Osinski), a high-ranking Russian boss, looks like a cross between a French duke and Nandor the Relentless from What We Do in the Shadows. Biker Dutch (Chidi Ajufo) lounges on a throne of skulls in the back of a roadhouse bar.

Yet somehow, it all fuses into a momentum-driven, occasionally stylish action flick. Every quip and taciturn mugshot drew giggles from the audience—equal parts affectionate mockery and knowing appreciation. We know exactly what we’re getting into, and on that level, it doesn’t disappoint.

As it builds to its chaotic final showdown—a reverse siege packed with bikers and shiny, long-coated henchmen—you can’t help but think of the gloriously excessive ‘90s action thrillers that threw everything at the screen. Instead of taking one thing off before leaving the house, A WORKING MAN straps on a few more clips and punches the mirror in the nose.

While never destined to revolutionise the genre, Ayer and Stallone have struck upon a reliable formula in a ready-made franchise package. One could happily consume these like fast food every couple of years, safe in the knowledge that there’s always another job for this working man right around the corner.

2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: David Ayer | WRITER: Sylvester Stallone, David Ayer (Based on the book Levon’s Trade by Chuck Dixon) | CAST: Jason Statham, Michael Peña, David Harbour, Arianna Rivas | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. (Australia), Amazon/MGM (US) | RUNNING TIME: 116 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 27 March 2025 (Australia), 28 March 2025 (USA)

March 27, 2025
Review: Mickey 17

So, you’re Bong Joon-ho. Your film Parasite unanimously wins the Palme d’Or, becomes the highest-grossing South Korean film in history, and pulls off the Guinness World Record feat of scoring Academy Awards for Best Picture, International Feature Film, Original Screenplay, and Director. Naturally, your next move is a sci-fi black comedy romance with Robert Pattinson.

For those only half-watching Bong’s career, this might seem like an odd, left-field pivot into Hollywood. But let’s not forget: Snowpiercer already took him there, and Okja brought the titular genetic super pig to Netflix screens. This is hardly new ground for a filmmaker whose tongue has always been planted firmly in cheek.

Based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel Mickey7, writer/director Bong leans into the same over-the-top satire as Okja, landing somewhere near Starship Troopers. The film follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson) and his childhood friend Timo (Steven Yeun), who flee Earth for the offworld colony of Niflheim after falling into debt over a Macron business.

Without reading the fine print, Mickey signs on as an ‘Expendable’—a human drone sent in for the dangerous work. When he dies (which he has, sixteen times by the time we meet him), he’s simply printed again with his memories intact. Things get complicated when Mickey 17 is mistakenly presumed dead and Mickey 18 takes his place.

There’s very little subtlety to MICKEY 17, which might be one of the most glorious things about it. The expedition is led by failed political candidate turned cult leader Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), whose followers wear red caps with slogans on them. Yes, it’s that kind of picture. Yet in a film where Pattinson regularly flops out of a printing tube like meat, and Marshall’s wife Ylfa (a wonderfully unhinged Toni Collette) has an unhealthy obsession with sauces, you can’t afford to take half-bites.

One of the joys of the first half of the film is watching Pattinson’s take on the monotony of functional immortality. Between the daily grind and being dispensed in increasingly absurd fashion, Mickey 17 has resigned himself to eke out existence just as it is. A light romance with security agent Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who has remained his girlfriend since his first iteration, adds a sliver of emotional grounding.

With the arrival of Mickey 18—and a wonderfully chaotic dual turn from Pattinson—the film shifts gears. The discovery of giant bugs on Niflheim sets up broad satire on the nature of colonisation, religious fanaticism, and arguably, immigration as well. Here, Ruffalo and Collette deliver their batty best, skewering everything from conservative televangelists to political leaders like, well, you know.

There’s possibly too much happening in the last act of MICKEY 17, particularly during an extended denouement that tries to pull the rug out from under us more than once. Still, Bong’s film remains a sharp and enjoyable sci-fi flick with a brain—one smart enough to know when to be stupid.

2025 | USA, South Korea | DIRECTOR: Bong Joon-ho | WRITERS: Bong Joon-ho | CAST: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures (USA), Universal Pictures (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 137 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 6 March 2025 (Australia), 7 March 2025 (USA)

March 5, 2025
Review: The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Animation has long been drawn to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. As early as the late 1930s, Walt Disney toyed with the idea of adapting The Hobbit, while Rankin/Bass and Ralph Bakshi took on the challenge in the 1970s and 80s with varying degrees of success.

Kenji Kamiyama’s THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM, however, feels like a bridge between eras. It draws as much from the visual language of Peter Jackson’s six live-action adaptations and the rich tradition of Japanese cinema and anime as it does from its animated predecessors. It also doesn’t hurt that Miranda Otto returns to narrate the film as the character of Éowyn.

