Netflix And Chill: The Whisper Man (2026)

I get it. I want to start this review by clarifying that I totally get it. A crime thriller that stars Adam Scott and Michelle Monaghan doesn't seem like a great prospect. And when you have credited roles for both Robert De Niro and Michael Keaton, it's safe to assume that neither of those bigger names will be breaking a sweat. Add to that the fact that this was released straight to a streaming platform with little to no fanfare and you may have already decided to give it a miss.

Despite everything going against it, The Whisper Man isn't actually that bad. It's all about a series of child abductions and deaths that replicate the M.O. of the titular killer. The odd thing is that the killer (Michael Keaton) is in prison. He was put there by Peter Willis (De Niro), a retired cop haunted by that case. But Willis ends up back in action when his grandson (Jake, played by Acston Luca Porto) becomes a target. This leads to Willis struggling to repair some broken bridges with his own son, Tom (Scott), as they work hard with the lead officer on the case, Amanda Beck (Monaghan), to find Jake before the clock runs out.

While I haven't read any of his books so far, I am aware of Alex North, the writer of the source material used here. I've also seen a few other things written by Ben Jacoby and Chase Palmer, who have both had varying degrees of success with some big properties. A lot of people celebrated director James Ashcroft for his previous outing (The Rule Of Jenny Pen), although I was a bit cooler on it than most, but he somehow feels like a much better fit this time around. He clearly knows his way around the tropes of the crime thriller, he introduces one or two supernatural elements in a way that doesn't unbalance the whole thing, and he's happy enough to occasionally pay homage to the title that arguably casts the longest shadow over the modern examples of this sub-genre (The Silence Of The Lambs, of course).

Scott and Monaghan both do fine in their roles, but they're both very much a step down from the bigger names they sometimes have to share screentime with. Scott suffers a bit more, considering how this role hews very close to someone he played in a much better movie from earlier this year. Keaton gets to swagger and exude the kind of menace and confidence that he can do so well, and his Whisper Man is an interesting addition to the overstuffed collection of movie serial killers we've had throughout the decades. It's De Niro who proves to be a pleasant surprise though, giving a performance that at least feels as if he's not just sleepwalking through something that has been pinned on the coat-tails of his past glories. He's both vulnerable and determined throughout, and his complicated relationship to the case, and the killer, provides a number of the more interesting moments in the film. Young Porto does well enough, Hamish Linklater gets to overact in a couple of main scenes, and Owen Teague is impressively unnerving when he finally gets to be front and centre in the tense and dark third act.

If you think you might like this then you're probably right. The 111-minute runtime goes by quickly enough, it tries hard to distract you from the more implausible moments, and there's a feeling of real threat to the main characters throughout. This isn't a cosy and slick thriller that you know everyone will survive. It's nothing new, but it does well with the familiar trappings of the sub-genre, and it might even win over those who, like me, skimmed some of the plot and casting details and assumed the worst. 

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Little Brother (2026)

The last movie I saw helmed by director Matt Spicer was the very good Ingrid Goes West, but I didn't know that until checking on some details after watching this, a fairly broad comedy that feels miles away from his previous feature. Look closer, however, and there are some similarities to be found about the way people present themselves and how their perception of others can be affected.

John Cena plays Rudd Landy, a successful real estate agent who is about to take his career up a level with an appearance on a reality TV show. That might help him finally get out from under the shadow of his super-rich older brother, Josh (Christopher Meloni). Which makes it a particularly bad time for Rudd to end up reconnecting with his little brother, Marcus (Eric André). Marcus isn't related to Rudd by blood, but they were placed together once when Rudd participated in the Big Brother program. Rudd's wife, Deirdre (Michelle Monaghan), thinks it would be nice to give Marcus a warm welcome, and some time to recover after a recent car accident. Rudd isn't so sure, but he's unaware that Marcus believes they have been communicating with one another for some time, thanks to an ongoing email chain handled by Rudd's assistant, Mia (Sherry Cola).

Written by Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel, Little Brother starts off as exactly the kind of film you expect it to be. Cena's character is uptight and a bit selfish, and André brings some chaos with his behaviour and circumstances. It's never aiming to be believable, particularly when Monaghan's character accepts some specific advice for helping her husband relax, and viewers will be waiting to see how things escalate until the wild and whacky character is accepted by someone who has to accept that they could benefit from sometimes being on his wavelength.

