Prime Time: Mercy (2026)

The film may be called Mercy, but the easiest way to let you know my opinion on it is to clarify that no mercy is shown to any viewers who manage to sit through this absolute dross. I've seen some movie mis-steps, and I've already sat through more films trying to make AI a main plot element than I ever wanted to, but this is easily one of the worst star vehicles I've seen in quite some time.

Set in the near future, Chris Raven (Chris Pratt) wakes up to find himself in the Mercy court. He's a detective, but he's accused of murdering his wife. All of the evidence points to him doing it, but the AI Judge Maddox (Rebecca Ferguson) still allows him 90 minutes "trial" to attempt to prove enough reasonable doubt. The clock is ticking. Chris cannot move, but he can access all of the phones and recordings available to the AI system, and he can try to maintain communication with his partner (Kali Reis), his sponsor (Chris Sullivan), and his daughter (Kylie Rogers) while following the slimmest of leads that he hopes will lead to proving his innocence.

It looks as if director Timur Bekmambetov, once an interesting and impressive talent, has been seduced by the dark side. Translation = he seems to have become obsessed with films about tech or plots that can be played out in the "screenlife" form. I won't blame him entirely for this mess though. The majority of the blame needs to be put at the feet of writer Marco van Belle. This is only his second produced screenplay, the first belonging to a film that he also directed back in 2015, but I already believe that people should do their utmost to stop him from writing a third. 

It would be bad enough if it just went through the standard motions of an unimaginative thriller, lacking any proper tension and almost entirely predictable from the first minute to the last. It gets so much worse though. Van Belle seems to have lost focus of his own writing, and instead decided to throw in awful dialogue and clichés that make no sense in the context established onscreen. That's the only explanation I can think of for a film that turns a knowledgeable and smart AI entity into something more akin to an alien or clumsy robot learning about the human race. I wasn't exactly invested in the thing at any point, but I struggled to keep myself from checking out entirely when Pratt says that he's working on a hunch and Ferguson has to keep a straight face while asking "what is a hunch?". I can neither confirm nor deny the rumour that I stood up and yelled "you're an AI entity, you can just find out the definition of what a hunch is in a fraction of a second!" before slamming my face repeatedly into the nearest wall. And that's before the unfeeling and impartial judge starts becoming surprisingly . . . partial, working hard to help our hero get the answers that he needs before the timer runs out/film ends.

It was always going to be difficult to impress people with a film that required Pratt to be the emotional character and Ferguson to be an impassive avatar, and the end result plays out as expected. Both are miscast, and both suffer, but it's Pratt who does more to unbalance the whole film, unconvincing for almost every minute that he's onscreen (and, sadly, he's onscreen for the majority of the runtime). A few supporting cast members do better, but that's not hard.

I'm not sure how much it cost to make Mercy, online sources put it at about $60M, but I can guarantee you that giving that money to ten different film-makers could have given us ten much more interesting slices of science fiction. And any of them might have featured a leading man capable of some proper emoting.

2/10

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Netflix And Chill: A House Of Dynamite (2025)

Whatever I end up thinking of them, a new Kathryn Bigelow film is always something I look forward to watching. She tends to make films that refuse to provide easy answers for people. She tends to make films specifically for adult viewers. A House Of Dynamite is very much of a piece with the rest of her filmography.

The plot is quite simple. People in the White House Situation Room are soon made aware of a very worrying situation. There's apparently an ICBM heading towards the USA, due to hit Chicago in about 20 minutes. After figuring out whether it's real or not, everyone is out on high alert as they come up with various scenarios, and maybe even one or two ways to take the missile out of action. The main people involved in some frantic conversations are a duty officer, Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), the Secretary of Defense (Jared Harris), a Deputy National Security Advisor (Gabriel Basso), General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts), and, of course, the President (hidden away for most of the film, but most will be able to recognise the voice before seeing him appear onscreen).

While he was a number of other screenplays under his belt, this is a marked step up in quality for writer Noah Oppenheim, who feels as if he has recently found his sweet spot with fictions based on many real scenarios he would have been very aware of during his tenure as president of NBC News. Teaming up with Bigelow, who has excelled in recent years with films that often feel like docu-fiction, but without ever losing that movie magic, is a win win for both.

