 I'm gonna go ahead and begin this review by saying that if you're a reader who's unfamiliar with, or disinterested completely by any 'Lord of the Rings' books and/or films, nothing about this movie is gonna mean anything much to you. Despite the fact that it takes place 183 years before the events of 'Lord of the Rings,' and about 123 before 'The Hobbit,' the story here is a sidestep away from anything to really do with the One Ring, and delves into a story of events that once happened in Rohan; Rohan being most prominently remembered from 'Two Towers.'
So while there are no real direct ties to either trilogy, it's a bit of Middle Earth history between a couple of human races that the average 'LOTR' newcomer will probably be altogether unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, it's a pretty good, if simple story that still captures the spirit of Peter Jackson's cinematic creativity, ties in nicely, and makes me kinda hope there are more of these animated "side quests" some time in our future. I love this world, and I'm always down to see more of it! Our narrator here is Éowyn (Miranda Otto) of the Rohirrim, whom fans will remember fondly as the undercover woman who rode out to battle a vast army of Orcs, and took down the Witch King of Angmar in 'Return of the King.' Coinciding with her badassery, she begins the tale of Héra (Gaia Wise), the daughter of King Helm (Brian Cox) of Rohan. Héra is a sort of "lone wolf" character, a great fighter, lover of nature, potential shieldmaiden, and has been arranged to marry a lord of Gondor, which would bring their powerful kingdoms together. One day, a Dunlending (a race of humans who live in the wild) lord, Freca (Shaun Dooley) shows up with his son, and childhood friend of Héra's, Wulf (Luca Pasqualino). Freca suggests Héra change her mind, and marry Wulf instead, but Helm sees right through his, and knows he intends to steal the throne. This soon results in Helm and Freca "taking it outside," where Helm gives Freca one good, swift punch to the face, killing him instantly, and earning himself the nickname "Helm Hammerhand" (which is admittedly pretty badass). Afterward, Wulf swears revenge on Rohan for murdering his father, and isn't heard from for several years. To cut it a bit short, this is basically what eventually leads to the titular War of the Rohirrim. As one can imagine, Héra is basically the unlikely hero here, almost fitting right into Éowyn's shoes. So, in many ways, one could see this as a sort of "girl power" film, but I have to say that it does things very organically, nothing is forced, and it really is just a cool and interesting side story in Middle Earth's history. I would encourage fans of 'LOTR' to check this film out for themselves and try to ignore some of the more critical reviews out there. The fact of the matter was that this was rushed out in order for New Line to keep the rights to Tolkein's books, and between that and 2D animation taking over six live-action epics, it might be easy for a critic to brush this one aside. It didn't do well at the Box Office, either, being surrounded by titles like 'Moana 2,' 'Mufasa,' 'Sonic 3,' and 'Wicked.' But honestly, if you get a chance, check this out! Even if its streaming by the time you get to it. I might credit this one as one of the most underrated movies of the year, all considered. For yours truly, even though the live-action wasn't there, and it may not have sucked me in as much as the average 'LOTR' flick, I was happy to see more untold tales of this world that I personally love to escape into from time to time. For some of my friends and I, to see a 'LOTR' movie in the beginning of winter is a bit of a tradition, and it's kinda nice to keep that tradition alive. So, if you like this world, definitely check this out. It's no 'Return of the King,' but stylistically, and story-wise, it certainly holds its own. 4/5
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 A full twenty-four years after the release of the grand-scale epic that was 'Gladiator,' its sequel has finally come along (if you were ever really wanting one). To be fair, a sequel has been in a sort of development Hell for quite some time now - as early as 2001. But, like so many movies that make call-backs to older films, I wasn't sure how to take this. Was this just chasing a paycheck with a popular title, or was this going to be just as awesome as the first one, trying new and different things? Upon viewing it, let's just say I have mixed emotions.
