Reviews

The whole thing feels bitty - the dreadful, amateurish 'previously on...'- style opening; the clunky, set-piece story progression; the sense that secondary characters and storylines are rushed and abandoned without proper exploration (the boyfriend, Sterns, etc.); the lack of buildup for Blonsky as a character to give him real menace as Abomination. It's not really a bad film, it's just a bit dull - the moves are predictable, the characters aren't engaging, and it doesn't leave any kind of impression beyond 'I guess that was ok.' The performances are generally decent, although nothing revelatory, but the film just feels as though it is going through the motions. Not one to remember.

Absolutely horrifically awful. I've given it as much as 3 because I did at least make it to the end, though I regretted doing so. The script is horrendous, rendering every character as a hammy caricature - this is not helped by a a great deal of overacting, and such delights as Keanu Reeves' 'English' accent. The cinematography would be interesting if it were consistent, but the changes in tone are too drastic to allow it to become atmospheric, meaning itoften feels gimmicky. The cartoon sexiness, whilst a valid angle to take on the story, is unintentionally hilarious, and really destroys any sense of menace in the vampire scenes, especially when combined with the bizarre wolfman form of Dracula, which is a strange idea even without the terrible costume. Some of these flaws would be excusable if this film was its own animal, but when your title is 'Bram Stoker's Dracula', you must expect some form of comparison to be drawn. This isn't even remotely similar in tone, characterisation, atmosphere, anything. It rushes at breakneck speed through events where the book, admittedly a slow burner, builds suspense superbly - this pushes the film's story into the realm of pastiche, and in failing to take enough care to make anything really matter, fails to justify its ending in the way the book does. There is no suspense whatsoever, and neither is there any real horror. To be fair, they gave a little more agency to the women, and a little more circularity to the plot, corny and nonsensical as it was, but beyond this there is nothing to recommend this mess. A great disappointment.

Jaws is a film which has probably suffered from its own popularity. Watching it for the first time now, inured to the endless tawdry sensationalism of all the shark attack stories that have followed, the great original loses some of its punch. The first half, in particular, suffers badly from this, and the uninteresting family relationships and bargain-basement small town politics contribute to a sense of shallowness and predictability. It is not a worthy setup for the second half, in which the film comes into its own. With the three men on their boat and the shark in the water, the tension is high, the dynamic between the men and its development under pressure is fascinating, and the shark feels genuinely mysterious and menacing, particularly with the clever minimisation of visual contact with the model. The ending doesn't quite do it justice, but on the whole the second half is a damn good yarn, and makes the film worthwhile on its own. Iconic.

A very disappointing sequel. Where the first film was sharp and fast-paced, this feels bewildering. It probably stems from cramming too much into one story - there are far too many characters, and new and old alike come and go with such careless abandon that the melee is laughably confused. The crowds of bit-part heroes and villains, the throwaway appearance of Emily, Uncle Frank's non-story, the irrelevant high schoolers - the list goes on. There are also far too many storylines set up without enough time to do them justice. The fast pace works in the first film because the story always knows where its going, and is therefore purposeful - every scene feels as though it belongs. Here, there is so much to keep track of that all the disparate elements hop around like a cloud of fleas - ultimately, they all become irritating and you'd really rather they went away. Add to this some dreadful dialogue, a less-than-convincing villain (I know this is sort of the point, but somehow the humour of his hopelessness in the first film is gone and it just seems lame and crass), and the fact that everything is as overblown as the first film but without backing it up with the same hard results - the humour and the playfulness are screamed out as 'HAHA LOOK AT THIS, YOU LIKE THIS DON'T YOU, REMEMBER HOW WE DID THIS BEFORE? LAUGH, PLEASE' - and this is a characterless mess. And the less said about the kiss at the end, the better.

Hellboy's initial act sets you up for a wild ride, and promises much in its first half. The characters are interesting, the story has potential, and the concept of the film is engaging. Unfortunately, it loses its impetus more and more the further it goes, and while it remains visually interesting, it becomes hammy, lumbering and predictable. I think it suffers from the lack of a really fine villain. Kroenen simply isn't menacing enough - he is a curiosity, but his lack of humanity actually lets him down as an antagonistic presence, and his death is a bit underwhelming considering his previous resurrections. Rasputin is well played, but he is a little too much in the background. We know he's there, but the fact of that almost makes it uninteresting, since there is no relationship between him and Hellboy of Broom - things which might have been interesting to explore - and so he can almost be forgotten until his inevitable return. The Lovecraftian gods, similarly, are not given enough mythical weight to act as anything other than a vaguely unpleasant looking threat. You feel the man himself would have conveyed the horror far better. It is a shame - whilst Hellboy never gives any indication of being a masterpiece, it could have been a solidly enjoyable film, but the way the story wraps up feels somehow hurried, or, as it certainly doesn't feel too short, perhaps simply clumsy, as if the writers got tired of it. There are also a number of irritating loose ends. The action set pieces are pretty good, although nothing new really emerges as the film goes on, meaning that by the climax it has lost some of its edge. The film's best feature is certainly its lead, who looks, sounds, and absolutely acts the part, though all the performances - particularly John Hurt and Doug Jones - are excellent. It's a shame the story ultimately leaves them fighting a losing battle.