It's hard to pick any individual highlights from the fantastic cast assembled here, but the final scene for Jared Harris certainly underlines his emotional turmoil as things look to go from bad to worse. Ferguson is great, as ever, and Letts is superb, seeming to relish the structure of the whole thing (we watch things play out, then jump back about 20 minutes to watch them from another POV, and then jump back again to follow someone else, learning a bit more each time while the missile continues to fly through the air). Basso is fine as the younger man trying to convince everyone to let cooler heads prevail, and there is room for many familiar faces throughout the supporting cast, including Anthony Ramos, Moses Ingram, Greta Lee, Jason Clarke, Willa Fitzgerald, and Kaitlyn Deaver, not to mention the star who plays POTUS.

It may not be as good as her last feature, the phenomenal Detroit, and there will be many who dislike the ending (one designed to keep you discussing the film for some time after it has finished), but this shows Bigelow handling busy and dark material with her usual steady hand and mastery. Whether or not you want to make it a priority on your viewing schedule just depends on whether or not you're in the mood for a drama that looks at what would happen if someone decided to launch a surprise attack on the USA. Considering the recent news cycle, it's hard to decide on just how far-fetched that idea is nowadays. 

8/10

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Dune: Part Two (2024)

The film that fans of Dune: Part One were forced to wait an extra five months to see in cinemas, that delay seems to have done nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of those eager for more visually gorgeous sci-fi on the big screen. It certainly gave me time to FINALLY watch the first instalment and join those who were eagerly awaiting the concluding part of the tale. Except, and I feel it’s important to say this somewhere in this review, this isn’t really a conclusion to the tale. It’s another lengthy chapter, and I was disappointed as the end credits rolled after an ending that didn’t feel like a proper ending. It might be in line with the source material, and there is certainly more to come from Denis Villeneuve working in this world, but that didn’t help me when I was underwhelmed by the way in which things just started to move towards the next part of the epic tale.

I will give a brief, and very poor, summary of the plot. After the events of the first film, Paul Atreides (Tinothée Chalamet) and his pregnant mother, Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), are living with the desert-dwelling Fremen on the planet of Arrakis. Powerful people still want to destroy the Fremen, all to control the spice and become even more powerful, but Paul may well be the secret weapon that helps to end the ongoing battles. Or he may well cause even more destruction and bloodshed. There are strong bonds forged, and broken, there is a prophecy that many start to doubt, and there is a need to learn how to walk without rhythm in order to stay safe from the giant sandworms.

Although a visual feast from start to finish, as well as an aural feast too (thanks to Hans Zimmer and everyone working in the sound department), Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts have once again done a magnificent job of compressing an epic tome into a digestible and entertaining movie. It has a slightly different tone from part one, mainly due to the fact that we are witnessing Paul exploring his true potential, but it’s often the equal of the first film.

The cast are perfect, as many of them already proved last time around. Both Chalamet and Ferguson get to be a bit stronger and meaner this time, which is an interesting change to their characters, Javier Bardem has a bit more fun in his role, and Zendaya gets to do a lot more than just be some mysterious woman in a vision. Christopher Walken and Florence Pugh are sorely underused, as is the wonderful Léa Seydoux, while the likes of Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, and Josh Brolin are given just time to stay involved in the ongoing plotting and scheming until Austin Butler comes onscreen and threatens to steal the entire movie away from everyone.

I have less to say about this than I had to say about Dune: Part One, but only because it is so perfectly in line with the groundwork set out a few years ago. Villeneuve is arguably one of the best directors around when it comes to creating an entire world in which to immerse viewers (imagine the worlds we could see if he ever worked alongside Guillermo del Toro), and this is incredible stuff. It’s grandiose, it seems to emanate dry heat from every frame, and the prospect of getting to spend more time in this world is the silver lining to the small cloud that is that non-ending.

Much like the spice featured at the heart of the tale, this is pure and powerful stuff. And that’s without even mentioning how depressingly it parallels events in our reality that have been ongoing for decades. 

8/10

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Prime Time: Dune (2020)

It's a bit of a running joke sometimes, but I tend to mention the fact that I've not yet read the source material in a lot of my movie reviews. Films and books are two very different mediums, of course, but knowledge of one can inform your opinion of the other, which is why I try to let people know the full context of my opinion. And it feels even more important than ever to mention it here, considering how many sci-fi fans seem to love the franchise kick-started by Frank Herbert back in 1965.