Director, Ridley Scott makes a return, resurrecting one of his biggest successes. He was always one of those directors who was kind of hit or miss, but when he hit, he hit hard. So there was no reason for me to believe he wouldn't take good care of his "baby". But, while it wasn't really a bad movie, it lacks so much of the heart and soul that was put into the first, and it just doesn't compare. So before I get into it, just know that it's my humble opinion that 'Gladiator' is still a perfectly fine stand-alone movie, and at the end of the day, this just wasn't really necessary. Sixteen years after the events of the first film, Rome is ruled by Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger); a couple of twin emperors who might remind one of a couple of little toned down Joffrey Baratheons. Their Roman army, led by General Acacius (Pedro Pascal) one day invades the North African kingdom of Numidia, where a refugee named Hanno (Paul Mescal) resides. The Romans overtake them, and Hanno, along with several other survivors, are enslaved and taken to Ostia to undergo a gladiatorial challenge in an arena against a bunch of frankly demonic-looking baboons. During the fight, Hanno taps into his feral side and kills one baboon, impressing stable master Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Taking Hanno under his wing, Macrinus promises him a chance to kill Acacius through winning a number of fights in Rome. Throughout the film, secrets are revealed about Hanno's past that may complicate things for the viewer a bit, if they haven't seen the first film. Having said that, a lot of the big reveals aren't necessarily shocking either. It's a fine film, but all in all, we've kinda been here and done this. I think if I'm to look at this critically, I can find many more flaws in it than I could the first one, which has aged incredibly well. Part of that aging includes things like practical effects with dabs of CG, 'Jurassic Park' style (also holds up). Here, we get things like these baboons, which look cool, but not real. More like something from a horror movie. Also, sharks, which the person I saw it with pointed out as ridiculous because... how? They filled the Coliseum with water to stage naval battles known as "Naumachiae" sometimes, but that's about it. The film has its good share of positives though, and they're not to be overlooked. Performances were great by everyone involved, be they classic perfection like Denzel, or newcomers like Mescal (new to me, anyway). But my favorutie character here was an ex-gladiator named Ravi (Alexander Karim) who basically helps Hanno with his injuries, and words of wisdom - a truly likeable character. It's also just a pretty good story, despite, at times, taking its cues from what worked with the original film. If I were to make some sort of a comparison to another movie and its sequel, its something like 'Night of the Living Dead'/'Dawn of the Dead' - the first is a classic in its own right, and possibly one of the best films ever made, and the sequel, while pretty strong, just isn't the classic, which can easily stand alone. I think it's safe to say that this is a good time on the big screen if you're looking for something epic that doesn't involve superheroes. But the first 'Gladiator' is just too damn good for any sequel to compare. 3/5  I'm always game for a good Christmas movie that uses childlike imagination to its advantage. Such releases like 'Elf,' 'Arthur Christmas,' and even darker movies like 'Violent Night' have all accomplished this, and I'd be willing to admit that 'Red One' can go on that list as well. It may be on the lower part of the list, but I'd still strongly consider it. It's family friendly fun, and even though it uses some big names to put butts in seats, I'd say as a Christmas movie, it doesn't necessarily need the names for the story to work - which is a good thing.