Set 180 years before the events of The Lord of the Rings, this animated tale shifts its focus to Hera (Gaia Wise), the daughter of Helm Hammerhand (voiced by Brian Cox), the King of Rohan. When tragedy strikes following Wulf’s (Luke Pasqualino) failed proposal to Hera, the son of Freca launches an invasion of Rohan.

In response, Hera and Helm lead their people to seek refuge at the Hornburg, where they hold out against the Dunlendings. This legendary stronghold, etched into the history of Middle-earth, will eventually come to be known as Helm’s Deep.

Drawing primarily from Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings (and with some inspiration from Unfinished Tales), Kamiyama and the writing team face the challenge of fleshing out a largely skeletal narrative. However, the film cleverly sidesteps this with Éowyn’s opening narration: “Do not look for tales of her in the old songs. There are none.” This gives the filmmakers room to expand on the legend, carving out a space for originality within the established mythology.

Hera proves to be a compelling protagonist, her strength and determination anchoring the story, while Wulf embodies a straightforward, single-minded villainy. Yet, for a narrative reaching well over two hours, some of the material feels (as Bilbo might put it) stretched a little thin. Tolkien’s legendarium often thrives on cycles and repetition—like the echoes of Beren and Lúthien in Arwen and Aragorn—and while this story is canonically rooted in the Appendices, it’s hard not to notice parallels to the motifs of the Battle of Helm’s Deep in Jackson’s films.

Visually, THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM is a feast. Frame by frame, the film captures the grandeur of Middle-earth, with the iconic Aotearoa New Zealand locations lovingly recreated alongside familiar settings like Edoras and Isengard. However, it’s in Kamiyama’s bolder departures that the animation truly shines—most notably in a gobsmacking sequence featuring an eldritch Watcher in the Water devouring an oliphaunt whole, a scene that brims with imagination and menace.

Some of this was achieved through an innovative blend of motion capture, translated into a gaming engine to determine 3D environments, and then recreated in 2D to get a more authentic fluidity to the movement. While this technique elevates the gloriously staged battle sequences, it occasionally falters, with some character movements feeling stiff and reminiscent of puppetry.

THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM may not resonate with the same impact as the films and books from which it draws inspiration. At times, its repeated nods to the new tenant of Isengard, wizards and Mordor’s search for rings leave it tethered to its role as a prequel rather than standing firmly as a standalone tale. Yet, this is a direction I’d wholeheartedly encourage for the franchise—a foray into stories rich with potential that don’t demand a sprawling trilogy to unfold. Kamiyama’s film isn’t without flaws, but its ambition and approach make me eager to see more in this vein.

2024 | USA, Japan | DIRECTOR: Kenji Kamiyama | WRITERS: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Phoebe Gittins, Arty Papageorgiou | STORY: Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, Philippa Boyens (Based on characters created by J. R. R. Tolkien) | CAST: Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Miranda Otto | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures (USA), Universal Pictures (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 134 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 12 December 2024 (Australia), 13 December 2024 (USA)

December 10, 2024
Review: Red One

The only thing in steeper decline than mainstream Christmas films at this time of year is perhaps the ‘Santa movie.’ Yet here we are in 2024, and Amazon-MGM is dropping a $250 million seasonal gift like we’re part of the biggest, movie-themed Kris Kringle exchange.

Taking the throwback route to Christmas action, director Jake Kasdan and Fast & Furious series writer Chris Morgan channel a blend of Die Hard and Scrooged, crafting a holiday blockbuster with all the wild escalation of a modern event film.

The plot is simplicity itself: Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) heads up Santa’s security team. Disillusioned with the growing Naughty List, he’s ready for retirement—but when Santa (J.K. Simmons) is kidnapped by a former foe (Kiernan Shipka), Drift teams up with deadbeat dad and mercenary tracker Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) to save Christmas.

We’ve seen this buddy-comedy formula enough to recite it by heart, from Aruba to Germany, black ops sites to toy store basements. One cynical father’s redemption arc is all that’s missing to ensure a holiday save. Yet somehow, it’s the little details that make this reindeer-driven sleigh take off. Kristofer Hivju is perfectly cast as Krampus, adding depth to the Santa mythos. Santa’s workshop leans more Arthur Christmas than Elf, yet feels entirely fitting. Yes, my unabashed Santa love probably makes me biased, but damn if it isn’t a riot of cynical fun.

With bombastic action and Marvel-worthy effects, Drift wields an Ant-Man-style gadget that can grow and shrink toys on command, blending right into this magical world. The giant CG snowmen continue the theme of jacked Christmas figures, making for an exciting punch-out in the Caribbean.

