Wonder Woman (June 2017)

Official Australian release date: 1/6/17. Viewed: 4/6/17.

Director: Patty Jenkins

Actors: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Connie Nielsen, Danny Huston

Genre: Action / Adventure

Rating: M

‘Wonder Woman’ is the first good DC film of their attempt to create an extended universe to rival Marvel. It certainly has a livelier and less somber tone than ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman Vs Superman’, and works better as an introduction to the character than either of those films. Most of this is down to Gadot, who plays Diana with innocence, as well as integrity and passion. Also, doesn’t hurt that she’s extremely beautiful. The film does a good job of introducing the Amazons and how their island-home, Themyscira, is hidden from the world.

Diana’s mum, Queen Hippolyta (Nielsen) has kept her sheltered for her whole life (not certain if the Amazons are immortal, or not…), but this changes when World War I finds them, via Captain Trevor (Pine). Then, Diana’s off to the real world to help mankind in their battle against Ares, God of War (a substitute for the Central Powers in WWI). There’s plenty of funny moments as Diana is introduced to London in the early 20^th century and especially with Trevor, since she’s never met a male before. We quickly meet Trevor’s rag-tag team and suddenly we’re off to Belgium where the action begins and we get to see Wonder Woman in full flight/fight.

Ludendorff (Huston) is good as the evil German general, but there’s a few similarities with ‘Captain America: The First Avenger’, as he is basically a “Red Skull”-substitute, has an offsider who develops weapons of mass destruction, gets super-strength, and then has to fight someone super-strong wearing red and blue. The main difference is that Wonder Woman’ is set WWI, but both comic book characters were created in 1941 during WWII. Still, it doesn’t really detract for the film, with plenty of great hand-to-hand combat, as well as full-on war scenes. Pretty satisfying conclusion, with Diana’s purpose, humour, powers and morals all being set-up nicely for ‘Justice League’, but works well as a standalone film.

Overall: Great origin story and fun to watch.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

John Wick: Chapter 2 (May 2017)

Official Australian release date: 18/5/17. Viewed: 20/5/17.

Director: Chad Stahelski

Actors: Keanu Reeves, Riccardo Scamarcio, Ian McShane, Common

Genre: Action / Thriller

Rating: MA

‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ is a sequel I didn’t think they were going to make, but it is actually better than the first, if only because they now know what to do more and less of. It starts directly after the first film, but Wick (Reeves) now has a new dog. The initial car chase scene in New York is a pretty great way to start the film. Wick’s still the same – brooding, wearing a suit, saying maybe 100 words in the whole 2 hours and killing people left, right and centre.

The plot, as much as there is one, is that Santino D’Antonio (Scamarcio) – some Italian mafia guy – wants Wick to kill his sister, so he’s off to Rome to mess stuff up. This starts a long-running battle with fellow hitman Cassian (Common), which has some funny moments and some good fights.

I liked that there’s a sort of ‘Kingsman’-like global hitmen underground, but it does seem a little far-fetched most of the time, especially since there’s apparently hundreds of them! The film definitely needed to use Fishburne, McShane and Leguizamo more. But Reeves carries it, running around and killing at least 50 bad guys. The scene at the end in the museum is really well done too. Nothing new or exceptional, but well-made.

Overall: Fast and violent fun

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Alien: Covenant (May 2017)

Official Australian release date: 11/5/17. Viewed: 11/5/17.

Director: Ridley Scott

Actors: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride

Genre: Sci-Fi / Horror

Rating: MA

‘Alien: Covenant’ is number 6 or 8 in the franchise, depending if you count the ‘Alien Vs Predator’ films, or not. It’s a sequel to ‘Prometheus’, but a prequel to the original four ‘Alien’ films. Confusing? It doesn’t matter too much, but Fassbender as the cyborg, Walter, links this film to ‘Prometheus’, where he was David. As such, he plays a large role in the plot, which is similar to all that has gone before – in the 22^nd century, the crew is awoken from their “hyper-sleep” early by a mini-disaster and decide to stop on a nearby plant. What could possibly go wrong?

I’m not really sure what Ridley Scott was going for here (only his third film in the franchise) – a mix of ‘Alien’ and ‘Aliens’, since it involves a bit of action on a planet, but also the final scenes trapped on a ship. Unfortunately, it’s not done as well as either of those films. It takes over 40min for anything to happen, but because there’s 15 characters, we don’t get to learn much about them – just that Oram (Crudup) is the captain, Daniels (Waterson) his second-in-command and Tennessee (McBride) is the comic relief, that doesn’t get any jokes – and that it’s unlikely more than 20% of them will survive.

The film could’ve done more to explore the “Creators” that were set-up in ‘Prometheus’, but it’s only alluded to a little, with a slight twist being revealed. Both “twists” aren’t that shocking, and while there’s some good gore, there’s no truly scary or tense moments. I almost wish they went a little less serious with it. I thought the finished about three times before it did end, and left me asking if it was necessary?

Overall: Can’t give it too low a score, because we still get to see Aliens killing humans, but not great either.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (April 2017)

Official Australian release date: 27/4/17. Viewed: 24/4/17.

Director: James Gunn

Actors: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Michael Rooker

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2’ is the highly-anticipated sequel to one of Marvel’s surprise hits – and it doesn’t disappoint. Sure, it’s not as novel or zesty as the original, but it’s still one of the best sequels in a long time. It still looks – and sounds – great: vibrant colours, plenty of action, both in space and on strange planets and another killer soundtrack that will grow on people as well. Great use of Fleetwood Mac and Cat Stevens, in particular.