With the memory of the 1984 film still looming large in my subconscious, I kept delaying a viewing of this film for as long as I could. The cast seemed good enough, the visuals looked great, and I hadn't yet been disappointed by director Denis Villeneuve. I just couldn't bring myself to give it 2 1/2 hours of my life though. Until I could.

Timothée Chalamet plays Paul Atreides, the son of Lady Jessica Atreides (Rebecca Ferguson) and Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac). This noble family are sent to the planet Arrakis, a hostile environment that also happens to be the home of the most valuable resource in the universe, spice. Spice makes interstellar travel possible, among other things. Arrakis has some hostile native inhabitants, in the shape of both humanoids and the huge sandworms, but the House of Atreides hope to use diplomacy and respect to make the best of their situation, ignorant to the fact that they have been set up for failure. Aside from the political manoeuvring, Lady Jessica spends time helped Paul develop his power, known as "The Voice", and preparing him to fulfil his prophesied potential.

Adapted for the screen by Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, and Eric Roth, the latter two with very mixed filmographies that wouldn't necessarily lead you to think of them as first main choices for this, Dune is a dense viewing experience that admirably does enough throughout to keep viewers up to speed with the developing intrigue and treachery. It's part one of two, and that was definitely the right choice. In fact, the more of the source material that comes through in each main scene, the more you realise what a fool's errand poor David Lynch was on when he tried to pack everything into one feature back in the mid-1980s.

Packed with gorgeous visuals from start to finish, Villeneuve makes sure to once again build a completely believable and fully-formed environment for the characters to inhabit. The production design, make up, wardrobe, etc, are all absolutely stunning, and displayed beautifully by cinematographer Greig Fraser, and there's a superb Hans Zimmer score to accompany the flawless visuals.

While Chalamet plays the lead role, it's an extra delight to have the rest of the cast so stacked with great performers and familiar faces. Not that Chalamet is bad, but his character is, certainly in this first half of the tale, a bit weak and passive, for the most part. Ferguson and Isaac are effortlessly impressive though, and they have a couple of reliable advisors/warriors in the shape of Jason Momoa and Josh Brolin (both excellent, the latter disappointingly under-used). Stellan Skarsgård is almost unrecognisable, at first anyway, as the repugnant and cold-blooded Baron Harkonnen, Dave Bautista turns up just long enough to play his nephew, and there are excellent contributions from Chang Chen and Sharon Duncan-Brewster. You also have small roles for Javier Bardem and Zendaya, both playing different Arrakis natives who could end up helping our lead to fulfil his promise.

This is the kind of big-budget sci-fi that fans deserve. It feels more mature and intelligent than the usual mainstream releases, it has been crafted with a real care and attention to detail, and Villeneuve and co. have taken care to punctuate the ethereal and meditative mood with enough livelier set-pieces to ensure that the lengthy runtime doesn't feel like an unendurable slog. Many fans will have already seen this, and been won over by it, but I recommend it to anyone else who has been as hesitant as I was. It's worth your time, and I hope everything comes together for a satisfying concluding instalment.

8/10

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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

I couldn't resist. The usual "Prime Time" blog post will appear tomorrow, apologies to anyone who likes me keeping to a more rigid schedule.

Here we are then. Is it the beginning of the end for the Mission: Impossible movie series? It certainly feels that way. We all know that Tom Cruise can only keep risking his life for our entertainment for so long. We also know that each time the stakes are raised can make it harder to find ways for the next instalment to top the previous one. This certainly feels like it could be a great mission to go out on, and there are some interesting parallels between this film and the De Palma blockbuster that started it all.

Ethan Hunt (Cruise, like you need me to tell you that) has to go rogue once again, this time on a mission to collect two parts of a special key. Nobody knows quite what the key unlocks, or where it needs to be used, but it's all connected to a world-threatening AI enemy, referred to through most of the movie as "The Entity". Hunt enlists the help of his old friends, Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), as well as reconnecting with the tricksy Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). There are many others after the key, although some know more about it than others, including a slippery thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell), a deadly figure from Hunt's past (played by Esai Morales), and a few other key players (no pun intended).

