The Running Man (2025)

I am always excited for any new Edgar Wright movie, and when I heard that he was remaking The Running Man, with a starring role for Glen Powell, I was intrigued to see how he would approach the material. For as much as I enjoy the Arnold action flick, the source material (a novella by Stephen King, published under his Richard Bachman pseudonym) was a much darker and more cynical piece of work. Wright, for all of his good points, doesn't necessarily seem capable of dark and cynical.

And it turns out that he isn't. This IS a bleaker film than the original, and there are a number of moments here that show Wright trying to add an edge that has been absent from his past features, but he still can't help aiming for a message that is ultimately a positive one, taking the ending of the novella as a starting point for a slightly different direction that should actually please both fans of the story and fans of films that don't ruin your whole week.

Powell plays Ben Richards, a man with a strong moral code and a bit of a temper, which has made things a bit problematic when it comes to his relationship with exploitative employers. Desperate to get the medicine that his daughter needs, Ben heads along to a TV studio to sign up for one of the many shows that offer cash prizes. He's happy to try most of them, except The Running Man, which sees contestants being hunted, until almost inevitably trapped and killed. Unfortunately, his attitude and capabilities make him a perfect choice for The Running Man. It's time to start running.

Powell is great in the lead role, far removed from Arnold, of course, but physically capable and suitably charismatic. He's grim and determined, but able to start having fun when he starts to figure out the best way to play the game. Colman Domingo is great value as the flamboyant host, Bobby T, Josh Brolin is enjoyably slick and shark-like in the role of Dan Killian, the head manipulator who creates the perfect storylines for viewers to lap up, and Emilia Jones turns up in time to play a pivotal role in the third act. There's also room for fun little turns from Katy O'Brian, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, and an enjoyably manic pairing of Michael Cera and Sandra Dickinson (featured in the most memorable sequence in the film).

It's been interesting to watch Wright's career as he has stepped further away from the Cornetto trilogy that proved to be so enduringly popular. I think he's maintained a remarkable consistency throughout a varied selection of treats, although I know some people have stopped being impressed by his particular style. Another attempt to show he can do more than just gags and homages, The Running Man works well, for the most part, although it's jarring on the few occasions when you do notice the standard "Wright-isms" (e.g. a Y/why gag, the foreshadowing, soundtrack choices, etc.) in the mix. 

Having also worked on the screenplay with Michael Bacall, there's great care taken here to present a vision of a horribly depressing future that doesn't feel too far removed from the here and now without leaving viewers depressed at the thought of it all looming up to ruin our lives.

For as bleak and as brutal as this can be, it's also a lot of fun. Some purists may balk at that idea, considering how things play out in the Bachman book, but it's a perfectly-blended end result that proves why Wright was a great choice to bring us another interpretation of the tale. It's just a shame that he didn't hire Harold Faltermeyer to deliver another fine electronic score, which would have been the best thing to carry over from the older film. 

8/10

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Twisters (2024)

Despite the recent wave of nostalgic affection for it, Twister was never a movie that I considered great. It wasn't bad, and I have some amount of goodwill for any blockbuster that gives a lead role to Bill Paxton, but it wasn't up there alongside the many other disaster movies that came along after it. So I wasn't very keen to see this sorta-sequel (there's a bit of machinery used that was in the first film, and there are twisters, of course, but that covers all of the main connections). Thankfully, I had a partner very keen to see this, which is how I can now be glad that I saw it on the big screen, because this is blockbuster fun. 

Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kate, a young woman who retired from the tornado-chasing game after an incident that left her scarred and traumatised while trying to come up with a way to "kill" tornadoes. She now works in meteorology, in an environment that makes use of her intelligence and intuitive ability to read the weather, and hopes to stay far away from lively and huge tornadoes. That plan changes when she is approached by an old friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), who wants Kate to help him capture some vital tornado data with the help of her natural talent and some cutting-edge technology. That puts them in competition with Tyler (Glen Powell) though. Tyler is a YouTube sensation, a cowboy daredevil, and a minor celebrity with a major ego. He might have a bit more to him though, hidden behind the cowboy hat and super-charged grin. He might even help Kate to finally realise her tornado-killing dream.

