movie night

Movie Night [Spidey Month]: The Amazing Spider-Man

Dr. K7 Comments

Easily Marvel Comics’ most recognisable superhero, unsuspecting teenage nerd Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and learned the meaning of power and responsibility in August 1962. Since then, the Amazing Spider-Man has featured in cartoons, movies, videogames, and countless comic books. To coincide with his day of celebration, I’m dedicating every Monday of August to everyone’s favourite web-head!

Released: 3 July 2012
Director: Marc Webb
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $200 to 230 million
Stars: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Sally Field, and Martin Sheen

The Plot:
Bitten by a genetically enhanced spider, Peter Parker (Garfield) tries to atone for the death of his beloved Uncle Ben (Sheen) as Spider-Man while romancing science-whiz Gwen Stacy (Stone) and opposing Doctor Curtis “Curt” Connors’ (Ifans) mad plot to turn New York City into lizard people like him!

The Background:
After his debut issue became one of Marvel’s best selling titles, Spider-Man’s popularity cemented him as their flagship character, though his cinematic debut was infamously delayed by rewrites and legal issues. Eventually, Sam Raimi and Sony Pictures Entertainment produced a critical and commercial success with Spider-Man (Raimi, 2002), and one of the greatest superhero movies ever made with Spider-Man 2 (ibid, 2004), before closing the trilogy with the profitable but divisive Spider-Man 3 (ibid, 2007). Initially, Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire were set to return for a fourth movie and Raimi even got as far as casting and storyboarding the film before creative and deadline issues saw the sequel scrapped and Mark Webb hired to helm a reboot. Determined to reinvent Spider-Man, Webb insisted upon including Spidey’s web shooters and worked with costume designer Kym Barrett to create a darker, sleeker costume. Andrew Garfield, a fan of Tobey’s portrayal, took over the title role and went to a lot of effort to research how to move in the suit, as well as legitimately falling for co-star Emma Stone during filming. Though striving for a grounded approach to the action, 3ality Technica presented the new Spidey’s swinging and like never before with their 3D conversion process, and Sony Pictures Imageworks brought classic, tragic Spidey villain the Lizard to life using a mixture of stand-ins, motion capture, and star Rhys Ifans’ performance. The result was a film that earned a little under Spider-Man 2’s final gross and somewhat divided critics. While most of the cast, particularly Garfield, were as praised for their performances as the impressive Spidey effects, the Lizard’s CGI was slated and many labelled the film as an unnecessary rehash of Raimi’s previous efforts. Still, The Amazing Spider-Man did well enough to get a notoriously lambasted sequel two years later, and both Garfield and Ifans reprised their roles about ten years later for the multiversal epic Spider-Man: No Way Home (Watts, 2021).

The Review:
Personally, I’ve always felt it was a bit odd to do a full-on Spider-Man reboot just five years after the end of Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Considering how much The Amazing Spider-Man borrows and rehashes form Raimi’s films, I’ve often wondered if it might’ve been better to simply recast and continue in the world he established, like with the James Bond films or Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies. Even The Amazing Spider-Man’s title sequence is a truncated version of Raimi’s, and James Horner’s score is stylistically similar to Danny Elfman’s. Still, The Amazing Spider-Man tries to separate itself in the early going by showing a glimpse into Peter’s past, where young Peter (Max Charles), is spirited away in the middle of the night by his parents, his heartbroken mother, Mary (Embeth Davidtz) and his secretive scientist father, Richard (Campbell Scott), after his father’s office and work was ransacked during the night. Of course, the confused and scared Peter is left with his doting Aunt May (Field) and Uncle Ben Parker, who raise him after his parents die, offscreen, in a plane crash. The loss of Peter’s parents weighs heavily on him, despite his close relationship with Ben and May, and he’s left with many questions regarding their disappearance and feeling an outcast at home and at school, since he inherited his father’s aptitude for science. However, while Tobey Maguire was a moronic geek who clammed up at the first sign of confrontation, Andrew Garfield is a snarky, skateboarding kid who stands up to the bullish antics of Eugene “Flash” Thompson (Chris Zylka) despite being physically outmatched and who’s more quirky and reclusive than a stereotypical bookworm. When he’s not skateboarding or studying, Peter’s taking photographs for the school bulletin board and helping his uncle with odd jobs, which is how he discovers his father’s battered old briefcase and discovers a bunch of scientific documents and a photograph of his father with a mysterious, one-armed scientist. This piques Peter’s curiosity and leads Ben, remorseful at rarely speaking about Richard, to identify the scientist as Dr. Curt Connors.

Greif-stricken outcast Peter embarks on a vigilante quest for revenge after his beloved uncle is killed.

This leads Peter to amusingly tag along with an intern group at the towering, high-tech Oscorp skyscraper, where the beautiful Gwen Stacy works alongside Dr. Connors as his head intern. There, Peter impresses Dr. Connors (while shocking Gwen with hiss appearance) with his knowledge of cross-species genetics, the very subject Dr. Connors and Richard Parker worked on in the hopes of curing diseases and ailments by infusing the DNA of other species into sick or maimed people. Despite Gwen warning Peter to behave, his curiosity gets the better of him and he wanders into a restricted laboratory, where he discovers a batch of genetically modified spiders created by his father and, while being chastised by Gwen, receives a painful bite. As in Raimi’s first film, Peter experiences bouts of nausea and passes out, only this time he blacks out on the subway and discovers his powers purely on instinct when he’s accosted by other passengers, suddenly springing and clinging to the ceiling and demonstrating superhuman strength and reflexes. This Peter is far more unnerved by his powers, which initially make him anxious and eccentric as he reacts to his enhanced senses, leading to an insatiable hunger, him snatching a fly in mind-air, and some pratfalls as he adapts to his incredible strength. This also gives him the edge to humiliate Flash, much to his uncle’s chagrin, and the additional confidence to up his adorable flirting with Gwen. However, while the film wastes a good hour with all this setup and exploring Peter’s abilities with a skateboarding montage, the euphoria again leads him to forget his responsibilities, leading to a chewing out by his uncle that sees Peter storm out. This time, Peter runs afoul of a convenience store clerk (Michael Barra) and is therefore dismissive when a thuggish gunman (Leif Gantvoort) robs the place. Unfortunately, Uncle Ben gets shot when confronting the robber, leaving Peter grief-stricken and embarking on late-night searches for the killer, accosting any street thugs he encounters and continuously coming up short, eventually crafting a disguise after punks see his face and being inspired by luchador masks.

While Dr. Connors get some spotlight, it’s the chemistry between Peter and Gwen that really impresses.

However, this Spider-Man far less virtuous. Although Peter later gets into a heated debate with Police Captain George Stacy (Leary) he’s about “protecting people” and “stopping bad guys”, Spider-Man is obsessed with finding his uncle’s killer, neglecting his aunt, constantly bruised and morose, and only saves innocents by proxy. It isn’t until Dr. Connors’ first rampage as the monstrous Lizard that Peter realises Spider-Man is capable of more, saving saves young Jack (Jake Ryan Keiffer) from a fall and earning his father’s (C. Thomas Howell) eternal gratitude. This Spider-Man is also far more scientifically gifted, cobbling together his trademark webshooters, piecing together the solution to the “decay-rate algorithm” that’s been dogging Dr. Connors’ work, and helping to synthesise a cure for the Lizard alongside Gwen. Gwen is far more capable than her predecessor as well. Not only does she have fantastic sexual chemistry with Peter, but she’s just as much of a science nerd as he is and aids him in created the cure in the finale. Though attracted to Peter, Gwen’s interest skyrockets when he impulsively reveals his identity, and she remains infatuated despite her apprehension due to her father’s dangerous profession. Similarly, I adored Sally Field as Aunt May. She’s a lot younger than Rosemary Harris and much more of a working-class Aunt May than a doting old woman, but her grief at losing her husband and her anguish at Peter’s constant injuries is palpable. Yet, her love for him remains strong and she desperately tries to reach him even when he’s consumed by anger and guilt, something reflected in the change in Peter’s relationship with Flash. While he starts out as a jock asshole, Flash awkwardly tries to connect with Peter after Ben’s death, leading to them forming a more stable friendship by the film’s end.

While the Lizard suffers from questionable CGI, Stacy embodies the spirit of J. Jonah Jameson.

Although Peter investigates Oscorp and Dr. Connors works there, and the criminally underutilised Doctor Rajit Ratha (Irrfan Khan) exudes the same shady menace as the laughably faceless Norman Osborn, the company merely facilitates the film’s drama and action. Dr. Connors has dreamed of improving himself (and curing others) with his research, only to be labelled a mad scientist and be frustrated by roadblocks, both scientifically and politically. When Peter offers a solution, Dr. Connors’ hope and excitement is reignited, especially after they successfully implant lizard DNA into a rat and regrow its limb. However, when Ratha steals his research and fires him for his hesitance to start human testing, a desperate Dr. Connors injects himself with the serum and is elated when his arm grows back. This quickly turns to horror, however, as he undergoes a startling and monstrous transformation, losing his rational mind to animalistic rage. Stunned by the Lizard, Peter investigates and stupidly leads the crazed scientist to him by leaving his name on one of his cameras! Thirsty for revenge, the Lizard attacks Midtown Science High School and, when Spider-Man pursues him to his makeshift sewer lab, Peter discovers his identity and his plot. Dr. Connors, driven mad, plots to use a mutagenic solution to twist his dream of making everyone “equal” and healthy by transforming them into lizards! As much as I enjoyed finally seeing the Lizard get his time to shine, I have to admit I’ve always been disappointed by his appearance. He looks very off and far too dinosaur-like, sadly shedding his signature tattered lab coat. The film also wastes so much time retreading Spidey’s origin that Dr. Connors’ family is omitted, meaning he lacks a lot of the sympathy often associated with the character. Though Peter tries to warn Captain Stacy of the threat, he’s dismissed, largely because Stacy was unimpressed by Peter’s defence of what he sees as a dangerous and unpredictable vigilante. Indeed, while J. Jonah Jameson is absent, his spirit lives on in Captain Stacy, who publicly denounces Spider-Man, orders his arrest, and hounds him on sight. Still, Stacy’s sharp enough to investigate Dr. Connors and later sees the true threat first-hand, leading to an unlikely team up between the webslinger and the police captain in the finale.