Although this movie series has been on great/top form for some time now, and you could easily argue that not one instalment is a complete miss, I did go into this feeling one small pang of regret. I felt the importance of the marriage of the films with their respective directors had disappeared, especially when you consider how much De Palma and John Woo stamped their style on the first two films, for better or worse, but maybe I am completely wrong. It’s perhaps the case that other directors are still very much doing their own thing, but their own thing happens to be presenting what they want to see in these movies. Director Christopher McQuarrie has certainly done as much to elevate the films, and maintain them as essential cinema viewings, as his star, and this film exudes a confidence gained from previous success. There’s no big song to use/promote, there’s no big stunt during the prologue (although it’s still a fantastic, extended, opening act), no teasing for an extended cinematic universe, and there aren’t really any surprises. You have seen what you’re getting in the trailer and marketing, to a degree, and McQuarrie, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Erik Jendresen, knows that he has something good enough to satisfy everyone who buys a ticket. And the big stunt that has been promoted so heavily in the run up to this release? It’s a highlight that the film builds to as the third act builds, with everyone involved seeming to relish the moment, nodding to the viewers and saying “we know you came here for this . . . here it is, and it’s something special”. And you know what . . . it IS something special. Because almost any other film would have executed that stunt in any number of different ways. But this is Tom Cruise, enabled by McQuarrie, in a bloody Mission: Impossible film.

If you enjoyed this cast in previous adventures then you will enjoy them here. They maintain great chemistry with one another, they each bring something to the table, and viewers should care about whether they live or die. Other familiar faces returning are Vanessa Kirby (still entertainingly flirty and dangerous as “The White Widow”) and Henry Czerny as Kittridge, a man who seems to be in the habit of upsetting Ethan Hunt. Atwell is the standout from the newcomers, always trying to stay one step ahead of Hunt and co. while being unaware of the full picture forming around her, and also being unaware of just how much danger she is in. Morales is fine, although hampered by the contrivance needed to make him feel like a physical embodiment of the AI threat, and there are very entertaining performances from Shea Wigham (an agent who quickly becomes exasperated while trying to capture Hunt), Greg Tarzan David (working with Wigham’s character), and Pom Klementieff (a skilled and determined assassin). Eagle-eyed viewers will also spot the likes of Rob Delaney, Mark Gatiss, Indira Varma, and Cary Elwes, although you don’t need to be too eagle-eyes to spot Elwes, as he has a bit more screentime than the others, portraying the Director of  National Intelligence.

McQuarrie may not be doing his best writing work here, but he throws enough exposition around during the earlier scenes to set everything up for a film that can then rush headlong from one impressive set-piece to the next. The 163-minute runtime doesn’t ever start to feel tiring, thanks to the pre-credits sequence and that jaw-droppingly fantastic finale, coming along after numerous gunfights, a brilliantly inventive car chase, a couple of big brawls, and a sequence set in Venice that underlines just how slim the chances of success are (“well, this is not mission difficult”).

I wouldn’t rush to call this the best of the series, that’s a high bar indeed, but it certainly comes close. It’s so good that it has me thinking I was too harsh when I reviewed the last instalment, because this is easily on a par with that one and I find myself more inclined to overlook the minor issues in favour of the sheer thrill of the energy and spectacle of it all. Oh, and I'll eat my hat if I don't make numerous The Ethan Hunt For Red October gags when the second part is released.

9/10

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Doctor Sleep (2019)

I don't think anyone was overly excited when Stephen King announced that he was releasing a belated sequel to The Shining. It was a story that was all done, and nothing else needed added to it. Yet King wanted to know more, he wanted to check in on the man that young Danny Torrance became, the man who must have struggled throughout his life to process all he had gone through. We'll come back to this point in a minute.

Directed, and adapted into screenplay form, by Mike Flanagan, one of my favourite people working in the horror genre lately, the movie version of Doctor Sleep is like a box full of hyperactive kittens. There's a visual appeal, there's a worry as things keep moving and you think one or two might run away and hide somewhere, and there's a transition from happiness to slight discomfort as tiny paws produce tiny claws while a brave little body starts to climb up your legs.