Written by Mark L. Smith, a decent enough talent working here to flesh out a story by Joseph Kosinski, Twisters is actually very smart and well-constructed, considering the type of movie it is. It delivers the required exposition via character moments, instead of in one unexciting info-dump, and it makes some interesting points about the need to stop being so passive in a world that has become increasingly hostile to many of the people living in it. It also nicely inverts the formula of the first film in a few different ways, but does so while absolutely sticking to the blockbuster movie formula you expect when you buy your ticket.

Director Lee Isaac Chung may not seem like the obvious fit for the material, considering the previous features he has helmed, but he goes all out here to deliver a slice of undiluted Americana. The scenery, the soundtrack full of lively Country music, the way in which Powell's character continues to deal with the tornadoes as beasts to be wrangled, this is a laid-back Western, in many ways, with a tornado set to be the main villain due in town for a shoot-out scheduled for High Noon. That undersells the film though, because it's also very funny. This is a fun and funny film, one that keeps entertainment front and centre. Like many modern day blockbusters, the runtime clocks in at just over two hours. Unlike many other films, however, this doesn't feel overlong. The pacing is perfect, and part of the reason for that is the timing of Glen Powell's entrance, about 20-30 minutes into the runtime.

There's no need to go on and on about Powell trying to become a star. Powell is a star. He has moments here that solidly underline that fact, and when he does his shimmy swagger at one point I coudln't help thinking of him as a demin-clad, stetson-wearing, male version of Jessica Rabbit. Powell feels like the lead here, to a degree, but it helps that Edgar-Jones is equal to him in their scenes together. She's smart, sassy, and continues to deal with trauma from her past that feels like something anyone would struggle to reconcile with. Ramos is fine as Javi, but neither he nor his main colleague, Scott (David Corensweet), are half as watchable as those who make up Tyler's troupe:Brandon Perea, Sasha Lane, Tunde Adebimpe, Katy O'Brian, and Harry Hadden-Paton (as Ben, a British journalist writing a piece on the star "tornado-wrangler"). Others appearing onscreen include Maura Tierney, David Born, Paul Scheer, Daryl McCormack, Nik Dodani, and Kiernan Shipka, but I won't tell you who gets a decent amount of screentime and who gets to cameo. Is the cast comparable to the group of actors we got in the original movie? No, but it's not too far off.

If you have seen or heard anything about Twisters and already suspect that you will hate it then you may well end up hating it. I would heartily recommend this to anyone after some full-blooded blockbuster fun though. It has human leads sparring with one another to be the brighter star, it has some great special effects also muscling in to be the star of the show, and it has a real eagerness to be absolutely entertaining from start to finish. I think it succeeds  . . . brilliantly.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: Hit Man (2024)

Directed by Richard Linklater, and co-written between himself and his star, Glen Powell, Hit Man is another film that originated with Skip Hollandsworth (who worked with Linklater on Bernie). It's also another film that allows Powell to shine brightly as his star continues to ascend.

Powell plays a fairly meek and unmemorable university professor named Gary Johnson, albeit one who still looks a fair bit like Glenn Powell. He also works undercover with a local police department, helping them with surveillance equipment that is used when they have an officer posing as a fake hitman to deal with the kind of people who are dangerous/desperate enough to pay for someone to be murdered. Circumstances change during one such sting operation, resulting in Gary taking on the role of the hitman. He shows quite an aptitude for playing that role, and playing a variety of roles, but things become complicated when he encounters Madison (Adria Arjona), a woman suffering at the hands of an abusive husband. 

Maybe a bit unsatisfying, and tonally uneven throughout most of the runtime (it cannot decide what kind of humour it prefers, it keeps things too light for any real tension, and there's the big hurdle of Glen Powell being cast as someone who we're supposed to believe isn't exuding charisma from every pore), Hit Man is nonetheless a good time for those who are happy to go along for the ride. Plenty of liberties have been taken with the true story it is based on, but the central idea remains gripping because it is tethered strongly enough to our reality.

