Tag Archives: Action

Deadpool & Wolverine – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it languishes in parts, the camaraderie and love for what they are doing is off the charts, and you feel that love in every part of the film.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Lady Deadpool.

Deadpool & Wolverine Review –

Well, here we are, with a movie that is either the MCU’s latest desperate attempt to try and get either the multiverse or the mutants to work. Or a fun fourth-wall-breaking meta romp bro road trip through the Fox X-Men years via someone who liked that one bit in Loki season 1. Yet, somehow it is both of these things, and in the process, might be better than the sum of its parts.

So, to set the scene, after we deal with the ethical quandaries laid bare by the existence of Logan, we find that things have not gone well for Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) since we last saw him in Deadpool 2. While his friends always surround him, and he has made it along the way, no one in power trusts him, and rejection after rejection leads to him shutting himself off from people, especially on this birthday. But when henchmen from the TVA arrive to take Deadpool to see Mr Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen), he finds out that this timeline is dying, and the only way to save it might be to find himself a new Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).

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Twisters – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has a lot of charm and action as long as you don’t dwell on the science for a moment.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A tornado bares down on a truck.

Twisters Review –

Well, today, we look at a bit of an odd duck in that this could almost be classed as a straight-up legacy sequel to the seminal 1996 film Twister. However, bar one significant reference right at the start, you would be remiss to see any connection between the two films beyond vibes, narrative structure, and a deep love for tornadoes. But that love is still there, as well as a metric spoonful of unreserved swagger.

So, to set the scene, Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) is a whiz at tornadoes. She just has a feel for them and how they form. But growing up in Oklahoma, which is smack dab in the middle of tornado alley, Kate also knows the destruction that they can cause. To combat that, she and her team, including Javi (Anthony Ramos), Addy (Kiernan Shipka), Jeb (Daryl McCormack), and Praveen (Nik Dodani), have put together a plan to use reagents to suck the moisture out of a tornado. They planned to test it on a small EF1 tornado, but something went wrong, and the target intensified to EF5, and you can’t run from that. Five years later, Javi catches up with Kate, who works in New York. He needs her skill to help map a tornado using newly developed military technology. She is hesitant but agrees to come back for one week only. It is a week that just so happens to have some of the worst storms in living history, and where she comes face-to-face with the rascally Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), professional tornado chaser.      

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Kill – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A bloody rampage of action that perfectly uses the medium of a train to tell its story of revenge.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Amrit, bloodied on the floor surrounded by bandits.

Kill Review –

There are times when you want to sit down and watch a bloody action romp on screen. Fists throwing, legs kicking, knives slashing, and all that jazz. But what if you could get that and get something a little new that you have never seen before? Well, that is what we are getting today with one of the bloodiest action romps I have seen in an age.

So, to set the scene, Amrit (Lakshya) and Viresh (Abhishek Chauhan) are captains and commandos in the Indian Army. When they return from the field, they find out that Amrit’s love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) has been betrothed to another. Amrit and Viresh try to rescue her from the engagement party, but there are too many families with assorted weapons. However, the next day, Tulika, her sister Aahna (Adrija Sinha), her father Baldev Singh Thakur (Harsh Chhaya), and the rest of her family are taking an overnight train back to Delhi. So, Amrit and Viresh tag along, hoping for a better chance there. The only problem is that Fani (Raghav Juyal) and his extended family are also on the train, and they are about to rob it.    

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Arena Wars – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is an ambitious film, and while I don’t think it ever reached that ambition, it was fascinating to watch.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a scene throughout the credits.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

The Big F##king City

Arena Wars Review –

Today, we are looking at a difficult film to review because you get pulled in two different directions. On the one hand, as a critic, I need to review what is on the screen, but as a human being, you can also see the potential that could have been.

So, to set the film, it is 2045, and in The Big F##king City, there is only one way that convicted felons can get out: by appearing on Arena Wars, a TV show that everyone watches, well everyone used to watch. The convicts have to fight through seven different rooms with seven violent killers in them to be able to go free. The brand is on life support, and they need to win back the audience that is becoming bored of death. In the Rodimus Federal Prison in the Washington DC City State, Luke Bender (John Wells) is sitting with a 200-year sentence, covering for their superiors who stuffed up. But they need a hero for the arena, and Luke is in the wrong place at the wrong time.     

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Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that entirely knows what it wants to be and completely nails that delivery. How much you will like that will depend on how you gel with the premise.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

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

Detroit Jacket.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F Review –

Well, here is a blast of the past, and even in our reboot-obsessed culture, this feels like a deep cut. Well, that is, until you hear the music, and then you 100% understand why. However, it had been 30 years since the last entry, and that is a lot of ground to make up for. There is only so much that synth can do, but let us see if there is a story that can work, given the shifts in the police force since the last outing.

So, to set the scene, Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) is still a cop who is completely fine with causing mass destruction to capture his crooks in Detroit. However, times have changed; a snowplough is indiscriminate in its chaos, and this is the last time Jeffrey Friedman (Paul Reiser) can cover for him. But when an old friend (Judge Reinhold) lets him know that his estranged daughter Jane’s (Taylour Paige) life has been threatened in Beverly Hills. Axel takes the first flight back to his old stomping grounds, and they discover that they might be more alike than they want. They both know Detective Sam Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), but Billy is missing, and it might be time to cause some mayhem in Beverly Hills.      