Ewan McGregor plays Danny Torrance, a man still battling ghosts and demons of his past. He's aided in this by the spirit of Dick Halloran (played this time around by Carl Lumbly). He also tries to aid himself with lots and lots of alcohol. While making a serious attempt to straighten his life out, and finally passing some years in relative contentment, Danny ends up on the receiving end of some messages from a young girl named Abra (Kyliegh Curran). Abra also shines, and shines strong, which brings her to the attention of Rose The Hat (Rebecca Ferguson) and her friends, a group of powerful entities who increase their lifespan by taking the lifeforce from those who shine. Danny needs to put himself back in a position he thought he would be able to avoid for the rest of his life, and that may also involve a trip back to The Overlook Hotel.

The more I think about Doctor Sleep, the more I find to like about it. Flanagan gave himself the unenviable task of tying together The Shining movie, The Shining novel, and the main source material (which I have yet to read), in a way that would try to please everyone, but could end up pleasing no one, and he's done a remarkable job, in that regard.

I always say that Stephen King tales are harder to adapt when most of the content belongs in the heads of certain characters. See Dreamcatcher, for example. Or, y'know, don't. But Flanagan proved that he could work around that with his superb adaptation of Gerald's Game, and he tries hard to make this work. It's a bigger challenge this time. Different people have different headspace environments here, and psychic conversations are always tricky to convey without either the actors looking silly or the momentum of the movie grinding to a halt.

The other challenge is, of course, reworking the famous imagery film fans all know and love from The Shining. Making the wise decision to recreate certain moments with new actors portraying the characters in ways that are in line with what we've seen already, but absolutely not just impressions of previous performances, Flanagan gets this all just right. Lumbly is a wonderful Halloran, Alex Essoe is very good as Wendy Torrance, and Henry Thomas is a decent Jack, despite coming closest to imitation (perhaps because Jack felt quite like, well, JACK).

For those giving us all new portrayals of characters, McGregor does okay, but is the weakest link. Whether it's the script or his own take on it (and I usually find McGregor to be a very good actor), he never feels quite right in the role of Danny, and is overshadowed in any scenes he shares with the excellent young Curran, and even Cliff Curtis and Bruce Greenwood, who are both very welcome in small supporting roles. Ferguson makes up for her inconsistent accent with a physical performance that displays her character as one light of touch until it is time to rip open "a meal". The only other disappointment with Ferguson is that her character takes up more screentime than the brilliant Emily Alyn Lind. Lind, playing a young woman who can control the minds of most people around her, is arguably the most terrifying figure onscreen, due to the careless way she will wield her power without a second thought.

A dark fantasy drama rather than an outright horror, in my view (although labels are a constant source of frustration for us genre fans), Doctor Sleep may disappoint anyone looking for proper scares, or some gore, or even a hair-raising atmosphere. Sadly, it lacks all of those things. But it still manages to be a decent watch as you invest in the characters and root for them to overcome the many obstacles in their path.

Which brings me back to what I referred to at the start of this review. King wrote his novel because he got curious about Danny, and what kind of life he would lead. He wanted to check in on him, psychological scars and all. The film starts off with this as a focus. I am sure that Flanagan would argue it never moves far away from that, but it does. I was drawn in to the first scenes with McGregor, already anxious for him as he picked the absolute wrong ways to numb his pain, and that journey leads up to the halfway point of the film, before then veering off to drag us along on a psychic horror adventure. The second half isn't necessarily a worse film, not in and of itself, but it's just a shame that what started as an exploration of ghosts and painful memories becomes a tale of ghouls and fresh wounds, and we already have a lot more of the latter than the former.

For the details dotted throughout, for the many little touches that will please King fans, and for the exploration of the troubled and assaulted mental state of a survivor, this is probably still worth your time, even at two and a half hours. A reserved recommendation.

6/10

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Americans can buy it here.

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

Writer-director Joe Cornish has, with his two features, gone out of his way to provide entertainment that touches on some great genre history while also staying very much its own thing. Indeed, comparing his movies to others can end up doing them a disservice, and give people preconceptions that I am sure he would prefer you not to have. That's how it was with Attack The Block, and that is how it now is with The Kid Who Would Be King.

It's all about a young boy named Alex (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) who ends up pulling a sword out of a stone. That sword is obviously Excalibur, making Alex the leader that is needed to stop our world being taken over by forces of darkness (led by Morgana, played by Rebecca Ferguson). Alex needs to convince others of his leadership suitability. He has one very loyal friend (Bedders, played by Dean Chaumoo), and there's a strange new boy at school who is actually Merlin (Angus Imrie), but the three of them aren't enough to defeat the approaching baddies.