The Nitty-Gritty:
The Amazing Spider-Man initially advertised itself as the “untold story” of Spider-Man and, if you squint, some of that remains amidst all the rehashing of Raimi’s films. The sub-sub-plot about Richard and Mary Parker is intriguing, but sadly little more than a tease as we learn nothing about what happened to them beyond a brief flash of a headline and it’s left somewhat vague about what they were working on and why that was a threat. While threatening Dr. Connors, Ratha suggests the Parkers’ deaths were due to Oscorp but it all feels very tenuous and isn’t as big a deal as I would’ve liked. Instead, The Amazing Spider-Man wastes a lot of time retreading familiar ground, dwelling on Peter’s pre-Spidey life, showing him exploring his powers and making his suit, and detailing how he abandons his selfish crusade for a higher purpose. As much as I loved all the actors and performances, I really think this is a detriment to the film and things could’ve been sped up. It means Dr. Connors doesn’t get much screen time and it makes it harder for Andrew to stand out from Tobey, despite being a far better fit for the role with his uncanny physical performance and much more natural smart mouth. I absolutely think rewriting the film to be a continuation of Raimi’s movies would’ve been far better. We could’ve reduced the origin to a montage and jumped into the action, with Gwen still being the love interest and exploring Peter’s relationship with Dr. Connors in more detail. To its credit, The Amazing Spider-Man does a lot better than Raimi: the webslinging is much more exciting, Peter’s characterisation is a vast improvement, and even the webshooters are a fun addition (as much as I like and prefer organic webbing). It just really hurts the pacing to waste a whole hour redoing the origin rather than getting to the action, especially when the chemistry between Peter and Gwen is so captivating…and hot! Seriously, these two are horny for each other and I am all for it!

While Spidey has never looked or been embodied better, the Lizard’s CGI is questionable, at best.

Still, The Amazing Spider-Man separates itself from Raimi’s films in a few ways, most obviously the redesigned Spidey suit. While I recall many hating the redesign, I’ve always been a fan of it and I was actually a bit disappointed that they switched to a more traditional costume for the sequel. Just as Andrew’s performance and poses are more animalistic and bug-like, so too is his suit more menacing and insectile, sporting a slick, almost wet-looking texture that makes it seem otherworldly. Another way the film stands out is by his dark it is! So much of The Amazing Spider-Man takes place at night, obscuring a lot of the action and CGI (a conscious decision, I’m sure) and also giving an additional menace to Spider-Man, especially when he’s unloading on thugs and evading the cops. Ironically, this Spider-Man is the wittiest and most amusing yet; I especially loved when he feigned horror when a carjacker (Keith Campbell) pulled a small knife on him! This Spidey is faster and leans into his bug-like nature more than ever, cocooning the Lizard in webbing, making a spread of webs to detect the Lizard in the sewers, and being hyperaware of his surroundings in a way not seen before. I was strangely okay with the first-person shots and odd camera choices, and even the obvious moments shot for 3D viewings, especially as I first saw this in 3D and it absolutely worked like a charm. It’s unfortunate, then, that the Lizard looks so awful. I’ve always been forgiving and understanding of this since it’s a difficult, CGI-heavy character and the film had a reduced budget compared to the last film, but the rest of the movie looks so slick and gorgeous (when you can make out the actions) that the Lizard can’t help but be a letdown. Perhaps if the filmmakers had gone for a gradual transformation, using prosthetics with CGI enhancements and saving the final, complete transformation until the end (or using the heavy shadows), it might’ve been executed better. It’s a shame as the Lizard is pretty impressive, slashing and smashing everything in sight and giving Spider-Man not only a far greater physical challenge but also a mental one, as he (and Gwen) must science-up a way to reverse the mad scientist’s formula.

While Spidey foils the Lizard’s plot, the cost is high and a mysterious threat lingers in the background…

This culminates in an action-packed and emotionally charged finale. After clashing with Captain Stacy over branzino and their different opinions on Spider-Man, Stacy goes all-out to try and apprehend Spider-Man even after confirmation of the Lizard’s threat. After realising Dr. Connor’s plot, Spidey races to stop him and is accosted by the cops, eventually shot mid-swing with a taser bolt and left unmasked before the police captain. Stunned, realising he’s been mistaken and yet conflicted between his duty and his morals, Stacy reluctantly allows Peter to leave but Spidey takes a bullet in the process. Luckily, Jack’s father organises some crane operators to clear a path to Oscorp Tower, though the injured Spidey is physically outmatched by the monstrous scientist. Luckily, Stacy (…somehow…) arrives in time to help with a shotgun and the anti-lizard cure, courtesy of the resourceful Gwen. Unfortunately, though Stacy slows the Lizard with repeated shots and some well-placed liquid nitrogen, he gets skewered through the gut, though Spidey just manages to insert the cure before the device activates. The results are near-instantaneous, painfully reverting the Lizard and restoring his sanity in time to not only save Peter and lament the loss of his arm but to realise the gravity of his murderous actions. Though Peter tries to save him, the mortally wounded Stacy begs him off and reconciles with the young hero, begging Peter, with his dying breath, to leave Gwen out of his double life for her safety. Though grief stricken, Peter honours Stacy’s wishes, ending the relationship, only for Gwen to realise it’s because of her father and for Peter to almost immediately walk back his promise, which I think was supposed to be a subversion of Spider-Man’s ending but came across as a bit awkward and spiteful on Peter’s part. Though Peter heads out into the night for a celebratory swing, now fully embracing his newfound purpose as Spider-Man, he’s unaware that a mysterious individual (Michael Massee) visits the remorseful, incarcerated Dr. Connors regarding the Parkers, hinting at some deeper plot concerning Peter’s parents…

The Summary:
Despite the circumstances surrounding its creation, I think time has been quite kind to The Amazing Spider-Man and, on the whole, removed from the confusion and disappointment of the time period, it holds up pretty well. Andrew Garfield remains my favourite Peter Parker/Spider-Man, embodying the character like never before at the time with his physicality, his wit a d his quirky performance. His absolutely raw emotional range and chemistry with Emma Stone oozes off the screen and I loved how capable and smart and sassy Gwen was, a far cry from the source material and her wooden predecessor. The cast, all around, is superb here, with Rhys Ifans giving a sombre and magnetic performance that turns into the right level of over-the-top camp once he transforms and Denis Leary grumbling his way through every line. I just wish we’d gotten more time with some of the actors. Spidey’s suit, movements, and action sequences were top-notch as well, far beyond anything Raimi’s films did, and I loved the subtle edge given to him, where he’s initially driven more by anger and revenge. Unfortunately, The Amazing Spider-Man stumbles due to a hesitancy to go all-in with the reboot idea. Visually and thematically, it’s very similar to Raimi’s films and it retreads far too much of Spidey’s origin to truly stand alone, again making me wish it had simply been a soft reboot set in the same world. Any intrigue surrounding Peter’s parents is swept under the rug and it’s simply there as sequel bait and to make you think this is something new and the reliance on Oscorp was disappointing after three movies of Osborn shenanigans. As much as I enjoyed Ifans as Dr. Connors, the Lizard is painful to watch at times, barely resembling the source material and losing many of the qualities that made him such a strong and sympathetic villain, meaning the film falls back on the tired “crazy scientist” trope that Raimi drove into the ground. It’s a thrilling and exciting adventure at times with some incredible visuals and moments, but a lot of it is lost in all the darkness and poor lighting, meaning Spider-Man doesn’t pop with colour like he should. It’s a shame as there’s a lot to like here, but The Amazing Spider-Man stumbles more than it strides and it’s difficult to look past some of its failings, despite the appeal of its charismatic cast.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Were you a fan of the Amazing Spider-Man or were you surprised to see a reboot so soon after Raimi’s films? What did you think to Andrew Garfield’s performance and his suit? Were you also disappointed by how much of the origin was rehashed and how dark the film was? What did you think to the chemistry between Peter and Gwen? Which Spider-Man film is your favourite and how are you celebrating the wall-crawler this month? Let me know what you think about The Amazing Spider-Man in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Spider-Man content.

Movie Night [K-Month]: King Kong (1976)

Dr. K4 Comments

In the absolutely bonkers science-fiction film Pacific Rim (del Toro, 2013), the monstrous Kaiju first attacked humanity on 10th August 2013, which was subsequently branded “K-DAY”. To celebrate this event, and giant monster movies, I’m dedicating every Sunday in August to one of cinema’s most prolific monsters: King Kong!

Released: 17 December 1976
Director: John Guillermin
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Budget: $23 to 24 million
Stars: Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange, Charles Grodin, Rick Baker/William Shepard/Peter Cullen, and René Auberjonois

The Plot:
Ruthless oil executive Fred S. Wilson (Grodin) discovers a primitive world ruled by the giant ape “Kong” (Baker/Cullen/Shepard). When the beast kidnaps beautiful castaway Dwan (Lange), stowaway primate palaeontologist Jack Prescott, (Bridges) tries to save her amidst Wilson’s plot to commercialise the creature.

The Background:
As hard as it may be to believe, it was nearly a hundred years ago that filmmaker, adventurer, and former World War I aviator Merian C. Cooper dreamed up the iconic visual of a giant gorilla ascending the Empire State Building and wowed audiences with King Kong (Cooper and Schoedsack, 1933), largely regarded as one of the most influential movies of all time. Amazingly, King Kong was followed by a sequel that very same year, though Son of Kong (Schoedsack, 1933) leaned more into comedy and largely divided critics. After a planned revival fell through in the 1960s, the concept and character were repurposed into a battle against Godzilla, much to Cooper’s displeasure, resulting in a profitable but divisive clash. After a stint in animation, King Kong returned to cinema screens for a loose tie-in, King Kong Escapes (Honda, 1967), a much-maligned entry that ended Toho’s brief stint with the legendary ape monster. About ten years later, the idea of a then-modern remake was pitched, though there are conflicting reports about who we have to thank for this: some say it was Michael Eisner and veteran producer Dino De Laurentiis, while De Laurentiis claims it was all his idea. Regardless, Paramount Pictures financed the project and De Laurentiis worked with screenwriter Lorenzo Semple Jr. to update the story to focus on the energy crisis and culminate at the World Trade Center. To save on costs, all dinosaurs were omitted and an elaborate suit, animatronic, and puppets were used in place of laborious stop-motion techniques. Special effect artist Carlo Rambaldi constructed an impressive £500,000 mechanical Kong that infamously failed to work when the cameras rolled, forcing the production to rely on what Rick Baker saw as an inferior suit. Thousands of onlookers flocked to the World Trade Center for the dramatic finale, many being paid to be extras, and an extended cut of the film was assembled for home media. King Kong was largely praised for revamping the original unorthodox love story and for its impressive practical effects, though it’s also been criticised for its janky editing and composition and its strange balance of humour and drama. Though De Laurentiis was disappointed by the film’s $90.6 million box office, a critically and commercially panned sequel followed ten years later and the franchise remained dormant until Peter Jackson’s big-budget remake in 2005.