Peter/Star Lord (Pratt) is back with his rag-tag friends/family – Gamora (Saldana), the almost-love-interest; Drax (Bautista) who’s both endearingly stupid and means well; Rocket (Cooper), the alienated racoon and Groot (Diesel), in ultra-cute baby-tree form. Yondu (Rooker), Peter’s adopted father and Nebula (Gillan), Gamora’s sister, are dragged back into the fray, as Peter’s father finally appears – Ego (Bridges, charming as ever). There’s some great cameos – Hasselhoff, Stallone, and, as always, Stan Lee (+ The Watchers) – and some good development of Mantis (Klementieff) and Kraglin (Gunn).

The main plot is all about family – Peter and his new-found father, as well as his odd relationship with Yondu (and Gamora); Gamora’s love/hate relationship with Nebula; Rocket being lonely and struggling to accept that he cares for others; and them all looking after Baby Groot (excellent post-credits scene too). Obviously, a great final battle scene and plenty of laughs throughout.

Overall: Still a bright spark in the MCU.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Get Out (April 2017)

Official Australian release date: 4/5/17. Viewed: 10/4/17.

Director: Jordan Peele

Actors: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, Catherine Keener

Genre: Thriller / Mystery

Rating: MA

‘Get Out’ is billed as a horror film, but – no spoilers in this review! – it’s really more of a mystery/tense thriller. It’s shot really well and looks great (nice effort from first-time director Peele), with some smart use of the Alabama location and a good score. The premise is purposefully cryptic: “African-American man visits his Caucasian girlfriend’s mysterious family estate”. Chris (Kaluuya) is meeting Rose (Williams) parents – Missy (Keener) & Dean (Whitford) – for the first time, and they welcome him with open arms, even if the servants seem off.

It’s not all about race, but it is a key aspect of the film and handled quite well. The two leads easily carry the film, both having some great scenes. However, the best bits are probably whenever Chris’ friend Rod (Howery) is on screen, being hilarious and boisterous, even though often by phone. The humour and some slow bits do well to make the surprises seem even more shocking.

The twist isn’t as big as ‘Cabin in the Woods’ or ‘The Sixth Sense’, but the final 20min is certainly one of the better endings to a thriller/horror film you’ll see for a while! Bit of a slow build up in parts, but a very exciting finish and it’s all over in 100min.  

Overall: Fun and well-made thriller.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Ghost in the Shell (March 2017)

Official Australian release date: 30/3/17. Viewed: 29/3/17.

Director: Rupert Sanders

Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek, Juliette Binoche, Peter Ferdinando

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘Ghost in the Shell’ is a remake of the mid-90s anime film, which explored cyborgs and digital immersion before the internet became commonplace. It’s a bit of a shame there’s not more Japanese actors, seeing as it’s still set in futuristic Tokyo (but filmed in New Zealand & China…), with heaps of shots of the annoying super-size digital billboards. Aramaki (Kitano) has an OK cameo as the police chief, but is otherwise wasted.  

Basically, Major (Johansson, doing her best to walk stiffly) is a human brain (“ghost”) transplanted into a robot body (“shell”), who’s then trained to be a SWAT operative – they show you all this in the first 5min, before picking up where the original film starts. Her partner’s Batou (Asbaek), who they do a good job of how he gets his enhancements. Dr Ouelet (Binoche) is her “creator” and conscience, as Major battles to define her humanity and ‘soul’. Cutter (Ferdinando) is a poorly-written bad-guy.

It’s quick – just over 90min – and, like the original, I’m left feeling “why?”. Didn’t have a huge impact on me, unfortunately. Sure, it’s got some good fights and explosions; Kuze (Pitt) poses some interesting questions; and you’re constantly almost seeing Johansson nude, but there’s not much meaning or a bigger picture of why we should care for the characters. Still, it’s better than ‘Lucy’.

Overall: OK remake with some decent action.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Kong: Skull Island (March 2017)

Official Australian release date: 9/3/17. Viewed: 9/3/17.

Director: Jordan Vogt-Roberts

Actors: Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, John C. Reilly

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Rating: M

With almost no plot – island is hidden by a “perpetual storm”!?! – not sure why this version of King Kong is set in 1973? At least it’s not a direct re-make, but rather a sort of re-imagining. It has a good soundtrack – Stooges, Sabbath, Creedence, Bowie – and a few pretty good action/fight scenes. It’s spends 30min introducing most of the characters and seeding a plot, but it seems pointless, since you hardly learn anyone’s name. And as for the plot – not sure how it took three people to write this screenplay!

There seem to be a lot of shots that were made just for the trailer – zooming into Kong’s eyes; Kong in front of giant sun/moon (how can you see either setting, if there’s a perpetual storm?); 12 helicopters flying into the storm/sun; Kong slow-mo chest thumping. Kong’s obviously not the bad guy, but he’s not the star either – probably with less than 30min screen time, as he fights giant lizards. I’m not sure if Packard (Jackson) or Conrad (Hiddleston) is either, since no-one’s the hero or has that much to do. Larson is OK, Goodman’s wasted, but Marlow (Reilly) saves the day with some almost-humour. At least some of it was filmed in Queensland, although you can tell the bits that were filmed in Hawaii, as it looks like ‘Jurassic Park’!

Of the three King Kong films I’ve seen (1933, 2005, 2017), this is probably my least favourite – they seem to be on a slowly-deteriorating scale. Also, what’s up with Jackson’s right eye near the end? It seems about 75% bigger than his left eye in a few shots! Anyway, predictable ending, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Hard to get too attached to Kong when we have such well-developed CGI characters in the current ‘Planet of the Apes’ series.

Overall: Not horrible, but adds nothing to the King Kong mythology.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.