Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings

Official Australian release date: 26/7/18. Viewed: 28/7/18.

Director: Hark Tsui

Actors: Mark Chao, Shaofeng Feng, Kenny Lin, Sichun Ma

Genre: Action

Rating: MA

   

‘Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings’ is the third in this series of Chinese kung fu films, after the original ‘Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame’ back in 2010 and ‘Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon’ (2013). The plot follows Dee (Chao) as he leads an ancient FBI and his friendship/rivalry with Yuchi (Feng) and mentorship of Shatuo (Lin), as they try to protect/hide the Dragon Taming Mace, which has powers (like Excalibur).

Despite the four ‘heavenly kings’ of the title, they barely make an appearance or have an impact on the story. Rather, it’s all about sorcery and a clan (the “Wind Warriors”) who want to topple the dynasty. The sorcery aspect means there’s plenty of special effects, most of it really well done. The dragon and the battle at the end are exceptional. Even the “illusionists”, including Water Moon (Ma), are pretty cool.

There’s still some mystery and police work for Dee to solve, but it’s also merged well with the sorcery and political intrigue with the Empress and Emperor. It’s well paced, not too long, with some funny moments and, obviously has excellent stunts and fight-scene choreography that’s more than worth the price of admission. It all adds up to a fun ride!

Overall: Another enjoyable piece of foreign cinema.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Official Australian release date: 2/8/18. Viewed: 27/7/18.

Director: Chris McQuarrie

Actors: Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg

Genre: Action

Rating: M

   

‘Mission: Impossible – Fallout’ (MI6) follows on closely from ‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’, with the IMF trying to round up the Syndicate/Apostles. This leads them to chasing some stolen nuclear bombs – always good when the stakes are high! Most of the gang are back – Ethan (Cruise), Benji (Pegg), Luther (Rhames), Ilsa (Ferguson), Julia (Monaghan) & Hunley (Baldwin) – but no Renner, with Lane (Harris) still the main bad guy controlling the bad guys. Walker (Cavill) is the new guy – a CIA agent sent to watch over the team after they initially lose the plutonium.

As always, the highlight is the action – there’s some exceptional fight scenes here (especially the best bathroom fight since ‘True Lies’) and some excellent car/motorbike chases. There’s also the classic M:I masks and possibly a quadruple-cross? I lost count, but it certainly makes things intriguing.

The stunts are stunning – and very impressive, given Cruise is now 56 – and kudos to the director for leaving in the building-jump where Cruise breaks his ankle: it looks great & is so realistic! The helicopter scenes are exceptional and, as always, there’s plenty of Cruise running. The scenery – Norway & New Zealand filling in for Kashmir, plus Paris and London – adds another layer to the action. Six films in 23 years seems right – not overload, but enough to keep you interested (there’s been eight Bond films, by comparison). Very enjoyable spy thriller.

Overall: Best one yet?

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Occupation

Official Australian release date: 12/7/18. Viewed: 13/7/18.

Director: Luke Sparke

Actors: Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Stephany Jacobsen, Charles Terrier

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

   

‘Occupation’ is an Australian indie film, which happens to be a sci-fi invasion film with lots of special effects. It’s essentially a cross between ‘Tomorrow, When The War Began’/‘Red Dawn’ and ‘Monsters’ – and unfortunately isn’t as good as any of them. Its not all bad, but you can tell it’s a low budget film with not the best actors.

Part of the problem is too many characters – 10 main ones. Why not just focus on four or five? The main stars are Matt (Ewing), Peter (Morrison), Amelia (Jacobsen) and Jackson (Terrier). Other major gripes: why would aliens invade Murwillumbah, population 10,000? Why would they be playing Australian Rules and not Rugby League? Why do aliens always have to be humanoid & approximately human-sized? Why do they need to have such large eyes? That being said, it’s nice to see Aussie scenery & hear our accent for a change and the filmmakers certainly tried.

There’s probably a bit too much shaky-cam and gun battles, but the main concern is that a lot of it comes across as too corny and/or earnest. Could’ve done with a bit more humour/tongue-in-cheekness. Some good explosions and fight scenes, and doesn’t take too long to get going.

Overall: Unpolished, but valiant alien flick.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Ant-Man & The Wasp

Official Australian release date: 5/7/18. Viewed: 4/7/18.

Director: Peyton Reed

Actors: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Hannah John-Kamen

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: PG

   

‘Ant-Man & The Wasp’ is the third Marvel film in the last five months – but importantly, it’s the first since ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the last for eight months. Definitely recommend seeing Infinity War before this. This sequel sticks to the winning formula of the first – Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd)’s charm/humour, Hope/Wasp (Lilly)’s resolve/smarts and Hank (Douglas)’s mentorship/atonement. Less of a heist focus this time, though – more of a rescue mission.

Excellent support cast again, most notably Luis (Pena), who has plenty of great lines and laughs. His two offsiders, Dave (TI) and Kurt (Dastmalchian) also get some screen time, as does Cassie (Forston) – Scott’s daughter. There’s also FBI agent Jimmy (Park), Bill (Fishburne), Janet (Pfeiffer) and Burch (Goggins), all having something to add. The film starts a little slow, trying to establish where we are (after ‘Captain America: Civil War’, just before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’).

The film picks up with the introduction of Ghost (John-Kamen), who’s an interesting antagonist, with her phasing powers. Plenty of good action scenes, balanced (mostly) with humour. Once again, the most stunning scenes are the sub-atomic/quantum realm shrinkages, with exceptional and trippy visuals. As always, stay for the end credits. Not better than the first film, but no worse either.

Overall: Another fun & slightly off-kilter ‘superhero’ film.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.