The Review:
Though it’s narratively very similar to the classic 1933 original, this King Kong separates itself in a few ways to put a different spin on the formula. I don’t mind this so much as I’ve always argued that remakes should try to do something new with their properties rather than being shot-for-shot or beat-for-beat recreations. In this case, we’re not following an adventurous film crew and their misadventures on Skull Island, but instead Fred Wilson, executive of the childishly named Petrox Oil Company, who assembles a crew to sail to an uncharted island. Since Petrox has been in a slump and the world is facing an energy crisis – and competition from other oil and petrol sellers is high – Wilson is banking everything on claiming a hitherto-undiscovered oil reserve on the mysterious Skull Island. Thanks to paying off an unnamed official in Washington, D.C., Wilson obtains top secret satellite imagery of the island which, as his resident science expert Roy Bagley (Auberjonois) explains, reveals the landmass hidden by a thick and mysterious fog. Their data indicates that the island is rich in oil and other minerals and Wilson is determined to get his hands on it to turn Petrox’s fortunes around, though stowaway associate professor Jack Prescott offers another, far more sinister perspective on the island. Prescott talks of journals and other evidence indicating that the island is not only inhabited, but ruled over by some gigantic, unknowable beast and attempts to persuade Wilson of Skull Island’s dangers and to let him join the expedition out of sheer scientific curiosity. Believing he has the inside track on Skull Island, Wilson is naturally sceptical and accuses Prescott of being a spy from a rival oil company, ordering Captain Ross (John Randolph) to lock the troublemaker up and doing a deep dive into Prescott’s background to figure out who he is. When this only corroborates Jack’s story, Wilson reluctantly allows him to join the crew as their official photographer but, for a good while, the two seemingly reach a mutual respect, especially when leading their later rescue mission.

Wilson’s search for oil and Jack’s awkward romance are scuppered by a giant, horny ape!

This comes about when Wilson’s ship happens upon a stray life raft carrying beautiful aspiring actress Dwan, who was left adrift when her yacht  suddenly exploded. Dwan joins the crew as something of a mascot and a fancy, immediately catching Prescott’s eye and flirting with him, sharing her dreams of being a big star. While the romance angle was extremely rushed in the original film, I understood it as the film was much shorter and that was in keeping with the style at the time. Here, I’m not sure why Jack is so smitten with Dwan beyond her looks as she’s a bit of an airhead who wanders around with big doe eyes, chattering about her dreams, blabbering about how beautiful things are, completely oblivious to obvious dangers and being painfully naïve. Though she’s more likely to babble about her star sign than anything meaningful, it seems Prescott is captivated by her whimsical, carefree nature and he becomes very protective of her, as does the rest of the crew since she’s initially ordered to stay behind when they reach Skull Island. Instead, she accompanies the group and, predictably, observes the native’s rituals with a naïve wonder compared to Prescott’s more measured caution. When the tribe’s shaman (Keny Long) spots her, he immediately orders (in his native tongue) for her to be handed over as a sacrifice to their God, even offering six of the native women in return for Dwan, though both Prescott and Wilson naturally decline. This sees the natives kidnap Dwan in the dead of night and force her to be strung up as Kong’s latest bride and, like Prescott, Kong is immediately taken by the blonde-haired maiden. Dwan is helpless in Kong’s grasp, resorting to screaming and begging and then lashing out in fear and anger since she’s afraid of heights. Not wishing to anger the beast, whom she and Wilson believe intends to eat her, Dwan tries to soothe him with kind words, though her attempts to flee fail and she’s reduced to a mere damsel in distress. This gives Jack the chance to step up as he leads the rescue mission, exasperated by Wilson being more concerned with his oil (which turns out to still be gestating and thus unsuitable for mining), though he’s ultimately left to rescue Dwan alone when Kong kills most of the rescue party.

Though a king in his native land, Kong’s reduced to a wild animal by Wilson’s theatrics.

Since his plan has gone awry, Wilson comes up with a new plot to capture Kong and parade him around the United States as Petrox’s mascot. After calling in some supplies, he orders Captain Ross and his men to prepare an elaborate trap rather than send out a search party, digging a huge pit to chloroform the giant ape. While Kong’s busy battling a giant snake, Prescott grabs Dwan and bring her back to the native’s village. However, when the angered Kong pursues, he falls into Wilson’s trap and is soon being transported to America. The gas and lack of food and water take their toll on Kong, who sits heartbroken and throws a tantrum as they near the mainland, with his rage only soothed by Dwan. Once they reach America, Wilson turns from a greedy but otherwise reasonable man into a full-blown megalomaniac as he wins over Dwan by casting her in the lead role in Petrox’s new advertising campaign to recreate her time on Skull Island before the braying masses as Kong is held in chains. While Prescott initially signs on for this, his moral compass sees him reject the offer and urge Dwan to leave with him, but she’s so obsessed with being a star that she can’t turn Wilson down. While Dwan is terrified of Kong, she feels a great deal of sympathy for him and puts her life on the line to calm him when he threatens to sink the boat. Similarly, she begs Kong not to let her go in the finale so he’ll be spared death and even Jack is cheering Kong by the end after he’s double-crossed. Thanks to his extremely expressive face, Kong is more human and emotive than ever, showing great affection, pain, and anger as required. Though revered as a God by the natives, Prescott sees Kong as a unique species that needs to be preserved. He’s aware of the beast’s danger and desperate to get Dwan away from him, but constantly advocates for Kong to be left unharmed and is deeply disturbed when Wilson takes Kong from his homeland.

The Nitty-Gritty:
One of the things I love about the original King Kong is how it moves at a brisk pace and yet still showcases a lot of amazing effects and action. The romance subplot is hammy, for sure, but it’s all in good fun. Sadly, this King Kong suffers from a bloated runtime. It’s not as bad as the next remake, but the film chugs along at a snail’s pace, spending way too much time on the boat and trying to make us care about the blossoming attraction between Jack and Dwan. While Bridges and Lange have chemistry, Dwan’s portrayed as such a fickle and flighty bimbo that I find it hard to believe Jack could stand being with her beyond a quick bunk up. Hell, he even says to her (after she interrupts their desperate escape from Kong’s rampage for a drink) that she’d quickly grow bored of him since he can’t afford to keep her in the lifestyle she’s accustomed to. While she seems to genuinely deny this, I’m on Jack’s side here; Dwan would be seeking the next thrill after a month or two, for sure. I enjoyed Grodin’s bombastic performance as Wilson, who becomes quite affable during the second act but quickly descends into a spiteful villain who cares only about making a theatrical showcase of Kong. Having sacrificed many lives and shown a complete disregard for others, and Kong’s welfare (seriously, how did the big ape survive the trip back to America?), it’s only fitting that Wilson goes out in the stupidest way possible: running right into Kong and being crushed under his foot, despite him literally being able to flee in any direction! The natives don’t get much play here and disappear after sacrificing Dwan, but they’re portrayed as a stereotypical, primitive tribe who seek only to appease their God. They regularly repair the great wall to keep Kong out and send him women to satisfy his needs and Jack states that the tribe will most likely be disillusioned and downcast after they kidnap their deity.

While Kong is impressive, the effects don’t land or age as well as the ambitious original.

Though comprised of various real-world locations and elaborate sets, Skull Island isn’t as impressive as in the original film as this King Kong chooses not to have dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures on the island. Indeed, the only other giant creature is a massive snake that Kong awkwardly wrestles with, which is a shame as I would’ve much rather seen more time spent exploring the island’s dangers than trapped on the boat with these assholes. Skull Island’s threat is thus in its landscape, which is comprised of a thick jungle and deep chasms and Kong who, despite his obnoxiously loud roar and thundering footsteps, can apparently sneak up out of nowhere and send Jack’s rescue party plummeting from their log bridge. As you’d expect, Kong is the film’s most impressive aspect and the suit really does look amazing. Kong towers over the miniatures and has a far greater range of movement than stop motion can provide, though he looks janky and awkward when briefly substituted for a robotic duplicate or filmed against rear projection. There’s obviously a lot of that (and forced perspective) here and it hasn’t aged as well as the black and white original, which gets more slack due to being limited by the technology of the time. Here, it’s painfully obvious when a giant Kong hand is holding Dwan before a projection of Kong and when Kong is smashing through miniatures. To be fair, these look far more impressive during Kong’s rampage through New York City, where he overturns a train and terrorises the public, though he looks extremely ungainly when climbing the World Trade Center. Kong’s most impressive feature is his highly expressive face, which sees him gaze upon Dwan with lovesick eyes, glare at people when they shoot him, and illicit a great deal of sympathy when trapped on the ship or suffering mortal wounds. Kong’s definitely more human than in the original, standing upright and lumbering about like a man, though the little head tilts and constant roaring tie into his animal side, as does his confusion and rage when surrounded by the unfamiliar sights and sounds of New York City.

Kong’s rampage is tragically ended in spectacularly gory fashion!

Remarkably, despite being unprepared for Skull Island’s true danger and having lost the chance to rape its oil deposits, Wilson snatches victory from the jaws of defeat by hastily trapping Kong. Being drugged, malnourished, and separated from his land and new love seems to physically drain Kong, allowing him to be chained up in a seemingly inescapable cage and paraded before the masses amidst Petrox’s massive billboards. However, Kong’s rage is stoked when reporters rush Dwan and push her about, giving him the strength to break free and rum amok, crushing people under his feet and terrorising the streets in his pursuit of her. While Jack gets Dwan to safety, she randomly demands a drink, sure that the river will deter the ape, and is naturally snatched by Kong when he simply wades through the water without issue. Luckily for Dwan, Prescott intuits that Kong will be drawn to the World Trade Center since the Twin Towers resemble a rock formation on Skull Island. Though Jack barters with the city officials to take Kong alive, he’s immediately double-crossed when soldiers shoot flamethrowers at Kong. Though unable to reach the roof of the South Tower, Jack’s even more helpless when Kong leaps to the North Tower, kills his assailants, and is approached by three attack choppers. Though the pilot (George Whiteman) orders his men not to fire with Dwan in the ape’s hand, Kong seemingly recognises the threat and accepts his fate, placing the aghast Dwan on the roof and prepares to face his attackers. While Kong does take a couple of the choppers down when they fly a little too close, he’s basically dead meat the moment they fire their massive chain guns. It’s honestly disturbing seeing bloody chunks and spray fly from Kong’s chest, neck, and belly and seeing his fur matted by gore, his breathing becoming more laboured and his screams more anguished as he’s riddled by seemingly explosive bullets. In the end, the assault is too much and Kong collapses first to the roof and then to the ground below. As reporters clamber on his prone body and Dwan desperately tries to comfort him, Kong’s heart slowly beats to a stop. The masses celebrate, jostling Dwan about and trying to snap her picture, all while a despondent Jack looks on, unable (and seemingly unwilling) to reach her.