While this is absolutely a star vehicle for Powell (who makes the most of a role that allows him to adopt many different personas, from a timid starting point to the cool Roy, his most popular hitman identity, and plenty of other memorable "cameos", including an uncanny facsimile of Patrick Bateman), he's helped enormously by Arjona, who creates complications while also providing some extra heat as the chemistry between herself and Powell fizzes and crackles from their very first encounter. Retta and Sanjay Rao are amusing enough as two dependable police department colleagues, Austin Amelio is much less dependable, but also part of the police department, and there are enjoyable turns from a wide mix of supporting players. I won't try to recall them all now though, especially when viewers are constantly reminded that every main plot point revolves around our two leads.

It's a shame that neither Linklater nor Powell really have the confidence to lean into the comedy or darkness of the premise, especially when they seem so confident in their working relationship, but there's still a lot to enjoy here, and it's obvious that choices were made to keep this firmly in the realm of easygoing comedy drama. It works in that way. I just wish that everyone involved had taken one or two more risks with the material.

It may not be a direct hit, but it's very far from a miss.

7/10

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Anyone But You (2023)

The rom-com is a sub-genre that is often unfairly maligned. Yes, a bad one can feel extra painful, but a really good rom-com is cinematic comfort food. You can enjoy the fantasy, enjoy the chemistry between the main players, and hopefully feel a warm glow as a big grin stays on your face while the end credits roll. Anyone But You manages that. It is quite predictable, and tries to make itself stand out from other rom-coms by throwing around a bit more raunchiness and a few extra curse words, but it does exactly what you want it to do.

Bea (Sydney Sweeney) and Ben (Glen Powell) meet one day in a coffee shop and end up on a date that ends in a great night for both of them. But Bea then heads away the next morning before Ben wakes up, having doubts about her feelings. Seeing sense while walking away, she returns to over hear Ben then putting on a front as he chats to his friend, Pete (GaTa). Ben claims that Bea was a disaster, not knowin what she wants to do with her life, and it was a meaningless one night thing. The two will probably never see one another again. That becomes much more difficult when, 6 months later, Bea's sister, Halle (Hadley Robinson), starts dating Pete's sister, Claudia (Alexandra Shipp), which leads to their engagement, which leads to a destination wedding in Sydney. Bea and Ben both attend the wedding, unable to conceal their dislike for one another, but it soon becomes clear that everyone around them will be happier, and stop meddling in their lives, if they pretend to make up, and fall in love with one another. That would stop Bea's parents trying to reunite her with her ex-fiancé, Jonathan (Darren Barnett), and Ben becoming unavailable might make him even more appealing to an ex that he still seems to hold a candle for (Margaret, played by Charlee Fraser). I am sure you know how things end up playing out from there.

Co-written by Ilana Wolpert and director Will Gluck, who have decided to loosely base the whole thing on Much Ado About Nothing, this shows you what can happen when you make use of genre tropes and audience expectations in a way that somehow feels more about delivering simple pleasures than being lazy. It's all very obvious, no need for subtlety here, but everything is signposted within the realm of logic established in the movie, and it's all helped by a cast that seem to be having a lot of fun with their roles.

Gluck directs the whole thing with a deft hand, keeping things moving along nicely in between the minor set-pieces, and there are so many different gags that at least one is guaranteed to make even the most stone-hearted viewer smirk, at the very least. The Australian scenery is used as an attractive backdrop, there's excellent use of a Natasha Bedingfield pop song, and almost every little detail feeds into the various highs and lows on the path to where we all know the characters will end up.

I was unfamiliar with Sweeney before this, and am unlikely to rush to anything else she does, but she's okay here. She's pretty enough, but delivers her dialogue in a strange way that makes her seem permanently dazed/stoned. That's obviously just the way she is, but it stops her from being the most captivating and watchable performer. Thankfully, Powell delivers enough star power to make both of them shine brighter together, and he's someone I will happily watch in anything he does (which should be plenty, considering how much his cache has risen in recent years). GaTa is fun, very laid back throughout almost every minute of his screentime, and both Shipp and Robinson are very good, and make a very cute couple, while Fraser gets to play the typically gorgeous and sexy "one that got away", even as she seems to be in a new relationship with what seems to be a stereotypical Australian surf-dude (Beau, played entertainingly enough by Joe Davidson). Barnett doesn't have much to do, although he's fine, but that allows for more amusing moments involving Bryan Brown, Michelle Hurd, Dermot Mulroney, and Rachel Griffiths (all playing the parents of the two women to be wed).