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A Quiet Place: Day One – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A gripping work that holds onto you from those first minutes and never lets up as the world collapses around it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this movie.

The Aliens arrive in the sky.

A Quiet Place: Day One Review –

It is time to step back into this universe that oscillates between complete quiet and a riot of explosions. I fundamentally enjoyed both A Quiet Place and its follow-up, A Quiet Place Part II. However, both of those films looked at how this apocalypse would affect a small town. It is now time to take this roadshow to a large city, which is, in fact, one of the largest cities in the world, and see just what would happen.

Sam (Lupita Nyong’o) lives in a hospice counting down her days on earth through the prism of forced poetry when one of the nurses, Reuben (Alex Wolff), convinces her and her support cat Frodo (Schnitzel & Nico) to come into New York City to see a play. While there, the puppet show had to be finished early because something was going down in New York, and the Hospice wanted them all home, which was when the first explosion hit.

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The Convert – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A very compelling narrative of finding oneself far away from home.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

The New Zealand coastline.

The Convert Review –

There was a whole wave of unintended consequences when the British gallivanted around the world, sticking their flag on any spot of land that they could. You know, other than the conquest, murder, and resource exploitation, that is. In what is now New Zealand, one of these was the Musket Wars, where tribal structures across the islands were ripped apart. Today’s film jumps into the heart of this and the world it is creating.  

So, to set the scene, it is 1830, and Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) is on a dangerous journey across the Tasman Sea to his new home on the Islands of New Zealand in the town of Epworth. He has been hired as the new lay preacher, but before he reaches there, he saves the life of Rangimai (Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne) as the rest of her town is slaughtered by the warlord Akatarewa (Lawrence Makoare). Even when in Epworth, danger lurks, and not just from the “savages” in the bush.

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Kalki 2898 AD – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that had moments of dire boredom but also had me sitting on the edge of my chair. I wish we got more of the latter than the first.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

The Complex hovering over everyone.

Kalki 2898 AD Review –

Back when RRR came out two years ago, I realised that I needed to watch more Telugu Language films, and I have been found wanting on that front. Well, if I am going to dive back in, a substantial mythological/Science Fiction romp is 100% right up my alley. Today, we are going to come into this movie with a slight outsider perspective with all its strengths and weaknesses.

So to set the scene, back in the ages past, in 3102 BC, two groups, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, fought for the throne. But when Ashwathamma (Amitabh Bachchan) attempts to kill an innocent, lord Krishna (Krishnakumar/ Arjun Das) curses him to walk the world as an immortal, being never able to die until Vishnu’s last avatar returns. Thousands of years later, in 2892 AD, the world was scorched, and the only city left was Kasi, which lived under the shadow of The Complex, a vast megastructure in the sky. It is a brutal world where everyone is trying to make enough units to get into The Complex while they act with impunity, killing anyone and stealing all the women able to bear children. Bhairava (Prabhas) is a bounty hunter in this world, but when he captures a fleeing Luke (Harshith Malgireddy), little does he know the new trajectory his life will now be on and the dangers he might have incited.

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Trigger Warning – Movie Review

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TL;DR – When things click into place, this can be quite an entertaining film. Unfortunately, a lot of the connective tissue is full of awkwardness that holds it back.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Parker mourns her father.

Trigger Warning Review –

Okay, so I am going to be upfront with you right from the start. The reason I sat down to watch this film is because it has been an age since I have seen Jessica Alba in anything. She was one of those tent pole stars when I was growing up, and I am always here for a new renaissance.   

So to set the scene, we open in the Bādiyat al-Shām Desert, Syria, as two pickup trucks with machine guns chase down an aid vehicle that clearly is not delivering aid. Instead, it is driven by spec-ops operative Parker (Jessica Alba), who is very handy with a knife. But when an apparent cave-in kills her father at the mine he works in, Parker travels all the way home to deep rural America to find out what really happened. However, one look shows that the cave-in might be a very convenient conclusion.   

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Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a film that roars to life and explodes on to the screen, captivating you with every turn.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Furiosa stands alone in the desert.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Review –

Well, this was always going to be an interesting film for me. The last entry in the Mad Max Saga, as we are now calling it, Fury Road, blasted onto the world and had a profound effect on me. It is one of those rare films that I have watched over and over again, and each time, I found a new detail I had missed before. It is in my Top 10 Films of All Time list for a reason. This means that there was some trepidation when I walked into the theatre wondering how a prequel to that film could stand up, but the second my seat reverberated with a motorcycle roar, I knew that I was in for something exciting.

So, to set the scene, a young Furiosa (Alyla Browne) is living in the green land of many mothers when she comes across three bikers who have discovered their hidden sanctuary. Being captured, her mother (Charlee Fraser) chases Furiosa across the desert till they make it to the roving camp of Praetorian Jack (Chris Hemsworth). He sees her value as the one person who knows where the place of abundance is and brings her into his collection, which is where she first meets the leader of the Citadel, Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme).

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