The whole setup for this is pretty lazy, the story is a series of poorly constructed and clunky cutouts that don't really fit with the what made the series and even the first film tick, and the whole thing feels a bit like squeezing the last drops out of a desert-shriveled bladder. Nevertheless, there were still quite a few moments where I cackled my head off, and there was enough of the familiar humour there to make this enjoyable, despite being crap.

There's just - just - enough to this film to keep you watching, but no more. Visually, it is interesting. In fact, the inventive mixture of comic-book, video game and live action is the film's biggest plus. I particularly appreciated the fact that there was no attempt to confine the vivacity of the world to any tedious real-world logic. It is over-the-top, it is impossible, it works. Unfortunately, the settings and the generic urban colour palettes are just a bit too blank, sapping some of the character from the scenes. There are also a handful of good laughs, although much of the humour didn't really fly with me. I could, however, appreciate the artistry of it - it was well-written, just not to my taste. Unfortunately, there's not much else to commend. I am not familiar with the original story, but the film's adaptation of it is paper-thin. There is so little in the way of nuance, and it feels very one-paced. The middle hour of the film made absolutely no impression on my perception of the characters, and the formula quickly became tedious and repetitive, meaning that the ending, devoid of all tension by what precedes it, was a damp squib. This is at least in part down to the emptiness of the characters. A simple story can be mightily effective with some charismatic leads, but they're just so dull. The band are soulless, the exes might as well all be the same person for all the scope they're allowed, Michael Cera sleepwalks through playing himself as usual, and Ramona is a husk of utterly conventional unconventionality. The only one who I developed any interest in was Knives. All in all, a bit of a disappointment - an interesting experiment let down by an uninspiring story and a strange lack of spark.

The one genuinely epic moment from the trainwreck that was Batman-v- Superman was the emergence of Wonder Woman in the final battle, accompanied by that gut-shivering signature riff. Such moments of brilliance are the signature of Wonder Woman's own film, and allied to touches of high drama, perfect delivery of comic lines, and slick action, there is much to enjoy. But somehow, despite all this, the film feels as though there are just as many points where it misses the mark. It's sense of time is this film's weakest point. On a macro scale, it felt, curiously, both over-long for its actual content, and too short to fully explain it's own story. This is demonstrated best by the painting-by-numbers opening segment which feels both too long to be an effectively punchy setup to the main narrative, and too short to fully engage with - or, worryingly, care about) its characters, and to add real dramatic tension to the parts of its plot which carry over into the rest of the film. This is yet another consequence of DC's corner-cutting approach in attempting to catch its cinematic universe up with its rivals - an origin story and a link in to the modern world in which the character has already been situated by B-v-S are crammed into one film, with neither given enough weight. Whilst it is limiting to rate DC films simply by comparison with Marvel, they need to earn the right to be taken on their own merits. I found myself comparing it with Captain America: The First Avenger, a film which, whilst not extraordinary, was a solid and effective setup for the character of Steve Rogers. By the time Winter Soldier comes about, Cap is a fully fledged character - we know his motivations, history, personality, etc., and therefore can concentrate on a more complex and interesting story than was offered in the first film. Wonder Woman tries to do all of this in one go, and the result is confused. The other useful parallel with Captain America is between Steve Rogers' band of soldiers, and Steve Trevor's in Wonder woman. Because Rogers is the centre of the story, it doesn't matter that the members of his crew were fairly forgettable - they were simply foils to their leader, and that worked. Wonder Woman seems to want more than this for Trevor's gang, giving them extra back story, and more independent screen time. The trouble is that because Trevor is - quite rightly, effectively, and often refreshingly willingly - a secondary figure himself, we have very little reason to care about his cronies, and they serve more as slightly irritating distraction than anything else.