The cast is spot-on: Simmons is a fully jacked Santa, carbing up on cookies while Johnson spots him at the gym; Shipka eats up every scene, and Lucy Liu as the head of M.O.R.A. (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority) brings a ‘Men in Black’ vibe to the Santa universe, hinting at a potential spin-off.

This high-concept swing is rare in today’s franchise-heavy landscape, and while box office numbers may keep films like this on streaming in the future, it captures something of a family film—brimming with explosions, winks, and a few heartfelt speeches. As I left the cinema, I overheard a kid imitating Krampus’s sleigh, transported for a few hours to a magical world. At that moment, I was taken right back to December 1985 and Santa Claus: The Movie. Is it any wonder I still devour Christmas films by the bucketful—or that I still believe in Santa?

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Jake Kasdan | WRITERS: Chris Morgan (Based on a story by Hiram Garcia) | CAST: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J. K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka | DISTRIBUTOR: Amazon MGM Studios (USA), Warner Bros. Pictures (International) | RUNNING TIME: 123 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 15 November 2024 (USA), 22 November 2024 (Australia)

November 18, 2024
Review: Joker: Folie à Deux

Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A clown and his obsessive love walk into a toxic pit. Manipulation. Cruelty. Exploitation. Fans eat it up, blind to the abuse. They call it love. Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll snare. Curtains.

Todd Phillips’ award-winning Joker walked a dangerous line. While technically impressive and anchored by Joaquin Phoenix’s powerful performance as Arthur Fleck, the film’s portrayal of women as mere objects or barriers, coupled with its muddled political stance and exploration of mental health, left it morally ambiguous and unsettling in today’s post-#MeToo landscape.

Now, in the sequel, we get a brief glimmer of hope that the film will address those consequences. Imprisoned after his public execution of a celebrity on live TV, Fleck is a hollow version of himself, sedated by a mix of drugs and the cruelty of an abusive guard (Brendan Gleeson).

When he meets Lee (Lady Gaga) in a group singing therapy class, they instantly connect. Lee “gets” him, and in a typical male fantasy, she doesn’t believe he needs to change. Thus begins a romance, blending magic musical realism and impotent sexual encounters.

As with the first film, we quickly learn not to trust what we see. Fleck/Joker frequently slips into elaborate song-filled fantasy mid-sentence, though Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver never fully commit to this device. Lee is portrayed as both fanatical and duplicitous, reinforcing the misogyny from the first film. I’m starting to wonder if that misogyny is in front of the camera or behind it.

The film’s highlight is Fleck’s highly publicised murder trial—a classic stage for dramatic revelations. Here we get to the core of the film, albeit through a disjointed mix of commentary on media, personality cults, the prison system, and maybe even reality TV. Phoenix excels in these moments, especially during his ‘small town lawyer’ routine in full makeup, sharing a heartbreaking exchange with Gary (Leigh Gill). But it’s also where the cracks show, revealing that the musical element is more afterthought than centrepiece.

It’s all incredibly frustrating, as there are moments of brilliance in there. With its nods to Warner animation, classical musicals and strong central cast, it looks like a winning formula on paper. Phoenix, for his part, still works wonders with the material, though there’s a sense that both he and the character are weary of Joker. Gaga, meanwhile, is stuck in a limiting role, but her costumes will no doubt be the ships that launch a thousand cosplays.

Taken at face value, for very little lurks beneath the surface of this set of first-draft ideas, JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX is either a skewering of toxic fandom at best, or a middle finger to the fans themselves at worst. The latter tracks with Phillips’s clear disdain for the source material, even if the little Easter eggs and references continue to try chew their cake and spit them out too.

As with the original Joker, the final laugh comes in an explosive finale that subverts expectations as much as it embraces them. In the film, Fleck defies his followers and pays the price and is literally chased down by his own creations. In reality, we see this dynamic in fandom and politics. What’s unclear is whether the monster was right all along or if it’s all just a cosmic joke. That’s all, folks.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Todd Phillips | WRITERS: Scott Silver, Todd Phillips | CAST: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. (US), Universal Pictures (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 138 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 3 October 2024 (Australia), 4 October 2024 (USA)

October 3, 2024
Review: Twisters

The only thing more surprising than a standalone sequel to Jan de Bont’s 1996 Twister is its director. Lee Isaac Chung, fresh off his sweeping, character-driven Minari, takes the helm. Set again in Oklahoma, this throwback disaster flick combines survival against the odds with a sense of comforting familiarity, all painted on a much bigger canvas.