The pleasant surprise here, in terms of both the screenplay and the performances, comes from the fact that things actually settle down before the third act. Marcus is loud and kooky for his early scenes, but he soon shows himself to just be a happy-go-lucky and optimistic individual with a genuine aim to help others. The biggest problem with Marcus is how Rudd views him, projecting his own insecurities and stress on to someone who is only ever trying to help him. I know that I am still making this sound like a hundred other comedies in the same vein, but you have to trust me when I say that it becomes better when it provides a bit of extra context and emotional impact. Spicer doesn't have to dive deep into any bag of directorial tricks, and it became tiresome a while ago to watch a comedy in which a main character starts to trip out, but he does well to keep the tone balanced as things move from silly to being a bit more serious.

Cena is good in the lead role, and it's in line with other comedy roles he's landed in the past decade. He pairs up quite well with André, who manages to be both chaotic and quite sweet. Monaghan does the understanding wife role that she seems to be offered for every second movie, Meloni is entertainingly n braggadocious, and Cola is good fun as the assistant who knows more about Marcus than anyone else onscreen. Ego Nwodim and Caleb Hearon also do well, playing the people in charge of manipulating shots and edits to optimise their reality show, and Bryce Gheisar and Pilot Bunch are the teen sons who end up warming to "Uncle Marcus". It's also worth mentioning Tony Torn, who is in scenes that almost bookend the main narrative, and provides a couple of big laughs when he reappears before the end credits roll.

I'm still not going to go out of my way to strongly recommend this to everyone, there's that feeling throughout that it's another one of those movies that feels a bit more like "content" than anything else, but I stand by my view of this being a bit better than I expected, mainly thanks to the developments that add dimension to a character who could have easily been presented as an entertaining and idiotic nuisance from start to finish. Add a point if you're a big fan of either lead. Take away a handful of points if you can't stand them.

6/10

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The Family Plan 2 (2025)

There were two main reasons for me watching The Family Plan 2 last month. First of all, I had recently watched The Family Plan. Second, it seemed to have some Christmas trimmings, which meant I could possibly include it alongside many other seasonal choices. It turns out that, like the film itself, neither of these reasons are good enough.

Director Simon Cellan Jones and writer David Coggeshall return to their main roles here, and they have most of the main cast members back with them. The main family members are Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti, and Van Crosby, with the youngest one now portrayed by Peter and Theodore Lindsey. It's coming up to Christmas, and Dan (Wahlberg) wants the family to spend some quality time together, which is why he takes them over to London to reunite with Nina (Colletti). Nina is surprised by their arrival, especially as her boyfriend (Omar, played by Reda Elazouar) is using her shower at the time. Things don't look as if they'll be happy and idyllic, particularly when Dan is targeted by an individual (Kit Harington) with a very personal and powerful motive for revenge.

This is nonsense, and not in the same way that the first film was nonsense. That was silly, but it was entertaining enough to make the silliness feel like an acceptable enough price to pay for the plotting and action beats. This is just ridiculous, especially as viewers find out more and more unbelievable details about the backstory of our main character. And while the whole family are once again along for the ride, it feels like they're constantly being nudged to the side in order to keep the focus on Wahlberg and Harington, who are arguably the two least entertaining performers onscreen.

Okay, there are some decent sequences that make use of a couple of great locations (one being London, the other Paris), but nothing else about the film feels worth your time. The small twists are blindingly obvious, the action is dull and somehow a bit dated (they showcase some parkour as if it's the latest cool thing to crash into the action movie scene), and there's no kind of development of the family bond that we had last time around.

Wahlberg can do this kind of thing on auto-pilot, and that's what he seems to be doing for the majority of the runtime. Harington never really feels like a major threat, although he does better when his character isn't trying to be a super-villain. Monaghan, Colletti, and Crosby try to enjoy the scraps thrown their way, Elazouar is a decent addition to the main group, and I was pleasantly surprised to see Sanjeev Bhaskar in a small role. 

Feel free to pick this if you can't think of any other way to spend 106 minutes, but don't pick it just because you enjoyed the first movie. And certainly don't pick it if you want an action film that might also give you some Christmassy warmth and colour. Jones ands Coggeshall have worked together here to deliver the bare minimum in all regards. And I'm annoyed that I will inevitably watch a third instalment if one is made. 

4/10

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The Family Plan (2023)

It is frustrating for me that my dislike of Mark Wahlberg appears to be in inverse proportion to how often I watch his features. Whatever you think of him, or of his acting skills, he often ends up in entertainment that appeals to those after some silly and fun distraction.