Two attractive people resisting attraction to one another until they just give in to their feelings isn't anything new. But this film also includes a scene that involves a large spider, a mellow koala bear, and nudity that you won't find in any other rom-com. And that's just one of many highlights in a rom-com that serves as a reminder of how good it can be to just sit back and enjoy the formula when it is utilised as well as this.

7/10

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Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

As much about Tom Cruise as it is about fast planes, and as much about the joy of old-fashioned blockbuster entertainment as it is about either of those things, Top Gun: Maverick may well be the proof that everyone just needs a bit of escapist fun now, more than ever. The praise for it isn’t entirely undeserved, and the great impact it is making on the 2022 box office total is something that has surely allowed fans of the cinema experience to breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that blockbusters on the big screen still very much have a place in our world, but I keep wondering whether this film is gloriously lacking in self-awareness or, as I suspect, absolutely self-aware throughout while just trying to pretend otherwise.

Tom Cruise is Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, still one of the top pilots in the Naval Air Force, but never destined to climb the ranks higher because of his attitude. After one more anti-authoritarian escapade, Maverick is given a new assignment, and it may be his last assignment. He has to train some younger hotshots to ready them for a bombing mission that will require a lot of low-level flying, numerous tight manoeuvres, and a generally unsafe amount of time trying to fly through an extensive . . . danger zone. One of the pilots being trained for the mission is Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw aka the son of ‘Goose’, which allows for two men to tackle their histories, both separately and together.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, who previously directed Cruise in the enjoyable sci-fi flick Oblivion, this makes clear from the very beginning just what it wants to be. You love Top Gun? You’re going to love this. Don’t love Top Gun? You’re still going to love this, but the person you are seeing it with (who probably loves Top Gun) is going to love it even more. Aside from anything else I am about to mention, the flight sequences are incredible, with thrilling action moments that seemingly place viewers right in the cockpit with the actors. It’s even better than anything done in the first movie, but that is me just talking about the action. Just now.

The script, written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie, walks a fine line between groan-inducing cheese and fan-pleasing nods and winks. The fact that it succeeds throughout is astonishing, but the intertwining of the new main plot strand with the history attached to the first film is well-handled, even if it is overdone numerous times. The humour works, a lovely cameo hits the right buttons, and the pacing makes it easier to go along with the ridiculousness of it all. Taken individually, however, there are plenty of lines that are so cheesy that you might think the script was dropped in a fondue set.

The cast is a mixed bag. Cruise is great in his return to  what could easily be referred to as the iconic role of his career, and Miles Teller, despite rocking the silliest moustache since Michael Cera in Youth In Revolt, is very good as Rooster, helped by the fact that he looks as if he could be the offspring of Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan. Jennifer Connelly is a welcome addition, although her role is no more than the typical love interest/pep talk giver you’d expect in this type of film. Other standouts are Jon Hamm, playing the latest in a long line of military commanders having problems with Maverick, Monica Barbaro as ‘Phoenix’, Lewis Pullman as ‘Bob’ (yes, that is his callsign), and the super-charismatic Glen Powell as ‘Hangman’. There are also solid performances from Ed Harris, onscreen for only a couple of minutes, but his scenes are brilliant, Lyliana Wray, playing the daughter of Connelly’s character, and Bashir Salahuddin, an ally to our hero because he knows Maverick is, well, a maverick, but dammit he gets results.

There are no real risks taken here, even though simply making the film is a big risk in itself. You could write the plot beats out on a napkin before you start watching this and you would probably get everything spot on. Even when it looks like it’s going to make a bold move, the next moment will have you smiling in disbelief at your own cynicism.

I guess that is the biggest strength of the film, and something others may view as a weakness. It is completely uncynical, in terms of the surface-level onscreen content. Another time may have seen this as an object of ridicule, but the here and now positions it perfectly for people who perhaps want a break away from cynicism.

Oh, and you get “Danger Zone” on the soundtrack, great work from Harold Faltermeyer and Hans Zimmer, a belter of a song from Lady Gaga, AND another sequence showing off the characters as they play some beach games. What more do you want? Especially if you can’t help yourself from completing the phrase whenever anyone says “I feel the need . . .”

8/10

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