The Summary:
This is the King Kong I grew up with. As a kid, I remember being awestruck by the Kong suit, which still holds up really well and is a fantastic way to give Kong more movement and expression than stop-motion or animatronics. While he lacks a lot of the charm of the original and doing a man-in-a-suit might seem a bit cheap, Kong is still incredibly impressive, especially his emotions and face, and he’s only let down by some dodgy rear projection and questionable performances. I didn’t mind Jeff Bridges here, he took the lead pretty well and seemed very charismatic, but he had more chemistry with Charles Grodin than Jessica Lange. Dwan is one of the weakest aspects of the film, being a shallow and wholly uninteresting character who seems too fickle and flighty for Jack to waste his time on. Wilson was great as a bombastic, greedy antagonist who takes any opportunity to turn his fortunes around. Sadly, King Kong is a slog to watch, with the film dragging on and offering little but a dull romance sub-plot and actors fumbling about on a jungle set. Things pick up in the finale but, by then, I wouldn’t blame you if you’d tapped out from boredom as the film lacks the magic of the original and doesn’t pace out its set pieces well. It’s a shame as I have fond memories of this one from my childhood but this King Kong is tough to rewatch, despite how unsettling the ending is and its ambitious suit effects.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Have you ever seen the this 1976 remake of King Kong? If so, did you like it and how do you think it compares against the original and other King Kongs? What did you think to the suit effects and animatronics? Were you disappointed we didn’t get more giant monsters on Skull Island? Did you also find the film boring at times? What did you think to the changes it made to the original? Which version of Kong is your favourite and how are you celebrating K-Day this month? Whatever your thoughts on King Kong, Kaiju, or monster movies in general, leave a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other King Kong and Kaiju content!

Movie Night: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 25 July 2025
Director: Matt Shakman
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Budget: $200 million
Stars: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, and Ralph Ineson

The Plot:
On a 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic parallel Earth, the celebrated superpowered adventures, the Fantastic Four, are called to save the world when a mysterious silver entity (Garner) heralds the arrival of the planet-consuming Galactus (Ineson).

The Background:
Considering the controversy behind the creation of Marvel’s dysfunctional First Family of superheroes, it’s poetic that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s colourful adventurers have had some ups and downs on the big screen. German producer Bernd Eichinger’s first attempt at an adaptation saw the production shut down and the negatives confiscated, Tim Story’s efforts were modest successes met with mixed reviews, and Josh Trank’s gritty reboot was a universally panned box office flop. 20th Century Fox thus quietly removed a sequel from their slate and the characters became the property of Marvel Studios when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2017, eventually leading to a new reboot set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). MCU head honcho Kevin Feige was excited to do the characters justice and Jon Watts was initially tapped to direct, before stepping away from superhero films and being replaced by Matt Shakman, who was attracted to the sci-fi elements and family dynamic. Although John Krasinski and Chris Evans portrayed variants of Doctor Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in the MCU, Pedro Pascal took over as Reed after an extensive search and Joseph Quinn took on Johnny. The filmmakers went to great lengths to find the perfect actress for Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman, attracted mindless bigots by featuring the Shalla-Bal incarnation of the Silver Surfer, and surprised audiences by including Galactus right away. Pitched as a retro-futuristic family drama, the film chose to gloss over the team’s origin and utilise practical effects wherever possible, leading to star Ralph Ineson being fitted into a fully practical armoured suit to portray the world-devourer. Alongside a box office gross of over $470 million, The Fantastic Four: First Steps broke the trend of its predecessors by being widely praised. Reviews praised that the film jumped right into the action with a pre-established team, the unique setting of the movie, and the riveting performances by the lead actors.

The Review:
In keeping with the whole “Multiverse Saga” the MCU was going through at the time, The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place on an alternative version of Earth, Earth-828, a world that’s essentially a live-action version of The Jetsons (1962 to 1963; 1985 to 1987). This world is very much trapped in the swinging sixties, but with a super fun sci-fi twist. Flying cars are everywhere and the Fantastic Four’s Baxter Building is kitted out with all sorts of funky, throwback tech, including their adorable and much appreciate robot helper, Humanoid Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics/H.E.R.B.I.E. (Matthew Wood). This world doesn’t seem to have any superheroes apart from the titular team, who are so beloved and world renowned that they’ve monopolised space travel and saved the world countless times from the likes of the sadly excised Ivan Kragoff/Red Ghost (John Malkovich) and the maniacal Harvey Elder/Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser). The Fantastic Four are more than just superheroes, though; they’re celebrities and even politicians, establishing the “Future Foundation” to share their knowledge with other world leaders and broker peace dealers while also hosting science programmes and advertising products. In a welcome change of pace, their origin is largely glossed over with a montage: four years ago, Doctor Reed Richards (Pascal) led his wife, Susan Storm (Kirby), her hotshot brother Johnny (Quinn), and ace pilot Benjamin “Ben” Grimm (Moss-Bachrach) on a space expedition and, due to an unforeseen event, the group were forever changed by cosmic radiation. In another nice change of pace, the team has been active for four years at the start of the film and well acclimatised to both their powers and their celebrity status. Thus, while it’s clear Mister Fantastic still carries a lot of guilt for his friend’s transformation into a gruesome rock-thing (and it’s implied this is why the team hasn’t returned to space since their ill-fated voyage), Ben has accepted his appearance and is a cherished national treasure.

The dynamic between the team is not only at the forefront, but better and richer than ever before.

As the team live in the limelight, it’s no surprise that the world is deeply invested in the Invisible Woman’s surprise pregnancy, an event that brings Reed much joy but also sees his over analytical brain kick into overdrive babyproofing the building and running countless tests to ensure their baby hasn’t been negatively affected by their mutated DNA. This concern also comes from a place of guilt (he clearly worries his mistakes may harm Sue and the baby) but also doubt as he finds himself out of his depth concerning fatherhood and Reed, being the smartest man alive, is thrown off when he doesn’t know all the answers. The Human Torch and the Thing delight in ribbing Reed about this, which is just one way First Steps perfectly captures the spirit of these characters being more than a team: they’re a family. Rather than Johnny being a mean-spirited prankster or an egotistical skirt-chaser, he’s seen to be surprisingly smart in his won right, approaching problems from a different angle and figuring out a way to communicate with the implacable Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer when she comes heralding the destruction of the world. While Johnny and Ben bicker at times, it’s nowhere near as hostile as in previous films and is very light-hearted, with Johnny giving backhanded compliments about Ben’s rock beard that see him rock the unconventional look. The group has fantastic chemistry together, with Reed and Sue working perfectly as a duo and yet still butting heads when contemplating Galactus’s outrageous demands. Nowhere is the team’s dynamic more apparent than when they take the Excelsior into space to confront Galactus and work in harmony to guide and maintain the ship. Later, they work in unison to collaborate with the world’s governments on defence plans, though they constantly underestimate Johnny and are therefore stunned when he figures out the Silver Surfer’s native tongue and attempts to parlay with her.

When the Silver Surfer heralds Galactus, the team desperately try to find solutions to the threat.

The Fantastic Four’s elation at their pending arrival is dashed when the Silver Surfer suddenly arrives to warn the planet of its eventual destruction at the hands of Galactus. While immediately smitten by the stoic, metallic alien, Johnny tirelessly goes over recordings to learn her origin and try to save the world from another angle. With the world under threat, Reed reluctantly agrees to refit the Excelsior and utilise his faster-than-light technology to get intel on Galactus, assuring the world that they will confront and defeat the treat as ever. Despite Sue being heavily pregnant, she joins them for the jaunt, arriving in time to see a faraway world decimated by Galactus’s titanic world-breaker. The Silver Surfer greets them and dispassionately allows them to converse with her master, easily evading their futile attacks and chasing them through a wormhole when they flee following Galactus’s demands, yet she vehemently defends her master when the team oppose him. It’s only when Johnny reminds her of her tragic past and the bargain she made with Galactus, and the countless lives she’s ended in serving him, that the Silver Surfer is taken off the board (no pun intended). Rather than being some stupid space cloud or shying away from his outrageous appearance, Galactus is a towering, God-like celestial being who is intrigued by the Fantastic Four’s curiosity and bravery but nonetheless determined to devour their world since he’s driven by an insatiable hunger. However, Galactus offers to spare the Earth if the four hand over Sue’s child. Franklin (Various/Ada Scott), whom the world-eater sees is a being of such vast cosmic power that he could be his successor. Naturally, Sue and the others strongly reject this offer, causing the world to turn against them since they refuse to sacrifice one life for billions. While Sue is outraged that Reed would even consider the possibility of acquiescing, he steadfastly refuses to entertain the idea, and she eventually placates the masses with the promise that the team will do whatever it takes to fend off the looming threat.

The Nitty-Gritty:
I was surprised to find that First Steps is sent entirely on Earth-828 and that the team appear to be natives of this world. I suspected that they would’ve been trapped there somehow and even speculated that they’d fail to save their world and be driven to the mainstream MCU by the end. Instead, the Fantastic Four inhabit this retro sci-fi world and act is its guardians and leaders, with the Thing exchanging pleasantries with the Yancy Street locals, Sue acting as a diplomat, Johnny being a poser boy, and Reed teaching science. This world has become so reliant on the fantastic Four that they’re almost powerless without them as they dictate politics and defend the masses from numerous supervillains. The world is thus amazed to learn that the team couldn’t defeat Galactus and turn to anger and resentment when a shellshocked Reed makes the bizarre choice to tell them of Galactus’s demands. This raises many ethical and moral quandaries that the film briefly touches upon, with the public largely calling for Franklin to be sacrificed and the team desperately exploring other options. Reed finds himself at a loss to think of alternative plans but ultimately embraces the uncertainty about Franklin’s destiny and fatherhood, taking inspiration from Sue’s speech to adapt his teleportation technology in a desperate bid to move the Earth. This sees the second act of the film emulate classic doomsday movies as the team scramble to assemble giant devices and conserve energy to enact the plan, only for it to be immediately undone when the besmirched Silver Surfer returns from a black hole and wrecks their toys. I love seeing Reed’s hopeless desperation as he struggles to conjure up the formulas to present alternatives, and that Ben and Johnny remained optimistic, searching for other ways to defend themselves and eager to take the fight to Galactus if necessary.