The Family Plan is interchangeable with a whole heap of other movies we have seen in recent years about family men forced to confront a past in which they were super-skilled and deadly. Wahlberg is that man, of course, and he has a whole family unit (his wife, Michelle Monaghan, two teens, Zoe Colletti and Van Crosby, and a baby) completely unaware of his dangerous history. Can Wahlberg keep his family in the dark as various people start trying to kill them while they head off on an unexpected road trip?

Writer David Coggeshall knows what he needs to do here, and he does it. This is a take action comedy, but it’s equally a star vehicle for Wahlberg. If you think that Wahlberg isn’t going to emerge victorious then you haven’t seen any other Wahlberg movies recently. While there aren’t any truly memorable exchanges, nor any surprises in the plotting, the screenplay sets everything up and moves along quickly enough to stop viewers from asking too many questions.

Director Simon Cellan Jones has, as of today, made his most recent three films with Wahlberg in the lead role, which would make him appear to have been favoured by the one-time head of the Funky Bunch. He shows an affinity for the decidedly average, ensuring that everything here will be forgotten mere days after you have watched it. And I speak from experience, having already watched the sequel (stay tuned, review pending) while constantly confusing this with Back In Action.

Wahlberg is as Wahlberg is. I am not sure anyone would consider themselves a big fan of the star nowadays, aside from maybe his immediate family, but he at least feels like a decent casting choice here. Monaghan is unsurprisingly left with a bit less to do, but she is still able to have fun in a few scenes that allow her to actively participate. Colletti and Crosby are both okay, Maggie Q plays a character unable to surprise viewers due to the fact that she is played by Maggie Q, and Ciaran Hinds is effectively heavy-handed and gruffly menacing as the villain with a very strong motivation for getting his best employee back.

I can’t deny that I had some fun with this, and a couple of the action beats were more fun than any of the attempts at comedy. I won’t ever rewatch it though, and it is just one more piece of Mark Wahlberg “streaming content” to put in the big pile that already includes the likes of Spenser Confidential, Arthur The King, and Play Dirty, to name just the first lot that sprung to mind.

6/10

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Prime Time: Nanny (2022)

I have to admit that I was being underwhelmed by Nanny while I was watching it, and started to wonder why so many people had placed it on a few "best of the year" lists. Then I got to the end. I was very impressed by the resolution served up to viewers. But I still wonder why so many people have placed it on a few "best of the year" lists.

Anna Diop stars as Aisha, a Senegalese immigrant who is hired to care for the daughter of a wealthy couple living in New York City. The couple (played by Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector) sometimes seem supportive, but they can just as quickly turn on Aisha. Even when everything is going well, Aisha is keenly aware of how precarious her position is. Her goal is to soon be joined by her young son, which is her motivation for keeping busy in a role that should allow her to save up the money for his air fare.

The feature debut from writer-director Nikyatu Jusu, Nanny is an interesting and insightful work. It manages to examine a number of different elements without ever feeling unfocused or overfilled. The cast all do uniformly excellent work, the script manages to underline the tension and unease of the main situation without turning it into ridiculous melodrama, and there are some impressive images making use of the main recurring motifs. But it's lacking something.

Diop is so good in the lead role that I kept wishing for the film around her to be even better. She works well with everyone around her, and that includes young Rose Decker (playing the young girl that she's being paid to look after), but the best scenes show her character being a bit more relaxed, and a bit happier, in the company of a man named Malik (played by Sinqua Walls, who adds just the right touch of light to the darkness). Monaghan and Spector veer between being pleasant and being far too highly-strung, and both feel perfectly cast in their roles.

It's just a shame that it doesn't come together in a completely satisfying way, with Jusu deciding against giving the film a firm tonal/genre identity. There's definitely a growing sense of dread as everything plays out, but Jusu depicts everything in a way that feels as if there's a filter, a layer of protective netting, between the worst possibilities and what viewers are seeing, whether that is the cityscape the characters are moving through or the mental landscape being changed by what is going on in their lives.

I am sure that many will dislike my opinion about this, and may even accuse me of missing some of the layered text and subtext. What can I say? I felt like I was being taken to paddle in a pool I was then not allowed to dive into. This film has depths, but they are depths that Jusu wants you to see from a high, and safe, vantage point. And that changes the perspective, which elicits a different reaction than, for example, being dragged down into those depths and feeling the growing pressure and darkness all around you.