I will say, however, that even though this movie manages to capture a bit of Christmas magic for the 2024 season, there are bits and pieces about it that may have made me give an eye-roll or shake my head for either being too silly, or too dramatic for the film's own good. But once again, this may just be me being nitpicky about an otherwise fun film, and it'll probably end up being one of those movies where the more I watch it, the more it grows on me, and might find a better spot on that aforementioned "Christmas Magic" list of greats. We meet Santa, a.k.a. Nick, a.k.a. Red (J.K. Simmons) as he visits kids at a shopping mall, along with his muscle, Callum "Cal" Drift (Dwayne Johnson), head commander of the E.L.F. (Enforcement Logistics and Fortification) whose job is to keep Santa protected. During their visit, Cal begins to get disillusioned with how bad the world has become, especially the teenagers and adults. He even uses the ever-growing Naughty List to prove his point, and he means to retire, but not after one final ride. On the night of Christmas Eve, a group of professionals infiltrates the North Pole and kidnaps Santa, on account of mercenary hacker, Jack O'Malley (Chris Evans) accidentally hacks something that just so happens to interfere with the North Pole's hidden location, leading some sort of operation straight to Santa. One day, as Jack comes home, he's apprehended by members of M.O.R.A. (Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority), led by Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu), and brought in for questioning. Being that they have the wrong guy, and Jack claims to be able to find anything or anyone, he reluctantly agrees to work with Cal (or perhaps more dragged by the ear) to find and rescue Santa Claus from his kidnapper, and hopefully save Christmas in time. This brings me back to my point about melodrama. When the threat of "no Christmas" pops its head up in this movie, the doom and gloom tone that follows this makes it feel like a nuke is about to be dropped nearby. Being that it's for kids, I can let it slide, but watching as an adult, it's a pretty silly moment. In the meantime, there's a B story going on in which Jack plays the role of deadbeat Dad to his son, Dylan (Wesley Kimmel) and the whole song and dance about how he needs to learn how much his son needs him etc. We've seen it many times before. But luckily, it doesn't take centre stage here, and the real focus is on the unlikely duo that is The Rock and Human Torch (I'd say Cap, but he's not that pure), which delivers its fair share of giggles and good times, but nothing necessarily laugh-out-loud either. I appreciated the film using things to its advantage like a non-horror version of Krampus (Kristofer Hivju) and the Christmas Witch, Grýla (Kiernan Shipka) from Icelandic folklore (given a much more child-friendly makeover). The ninja snowmen from the trailer are also pretty great, and I daresay original. I think where the film finds itself lacking, however, is the all-around heart that's usually put into these movies. There are moments, but predictable ones, and you don't necessarily leave with the "warm fuzzies." But still, the movie is fun, harmless, and something the whole family can appreciate for Christmas, 2024. 3/5  As far as this Sony-verse goes, it's no secret at this point that the only movies in the handful of life-action superhero/supervillain adaptations worth a damn are the 'Venom' movies. While perhaps not necessarily THE story of Venom we all know and love, they did okay with what they had to work with, made it their own concept, and the character of Eddie Brock/Venom is a hell of a lot closer than he was in 'Spidey 3.' So, surely, noted as being the final 'Venom' movie, this should be going out with a bang, right?
I think there's a lot to this that fans will appreciate, but I also think that of the three, this was probably the weakest, when it should have been the strongest. It picks up from the stinger of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' in which Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) finds himself in the MCU, chatting with a bartender, only to be sent back to the Sony-verse, leaving behind a trace of Symbiote material (which is in the MCU's hands now). Back home, the pair are on the run after the events of the previous film, which killed off Det. Patrick Mulligan (Stephen Graham), leaves them the primary suspect. In an attempt to start a new life, however, Eddie and Venom decide to head to New York City. On the way, however, the pair are attacked by an alien creature known as a Xenophage, sent by Symbiote creator, Knull (Andy Serkis). Long ago, his Symbiotes overthrew him, and trapped him in a prison to prevent him from taking over the universe with his power. In order to get free of said prison, Knull sends these Xenophages to Earth to retrieve a Codex, which will be able to free him, and allow him to carry out his plans. The Codex is formed is a Symbiote's host dies, and the Symbiote is able to resurrect him, which we saw happen in the first film. As long as Venom is in full form over Eddie, the Codex acts like a beacon for the Xenophages, so throughout the film, Venom does a lot of hiding away. So now, they're not only on the run from a deadly alien creature, but the law as well. It gets even better, when Rex Strickland (Chiwetel Ejiofor) enters the picture, overseeing an operation called "Imperium", at (where else?) Area 51, in which the Symbiotes who have fallen to Earth get studied. While Strickland is very much of the mind that these Symbiotes have landed for some sort of alien invasion, researchers Dr. Teddy Payne (Juno Temple) and Sadie "Christmas" (Clark Backo) have different opinions, and resort to a whole "don't judge a book by its cover" side-plot when it comes to the Symbiotes. And I'm gonna go ahead and suggest that the B story here sort of takes a front seat to things. Everything