Idealistic storm chaser Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her technically minded friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) lose their friends to a tornado while pursuing a storm-killer solution. Years later, the now-successful Javi lures Kate back into storm chasing with the promise of data to prevent future tragedies. Battling her PTSD and reckless social media star Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), they find themselves in a once-in-a-generation storm season.

Mark L. Smith’s narrative relies on a lot of coincidence. Disaster must strike randomly and repeatedly in a compact space in order for the story to progress in any way. While the technology has moved on, and there is a recognition that there probably would be a YouTube channel for all of this, Smith and Chung also know not to mess with a tried and true formula. In fact, were it not for the modern trappings and effects, this could have happily been released in the heyday of big disaster movies — and there’s not a thing wrong with that.

It’s also still a character piece at the heart of the film, even if those figures are fairly lightly drawn. Kate is fine successor to Helen Hunt’s Jo in the original, not only following a similar path of tragedy to redemption but giving us a human hook to hang a hurricane on. The two male leads are less well rounded, although it’s eventual love interest Powell who has this arc from over-the-top redneck to studied saviour. That said, Ramos is often relegated to a supporting character, and American Honey‘s Sasha Lane is criminally underused.

Yet if you’re turning up for a film called TWISTERS, you are here for the titular tornadoes. The location settings are convincingly ripped apart by the literal sturm und drang of the devastating phenomenon. There’s a wonderful union of special effects and Dan Mindel’s cinematography. In the climactic moment, there’s a beautiful shot that literally rips the screen off a cinema, creating one of the more beautiful effects I’ve seen in a blockbuster.

Chung’s film is ultimately everything a ‘sequel’ should be. In fact, save for a few nominal nods to the nomenclature of the original, TWISTERS happily stands on its own as an event. If the storms are going to be this fun, we’ll happily keep chasing them.

2024 | USA | DIRECTOR: Lee Isaac Chung | WRITERS: Mark L. Smith | CAST: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos | DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures (USA), Warner Bros. (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 132 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11 July 2024 (Australia), 19 July 2024 (USA)

July 11, 2024
Review: Furiosa – A Mad Max Saga

When Mad Max: Fury Road came roaring back onto screens in 2015, it reminded us of two very important things. First and foremost, George Miller’s power as a visual storyteller was accelerating. That, and Australia has long been the perfect backdrop for a post-apocalyptic hellscape.

Watching FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA at the premiere in early May at the magnificent State Theatre in Sydney, that local connection was tangible. From the presence of the cast and crew, including Chris Hemsworth in his first local film to date, through to cheers as familiar names and faces appeared on screen, it was a screening that arguably disproved the tall poppy syndrome we in the Antipodes wear like a badge of honour. Shot in the NSW towns of Hay and Silverton, it’s been almost four decades since Mad Max has felt quite this home grown.

Set several decades before the events of Fury Road, young Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) is taken by a Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus (Hemsworth). Growing up in this harsh environment, she is soon embroiled at the centre of a war for a citadel run by Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).

The difficulty faced by all prequels is that we already know how it all turns out. Charlize Theron’s Furiosa arrived on screens as a fully-formed character, eclipsing even Tom Hardy’s tortured soul on screen. (Indeed, Miller and co-writer Nico Lathouris had extensively scripted Furiosa’s backstory for Theron to draw on). Yet this is George Miller and there’s very little chance that you won’t feel the burn of his pacing or go over old ground – even over the course of 148 minutes.

Stylistically matching much of Miller’s previous series entry, the first shock comes with the sheer amount of green we see in the ‘place of abundance’ glimpsed in the opening act of this film. The rest of the movie is split into booklike chapters, running us up and down the Fury Road in, hanging off or crashing into a giant chrome-plated war machine. While arguably not quite as gobsmacking as it was almost a decade ago, it’s nevertheless filled with so many cataclysmically impressive set-pieces that it scarcely matters if any of it makes complete sense.

Taylor-Joy slips into this world with seemingly effortless grace, allowing audiences to combine her performance with Theron’s in our head-canon. Hemsworth is clearly having a ball playing a decidedly non-heroic type, almost as if the prosthetic nose he sports was all the excuse he needed to let his freak flag fly.

In many ways, FURIOSA feels like an extended appendix to Fury Road, especially given that Miller ends this by leading us by the hand into the story’s ‘sequel.’ So, did we need this story? From a narrative perspective, perhaps not. Yet as fans of high-octane movies, we greedily accept this meaty specimen of action fun, especially in a cinematic landscape that occasionally feels as barren as a post-apocalyptic Australia.

2024 | Australia, USA | DIRECTOR: George Miller | WRITERS: George Miller, Nico Lathouris | CAST: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne, Lachy Hulme | DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 148 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 23 May 2024 (Australia), 24 May 2024 (USA)

May 16, 2024