6/10

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Netflix And Chill: Gone Baby Gone (2007)

The feature directorial debut of Ben Affleck, Gone Baby Gone allows the actor to come out swinging. Hard. Having also worked on the screenplay with Aaron Stockard, adapting the Dennis Lehane novel, Affleck has a controlling and steady hand all over this. He may have helped himself by casting his younger brother, Casey Affleck, in the lead role, with the two apparently bringing out the best in one another.

The plot revolves around the disappearance of a 4-year-old girl, Amanda McCready. The police, headed up by Jack Doyle (Morgan Freeman), want a positive outcome, but the odds of that happening diminish with every passing day. Desperate relatives hire Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck), a street-smart private investigator who may be able to get information from people who wouldn't talk to the police. Kenzie works with his girlfriend, Angie Gennaro (Michelle Monaghan), and the two of them quickly seem to make a bit more progress than the police.

Almost as much a study of a place as it is a murky crime drama chock full of memorable characters, Gone Baby Gone sometimes comes perilously close to feeling like some kind of parody. Most of the cast have worked hard on their accents, but they're also people we don't normally hear speaking with that particular Boston drawl. The strength of the material helps them overcome that though, as well as their commitment to their roles (most notable in the strong atypical turn from Amy Ryan, playing the mother of the missing girl).

Although arguably not as cinematically ambitious as his next feature, The Town, this benefits from a script that mixes neo-noir cool with a load of unsavoury characters. The twists and turns are gripping, but none of them feel completely unbelievable. And the third act is one superb moment after another.

There isn't really anyone here I could single out as letting down the rest of the cast, with fairly flawless performances (wavering accents aside) across the board. Affleck is perfect for the lead role, always being underestimated due to his youthful appearance, but always sizing up every bad situation as quickly as possible to find the best way out of it. Monaghan does fine, playing a vital character who almost provides another entire facet to Affleck's character. As well as Ryan giving a great performance, sterling support is provided by the likes of Morgan Freeman (as good as ever), Titus Welliver (another one here with one of his very best film roles), and Ed Harris (on top form). Michael Kenneth Williams has a couple of decent little moments and Edi Gathegi makes a strong impression as a criminal who may or may not know the whereabouts of the missing child.

Grounded with a very real blanket level of pain and trauma, and positing one hell of a moral quandary in the third act, Gone Baby Gone is a mature and thought-provoking work that also manages to be consistently captivating.

8/10

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The Craft: Legacy (2020)

Written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, The Craft: Legacy is a film I had been putting off watching for a while. The trailer didn't really sell me on it. Nor did the fact that it was making use of a title that many view as a beloved 1990s teen horror. I have never loved The Craft as much as many others do, mainly because I've never been a big fan of Robin Tunney and I've also never been a teenage girl, but I can absolutely see why so many enjoy it. Especially female viewers. It's also helped immensely by a wonderful performance from Fairuza Balk (although pretty much all of the non-Tunney leads are great).

The Craft: Legacy doesn't have anything that the original had, in terms of working for the intended audience or having any of the cast members stand out. It's not quite as bad as the last incarnation of Black Christmas, but it's close.

Cailee Spaeny is Lily, a new girl in town. She has moved with her mother (Helen, played by Michelle Monaghan) as her mother looks to start the next stage of her life with her partner (Adam, played by David Duchovny). It's not long until Lily becomes the sought-after fourth for Lourdes (Zoey Luna), Frankie (Gideon Adlon), and Tabby (Lovie Simone). Working together, the girls can cast quite a spell or two on those around them.

It's slightly disheartening to find that this movie really is just as bad as the trailer made it out to be. It's a cynical attempt to cash in on a couple of potential markets, and it's extremely lazy throughout. It says something that a few of the better moments involve Monaghan and Duchovny, the main adults, when things should really have been set up to showcase the younger stars.

Not that the cast do a terrible job. They're just poorly served by a script that gives them no chance to make any real impact. Spaeny is at the centre of the plot, but could hardly feel less like a vital lead character. As the other three have to act in orbit around her, everyone suffers. Nicholas Galitizine doesn't do bad in his role, a young man named Timmy who becomes a much more sensitive soul after a spell is cast upon him, but it never has any ring of truth to it.

The fault seems to lie squarely with Lister-Jones, who may have taken this job as a stepping stone to something that interested her more. She doesn't seem to have any handle on the characters, or the material, and the final result is a teen drama with supernatural elements delivered by someone who seems completely disinterested in what's going on.

Given a different name, this would have come and gone without anyone noticing. But tie it to The Craft and there's much more reason to dislike it (not least of which is a third act bit of plotting that will make most viewers roll their eyes).