going on in this lab is far more fascinating than Eddie/Venom just... running and hiding for the most part. Eddie/Venom still delivers when we see them together, although at times it gets a bit too silly. I mean, for the first time since 2007, I feel like we have a Symbiote who literally dances himself into humiliation, and it's pretty cringe-worthy. That said, there are a few just as solid scenes to this, like the Symbiote horse, and the pair finally saying "we are Venom!" before devouring a bunch of thugs like the "Lethal Protector" we all know and love. But it really does feel like they're on the run from a non-threat. While the Xenophages provide some stiff competition, Knull, himself, is one of the laziest-written villains I've eve seen in my life. If you've come to see Knull in all his glory, I'm afraid you're SOL, because he's barely here, and when he is, he's just sitting there with his head down, looking gothic. So just to be clear, first threat, Riot, second threat, Carnage, third threat (though admittedly tough), Xenophage, NOT Knull. Anyway, it's fine for a third film, but I'd say easily the weakest of the three, trying to do too much, and amounting to too little. And what's super curious about this being a supposed "finale" - there's a stinger! 2/5  Let me start this one off by putting my cards on the table and fully admitting that I know basically nothing about this series. I've never once picked up one of these games, and my peers have often wondered how that was possible, as it's a franchise that seems right up my alley. Regardless, this means that while watching the movie, I wasn't trying to point out everything wrong about the adaptation. As far as I'm concerned, this could be a carbon copy of the game's story - I have no clue. Having said all that, however... this movie is still pretty bad.
Taking place on Planet Pandora (not to be confused with the one from 'Avatar'), the film opens as a rogue merc soldier named Roland (Kevin Hart) takes a teen known as "Tiny Tina" (Ariana Greenblatt) out of a holding cell with the help of Krieg (Florian Munteanu), a "Psycho," which are mostly here to be "bad guys" with little to no explanation behind them. According to the games, they have gone insane with obsession over "The Vault," where the secrets of Pandora's lost civilization's advanced technology are kept. It turns out that Tina may be the key to opening said vault, and Roland's motivation is for her protection. On some other planet, bounty hunter, Lilith (Cate Blanchett) is contacted by a powerful corporate magnate named Atlas (Edgar Ramírez), who convinces her to go to Pandora and seek out Tina, who happens to be his daughter, not as a bounty hunt but a rescue attempt. Once Lilith reaches Pandora, she gets a bit of help from a robot named Claptrap (Jack Black), who is far, far more irritating than we all want Jack Black to be. He's meant to be the comic relief here, and just about everything falls flat. The jokes are more for kids here. Anyway, eventually Lilith and Claptrap meet up with Tina, who won't go quietly, under the assumption Lilith is bringing her in for a bounty. It's not long before Roland and Krieg come into play, we find out Atlas is crooked (as if it wasn't predictable), and they all end up working as a team that is trying far too hard to be the 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. Eventually they also get help from Lilith's estranged foster mother, Dr. Patricia Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis), and even she feels kinda tacked on, just so they could complete a character list. The film essentially becomes one big escort mission, as the unlikely team forms around Tina's protection so she can't be used for all the wrong reasons. As if it's not already stealing a lot of atmosphere from 'Guardians', and again, not knowing anything about the underlying plots of these games, the whole "protecting the chosen one" plot line is ripped right out of 'The Last of Us'. To be 100% fair, even then it wasn't an entirely original concept, but it does feel like Eli Roth looked at the TV series, said "that idea works," and rolled with it. One of the most criminal things about this movie is its rating. This thing is a PG-13 title (PG up here in the Great White North) and it's based on a solid M-rated series, thus taking a gigantic step backwards for video game adaptations, be it theatrical or streaming. It's a genre that was finally beginning to see some light, and then this thing came along and knocks it all onto its ass. For God's sake, 'Deadpool' set this R-rated bar for adaptations ages ago! Eli Roth, a master of gory, torture porn horror directed this M-rated movie with NO R-rating, which also gives adaptations in general a gigantic step backwards. Usually, if I get to see something everyone else is panning that I'm unfamiliar with, I tend to give it a little leeway. But with everything I mentioned before, along with a star-studded cast of disappointing, non-fleshed out characters, bad writing, pacing that moves way too fast, action sequences that seem almost thrown in just because "action is cool" (Michael Bay style) and a lot of telling as opposed to showing, with Blachett's narration, it's hard to give this any kind of pass. Honestly, it just left me happy that I wasn't more disappointed in it as a game adaptation with my unfamiliarity. These game adaptations can do better! 1/5  Every once in a while, a movie (remake/sequel, or re-imagining) will come along, shows me a trailer, and I'll wonder why the hell I should care. A lot of the time, my hunches about it are correct, and the film ends up being nothing but an easy cash-in for its respective studio. However, while pretty much all such titles are guilty of their cash-in methods, sometimes its done right. Sometimes the film will deliver good and memorable characters, a decent story, and in cases like 'Twisters', a huge leap forward in special effects.