For the first time, these bizarre characters were done justice in live-action.

Though it’s a shame the Fantastic Four aren’t based in the mainstream MCU, this unique world allows them to take centre stage and steal the show. For the first time since the 1994 movie, the team have been ripped right out of the comic books, sporting throwback outfits that appear functional and comfortable. While I usually prefer practical suits wherever possible, the Thing has never looked better, perfectly emulating Jack Kirby’s art style and sporting some nifty threads throughout the film (including his iconic trenchcoat and hat). While First Steps largely deals with the interpersonal drama between the team and preparing for Galactus’s arrival, they do get a chance to shine in fun montages, including a recreation of their first appearance and numerous good deeds. Of all the team, Sue really impressed here. Not only was she a strong-willing and believable matriarch and team member, but she displayed some awesome feats of power, being so desperate to protect Franklin that she threw even mighty Galactus off-balance. Sue’s powers are represented wonderfully here, appearing as shimmering tricks of light rather than cartoonish bubbles or blue aura, while Johnny’s flame effects also looked better than ever. Reed was a little short-changed as his stretching powers are used sparingly, but his genius intellect and leadership skills were emphasised instead. Reed is a little awkward and analytical at times, but he also isn’t afraid to tackle Galactus when diplomacy fail, strategically targeting vents on the giant’s back to slow him down and get his attention. Reed’s smarts also enable the construction of the main generators the team initially hope to use to teleport Earth to safety, led to the creation of the versatile H.E.R.B.I.E., and see the team fly around in a super sleek modified Firebird IV. However, it was Galactus that caused me to smile from ear to ear as we finally got to see him in all his glory and watching him nonchalantly stride through the streets of New York City, absently swatting away the Fantastic Four’s attacks, was like seeing Alex Ross’s beautiful artwork come to life.

After refusing Galactus’s demands, the team pushes their fantastic abilities to the limit to fend him off.

Desperate to come up with a solution that doesn’t involve handing their newborn son over to a cosmic being, Reed hits upon the idea of co-ordinating the world’s resources into building teleporter relays to get the Earth to safety. When the Silver Surfer destroys all but one of these and flees after being grief-stricken by the Human Torch, Sue begrudgingly agrees to use Franklin as bait and the team enact a risky plan to first convince the Mole Man to shelter the city’s inhabitants and then lure Galactus onto the teleporter pad and send him to parts unknown. At first, the plan works: Galactus heads to baby Franklin despite the obvious signs of a trap, barely registering when the team attack him. Thanks to Sue’s forcefield, Johnny temporarily blinds Galactus, allowing Franklin to be switched for a decoy. Right at the last second, almighty Galactus senses something’s wrong and reacquires his target, easily snatching Franklin from the Baxter Building and finally readying himself to be free of his cursed existence. In a fit of motherly rage, Sue unleashes her full power upon Galactus, restraining him long enough for Reed to rescue the baby and then overexerting herself to force Galactus into the teleporter. When Galactus attempts to reemerge in a rage, Johnny prepares to sacrifice himself for his family, only for the Silver Surfer to take his place, determined to atone for presumably eons of death caused by her master. Though Galactus and the Silver Surfer are teleported away, Sue’s efforts prove fatal and, despite Reed’s desperate attempts, she dies on the street. However, it turns out Franklin really does have some cosmic significance as his mere touch brings Sue back to life, much to the relief of her family. Although the team is uncertain what the future holds for Franklin, they resolve to face it together and spend the next four years raising him as a normal boy, only for Sue to be shocked when a cloaked, iron-masked figure (Robert Downey Jr.) suddenly appears before the boy in the mid-credits sequence…

The Summary:
I was really looking forward to The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the team’s introduction to the MCU, having previously speculated on casting and the direction the film should go. While the movie obviously went in a very different direction, I think this was for the best as it allowed the movie to be solely focused on the team, their relationship with each other, and how they react to the crisis at hand. The retro sci-fi aesthetic of Earth-828 resulted in a unique visual treat, one that expertly brings Jack Kirby’s characteristic art to life while also showcasing the Fantastic Four’s incredible powers.  was surprised, maybe even sceptical, when Galactus was chosen as the antagonist, but I was so happy to finally see him brought to life with near-perfect fidelity to the source material. Depicted as a somewhat tragic and apathetic force of nature, Galactus simply is and I really enjoyed how disinterested he was in “little people”, at least until he senses Franklin’s awesome potential. The sense of scale given to Galactus was honestly awe-inspiring and terrifying and it was super fitting to see the middle half of the film resemble end of the world movies. I also liked the twist of using Shalla-Bal as the Silver Surfer and Julia Garner captured the tortured essence of the herald well. The chemistry between the four leads was easily the best we’ve ever seen from live-action interpretations of the characters, with them portrayed as a well-established and celebrated group and a functioning team and family dynamic. I loved the changes made to Johnny’s character, how he was a quick study and not just some hotshot with a hard on, and that Ben had fully come to terms with his position while still showcasing some regret when tempted by beautiful schoolteacher Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne). Reed and Sue were the main draws for me, though. Sue was such a strong character, both in her convictions and her raw power, and I loved seeing Reed struggle with considering the worst decisions and being at a loss to think of alternatives. For me, this was the most faithful filmic adaptation of Marvel’s First Family to date, one that perfectly represented their unique family dynamics and presented them as an intelligent, quirky, and formidable team to hopefully make an unforgettable impact in the wider MCU.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy The Fantastic Four: First Steps? How do you think it compared against the previous live-action films? Were you surprised to find it set on an alternative Earth? Did you enjoy the cast, their chemistry, and the way their powers were represented? Were you glad to see Galactus finally brought to life in full armour? Would you have given up your child to save the world? Where would you like to see the MCU take the Fantastic Four? Let .e know your thoughts on The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the comments, go check out my other Fantastic Four content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to support the site.

Movie Night: Conan the Barbarian (1982)

Dr. K2 Comments

Released: 14 May 1982
Director: John Milius
Distributor: Tri-Star Pictures
Budget: $20 million
Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Gerry Lopez, Bergman, Ben Davidson, and Mako

The Plot:
Cimmerian barbarian brute Conan (Schwarzenegger) is freed from slavery, falls in with a gang of thieves, and quests for revenge against Thulsa Doom (Jones), the mystical cult leader who slaughtered his family.

The Background:
Readers were first introduced to Robert E. Howard’s Conan in the pages of Weird Tales, after he expanded on the lore while vacationing by repurposing a previously rejected Kull of Atlantis story. Before his unfortunate suicide in 1936, Howard had written twenty-one complete Conan stories, published seventeen of them, and left behind multiple unfinished fragments. Development of a film adaptation can be traced back to the 1970s when, after a lengthy battle, Edward R. Pressman acquired the franchise rights. Eager to helm a Viking-inspired film, director John Milius joined the project (despite having no knowledge of Conan) and Oliver Stone penned a costly script that was reworked after Dino De Laurentiis provided additional funding. After considering Sylvester Stallone and Charles Bronson for the lead, the producers cast relative unknown Arnold Schwarzenegger after being impressed by his bodybuilder physique. In addition to undergoing rigorous training and learning sword fighting for the role, Schwarzenegger was forced to do all his own stunts, resulting in some nasty injuries during filming. The magnetic James Earl Jones was cast as the main antagonist and offered Schwarzenegger many pointers on set and the filmmakers used incredibly detailed miniatures to save money on expensive sets, alongside a large-scale animatronic snake. With a box office of somewhere between $68.9 and 79.1 million, Conan the Barbarian was a modest success met with mixed reviews. While some praised it as a fantasy thriller and championed the gory action, others decried the violence and criticised Schwarzenegger’s performance. Praised for its adaptation of Howard’s writing and for re-popularising the sword-and-sorcery genre, Conan the Barbarian shot Schwarzenegger to superstardom. Unfortunately, its sequel failed to recapture the same success, the 2011 reboot proved unfairly divisive, and a third movie has been stuck in Development Hell for decades.

The Review:
Conan the Barbarian is set during a fictional, lost age of mankind – the “Hyborian Age”, as stated in the books – a time of much conflict and where scattered tribes and pockets of civilisation worshipped many Gods. For young Conan (Jorge Sanz) and his people, the Viking-like Cimmerians, the only God worth talking about is Crom, a miserable, Odin-like figure who sits atop a mountain and actively ignores the prayers of those who worship him. Those who die worshipping Crom must answer a simple question to take a seat in Valhalla: What is the riddle of steel? Conan’s father and tribe leader (William Smith) impresses upon him from a young age how important steel is to their culture, stating that a man can only trust his blade and that steel came about after man harnessed the “secret of fire” following a battle between the Gods and the Great Giants. Conan listens attentively and seems a willing student, yet he can only watch in horror when Thulsa Doom and his cohorts – namely Rexor (Davidson) and Thorgrim (Sven-Ole Thorsen) – suddenly attack their village and slaughter his people. While his father fights valiantly, Conan watches, shielded by his mother (Nadiuska), as he’s mortally wounded by an axe and then torn apart by attack dogs. Thulsa Doom then claims his father’s sword and mesmerises his mother, lopping her head off and forcing the surviving children to toil day and night, through all seasons, pushing the “Wheel of Pain”. This entire opening sequence is conveyed without any dialogue (beyond the wizard Akio’s (Mako) narration and the teachings of Conan’s father), so we don’t learn the reason behind the attack until much later, when a nonplussed Thulsa Doom muses that he once pursued steel before learning of the strength of flesh. This strength comes to be embodied by the largely silent and stoic Conan, who pushes the wheel seemingly non-stop for years, outlasting his peers and growing to maturity as a man so massive and musclebound that he can push the wheel alone without exerting himself. Conan’s seemingly forgotten in that time and is therefore forcibly taken from the wheel and pushed into vicious pit fights where he quickly gains acclaim as a natural gladiator and efficient killer.

From orphan to gladiator to warrior, Conan’s life of hardship prepares him for battle.

