Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings

Official Australian release date: 2/9/21. Viewed: 1/9/21.

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Actors: Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, Meng’er Zhang

Genre: Action / Fantasy

Rating: M

‘Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings’ (or SCLTR?) feels like the proper start of MCU’s phase 4, with a clear link forming to ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’. We’re first introduced to what seems like a Chinese fairytale, as we follow Wenwu (Leung) and his millennium of power with 10 enchanted rings/bracelets. We then meet Li (Chen), who turns out to be the mum of Shang-Chi (Liu) & Xialing (Zhang).

How the mystical realm of Ta Lo fits in and it’s secrets aren’t revealed until the third act, and after the intro, the film does well to show Shang-Chi & Katy (Awkwafina) living their somewhat unfulfilled lives in San Francisco, before the action starts to heat up when Shang-Chi goes looking for his sister. All the actors are very likeable, especially Leung, who does a great job of making sure Wenwu doesn’t descend into a caricature of a bad guy, but truly feels like a misguided father. Some great cameos also round everything out and it’s always great to see Michelle Yeoh.

While a bit slow in some parts, the martial arts scenes and action near the end are great, without being overwhelming – certainly up there with ‘Hero’ & ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’. Also a nice nod to ‘Raya & the Last Dragon’! Nice ending and character arc for Shang-Chi – I look forward to seeing him find his place in the MCU.

Overall: Enjoyable action film.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Black Widow

Official Australian release date: 8/7/21. Viewed: 9/7/21.

Director: Cate Shortland

Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz

Genre: Action / Sci-Fi

Rating: M

‘Black Widow’ is the latest MCU film, taking place after ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, where we get to see Natasha Romanoff (Johansson) doing her bad-ass spy thing solo. Or mostly solo – she’s joined, at times, by her “unique” family: father Alexi (Harbour), mother Melina (Weisz) and sister Yelena (Pugh). There’s plenty of backstory there and it’s well handled.

Having Pugh & Harbour actually added way more humour than I was expecting, which was good to see and helped keep things moving. However, this is primarily a Bond-style action-packed car-chase into explosion into hand-to-hand-combat film. And that’s what ‘Black Widow’ should be – she has no super-powers, after all. The plot involves Natasha going after “the Red Room”, which is the spy agency that programmed her to be an assassin. Dreykov (Winstone) and the skull-helmeted semi-cyborg (no spoilers!) are OK as the bad guys, even if they don’t have that much screen time.

Pretty satisfying conclusion, with the post-credits scene linking back into some of the Marvel TV shows. I enjoyed all the scenes with Harbour, but Pugh steals the show, with some solid stunts/fights, but mostly her well-placed quips. It’s also a fitting conclusion if this is the last time we see Johansson as Black Widow, as she’s so assured in the role that you feel light at home when she’s on screen. Bring on Phase 4!

Overall: well-made Marvel backstory.

Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

Official Australian release date: 24/6/21. Viewed: 13/6/21.
Director: Patrick Hughes
Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas
Genre: Action / Comedy
Rating: MA

 

‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ is a sequel to the 2017 “odd-couple” film, where Michael Bryce (Reynolds) is a bodyguard to hitman Darius Kincaid (Jackson). This time around, Darius’ wife Sonia (Hayek) is added to the mix, with pleasing results! Plot is pretty simple – Darius & Sonia are attempting to have a belated honeymoon in Europe, and Bryce is attempting to have a sabbatical from bodyguarding. They end up getting involved in foiling Papadopolous’ (Banderas) plan to take down Europe data servers.
 
Nice to see lots of pre-covid Europe – Italy, Croatia, UK – and also plenty of car chases/explosions/gun fights. The film does well to tread the line between action & comedy and covers both bases equally well. The highlight is definitely the dysfunctional relationship between Reynolds, Jackson & Hayek – plenty of great lines and quips. Also nice to see Morgan Freeman, as well as blond/evil Banderas.

Plenty of unbelievable moments, but lots of them played for laughs. Plays like a well-made Bond spoof. The dream sequences are particularly funny, with Reynolds’ charm always coming through. Very satisfying ending – I’m on board for the third!
 
Overall: Fun and fast.
 
Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

A Quiet Place: Part II

Official Australian release date: 27/5/21. Viewed: 21/5/21.
Director: John Krasinski
Actors: Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cilian Murphy
Genre: Thriller / Horror
Rating: M

 
‘A Quiet Place: Part II’ is a rare sequel – one that almost surpasses the original! It does a good job of having an action-packed opening 10min flashback, to remind you how the sound-hunting-aliens work, but also so Lee (Krasinski) can get some screen time and we unveil a bit of the initial terror when the outbreak started. From there, we follow Evelyn (Blunt), Regan (Simmonds), Marcus (Jupe) and the baby from the immediate aftermath of the first film.
 
They run into Emmett (Murphy), who we meet in the flashback, who’s been dealing with his own trials while trying to survive. Obviously, a few things go wrong and there’s many fraught moments as they’re hunted by the creatures. The film is smart by making Simmonds the main character and following her journey as she sets out to use her hearing-aid against the aliens.
 