The biggest disappointment, however, is the clumsy way in which the brilliant moments of the film are knitted together. Too many promising comic and dramatic setups are spoiled by muddled storytelling or clunky bits of dialogue. This is summed up, somewhat ironically, by the signature riff itself. Instead of its expected appearance as Wonder Woman goes 'over the top' into no-man's land - a superb transition between her 'civilised' state and her true warrior form, it is missing until several minutes later, during a mid-action fight with a room- full of soldiers. At this point, the action has been at its height for so long that the riff loses its dramatic edge.

But despite these fairly comprehensive criticisms, there is one thing which cannot be faulted, and that is Gal Gadot's performance as the eponymous heroine. She is captivating, charming, utterly believable, constantly engaging, and absolutely feels and looks the part, even when struggling against the clunkier moments of script and story. I found myself genuinely invested in her as a character, beyond simply taking a ride through the story. Significantly, this film also demonstrates the potential of a female lead in a superhero film to great effect, and deals with this new dynamic with slick and often very funny efficiency. The chemistry between Gadot and Pine is excellent, and allows this quite fundamental point to prove its efficacy on its own merit, without artificial stimulus.

Whilst I'm not sure this film has much rewatch value - it isn't coherent or layered enough to demand a second viewing, and the ending is unsatisfying - it makes me want to see more of Wonder Woman. Of more general importance is that it restores some faith in DC's cinematic universe. This is a flawed film, but it shows the studio to be heading, we hope, in the right direction.

The simplicity of this film is attractive. Straightforward characters, motivations and storytelling. It doesn't get hung up on unnecessary backstory or fleshing out characters beyond what they need to be. For an all-out action film, this is a good and refreshingly honest choice - it maintains the pace, makes the transitions through the story slick, and allows you to sit back and enjoy it. It is also a risky tactic, because the lack of depth demands that every element of the film be tight and foolproof. It nearly pulls it off - the performances, which have to drive the narrative and create the energy in the absence of detail - are all excellent, and the leads very well cast.

Unfortunately, the film seems to chicken out at certain crucial moments, falling back on tired tropes to manufacture tension. Wick makes one or two decisions which do not fit in with the limited picture we have of him, and therefore feel incongruous. There's a clumsy 'kill everyone except the woman and then regret it later' cliché. Most disappointing is the age-old 'antagonist walks away leaving henchmen to kill hero' trope, which feels utterly stupid and out of place in a world constructed as deliberately ruthless. Viggo is supposed to understand the situation and the man he is up against. He knows his ability to escape impossible situations, and he knows how many times his own men have failed. He has no affection for John, and he wants him dead, but he leaves his armed henchmen alone in the room to suffocate him with a plastic bag!? This ruins the whole atmosphere and aesthetic of the film.

Despite these disappointing moments, this has enough to it to make it a worthwhile watch. An honest action flick is one to be praised.

Initially, I wasn't convinced by this film, but as it developed, the situation matured, the characters grew, and I became thoroughly invested. What an intriguing concept this is, and how cleverly it is told. The repeating day formula could easily become hammy, unfunny and tedious, but it is constructed beautifully. The key to this is the absence of long-term temporal reference - we are stuck in the same day as Phil, but without knowing how much we haven't seen. We see relationships at key points, we see plans at their inspiration and at their culmination, and the way we are constantly made to play catchup and fill in the blanks contributes to a sense that we are sharing and matching Phil's relationship with his predicament. A simple premise continually manages to find new avenues to surprise us, without ever feeling as though its movements are purposeless. There is a fantastic sense of direction here, and it makes the film far deeper than initially expected. This film plays with you gently, and charms you into engaging in what appears a mundane setup. Very well done.

A rare case of the sequel being an upgrade on the first installment. This film is a mixed bag. It sometimes suffers from the same disjointed storytelling as its predecessor, and is often corny as hell and therefore predictable. There are too many competing story lines, and they don't entirely add up or resolve themselves. Spiderman is a certified jerk. There are some bits that just don't quite work - how, for instance, a man who consistently demonstrated to be made of pure electricity, and who can disseminate himself at will, can be physically punched and tied up in the final battle is beyond me. But the characters themselves are intriguing, well-cast, compelling, and visually exemplary. The best thing about this film is that it feels quite like a video game - the segmented nature of the plot, the visuals, particularly in the Electrode battles, and the overall tone really take you along for the ride, and it was quite refreshing to have a film like this just having some fun with its content, something which the first installment entirely failed to do. Doing so draws the eye away from the problems, making them, if not less noticeable, then at least less irritating. This is a deeply flawed film, but once it gets into its stride (which, admittedly, takes a while) it is pretty good fun. The ending is surprisingly brave, and is a powerful way to round off the narrative. Also, any film that nicks its final scene from The Incredibles knows what's good for it. Glad I watched it.