Turning a profit for his captors, Conan is afforded  luxuries like language and writing, beautiful women to “breed” with, and training from master swordsmen. Eventually, Conan earns his freedom and is let loose into the wilderness, with no home and little understanding of anything other than violence. Chased by wild dogs, he stumbles into the tomb of a long-dead warrior and acquires a sword, garbing himself in wolf skin and embarking on a quest to track down those responsible for the death of his people. All he knows is Thulsa Doom’s symbol (“two snakes coming together… facing each other… but they’re one!”) but, luckily for him, an extremely horny and animalistic witch (Cassandra Gaviola) points him in the right direction… “for a price!” Conan’s mission is one of vengeance; he wants the man who killed his parents and stole his father’s sword, and braves any hardship without fear to accomplish this goal. A towering man-mountain, Conan is effectively superhuman at times, easily sprinting long distances while carrying his gear and besting multiple enemies not just with his incredible strength, but his skill with a blade. Conan is described as a barbarian but isn’t just some mindless brute; he’s more of a nomad, with allegiance to none other than himself. He’s a man of great honour and loyalty, however, and is surprisingly affectionate towards women (unless he’s drunk, and then they’re “all sluts!”) Conan becomes more loquacious and carefree after meeting Subotai (Lopez), a thief and archer he quickly befriends despite them worshipping different Gods, and who teaches him to be a thief. Subotai’s far less serious than his cohort, unless it comes to jewels and gold, though he aids Conan in investigating the Thulsa Doom cult. This leads them to cross paths with fearless fellow thief Valeria (Bergman) and King Osric (Max Von Sydow), a burned-out monarch who’s impressed by their gall at defying the much-feared death cult. Their raid gives Conan a rare chance to come out of his shell as he tosses his jewels around and indulges in alcohol and passionate sex with Valeria, only for his revelry to comically take a toll on him. When brought before King Osric, Conan shows visible shame for his actions but gladly accepts the king’s plea to rescue his wayward daughter, Princess Yasmina (Valérie Quennessen), from Thulsa Doom.

Conan’s colourful allies not only aid him in a fight but also help to humanise the stoic barbarian.

Subotai and Valeria are not so keen to get involved however, so the stoic Conan infiltrates Thusla Doom’s temple alone. Along the way, he bumps into Akio, an eccentric and aged wizard who keeps a tentative commune with the Gods and offers Conan some advice. When he’s discovered, beaten, and brought to Thulsa Doom a blood mess, Conan’s angered to learn that his lifelong vendetta is of little consequence to Thulsa Doom, who callously dismisses and lectures the barbarian on the superiority of flesh over steel. Thulsa Doom orders Conan to be crucified and, by the time Subotai tracks him down, the barbarian is near death. Desperate to save her man, Valeria first begs and then threatens Akio to pull any mystical strings he can, gladly prepared to pay the “price” the Gods demand for sending wrathful spirits to heal Conan. Fully restored, Conan continues his quest, seemingly set on murdering Thulsa Doom but ultimately heeding Subotai’s reasoning and simply rescuing Princess Yasmina from the Temple of Set. However, Thulsa Doom’s retaliation is swift and brutal as he fires a snake like an arrow and mortally wounds Valeria. Though Conan’s creed means he’s incapable of showing true emotion regarding his lover’s death (hence why Subotai “[cries] for him”), he visibly mourns her, ensures she gets a proper send-off, and is clearly enraged by her death. His subsequent retaliation sees him lure Rexor, Thorgrim, and Thulsa Doom’s disposable soldiers into a confrontation. In this instance, Conan fights with his head rather than pure, brute strength and he and his remaining allies triumph through wiles, determination, specially laid traps…and a touch of divine intervention as Valeria briefly returns as a Valkyrie to make good on her promise to fight by her lover’s side in the event of her death.

The strange and enigmatic Thulsa Doom is bolstered by mindless slaves and soldiers.

Although much of Conan the Barbarian is very grounded (people talk of Gods but they’re largely absent, save of Valeria’s brief return), there are supernatural elements here, specifically regarding Thulsa Doom. Said to be thousands of years old, Thulsa Doom is an enigmatic and mysterious individual who boasts hypnotic powers that work in tandem with his silver tongue to brainwash countless numbers into become his slaves, followers, and soldiers. Initially, Thulsa Doom seems merely a raider, slaughtering people, stealing their steel, and using their children as slaves. Thulsa Doom seems nonplussed by his actions and even somewhat bored during the sacking of Conan’s village, leaving the heavy lifting to Rexor and Thorgrim, and basically never needs to take up a blade since his hypnotic eyes leave all powerless before his gaze. While Conan grows and embarks on his quest, Thulsa Doom builds a feared and oppressive cult worshipping the snake-God Set, and spends his days overseeing orgies and twisting people to his whims. While we never learn the source of his power or much about him, Thulsa Doom reveals that he once coveted the “Riddle of Steel”, as the Cimmerians did, and ultimately found that flesh had more power over steel. Thulsa Doom’s subsequent exploration of the flesh sees him brainwash even princesses into concubines so blindly loyal that they call him “father” and hang on his every word, die in his name (or at his command), and are seemingly willing to commit mass suicide to embrace the ”emptiness” he often touts. Though Thulsa Doom carries blades, he rarely uses them. Instead, he relies on his mysterious command over snakes, firing them as arrows and even transforming  into one. Thorgrim echoes his master’s love of snakes, raising a giant serpent to guard Thulsa Doom’s greatest treasures and flying into a rage after Conan hacks the creature to pieces. Indeed, both Rexor and Thorgrim take after Conan with a vengeance after being repeatedly humiliated by him. Armed with a giant Warhammer and Conan’s father’s sword, respectively, the two largely silent henchmen are formidable warriors and carry their master’s standard into battle, though are ultimately deemed as worthless to Thulsa Doom as any of his underlings.

The Nitty-Gritty:
I’ve never read any of the Conan books or even the comics. My knowledge of the character is exclusively limited to the films, though I have heard that Conan the Barbarian has more in common with Robert E. Howard’s other pulp creation, Kull the Conqueror. However, I am a big Arnold Schwarzenegger fan and Conan was one of the first (if not the first) films of his I saw as a kid. However, I’ve not always been its biggest fan. The film’s a bit too long and drags quite a lot. It doesn’t help that there isn’t much dialogue, especially from Conan, which may be off-putting for some. It certainly gives the film a moody, introspective atmosphere, one bolstered by the late, great Basil Poledouris’ thumping orchestra. I also appreciate that much of the nuance is conveyed through body language, but it does make Conan a less attractive watch than some of Schwarzenegger’s other films. Still, he looks phenomenal here, swelling with muscles and yet swinging his sword with a deftness and skill that’s almost unmatched. Though Conan is a stoic and silent character, he showcases a fair bit of personality at times, especially with Subotai or when seducing women. Conan has a very charismatic presence that instantly catches the eye, and is absolutely merciless in a fight, cutting down foes with a near-superhuman strength and coming out of every encounter unscathed. Yet, he remains vulnerable, as seen when he’s beaten and tortured basically to death by Thulsa Doom’s minions. This is the only time we see Conan as a mere man, bloody and raging at his tormentor, and powerless to fight back. Even when crucified on the tree of wool, Conan fights against a vulture picking at his wounds and, upon being healed by the dark spirits, has only a moment of quiet, internal reflection before returning to his quest for revenge.

The brutal, bloody violence helps break up the slow pacing, and even includes a monstrous snake!

And what a quest it is! Conan the Barbarian is a hell of a bloody time, with blood splattering from neck and gut wounds in nearly every fight and most conflicts seeing limbs and heads being hacked off. Our three anti-heroes show absolutely no mercy to their opponents, whether they’re regular guards or Thulsa Doom’s soldiers, and happily stab them in the neck, cut open their bellies, and bash their heads against stone walls. Conan is depicted as a fierce and formidable fighter when without a weapon, enduring horrific beatings in pit fights and overpowering even heavily armed foes with his superior strength. He knows when to take a stealthier approach and is smart enough to use his environment as a weapon, muscling over a giant cauldron of stew to fend off Thulsa Doom’s soldiers and beating one of his followers to steal his robes. Conan faces a daunting opponent when attacked by Thorgrim’s snake, but it’s one he handily overcomes (with some assistance from Subotai) through sheer tenacity. This is a man who’s spent his entire life fighting and is “survival of the fittest” in physical form, giving Conan incredible endurance both when running and when faced with torture. Yet, even Conan is mortal and can’t take on Thulsa Doom’s entire army. Luckily, Subotai is handy in a fight, attacking from afar with arrows and using stealth and cunning to shop down foes. Valeria is similar as, like Subotai, she can’t rely on brute strength to win the day. Instead, she sticks to the shadows, scales walls using ropes, and utilises disguises to gain an edge. As a more carefree and impulsive spirit, she’s more likely to taunt her opponents to throw them off balance and to throw herself off a building while laughing. Yet, she and Subotai also recognise a good deal and urge Conan to simply take King Osric’s riches and disappear, but Conan refuses, both because of his vendetta and to rescue the princess. While they lose a formidable adversary and close friend when Valeria is killed, Conan, Subotai, and Akiro outfit the area with booby-traps and weapons to whittle down Thulsa Doom’s forces. This is by far the film’s biggest action set piece and sees Conan settle the score with Rexor and Thorgrim, impaling Thorgrim on a massive wooden spike and going toe-to-toe with Rexor. This fight sees Conan briefly overwhelmed but, after Valeria’s spirit buys him some time, he redoubles his attack, shattering his father’s sword and cutting down his foe to avenge his people and being sure to offer praise to Crom after.

A touch of divine intervention sees Conan get his revenge and prepare for greater adventures…

Thulsa Doom’ s campaign sees him spread across the lands like a plague, pillaging and converting over the years until he’s amassed incredible wealth and power. His symbol is feared by many and his actions abhorred, but none, not even King Osric, can stand against him. Conan and his allies, however, have no fear of the cult and strike critical blows against Thulsa Doom by infiltrating his temples, stealing his treasure, killing his giant snake, and kidnapping Princess Yasmina from under his nose. While Thulsa Doom retaliates with a vengeance, his greatest flaw is his arrogance. Seeing himself as an all-powerful messenger for his God, Set, Thulsa Doom is visibly disturbed when Conan and his friends cut down his stories with their traps and weapons. Before fleeing like a coward, Thulsa Doom attempts to execute Yasmina, thereby convincing the princess to lead Conan into the cult leader’s main base after seeing her beloved “father” turn against her so callously. Conan easily slips into the temple via a back entrance as Thulsa Doom prepares his followers to set themselves on fire in hopes of being granted eternal life upon their death. Thanks to his commanding voice and hypnotic powers, they stand as poised to follow his command as the poor girl he convinced to leap to her death earlier. Luckily, Conan confronts him but, rather than being enraged or engaging the barbarian in a sword fight, Thulsa Doom greets his foe as a wayward son. Indeed, Thulsa Doom confidently quells Conan’s rage by claiming that the barbarian would have no purpose if he were to strike down his “father” and, for a moment, Conan seems to be as mesmerised as his mother was in the opening. However, Conan quickly comes to his senses and strikes with the shattered remains of his father’s blade, hacking Thulsa Doom’s head off and tossing it to his stunned followers. Freed from the villain’s spell, the cultists abandon their religion and, after some quiet brooding, Conan sets the temple ablaze and leaves to return Princess Yasmina to her father…and to go on to further adventures!