I have always been one to defend 1996's 'Twister' as a fun popcorn action/adventure movie for a time when that kind of thing was what ran the box office - not superheroes. Even though by today's standards 'Twister' may not hold up for some, it was still something I thought didn't need any sort of sequel, as it stood on its own as a disaster classic (that's the genre, not the actual quality of the movie, though some will disagree). The trailer for this had me saying things like "so, they're just making the same movie?" To some degree I was kinda, sorta right about that, but upon seeing this, I decided I liked this chapter just a touch better than the classic disaster movie I had been defending so hard. This takes all the fun of 'Twister' and cranks it to eleven by offering up much, much better twister/storm scenes; most of which I understand were shot by technical consultants, including real-life storm chaser, Sean Casey (who seems to somehow go uncredited here, but his resume speaks for itself). Much like with the original, the opening of the film involves our lead, Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) losing people important to her due to a tornado's brutal force. In this case, its during an attempt to launch a Dorothy V doppler (as seen in the original). While in the original it was done to study a tornado and its patterns in an attempt to predict them earlier, this time it involves using sodium polyacrylate beads meant to try to shrink the tornado, and make it less disastrous, and I'm sure this is not scientifically sound, but I'll come back to that. Kate and her friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos) survive the incident, but the experiment was ultimately unsuccessful, and Kate ends up blaming herself for the deaths of her colleagues, seemingly over nothing. She quits storm chasing, but Javi continues, and soon enough comes back into her life to get the plot moving. Now working for a company called Storm Par, Javi invites Kate to join them and try a new tornado scanning system. Of course, she eventually agrees based on the idea that they could be saving lives, especially with her keen senses. The team comes across "The Tornado Wrangler", Tyler Owens (Glen Powell); a wild cowboy type who chases these storms for kicks, and throws them onto YouTube. It's actually with this that the movie starts getting interesting, not only because it gets more fun, but it also dabbles with the concept of different companies and how they profit after a tornado has touched down. It's a good look at both sides of the equation, who's crooked, who's charitable, etc. I have to hand it to the film for giving us a generous combination of both a cash-in with its nostalgic-poking title, and actually delivering a product that was worked on as opposed to just being pushed out, hoping a name will put butts in seats. Much like its predecessor, it's a far from perfect movie, but it is a friendly reminder that sometimes we don't need to take movies like this so seriously. With great lines like "you don't face your fears, you ride 'em," one's clearly meant to have fun with this. 4/5  Just to get it out of the way, no, I am not here to talk about that time Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, and that having an effect on how I saw him in this movie. Speaking personally, I just wanted to see this as I did the previous instalments of this franchise with these two buddy cops playing off each other - one, the smooth ladies man who gets shit done, the other, the comedy relief. Having said that, I have to say, Smith and Lawrence are still perfectly likeable in their respective roles as Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett.