First off, I think it is very important to emphasise what this movie isn't. It's not a hilarious comedy (although it IS funny). And it's not aimed at older viewers. That doesn't mean that older viewers cannot be entertained by it, as I was. It just means that the best audience for this would be kids aged, at a guess, between 8 and 13, when they can still enjoy the fantastical elements, perhaps even believing in some of the onscreen magic, yet also appreciate the dramatic strands that serve a number of life lessons for the main characters to learn and grow from.

Now let's pin down what the movie IS. What Joe Cornish has delivered here is a movie not unlike the live-action Disney movies from the '70s and '80s. It's a more polished, and slightly less childish, effort than most of those adventures, but it's absolutely branching off from that particular cinematic family tree.

The script and direction from Cornish keeps everything in line with his ultimate aim, this is a film with the kids front and centre for about 85% of the runtime. They are the ones who know about the impending danger, they are the ones who hope to stop it. This is not a place for adults, and the rules of the battles allow for them to be handily "set aside" during the major set-pieces.

Serkis is excellent as young Alex, a boy who seizes the reworked mythology in a way that shows him hoping it will provide an answer to one major question in his life (connected to his father). Chaumoo is equally good as Bedders, and Imrie adds a vital energy and humour whenever he appears onscreen (the older version of his character is portrayed by a relative newcomer named Patrick Stewart, who also seems quite good at this acting lark). Tom Taylor and Rhianna Doris play characters who are initially antagonistic towards our hero, and they do decent work. Their journey may not ring as true as the journeys of the other characters, this is where the script slips up slightly, but Taylor and Doris do all that is asked of them. Last, but by no means least, you have two very different women making an impression in very different ways. Ferguson is an impressively determined and menacing villain, and Denise Gough is the concerned mother of Alex, doing her best to support her son while also trying to stop him from being consumed by what she thinks is a fantasy story that he has taken far too much to heart.

As long as you know what Cornish is aiming for, this has everything you could want from a piece of family entertainment. It updates a classic tale without attempting to include all of the latest trends and pop culture references, and that makes it feel both old-fashioned, in a pleasing way, and also quite refreshing. Cornish is two for two now, and I am very much looking forward to whatever he gives us next.

7/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Men In Black: International (2019)

None of the trailers made me want to see this latest Men In Black movie. The stars didn't do anything for me either. As much as I like both Hemsworth and both Thompsons, they just didn't feel like they could do enough to stop me from missing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (or even Josh Brolin). And then I started to hear more and more negative comments from people who had seen it. Yet I ended up at my local cinema to see it, despite all of these marks against it.

And I'm glad. Men In Black: International is another fun sci-fi comedy in the series. I have enjoyed all of these movies, even the oft-maligned second one, and am glad to spend some more time in this world. It's a fun place, often overflowing with imagination and wonderful little touches, and one that consistently works well running parallel to the everyday world around us.

This time around, the MIB are facing a danger from a species known as The Hive, who can take on the identity of other people once they have access to their DNA. There's also an incredibly powerful weapon to be kept in safe hands, all of this while Tessa Thompson (as M) tries to learn on the job during her probationary period with Chris Hemsworth (H). M is a bit of a natural in her new role, H is a top agent who appears to be getting more and more reckless and slapdash on each mission, able to coast along on former glory and the protection of his mentor, Liam Neeson (playing T). You also have Emma Thompson as Agent O, the head of MIB, Rebecca Ferguson as an arms dealer who used to date Hemsworth, Rafe Spall as Agent C, determined to bring down those he sees as playing too fast and loose with the rules, and Kumail Nanjiani as the voice of a small alien named Pawny.

Look, there are other ways I would have liked to see this play out. Other directions for the series that seemed so ridiculous that they also seemed more intriguing (that Jump Street crossover could have been great). The two biggest strikes against MIBI (as none of the cool kids are calling it) are the fact that a) it plays everything a bit too safe and b) it's not Men In Black.

Director F. Gary Gray has a filmography full of solid outings, but very few of them are amazing. He's a dependable pair of hands (in fact, from 2000 onwards you could view him as an African American version of Ron Howard, with the exception of the grim violence in Law Abiding Citizen). He does fine here, once again not really stamping any identity on the proceedings. That's fine though, this film is MIB-branded, and it at least feels consistent with the others in terms of the look, sound, and score.

