Tag Archives: Action

Pretty Lethal – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An absolutely solid action film that understands the visual language it wants to engage with and makes it shine.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The ballerinas.

Pretty Lethal Review Introduction

I have been on the hunt for a good action film lately, and unfortunately, I have been hit by a wave of disappointments. When you are on a bad run, it is time to remove your preconceptions and try for something outside of the box and today that means dancing as if your life depended on it.

So, to set the scene, a group of ballerinas, Zoe (Iris Apatow), Princess (Lana Condor), Chloe (Millicent Simmonds), Grace (Avantika), Bones (Maddie Ziegler), and their instructor Thorna Devonport (Lydia Leonard), were on their way to a showcase in Budapest when their flight got diverted, and the transfer bus broke down in the middle of the forest 300-odd kilometres away from the capital. No service, cold and drenched from rain, they stumble into the one hotel in the little town in the mountains. A short wait for a minibus should have been fine, but when bullets start flying, it will be a fight for their lives.

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Brothers Under Fire – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that is 80% set up, and I am not sure the ending was worth it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure –I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The five members of the platoon in a photo.

Brothers Under Fire Review Introduction

Today, we are looking at a film that I knew nothing about until it appeared on my feed, an enigma of a movie. But it was also an intriguing mystery, because it is something of an occupational hazard that I know about most films released out of America. But that mystery is a potential promise until proven otherwise.   

So, to set the scene, in Syria, east of the Al Omar mountain oil fields, an American platoon is under attack, with only a very close air strike saving them. A good thing because Alberto Castillo (Tommy Martinez) is getting married, and the whole troop, including Capt. Jordan Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), Danny Walton (Solly McLeod), Lieutenant Carson (Ashton Sanders), and Marco Hino (Laird Akeo), are invited to Columbia for the nuptials to Isabella Perez (Laura Osma). What no one realises is that the local cartel is on the move after a messy takeover of a rival organisation, and soon everyone is caught up in the storm.

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The Get Out – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly odd slow-burn film that I am not sure lands its bombastic conclusion.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Russell Crowe sitting down in an yellow jumpsuit listing to headphones.

The Get Out Review Introduction

If you were going to ask who is the best export that Australia has ever given to Hollywood, then I would have to say that Russell Crowe needs to be in that conversation. If nothing else, the man is always working, bringing all of himself into the roles he plays, no matter how small or weird they may be. Today we are looking at a film that might be a good example of this, as we dive into the seedy underbelly of the Gold Coast … I mean Los Angeles.

So, to set the scene, Marco Kapak (Russell Crowe) is a man from Albania who has run a nightclub in America for decades. It was a lucrative career, until a ‘cardiac event’ stops him in his tracks at a most inopportune time. He is finally taking the advice of his girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer), to sell the nightclub and move to a nice small house in Thailand. The only problem is that Kapak has fingers in many pies, not all of them legal, and they all need to be untangled. Some of them might not want to be untangled.

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Wildcat – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has all the building blocks for a fascinating film, but it needed some more time in the oven before it was ready. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

London burning.

Wildcat Review Introduction

Some days you feel like falling into a comfort genre, and for me, that is a solid heist film. I love the construction, the action, and the aftermath. Add in the physicality of Kate Beckinsale and Lewis Tan, set it in the London underground, and frankly you have all the foundation you need for something interesting. I hope.

So, to set the scene, there is a new gang, the Mushka, threatening the balance of power between the two former kings of London’s underground: Christina Vine (Alice Krige) and Frasier Mahoney (Charles Dance). In the middle of this brewing civil war, Ada (Kate Beckinsale) leads a team including Roman (Lewis Tan) and Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) into robbing Ms Vine’s jewel vault. Because someone has kidnapped her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley), starting the civil war might be the cover they need to get her back.   

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Reacher: Season Four – TV Review

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TL;DR – A solid season that never evolves the manual but does show why it works as well as it does.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher looks out in concern.

Reacher Review Introduction

Another season of Reacher has come to a close, and thankfully it was a much better ride than what we got in Season Three. With that in mind, we will dive into what makes the series work as well as it does, and also what might be holding it back from really making a cultural moment.   

So, to set the scene, it is 2:18 am in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is taking one of the last trains for the night when he notices a woman in clear distress, her hands hidden in a bag. Fearing the inevitable disaster, he tries to talk the lady down from the coming disaster. But when he lies to say he is a cop, hoping that will stop the escalation, it has the opposite result. Reacher feels like he failed the woman in her hour of need, but worse, every department in the federal government is now very interested in a suicide on an early morning train. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Seven Snipers – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film about snipers should be tense, not dull.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix subscription used to watch this film.