Having said that, however, the guys have reached an age where they ought to be ready to retire. Maybe squeeze one more film out, but if so, make it a finale at this point. This was a series that was successfully resurrected, and we don't wanna drive it into the ground. In fact, the whole thing starts with a nod at their age, when Mike ends up getting married to his physical therapist, Christine (Melanie Liburd), and Marcus ends up having himself a heart attack on the dance floor, thanks to eating too much greasy food. In his brief coma, Marcus has a vision of the now deceased Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) who tells him it isn't his time. After this, Marcus starts to run on the assumption that he cannot be killed, and has a bit of a mental break. It does get pretty funny, even if at times it feels forced and you get about as frustrated with him as Mike does. I have to say, he can hold his own here, but I do prefer Lawrence's performance in the first two films. That said, he sort of remains the heart of the film. Soon, a news report accuses Captain Howard of having ties to drug cartels, thus making him a corrupt cop. Mike and Marcus become determined to prove their former captain's innocence, which includes working with Howard's killer (spoiler alert for those who haven't seen 'BB4L' yet), Armando Aretas (Jacob Scipio) who happens to be... actually, y'know, maybe I'll just leave that part out. But it does become interesting in this film when the filmmakers decided to have him work on the side of good. As more is revealed about the corruption in their own police department, Mike, Marcus and Armando have to pretty much become fugitives from the crooked law, just to prove their captain's innocence and someone else's guilt. In the meantime, hellbent on revenge for her father's death, is U.S. Marshal, Judy Howard (Rhea Seehorn), whose primary target is Armando. There's definitely more to the plot here, but that's pretty well the gist of it: the Bad Boys find themselves as fugitives after their captain is found to be corrupt, and they try to clear his name against a crooked police force. As far as the action goes, it really hasn't died out yet, and it's about as faithful as ever. Even the series creator Michael Bay shows up for a brief cameo, and potentially to make sure his creation is being done justice. You're not gonna get the sheer fun of 'BBII' here, but it's definitely a good follow-up to 'BB4L', as we're getting into these guys' later years, and some real-life shit is finally starting to come to light for these guys. I must also mention Reggie's (Dennis Greene) character development and his stand-alone, show-stealing scene here. No spoilers, but holy shit, is it ever awesome! It's my opinion that as far as the 'Bad Boys' series goes, 'BBII' will always be the definitive one, and that's going totally against the grain of other critics, but somehow I feel flowing with audiences who remember the fun days of action movies. This is a little closer to the last instalment in that while it's fine, it may prove to be a little more forgettable over time than the first two, which were both instant action classics. But it is safe to say the heart is still there, and Michael Bay's baby is being well taken care by the directorial team of Adil & Blall. 4/5  For a while now, I have heard a lot of people talking about this movie saying things like "don't expect what you're used to" and "don't expect 'Fury Road' quality". As we know from my 'Fury Road' review, that one is, hands down my favourite chapter in the batch, so I went in expecting something a bit less, even though the character Furiosa was one of the best parts of 'Fury Road'. Sure enough, what I got was pretty much what I expected after doing a bit of a marathon of the previous films. This one is just executed a little differently.