The biggest problem comes from the script, by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. Not only do they forget to include enough decent laughs, although there's a lot of fun to be had in the interplay between most of the main characters, but they flag up a couple of major plot developments with the structuring of the movie, starting everything off with a couple of big scenes that you just know are going to become relevant again in the third act. And isn't "pulling a David Ayer" (as I am calling it now, you'll know what I mean when you see it) already a worn out plot beat?

It's a good job that the script is being delivered by a charismatic cast. Hemsworth and Thompson still work well together (although they had a lot more fun with their last main pairing, Thor Ragnarok), Emma Thompson is a treat as the exasperated and wise boss, and Rafe Spall is admirably happy to be the "bad guy" who knows that something is going on, despite being unable to pinpoint exactly what. Neeson doesn't do much, but he does it with his usual stoic manner, and Ferguson makes a great impression with her one main scene, complemented by some interesting VFX work. Nanjiani has the perfect voice for his character, which is very cute and will most definitely please younger viewers.

As a completist, I would have probably picked this up for my own collection at some point anyway. So I'm glad that it's not as bad as some have made it out to be. It's just a shame that there isn't more packed in here, in terms of one-liners and memorable set-pieces. I came out of the cinema with a smile on my face but no great moments to single out as highlights.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

You may have already seen clips of Tom Cruise in action for this latest Mission: Impossible movie. He dives out of a plane. He races through the streets of Paris. He flies a helicopter in a manner not to be found in the "Guide To Being A More Responsible Helicopter Pilot". He does all of that and more. You may have also already heard the glowing praise. A lot of people are calling this the best of the franchise. A lot of people are calling it a new action classic.

Yeah, about that. Let's take off the rose-tinted IMAX glasses and turn things down just a notch.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout is a very good film. There are times when it is great. The stuntwork is often bordering on the insane, making it insanely entertaining, but this isn't the best action movie in years. I'd say that it even falls just below the previous two entries in this series, and I'll go into just why that's the case in a little while.

Cruise is Ethan Hunt once again, of course, and he's flanked by Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) as they try to recover some stolen plutonium cores that they don't want falling in to the hands of The Apostles (who have remained at work despite the loss of their leader, Solomon Lane, played by Sean Harris). Henry Cavill is a CIA agent, August Walker, tasked with keeping a closer eye on Hunt and his team, Rebecca Ferguson returns as the kickass Ilsa Faust, and a few other familiar faces pop up to join the fun.

Writer-director Christopher McQuarrie (now on his third film with Cruise and his second in this series, the first director to return) knows how to sketch characters, dynamics, and the potentially complex plotting of a good spy caper. It's great to see a number of threads picked up and expertly manipulated. Plot points drop in and reverberate through this movie, and even the events of the past movies, with the impact of a fly that just found itself unexpectedly caught in a spiderweb. And this all happens in between, and sometimes during, those magnificent action set-pieces.

The cast all slip back into their roles with ease. Cruise is, as we all know nowadays, either fearless or completely insane. He won't rest until one of these films allows him to escape a space-set shockwave as he glides down to Earth on the back of a toothy creature a la "Ace" Rimmer from Red Dwarf. Pegg and Rhames are great support, their characters bringing just a small amount of comedy while reinforcing the few bonds that connect IMF with individual lives instead of just faceless masses to be saved. Ferguson is slightly underserved by the script, but does very good work with what she's given. Harris remains a menacing figure, Vanessa Kirby is good fun as a "broker", and Cavill is absolutely brilliant as the sledgehammer who may break our heroes if he thinks things aren't going to plan. You also get some nice work from Alec Baldwin, again, and Angela Bassett. There's even some screentime for Michelle Monaghan.

That covers most of the fun stuff. I could mention how exhilarated I felt watching Cruise ride a motorbike the wrong way around the Arc de Triomphe. I could try to describe the sheer joy I felt while Cruise called Cavill a prick. You get the idea. There are lots and lots of fun moments. And I won't deny that some of the action beats are next-level in their scale and choreography, for a mainstream blockbuster release. The finale is especially adept at jumping from one white-knuckle moment to the next.