A car in the target of a sniper scope.

Seven Snipers Review Introduction

As we continue to catch up on releases before the end-of-year onslaught happens, there is one Australian film from earlier this year that I wanted to get my eyes on. Conceptually, the idea of multiple snipers facing off against each other deep in the Australian bush is something that you have to see.  

So, to set the scene, Chris Hendrix (Radha Mitchell) lives deep in rural Australia with her daughter Anja (Annabel Wolfe). Chris is a little high-strung, which of course is perfect fodder for a rebellious teenager. However, Chris is not just some normal strict parent; she is a former special forces operator who has been living in hiding after antagonising the ruthless Dragon. But when a local real estate agent turns out to be an assassin, Chris realises that after decades, the Dragon has found her. Calling in backup, Chris hopes to get in front of this when her daughter runs away, and then the bodies start dropping.    

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Runner – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While I had some fun, this is one of those films where you will either be in for the ride or bounce off it so hard.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The Brisbane sign.

Runner Review Introduction

Today we are looking at Runner, which should not be confused with The Runner that we looked at last week. This is a bit of an odd film for me because I am reviewing a movie not just filmed in my hometown, but actually set in it. Which brings a lot of joy when you see them in locations I know so well, but then also a real disconnect when the geography makes no sense. Let’s see how that juxtaposition pans out.

  So, to set the scene, Hank Malone (Alan Ritchson) is an ex-Navy SEAL living in Brisbane, Australia. Hank is one year sober and works as a runner, bringing items usually legal, sometimes not so, from one location to another as quickly as possible. A good example of this is a parrot from one divorced partner to the other. The day was meant to be over until an emergency last-minute parcel arrives via plane from Honolulu. But this parcel, an organ, comes attached to Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson). They just need to get the liver from Brisbane to the Gold Coast hospital before the time runs out. It is a simple run, well, it should be, but that is when some black SVUs filled with gun-wielding bikies start hunting them down.

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The Runner – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A conceptually interesting film that does not have the legs to make it to a full feature length.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Gal Gadot running.

The Runner Review Introduction

Today we review a film with a very singular focus, a singular drive, it might be said. Where the title is not just a thematic exploration of the narrative, but a description of what we will be doing for the next ninety minutes. Such singular focus can work because you strip out every extraneous factor, but when you have borne your soul, you also have nowhere to hide.
  
So, to set the scene, Maia Marten (Gal Gadot) is a lawyer working in London who likes running, so much that she will fob off one of her clients to put another male runner in their place. But as she runs to the office one morning, A Caller (Damian Lewis) uses her son Noah’s (Rory Wilmot) phone. The kidnapper has two rules: Maia cannot talk to anyone else, especially the police, and two, Maia cannot bore him. She has an hour to kill a witness in her big case that only she has access to, or Noah dies.

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Ready or Not 2: Here I Come – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it does not nail its universe-upscaling, it is still an entertaining, bloody action comedy.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription used to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

All the representatives of the families.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come Review Introduction

Ready or Not was one of those films I entirely slept on, which was a mistake. It was one of those few films that completely understood the power and limits of dark comedy. It was a riot of gory fun, but one of those films that I was surprised it got a sequel, but it did, and this time I am not sleeping on it.  

So, to set the scene, we start right after the end of Ready or Not as Grace (Samara Weaving) is rushed to hospital suffering from shock and blood loss. What she doesn’t know is that by winning the game of Hide and Seek, she has triggered a rare clause in the agreement that binds all the powerful families together. Now, ultimate power is up for grabs, and every family wants a bite of the apple. Grace was hoping to go home, but when her estranged sister Faith (Kathryn Newton) arrives at the hospital, none of them was ready to be kidnapped, dragged to the hotel of Chester Danforth (David Cronenberg), and forced to hide again, handcuffed together.

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Reacher: Bridge [S4E5] – TV Review

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TL;DR – Reacher finds himself up a particular creek without any manual propulsion devices.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription that viewed this series.

Reacher falling through a trash chute.

Reacher Review Introduction

We have reached the halfway point of the season, and this is the point where things start falling apart. Well, Season Four has decided not to buck that trend and has leaned into it hard as the whole case gets turned on its head.

So, to set the scene, we left Reacher (Alan Ritchson) surrounded by a pile of bodies and the police banging down the door. It was a setup, because Lila (Agnez Mo) and Amisha (Anggun) are not as mild-mannered as they seem, and are in fact cold-blooded killers, favouring curved blades. This changes everything we thought about this case and more. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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