Tag Archives: Action

Bring Him to Me – Movie Review

Posted on by
6

TL;DR – An oddly tense film about bringing a man to his coming fate.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A masked man with a gun.

Bring Him to Me Review –

One of the perks of being a film reviewer in Australia is watching Aussie films make it to the big screen. Even more so when they have filmed the movie around where you live, and you get to play the game ‘Wait, I know that bridge’. Well, today we get to review that hits both these marks as it galivants pair towards danger.

So to set the scene, we open in on a robbery in progress, where a money cleaner (Sam Neill) is very put out by having his night ruined. Even more so when they threaten his son (Zac Garred). The next day, the Driver (Barry Pepper) is called by his Boss (Rachel Griffiths) because everything went wrong the night before. Something has to have caused it, so the Driver needs to pick up one of the other members of the robbery, The Kid (Jamie Costa), who stuffed it up and, as the title implies, bring him to her.  

Continue reading →

The Retaliators – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – It plays with some interesting concepts and an ocean of blood but does not quite stick the landing.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – This film depicts scenes of abuse.

A man at a graveyard.

The Retaliators Review –

I remember seeing a trailer for this film last year and being intrigued by the concept. Is there a pressure point so severe that it would turn a peaceful person to use violence? I wondered when we would get it here in Australia, so I was intrigued when the screener arrived to see how it would explore that central issue.

So to set the scene, after hearing some musing on evil, we found ourselves near Hillsdale, New Jersey. When a tire bursts, two women are trying to take a shortcut near a local slaughterhouse stop to change it, not knowing the horror they found themselves in. We then encounter John Bishop (Michael Lombardi) and his family. John is a local pastor who does not believe in using violence to solve his problems. However, this will be tested when his daughter Sarah (Katie Kelly) accidentally stumbles across a crime and is chased down by Ram Kady (Joseph Gatt), a father’s worst nightmare.

Continue reading →

The Equalizer 3 – Movie Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – A solid conclusion to the trilogy that does not chart a new course but knows the waters it wants to stay in and revels in it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

fireworks explode behind a religious statue.

The Equalizer 3 Review –

As I arrived a couple of hours early for the first The Creator session, I realised there was enough time to see another movie while I waited and scratch one of the current releases off my pile of shame. There were a couple of options until I saw The Equalizer 3. From memory, I liked The Equalizer 2, and I have often dreamed of living on the Italian coastline. But then I realised who the leading cast member was for this film and who it was for The Creator, and I knew that was a double bill that sold itself.

So to set the scene, a while after the events of 2, we find ourselves away from America and on the island of Sicily, Italy. An older man arrives with his grandson at a winery to discover all his henchmen are dead outside. Walking through the carnage down into the heart of it, we find one personal under guard. But that one person is Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), and a couple of guns will not stop him. Okay, a rifle to the back might. But when he is found by a kind a local carabiniere, Gio Bonucci (Eugenio Mastrandrea), after falling unconscious behind the wheel and saved from bleeding out by local doctor Enzo Arisio (Remo Girone). Robert takes a liking to the town and thinks this is where he could find some peace, and that was the wrong time for the mafia to try and muscle their way into the town.

Continue reading →

The Creator – Movie Review

Posted on by
14

TL;DR – A phenomenal work of art that touches on all the emotions.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

A smiling synth.

The Creator Review –

There are many ways you can get me into a cinema, and chief among them is bringing a new Science Fiction film into the world. A new movie not attached to any existing IP. Do you know how rare that is today? But then also have it be the first significant follow-up of Gareth Edwards after Rogue One. Well, you have already sold me, but sure, add a cherry on the top. However, even then, I was unprepared for the beauty and ugliness I was about to watch.

So to set the scene, in the near future, AI, robotics, and synths will be a part of every facet of society. That is until that same AI launched a nuclear missile attack on Los Angeles in 2055. Millions died, and much of the world banned AI, but not New Asia. Ten years after LA and the war across New Asia rages, America tries to destroy the robotic resistance. Amongst all of this, Joshua (John David Washington) and Maya (Gemma Chan) live in a house on the beach and are expecting their first child when an American raid reveals Joshua to be a double agent. It is a disaster for Joshua, but five years later, as the last threat to the looming spaceship USS Nomad is identified, he is given a choice: Help a team find this weapon and maybe save his love. But no one was expecting what they found in that lab.

Continue reading →

Kandahar – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – It is a solid action film that is, unfortunately, not really sure what it wants to say.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this film.

Fighters line up with guns.

Kandahar Review –

Some artists get known for periods in their career. Picasso had his Blue Period,  Monet had his Water Lilies, and James Cameron has his Avatar saga. But one new era that I have been particularly interested in is Gerard Butler’s one-word action films. So far, we have gotten Geostorm, Greenland, and Plane. Today, we look at the next entry with a spy mission that goes very wrong.   

So to set the scene, we open in Qom, Iran, where a team works on a telecommunications substation under heavy armed guard. But this is a secret CIA project led by Tom Harris (Gerard Butler) to monitor and disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. However, this gets leaked to a journalist, Luna Cujai (Nina Toussaint-White), from someone in the Pentagon. Tom is stuck in Herat, Afghanistan when the news is released. In Herat, the Taliban have taken over, and foreign spies from Pakistan, Iran, India, China, Pakistan, ISIS, and more roam the streets. There are no good options, but he needs to escape before he is publicly executed, and the only escape is MI6 black Ops pick up in Kandahar that will be on the ground for one minute in 30 hours.   