The non-fun stuff is also very good. The subtitle here may be Fallout but I suspect that's because Weight just wouldn't sound as good. Believe me, however, when I say that this film is all about weight. The weight of responsibility, the weight of constantly making decisions based on murky and fluid morality, the weight of the practical effects, the weight of emotions. People may remember the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few but this film reminds us all that the choice weighs just as heavily on the person having to make the call, and also that sometimes the end games are one and the same. It also makes an interesting point about the war on terror and how the good intentions can create even more dangers and enemies. I would argue that the two moments in this film that completely sum up Ethan Hunt are a scene in which he apologises to a wounded police officer in French and a scene in which he tells the other team members that he won't let them down, even as everyone realises that they can no longer hear one another. Even with his team, Hunt alone feels the total weight of the job, especially while maintaining a moral code that others may lack.

Where the film falls down slightly, certainly in comparison to the previous missions, is in the scenes which allow it to remind us of the past. McQuarrie ties up loose ends that few people were all that bothered about. He does it well, or as well as he can, but it still feels unnecessary. The same goes for some of the details and callbacks that make the film feel like some grand sendoff rather than just a grand adventure. I'm not going to namecheck them all, and I am not saying that there are lots and lots, but fans of the series will find some moments feeling far too familiar because McQuarrie felt that he needed to include some extra little nods and winks.

The fourth film had amazing set-pieces without a memorable villain, the fifth film had the perfect mix of both. This film sits somewhere between the two. The villains are great, the action is often brilliant, but it's a bit overlong, a bit happy to scamper back and forth to the same well, and sometimes, even for this series, feels a bit too unbelievably coincidental and convenient.

But I'll be just as eager to see the next mission. And I'll be buying this one ASAP.

EDIT: I have changed my mind slightly on this, the bad doesn’t do enough to bother me on repeat viewings, and I think maybe wearing the rose-tinted glasses can be a nice experience sometimes.

9/10

Your mission can be found here.

The Snowman (2017)

I have read one book, so far, by writer Jo Nesbø. It was, I believe, the book that really launched Nesbø to another level of popularity. I loved it. Many people loved it. It was a great thriller, with almost every chapter ending on a cliffhanger. Despite not being the fast reader I used to be in my youth, I tore through the book in no time at all.

A film of the book seemed like a good idea. Having Tomas Alfredson directing it seemed like a very good idea. He had already done such great work recently with two previous theatrical releases that successfully translated written works to the big screen (Let The Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). Michael Fassbender in the lead role? Sold.

Fassbender plays Detective Harry Hole, a man who spends his time self-medicating with alcohol when he is not being kept busy with murder cases. Having not been kept all that busy for a while now, he finds himself challenged when a killer known as the snowman starts to taunt the police, revealing a pattern of female victims abducted during periods of snowfall.

What you may have already heard about The Snowman is very true. It's a complete mess. Not messy as in "dammit, why does every action sequence directed by Michael Bay need to have 50 edits in every minute of film?" but messy as in a way that makes you wonder where entire sequences have disappeared to. It's so disjointed and unsatisfying that it barely qualifies as an actual movie, feeling more like a montage of snowy noir moments.

Fassbender isn't bad in the main role, and Rebecca Ferguson tries to do her best with the material given to her. The rest of the cast includes Charlotte Gainsbourg (who I tend to dislike in most films anyway), Jonas Karlsson, J. K. Simmons, Val Kilmer, Chloe Sevigny, James D'arcy. I could tell you how some of these characters figure in the plot, but there wouldn't be much point. They appear as and when necessary, and disappear just as abruptly.

Writers Peter Straughan, Hossein Amini, and Søren Sveistrup obviously liked the central idea. Who wouldn't? It's unfortunate, then, that they are unable to craft a worthy narrative around some of the story beats and visual motifs. It's almost as if the screenplay was handed over to Alfredson with only a handful of the main scenes written or someone decided to take the final product and edit it into an incomprehensible mess. I've seen many films even worse than this, but few major mainstream releases have been released in such a mind-bogglingly shoddy state.

Maybe best enjoyed by people who have never read the book, although god knows how they would make ANY sense of the plot (despite having read it, I could barely figure out the unfolding storyline), The Snowman is bad, and not the kind of bad that can make your viewing experience a fun one. It's just plain bad.

3/10

I guess you could get the film here.
Or, in America, you can get it here.