Once again, the score – and often lack of any sound – is used really well and forces you to put yourself in the character’s shoes. The pacing is also great, with there being a few moments of respite, but overall there’s plenty of momentum and it all feels like it’s over too quick (does only go for 90min). Very enjoyable – would watch a third one!
 
Overall: Another taught thriller
 
Gav's Rating: 4 stars.

Wrath of Man

Official Australian release date: 29/4/21. Viewed: 19/5/21.
Director: Guy Ritchie
Actors: Jason Statham, Holt McCallany, Scott Eastwood, Josh Hartnett
Genre: Action
Rating: MA
 

‘Wrath of Man’ is the first Guy Ritchie/Jason Statham film in a few years and it’s good to see them both back doing what they do best! This time, the location is Los Angeles, but still the gritty wrong-side-of-the-tracks, as we follow Hill (Statham) as he joins a security firm for a cash transport company, where he’s shown the ropes by Bullet (McCallany) and Dave (Hartnett). The first act plays like a straightforward heist film.
 
But then we have a flashback for the 2^nd act (I like the title cards between them) to give us more backstory and then the 3^rd act flips everything into a revenge film as we find out what’s motivating Hill and how Jackson (Donovan), Tom (Reilly) and Jan (Eastwood) fit in. The pieces all fit together quite well, but still leave one big question heading into the 4^th & final act.
 
Needless to say, the body count is quite high (30+), Statham does his strong/silent type well, with a few well-placed quips, there’s enough insight into the supporting cast and a crazy shoot-out finale. The score was sometimes overbearing, but the pacing was good. Probably better than ‘The Gentlemen’ in my book.
 
Overall: Assured revenge fun in classic Statham style.
 
Gav's Rating: 4 stars.
 

Mortal Kombat

Official Australian release date: 22/4/21. Viewed: 23/4/21.
Director: Simon McQuoid
Actors: Lewis Tan, Joe Taslim, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson
Genre: Action / Fantasy
Rating: R

 

‘Mortal Kombat’ is a reboot of the 1995 film based on the early 90s arcade game. As such, the bar is quite low! The story revolves around Hanzo (Sanada), who battles Sub Zero (Taslim) in samurai-era Japan. We then cut to 500 years later and Hanzo’s heir, Cole (Tan) is a semi-washed-up MMA fighter trying to support his family, when he’s approached by Jax (Brooks) and Sonya (McNamee) to inform him that he’s a Champion and needed to defend Earth. Fighting ensues!

We never really learn where or when it’s set, but it doesn’t really matter and the outback South Australia scenery is great to see on screen and gives it an otherworldly vibe, as it’s not the standard “American West”. There’s some allusions as to the why/what “Mortal Kombat” is and we then get to see Raiden (Asano), Kang (Lin) & Lao (Huang), as well as the “bad guys”, Nitara (Jarnson) & Tsung (Han) + Sub Zero in full costume, as they set out to destroy Earth. Special mention to Kano (Lawson), who brings comedic relief and is super-annoying – hopefully on purpose!

With the solid pacing and OK set-up in the first 15min, the film definitely meanders all over the shop and seems like it’s episode 3 of a 10-part TV series, before it gets 70min and realises it needs to make something happen, so suddenly there’s heaps of fighting and individual battles, before the big sequel-setting-finale. For an R-rated film, probably not as gory as I was expecting, but still some laugh-inducing deaths.

Overall: Semi-tongue-in-cheek action silliness.

Gav's Rating: 2.5 stars.

Godzilla vs. Kong

Official Australian release date: 25/3/21. Viewed: 6/4/21.
Director: Adam Wingard
Actors: Kaylee Hottle, Alexander Skarsgard, Rebecca Hall, Millie Bobby Brown
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ finishes (hah!) the Godzilla reboot trilogy (2014’s ‘Godzilla’ & 2019’s ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’) and links with 2017’s ‘Kong: Skull Island’ in Legendary Entertainment’s “monster-verse”. The plot is: Godzilla and Kong are the only remaining “titans” from myth and therefore must fight. It brings back Madison (“Eleven”/Bobby Brown) and Dr Russell (Chandler) from ‘King of the Monsters’, for some reason. But besides the two CGI centerpieces, the only other character of substance is Jia (Hottle), the deaf orphan that can communicate with Kong.

The B plot, revolving around Nathan (Skarsgard), Ilene (Hall), Jia & Walter Simmons (Birchir) trying to get Kong to the “hollow core of the Earth” – ridiculous not-worth-mentioning physics – and C plot following Madison, Josh (“Ricky Baker”/Dennison) & Bernie (Hayes) about trying to prove Godzilla’s innocence, are just padding to get to the required runtime. Otherwise it’d just be a 40min film of two giant monsters fighting!

Which is why it’s not a terrible film – it delivers what it sets out to do. The soundtrack is odd, and when they get to Hong Kong, it turns into ‘Tron’ – including the lighting of the buildings. Not sure why... Some good CGI, with what I imagine a Komodo Dragon fighting a gorilla might be like in real life. A few laugh-out-loud moments and oddly you end up empathizing with Kong as a fellow mammal. Needless to say, I’m sure further sequels will follow.

Overall: Dumb fun popcorn flick.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.