Considering the fact that the film is called 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga', I can't say I'm entirely surprised that the film was divided into chapters, covering the origin story of Furiosa, including where she really came from, her relationship with Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) of 'Fury Road' villain fame, and of course, how she got to be just as bad ass as she was in the previous film. Here, however, Charlize Theron makes no appearance, and a younger Furiosa is played primarily by Anya Taylor-Joy, who, I gotta say, does a pretty great job here, showing more of her acting flexibility. It all starts when a group of raiders from the Biker Horde come across the Green Place of Many Mothers, capturing a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) for their leader, Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), as a sort of disgusting prize, in that the girl is pure and "untouched." Her Mother, Mary (Charlee Fraser) makes an attempt to to rescue Furiosa from this guy, but ultimately fails, and her final act to her daughter is to give her a peach pit and sot of pass the torch along for Furiosa to one day find a new Green Place to start over. Dementus soon adopts the unwilling Furiosa as his daughter, whom he gives the name "Little D," in hopes that she will eventually lead him to this fabled Green Place. From here, Furiosa sort of just goes along for the ride as Dementus seeks power over the main hubs of essentials in the area, namely Gas Town (where all the fuel is held) and the Citadel (where all the water is held, and as seen in 'Fury Road'). When Furiosa reaches the Citadel, that's kind of whee we see things start to overlap, and from there, the story goes on with Furiosa's origin. I think for me, the biggest thing this movie actually has going for it is Chris Hemsworth's performance. I mean, as I watched the trailers for this, I would point out that it felt like Hemsworth was just playing Thor again without actually portraying Thor. But quite honestly, he was a fun villain to watch while never letting the viewer forget how brutal he could be. It's further interesting that they had him overshadow a guy like Immortan Joe; a man with many wives who wants a non-mutant kid, and will simply dispose of the mothers if a mutant is birthed. I think it was a "three strikes and you're out" deal. In the long run, the film is fine, and there's not much for me to really criticize, feeling that anything I would attack would be nothing but a nitpick on my part. For example, I do think the film runs a little longer than it needed to, and it tried too hard to play on something like 'Dune', trying to be more epic than it really needs to be. 'Mad Max' movies were no more than two hours and provided some fairly solid action-packed rides. This was more substance over style, and while that sounds like a great thing, it didn't feel so "Mad Maxish." Again, however, call it nit-picky on my part. There's really nothing at all wrong with this movie, and it does a good job with what it attempted as a stand-alone prequel. I could see watching this and 'Fury Road' back to back, and it being a solid time. As I've said before, these movies were never at the tippy-top of my list, so my opinion won't matter as much as a die-hard fan's would. But I can say that I still had a pretty good time with this, even though it has absolutely nothing on 'Fury Road'. 4/5  When it comes to establishing any sort of a timeline on these later "Apes" movies, those first three still make for a very solid stand-alone trilogy about Caesar's uprising and the birth of the Planet of the Apes, eventually connecting to the 1968 classic. 'Kingdom' takes place "many generations later," however, and is a new, stand-alone film that follows its predecessors' greatness and gives us a fourth damn near perfect movie in its series. The only other series of four I can think of to surprise me in such a way was 'Toy Story.'
I've mentioned this many times before in my 'Apes' reviews, but one of the things that makes these movies so good is that they simultaneously have you routing for the apes and the freedom of their society, while bringing in the question of being a human while this is going on, and remembering that humans have a tendency to do what it takes to survive and stay on top. This was mostly seen in 'War,' but it still plays a big role here, and unfolds nice and organically as these films tend to do. As these generations have passed, our former hero Caesar is now a martyr-type character who could probably be closely compared to Jesus, which gives us another thing to enjoy about the film. This isn't another 'Matrix'-like situation that gives us a bunch of Jesus symbolism with its main character so much as show us how ape society has eventually grown around the Jesus figure, complete with the fact that some follow his teachings the way they were meant to be followed, while some twist his teachings into something that suits them, much like any number of religious cults in our own past. As the apes have evolved, societies and clans have been formed, complete with their own traditions. Meanwhile, humans have become more feral, and it could be said that we've basically changed places. One such clan practices falconry, and introduces us to Noa (Owen Teague) and his friends Anaya (Travis Jeffery) and Soona (Lydia Peckham), all of whom are on a falcon egg hunt as part of their clan's coming-of-age tradition. This is all disrupted, however, by a human scavenger named Mae (Freya Allan) who breaks Noa's egg, sending him out to find a new one before morning. This is where Noa encounters a group of mask-wearing