Continue reading →

Heart of Stone – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A shallow experience that never finds its feet.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Stone walks across sand dunes.

Heart of Stone Review –

We have seen many different films attempt to capture the allure that James Bond has over the spy genre. In fact, in the last year, streaming services alone have tried Citadel, Ghosted, and The Gray Man, to name but a few. But all of them have fallen flat. However, there always is a chance that the next attempt will be the one to land, and this is what we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, it is the Italian Alps and Rachel Stone (Gal Gadot) and her MI6 team are targeting Europe’s biggest arms dealer. Stone is just a tech assist, but this mission forces her into the field when she needs to hack a phone to let Parker (Gal Gadot) and Yang (Jing Lusi) deeper into the complex. However, when things go to pot, we discover that Stone is no lowly tech analyst and is not just playing for MI6. She works for Charter, a clandestine spy organisation that works above national borders. But who watches the watchers?   

Continue reading →

Sisu – Movie Review

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – An electric meditation on violence and the lengths people will go to survive.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

A horse rides over the Lapland countryside.

Sisu Review –

Violence can be used for many things in cinema. It can be shocking, used for humour, tell a moral, used to scare, or even offend. Recently, we have seen the popularisation of the reverse slasher film, where you rally behind those dishing out the violence. We can all rally behind John Wick as he takes down those who killed his dog, but can we translate that into a war setting? Well, this is what we are exploring today.

So to set the scene, in 1944, it was the closing months of WW2, and after Finland signed the Moscow Armistice, they were required to evict any Nazi presence from the country. The Nazis then start a scorched earth campaign as they retreat through Lapland to reach the Norwegian border. Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) lives in the Lapland wilderness, mining for gold with his dog and horse as the only companions. After finding a rich gold reef, he returns to Helsinki to deposit it at the bank when he comes across Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie) and his retreating SS platoon. This first group lets him pass, but carnage breaks loose when the second spots the gold.

Continue reading →

Meg 2: The Trench – Movie Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR –Well, Meg 2 is an absolutely abysmal film that flounders at almost every stage while it fails at every front of knowing what sort of film it wants to be.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

They walk through the Trench.

Meg 2 Review –

Well, blast, look, honestly, I didn’t see this coming. I was someone who quite liked the first Meg because it scratched that perfect dumb but fun itch that you can get with over-the-top action films. It wasn’t a perfect film by any stretch of the imagination, but it was still entertaining. So, surely a second attempt at this world will at least be amusing… well, unfortunately not.

So to set the scene, it has been some time since the first film, and Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) has been working for the Oceanic Institute based out of Hainan, China, for Jiuming Zhang (Wu Jing). But on his days off, he clandestinely monitors any shady people who could be harming the environment, such as the cargo shin The Kitty Blue that is illegally dumping radioactive material into the Philippine Sea. But things go amiss when the Meg Haiqi breaks out of their enclosure, and they find that they are not the only humans at the bottom of The Trench.

Continue reading →

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning – Movie Review

Posted on by
7

TL;DR – While the individual set piece moments are as good as ever, the connecting tissue feels a bit flat this time.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Ethan Hunt/Tom Cruise running.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Review –

When I think back to the Mission: Impossible franchise, the first thing that comes to mind is solid consistency. You can know what to expect from the film before you walk in the door, and they nearly always deliver, yes, even M: I 2. I was delighted to see the next entry, even when a ‘Part One’ moniker is often a bit of a red flag and while those solid aspects are still there, some elements were lacking.

So to set the scene, we are under the Bearing Sea with the Russian submarine Sevastopol as it tests its new AI stealth drive. This drive has allowed it to approach the navies of every world power without being detected. However, when they are heading back to port, something odd happens when an American submarine suddenly sees them but disappears from their monitors after they fire torpedoes. But destruction soon follows. Two keys lead to the sub’s heart, and one ends up in the hands of Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) in the Yemeni Desert. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny) tasks Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to obtain the key that every nation in the world wants because, with it, they can control the AI that is currently destroying every intelligence apparatus they have.    

Continue reading →

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – Movie Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – While some aspects don’t quite work, I would say this is a nice epilogue to the Indiana Jones franchise.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Indy in a tomb.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Review –

We have seen many films try to recapture the past with a middling effect, hoping that nostalgia will lead to a quick buck. But rarely do you see them try to pivot that nostalgia to create a swansong for a character. Well, that is sort of what we get today, with a legacy film that is not looking to pass the torch but raise one last drink before the bar closes.

So to set the scene, it is the closing months of WW2 and Indy (Harrison Ford) is trying to infiltrate a castle in the French Alps that the Nazis are using as a staging post to ship back all their looted goods as France is reclaimed. He and Basil (Toby Jones) are after the Lance of Longinus [the spear that pierced Christ’s side], but it is whisked away on a train. While the Spear turns out to be a fake, on the train, Nazi physicist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) discovers something much more valuable. It is now 1969, and Indy is feeling bitter with the world after the death of his son and the failure of his marriage, but when Basil’s daughter and his god-daughter, Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), arrives looking for the item they stole from that train, darker forces might be just on her heals.

Continue reading →