The Summary:
As I alluded to earlier, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Conan the Barbarian. It’s rare that I make the effort to put it on and, when I do, it’s the kind of movie that demands my attention since you have to endure a lot of long, intense moments without much dialogue or even much happening. Then, it suddenly spikes to eleven and you’ve got blood splattering the camera, brutal sword combat, a giant snake and what-not! Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a commanding performance as the titular Conan, drawing the eye with his impressive, God-like physique and portraying Conan as a fairly nuanced character. He’s a man of few words, unless he’s drunk or totally relaxed and having fun, and a man of unbreakable conviction. He’s determined to avenge his people, no matter the odds, and fights past every obstacle. Even the death of his lover doesn’t break him, so strong is his upbringing and stoic fortitude, and Conan even denounces his cantankerous God when faced with seemingly impossible odds, so powerful is his defiance. Conan’s surrounded by some fun supporting characters: I really enjoyed Mako’s unhinged, scenery-chewing performance as Akio and Subotai made for a likeable and light-hearted counterpart to Conan’s stone-faced resolve. Valeria was also great, being as fierce and formidable as her male peers but also showcasing a devil-may-care attitude and a devotion so strong it allowed her to return from the beyond. Of course, it’s James Earl Jones who steals the show here, delivering a magnetic performance as the mesmerising and callous Thulsa Doom. He demands your attention every time he appears and delivers every line with the right level of silky-smooth, bombastic glee that it’s not hard to see why so many tripped over themselves to follow his every command. The film’s bolstered by an infectious score and some brutal, bloody action sequence, impressive animatronics, sweeping locations, and painstakingly crafted costuming, and there’s even some sex and boobs to keep the slower, more introspective pace moving. It’s not a typical action flick, that’s for sure, and Schwarzenegger is somewhat limited in the role, but he makes up for it with his larger-than-life presence and endlessly quotable lines. While Conan the Barbarian isn’t really a favourite of mine and avid fans of the character may not enjoy how much was changed during the adaptation process, there’s a decent amount to like here if you can give the film your full attention.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Do you enjoy Conan the Barbarian? If you’re a fan of the books, what did you think of this adaptation and where would you rank it against Arnold’s other films? What did you think of Conan’s portrayal as a stoic and determined warrior? Were you shocked when Valeria died and happy to see her brief return? What did you think of Thulsa Doom, his sway, and this strange ability to turn into a giant snake? Can you answer the Riddle of Steel? How are you celebrating Schwarzenegger’s birthday today and what is your favourite Schwarzenegger film? Whatever you think, go ahead and leave your thoughts below, support the site on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Schwarzenegger content on the site.

Movie Night: Superman

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Released: 11 July 2025
Director: James Gunn
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $225 million
Stars: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, and Gabriela de Faría

The Plot:
When xenophobic madman Lex Luthor (Hoult) orchestrates a smear campaign against and conspires to murder Clark Kent/Superman (Corenswet), the Man of Steel must prove to the world that he is its protector.

The Background:
When Superman was brought to the big-screen with Superman (Donner, 1978), it resulted in a critical and commercial (if chaotic) success. Although this was echoed with Superman II (Lester, 1980), things quickly took a nose dive, despite Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance. After a nearly twenty year hiatus from cinema screens, Bryan Singer tried to to recapture the magic of Richard Donner’s original film with Superman Returns (Singer, 2006), a critical failure that derailed sequel plans and led to Zack Snyder reinventing the character with Man of Steel (Snyder, 2013). Although a box office hit, Man of Steel divided critics and, while Henry Cavill’s portrayal was widely praised, the subsequent DC Extended Universe (DCEU) struggled to find its footing and, despite long-running plans for a Man of Steel sequel and Cavill (eventually) reprising his role, Warner Bros. opted for a complete reboot of the DCEU with James Gunn at the helm. Initially titled Superman: Legacy, the film was the first live-action chapter in Gunn’s DC Universe (DCU) and was inspired by many of Superman’s most beloved stories. This was reflected in the new Super-Suit; designed by Judianna Makovsky, it combined elements from many different comic book sources. With Cavill out, David Corenswet won the role specifically because he embodied Gunn’s vision of a younger, more optimistic interpretation of the character and it was Corenswet who insisted the costume had the iconic red trunks. After missing out on previous DC roles, Nicholas Hoult was cast as Lex Luthor, shaving his head and studying the work of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely for the role. Gunn chose to skip the origin story and focus on a Superman in a world where costumed heroes are well established and was compelled to include Krypto the Superdog after connecting with his own adopted pup. Despite childish backlash from misguided die-hard Snyder fans, Superman was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews that praised a return to form for the inspirational hero, the action-packed fun, and the heartfelt narrative. Though some criticised the overreliance on CGI and cluttered runtime, Superman made over $560 million at the box office and paved the way for future DCU projects,

The Review:
In a fantastic change of pace for DC’s live-action efforts, Superman takes place in a world where superhuman individuals (or “metahumans”) are not only commonplace but accepted. In James Gunn’s DCU, metahumans have been public knowledge for about 300 years and Superman has been active for at least three by the time the movie starts, dropping us in a world where Guy Gardner/Green Lantern (Fillion), Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Michael Holt/Mister Terrific (Gathegi), the corporate sponsored “Justice Gang”, respond to alien, interdimensional, and metahuman threats alongside the world’s most powerful metahuman, Superman. In another change of pace, Superman distills the origin to a simple line of text and dialogue, giving us a Clark who’s already established as a reporter at the Daily Planet (one known for his exclusive interviews with Superman) and already in a relationship with feisty reporter Lois Lane. This also means that the world is well accustomed to Superman and other metahumans, with the Man of Steel celebrated as a symbol of hope and benevolent protector, though Superman is undergoing some scrutiny at the start of the film (and throughout) for taking it upon himself to intervene in a conflict between warring nations Boravia and Jarhanpur. While Boravian president Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Burić) launches a public tirade against Superman, the United States government refuses to act against the Man of Steel without proof of malicious intent, with General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) being especially supportive of Superman, though even normal citizens question Superman’s unilateral actions when the “Hammer of Boravia” attacks. When grilled by Lois, Clark vehemently defends himself, claiming he did what was right and intervened to save lives. Thus, Superman sees the good in everyone and who has a very black and white view of the world; he knows what’s right and doesn’t hesitate to use his powers to help those in need.

Superman finds his relationships tested by his determination to put his powers to good use.

This desire stems from a damaged message from his long-dead Kryptonian parents, Jor-El (Bradley Cooper) and Lara Lor-Van (Angela Sarafyan) in which they express their love and hopes for him to serve humanity as a protector. Superman takes great comfort in these words, finding solace in the knowledge that he has a higher purpose even if his people are long dead. Additionally, Clark was raised with the standard virtues of right and wrong associated with the character thanks to his adopted parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell), who nurtured his kindly nature and contributed greatly to his characterisation as a loveable goof. Despite his amazing powers, Superman struggles as much as any normal man, constantly swooping in to save those in danger and checking to make sure those around him are okay and always pushing to end conflicts with as little violence and death as possible. He’s therefore irritated when the Justice Gang mortally wound a rampaging kaiju and aghast at the idea that he should just stand back and let people die when he could intervene. While Clark and Lois have a very passionate relationship behind closed doors and keep up the pretence of being bickering co-workers, their views on this matter drive a wedge between them early on. While Clark wears his emotions on his sleeve and expects Lois to cut him some slack, Lois is more hesitant about long-term relationships and isn’t afraid to ask the big questions, even of Superman. Though she considers breaking up with him because of her doubts, Lois not only stands by Superman, she comforts him when Lex Luthor launches a smear campaign against him, and teams with Mr. Terrific to rescue him after he willingly surrenders to the authorities. This comes after Luthor raids his Fortress of Solitude and broadcasts the entirety of his parents’ message, which surprisingly reveals that Kal-El was sent to rule a backwoods people, severely shaking Superman’s outlook on himself and his mission to safeguard his adopted world.

While Lois has a lot to do, even teaming with Mr. Terrific, the rambunctious Krypto steals the show!

Superman may well give Lois more to do than any previous Superman-centric movie as she gives the Justice gang (particularly the conceited Guy Gardner) a grilling for abandoning their friend, braves Luthor’s unstable “pocket dimension” to locate her lover, and even pilots Mr. Terrific’s T-Craft to ferry him around when he’s injured. While Lois doesn’t hold back when questioning Superman, her deep-rooted desire for the truth sees her digging deeper into Luthor’s malicious vendetta against Superman. She’s aided by peppy photographer Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo), who uses his unexpected way with the ladies to convince Luthor’s current squeeze, Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio), to give them the clues to both locate Superman and reveal that Luthor financed Ghurkos in return for half of Boravia. Lois is depicted as more than Superman’s equal, braving any danger for a scoop and meticulously presenting her evidence to crabby Daily Planet editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce), who supports her efforts to expose Luthor as a liar and a traitor. While his people are long gone, Superman’s aided by a handful of robotic helpers at his crystalline Fortress of Solitude and begrudgingly cares for the energetic and disobedient Krypto, the Kryptonian dog of his unruly cousin, Kara Zor-El/Supergirl (Milly Alcock). While this isn’t Krypto’s first venture outside of the comic books, he steals the show here with his unruly and feisty behaviour, causing chaos due to his super speed and strength much to Superman’s exasperation as he’s struggled to train the pup. An all-CGI creation (though you’d never know it), Krypto’s an adorable superpup who pounds around in a cape, goes for the face when threatened, and nips at Superman’s heels at every opportunity. Though he reluctantly tolerates the dog, Superman is enraged when Luthor pupnaps Krypto, further damaging his reputation by storming into Lex’s office, and endures horrendous torture at the hands of the reluctant Rex Mason/Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) when he surrenders to rescue the dog.