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: Source Code (2011)

The second film from director Duncan Jones, working this time from a script by Ben Ripley, Source Code feels like the kind of film that is a step up, in terms of the budget and size of the cast, but also manages to keep the focus on a very cool sci-fi premise, and that's what helps it avoid some of the common flaws that can often come up in sophomore directorial features.

The easy sell of the concept is this; Jake Gyllenhaal plays a U.S. Army pilot named Colter Stevens who wakes up to find himself in the body of Sean Fentress  a la Quantum Leap. He has eight minutes to not only locate a bomb on the train that he is on, but also figure out who the bomber is. On the train with him are a woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and various other passengers, who are all suspects. Helping him to complete his mission, but only there once he is back at base, are Captain Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) and a Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright). It's a race against the clock, eight minutes at a time.

Yes, this is a time-loop movie, on the one hand, and that is how it was sold, which is fine, and you get the time markers that are always required in this sort of thing (conversations, phone calls, things being spilled or dropped), but it's also a bit more than that, although I am not going into any details that could spoil the reveals. I will just say that it requires your attention, patience, and trust, and it rewards them all completely before the end credits roll.

Gyllenhaal is as good as ever in the lead role, one that allows him to use a little bit of everything he can do (drama, a small amount of comedy, a bit of action), and Monaghan is also very good, despite her role being arguably the most thankless one in the film. Farmiga and Wright have to stay much more focused and controlled in their communications with the main character, even when deciding whether or not to explain to him exactly why that eight minute window is so important.

Ripley has crafted a great script, mixing in simple popcorn entertainment thrills with interesting ideas and moral quandaries, and Jones works confidently with the material, seeming to take great delight in the individual elements that build into a more complex picture by the third act, a delight that is conveyed to viewers throughout.

Jones has tried to continually entertain people in the decade since he started helming feature films, and I personally don't dislike Warcraft (although, as a non-gamer, it was a bit lost on me) or Mute as much as many others did, but I hope he eventually makes another couple of movies as good as his one-two punch of Moon and this. Everyone continues to praise his debut, but this film seems to get forgotten, a great shame considering it is one of the better mainstream sci-fi movies to come out in the last ten years.

8/10

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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

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Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Written and directed by Shane Black (the man responsible for the Lethal Weapon movies, The Monster Squad and more), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is everything that you hope it will be and a little bit more. A couple of things stop it from being perfect, there are some scenes that just feel overly indulgent and the razor-sharp script constantly teeters on the edge of being too smart and smug for its own good, but it's a mix of action, thrills and comedy from a man who has shown mastery of this kind of material.

The plot is as follows - a petty criminal (Harry Lockhart, played by Robert Downey Jr.) ends up accidentally auditioning for a movie role and getting the part. He is then put on assignment with a detective (Gay Perry, played by Val Kilmer) and quickly finds out that being a detective isn't all that it's shown to be in the movies. Things soon move from the mundane to the intriguing, however, when the two men see a woman's body being dumped in a lake. The plot quickly thickens, Harry also tries to impress a girl that he's held a candle for all his life (Harmony, played by the beautiful Michelle Monaghan) and bullets start to fly, fingers are removed from hands and dead bodies start to pile up around the two main characters.

Although it's a small movie that more and more people need introduced to every week, I count Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as one of the big contributing factors in the grand resurrection of Robert Downey Jr's career. There had been other roles, of course, but 2005 was the year that showed he could still mix it up in a number of different genres and he still had bucketloads of charisma to spare. Am I overestimating the appeal of the movie? Watch it and then tell me.

Of course, the film isn't just the Downey Jr. show and everyone else puts in equally good performances. Val Kilmer is at his very best in the role of Gay Perry and Michelle Monaghan is absolutely adorable. Solid support comes from a mix of people: Corbin Bernsen, Larry Miller, Shanny Sossamon, Angela Lindvall and more.

It's not action-packed from start to finish so if you're after a new Die Hard or Lethal Weapon movie to love then this won't be it. If, however, you're after even more brilliance from the man who helped create some of the best, and coolest, action films of the last few decades (including the brilliance of The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight) then this is the film that you must watch, purchase and then watch again and again. It's up there with the very best of Black's writing and he proves himself to be no slouch in the directing department either, putting it all together perfectly and moving from start to finish with a constant supply of his usual wit, insults and zippy plotting.

If you've somehow missed this movie so far then do yourself a favour and get to it ASAP.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kiss-Bang-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B000KC86JK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357051470&sr=8-1