ape raiders lead by a gorilla named Sylva (Eka Darville) who, while Noa hides, head towards Noa's village with destruction and kidnapping in mind. Noa gets back to his village too late to save his clan, however, and sets out to find them, eventually running into an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon), who very much represents the "true" Caesar follower, still believing in some things like humans and apes coexisting in peace. They are also eventually joined by Mae, who leads them to where they need to go, but has her own agenda in mind. Skipping ahead a bit more, they eventually find themselves under the watchful eye of an ape calling himself Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) who has enslaved several ape clans to work under his power on opening a man-made facility from generations ago. While Proximus is after what could be a massive supply of weaponry, Mae also points out her reasons for trying to get in there - reasons that may be able to establish human communication around the world again, as, much to the apes surprise, not all humans end up being so animalistic. Although this is still a very solid series, speaking personally, I might prefer the trilogy that came before this just a touch more. But it is cool to see them try to expand even more on the apes' societies and traditions, and we see things getting closer to the feel of the '68 film as well. And I very much like the idea of Caesar being the figure he becomes, which holds a mirror up to our own society and how a lot of us take religious teachings and bend them to our wills. These Ape movies keep coming up with interesting ideas to keep them going, and if they continue doing more with such quality, I'm all for it! 4/5  Where do I start when it comes to how much I actually loved this movie? I guess I'll go with my all-out opinion on its director, David Leitch. With such solid titles as 'Bullet Train,' 'Deadpool 2,' 'Atomic Blonde' (which more people really need to check out), and the perhaps less appreciated, but super fun, 'Hobbs & Shaw.' I love this guy's style as an action director, and when he works with the right people, he can create something that takes you back to what blockbuster entertainment value used to be about.
For this movie in particular, Leitch reconnects with writer Drew Pearce ('Hobbs & Shaw') and brings in co-writer Glen A. Larson, who's best known for his television writing on resurrected shows like 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Magnum PI,' and 'Hawaii 5-0.' I wanna give this trio a lot of credit here, because it feels like they've delivered something here that just about anyone can enjoy. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's charming, and it's unique in that it's an underdog hero film about that unsung hero of film that is the stuntman. Said stuntman here is Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) who works in Hollywood as a stunt double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He has an off-screen romance with a camerawoman named Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), loves his work and is living the dream. That is until one day, a stunt goes terribly wrong, Colt injures himself severely, and he abandons his career, leaving Jodi behind. He takes a job as a valet, in the meantime, parking cars with style for the rich and snobby. One day, Colt gets a call from producer, Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) with the news that Jody is directing her first film, wanting Colt to join the production in Sydney, Australia. Colt jumps at the opportunity, despite being hesitant, but soon finds out why he was really brought in - to use his stuntman skills to find Tom Ryder, who has disappeared. His absence marks the film's cancellation, and he's needed back on set for it to go on. Not wanting Jody's film to fall through the cracks, Colt agrees, and the film picks up from there. When considering the film as a whole, there's so much I admire about its execution. One of the biggest details for me is that you have the ex-couple here throughout the movie, but their dialogue isn't just a bunch of bickering back and forth because for some reason people think that's funny. The few times they do get into any kind of fight, it's nothing overboard or stupid, and it's generally padded with real humour. For anyone who has seen this, the bullhorn scene is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. All that aside, it's always admirable to see some action with less CG and more genuine stunt work, and this movie is full of that. Some of the stunts end up being pretty unique, as well, my favourite being a bit of street surfing, which one can also catch a bit of in the trailer. There's even a long credit sequence here where they take you behind the scenes to see the real stuntmen at work on the film, which is admirable, as that's what the film is all about. I have to further credit it for being directed by a stunt coordinator. It's a great, unique idea. I can admit that at the end of the day, the film as a whole may end up somewhat predictable for some, and we've definitely seen the general plot of the famous person going missing and the unlikely hero(es) having to find them. But it's the execution of things I really admire here. It sort of stands as proof that in all honesty, a PG-13-rated action movie can still be a whole lot of fun. On a persoal level, I really loved what they came up with here, and it's bound to be on my "favourites" list of 2024. This is one I can recommend to the masses, so go have fun with this one if you haven't yet! 5/5 |
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