While the Justice Gang’s methods clash with Superman’s, it’s nice to see established metahumans.

Although the Justice Gang are clearly the tools of corporate mogul Maxwell “Max” Lord (Sean Gunn), garbed in uncomfortable matching outfits and showing up to avert any crisis and get some much-needed publicity, they are extremely competent superheroes in their own right. While we don’t get any meaningful backstory on any of them, especially the alluring and deliciously battle hungry Hawkgirl, beyond some snarky comments from Guy about how he was chosen to be a Green Lantern, the team is well established and close enough to Superman to know his true identity. Although Mr. Terrific takes centre stage, I enjoyed the abrasive and egotistical Guy Gardner the most and was very pleased to finally see a Green Lantern on the big screen again. Guy is rude, belligerent, and full of himself, believing himself the leader of the Justice Gang and stepping up to anyone who questions his motives, authority, or even the group’s name. Guy is the most vocal of the group in turning on Superman, immediately condemning him as an alien threat, while Hawkgirl is more dismissive and Mr. Terrific is more concerned with the facts. Shown to be a somewhat stoic but unrivalled genius, Mr. Terrific utilises various tech, most notably his T-Spheres, to analyse a threat and determine the best, most efficient course of action, lethal or otherwise. While Superman bemoans their recklessness, the Justice Gang disregard his complaints as they don’t hold themselves accountable for property damage or loss of life, painting them as very rough around the edges. Mr. Terrific is both impressed and horrified to learn the Luthor has harnessed a black hole to create dimensional portals all over the world and kit out a hazardous pocket dimension as his own prison, where the egomaniac throws any dissenters and forces monkeys to slander Superman online. Metamorpho is kept under heel there to save his baby son and forced to transmute his body into Kryptonite to torture Superman. While he initially demands that Superman not try to talk or reason with him, Metamorpho has a change of heart after witnessing how cruel Luthor is and restores Superman to full health, assisting him in fending off Luthor’s goons and even joining the Justice Gang to curb the invasion of Jarhanpur.

Vindictive Luthor schemes to discredit and destroy Superman with his self-made enforcers.

After years of enduring subpar or wildly eccentric cinematic interpretations of Lex Luthor, Superman finally gives us easily the greatest and most despicable version of the balding madman ever seen on the big screen. Nicholas Hoult excels in the role, effortlessly commanding every scene and bringing a cold, clinical focus to Lex that’s matched only by his ruthlessness and descent into abject tyranny. Already resentful of metahumans, Lex is driven to a self-confessed envious rage by Superman, whom he sees as an alien interloper who is stunting human growth and stealing the spotlight from hard-working, natural geniuses like himself. Committed to first discrediting Superman and then destroying him, Luthor concocts a convoluted scheme to turn the public against the Man of Steel to gain authority to apprehend and destroy him, all while funding the Boravia/Jarhanpur conflict to profit from the war. Constantly in command of every situation, Luthor easily infiltrates the Fortress of Solitude and steals Superman’s personal data, employing his homegrown metahumans – the cybernetic Angela Spica/Engineer (de Faría) and the mysterious Ultraman – to distract Superman while directing a team of all-too-willing underlings to commit horrendous atrocities. Sacrificing her humanity for Luthor’s dream, able to turn her body into any weapon she can imagine, the Engineer attacks with nanotech, easily hacking the Fortress of Solitude and almost suffocating him. Equally, Superman meets a physical match in the ruthless Ultraman, who mirrors his abilities and is directly controlled by Luthor, who’s meticulously studied Superman to counteract and predict his every move. Beneath his silky-smooth facade, however, Luthor is a raving lunatic who condemns anyone who questions him to his pocket dimension, happily tortures and executes those who get in his way or is even remotely tied to Superman, and who relishes the chance to prove his intellectual superiority over the Man of Steel.

The Nitty-Gritty:
It’s clear that James Gunn is influenced by many different sources for this film. Obviously, the classic Richard Donner films are the most prominent, with composers John Murphy and David Fleming sampling the iconic John Williams theme and giving it a glam-rock edge and the opening and closing titles mirroring Donner’s films. The design of the Fortress of Solitude is also ripped directly from Donner, though Gunn populates it with distinctly “Silver Age” Kryptonian automatons who tend to Superman’s needs. The entire film pops with colour and exciting action, just like a comic book, and Superman is purposely given a corny edge to make him a loveable throwback to a simpler time. Superman also takes place in a world where metahumans, Gods, and monsters have become an accepted part of everyday life. Therefore, while civilians still flee for their lives when the Hammer of Boravia and a fire-breathing kaiju attack, it’s treated as another day in Metropolis, with even Superman and Lois barely acknowledging an interdimensional imp threatening the city during their reconciliation. Superman goes one step further with this, introducing pocket dimensions, establishing the Hall of Justice as the Justice Gang’s headquarters, and hinting at a larger universe beyond our world through a Green Lantern and certain dialogue. Everything feels very “lived in”, like we’ve jumped into the third film in a franchise, without being overwhelming or difficult to follow as the focus is on the characters, their interactions and relationships, and their different dynamics. The world is in awe of Superman but turns on him immediately once Luthor broadcasts his message, with even his allies questioning his true purpose, and this twist is used to push Clark away from being beholden to his lost and unknown people and back towards his true heritage: namely, his Earth parents and their lessons.

Even when Luthor turns people against him, Superman strives to do the right thing.

Although I wasn’t sold on the costume at first, seeing it as a mishmash of different elements from various Super Suits over the years, it looks fantastic on screen. It’s so gratifying to see the trunks and the cape symbol make a return and Corenswet fills the suit out beautifully, appearing as visually iconic as Christopher Reeve did all those years ago. Superman isn’t some invincible demigod here, either. Like in the John Byrne stories I grew up with, Superman is extremely powerful but still physical vulnerable, suffering a brutal defeat by the Hammer of Boravia and enduring incredible agony to return to full strength using a concentrated dose of solar radiation. Superman visibly struggles with his bigger, more impressive feats, increasing the stakes as it’s not always certain that he’ll succeed. Superman also makes a point to rescue civilians wherever possible, something the Justice Gang see as secondary, and even tries reasoning with the Engineer and Ultraman as he always sees the good in people. Superman’s greatest weakness here, however, isn’t just the Kryptonite Metamorpho synthesises to poison him but his own insecurities. Superman believed he was embarking on a sacred mission and is overwhelmed by doubt upon hearing his parents’ full message, but continues to fight anyway, determined to prove that he’s there to help regardless of what people say. The Kents, especially Jonathan, greatly contribute to this, encouraging him to forge his own path based on what he knows is right. To that end, Superman surrenders and allows himself to be imprisoned and tortured, all with the goal of rescuing Krypto and ending Luthor’s schemes, even if it causes him great pain, trusting that his actions will prove that he’s not a threat. Luckily for him, Lois helps turn public opinion back in his favour as Eve’s clandestine selfies reveals Luthor’s plot, though the people of Jarhanpur still believe in Superman since he helped liberate their people from tyranny.

Superman rallies to redefine his mission, battle his crazed clone, and disrupt Luthor’s mad scheme.

Thanks to Lois, Mr. Terrific activates one of Luthor’s interdimensional portals and, after convincing Metamorpho to aid him, Superman escapes from the pocket dimension, recuperating at the Kent farm, reconciling with Lois, and determined to stop Luthor. In his mad ambition to publicly discredit and destroy Superman, Luthor overloads one of his portals and causes a rip in space and time to tear through Metropolis, literally splitting the city in two. Though a mandatory evacuation spares many lives, the entire planet is threatened by this tear, which can only be stopped using Luthor’s access codes. After narrowly escaping being suffocated by the Engineer’s nanites, Superman is horrified to learn that Ultraman is a mindless, brutal clone of his grown by Luthor with the sole purpose of destroying and replacing him. This revelation comes quite late in the film and is easily telegraphed as we never see Ultraman’s face and he’s there when Luthor access the Fortress of Solitude, and I don’t feel it landed all that well. It might’ve been better if Ultraman had been revealed to be a degenerating clone like Bizarro, but I feel the image of Superman battling his mirror image wasn’t as strong as the visual variety offered by the Engineer. It’s moot either way as Ultraman gets tossed into a black hole, leaving Superman free to confront Luthor and engage in a slanging match, one ended when Lois’s story breaks and Krypto manhandles Luthor. His reputation in tatters and his plans undone by Mr. Terrific’s genius, Luthor ends the film disgraced and incarcerated and Metropolis is sewn back together when the rip is shut down. Having declared their love for each other, Superman and Lois rekindle their relationship, the Justice Gang gets a new member in Metamorpho, and the world’s faith in Superman is seemingly restored. Although Superman despairs when his rowdy cousin returns from a bender out in space, he now finds comfort in viewing his memories of his childhood with his Earth parents.

The Summary:
I’ll be the first to admit that I was annoyed that we got another Superman/DC reboot after years of false starts and troubled efforts to get a live-action DC universe off the ground. I was hoping for a course correction with Henry Cavill and slightly sceptical of the new suit, but the colourful atmosphere and light-hearted action of the trailer gave me hope…and James Gunn certainly follows through on that promise. Superman is easily the best big screen adaptation of the Man of Steel perhaps ever, taking inspiration from many different interpretations and comic books and stitching together possibly the most accurate live-action distillation of the character and his chief nemesis. David Corenswet was fantastic in the title role, thankfully spending more time in the suit and just being a good man doing good things, while also not being infallible or so invulnerable that he’s not relatable. Nicholas Hoult was equally captivating as, in my opinion, the best Lex Luthor we’ve ever seen. He brought a malicious spite and smug energy to the role that blew his cinematic predecessors away, appearing as a true threat with an immense hatred for Superman. While I admit some of the supporting characters weren’t as developed as they could be, I’m intimately familiar with all of them so I’ll accept that in favour of a rich, fully realised world where superheroes are the norm. It is a bit odd that Supergirl never told Superman what Kryptonians were really like and somewhat reduces the emotional impact of Superman’s robots being trashed when they’re fully repaired by the end, but the engaging action and thought-provoking character interactions made up for it. I liked that Superman was questioned but not to the point where he was hated and feared, and the painfully relevant metacommentary on the state of politics and social media, and how people rallied behind Superman regardless of his bad press as they could see he was a good person. This was the Superman we should’ve gotten a decade ago, an inspirational hero who can spearhead a colourful and comic accurate live-action universe that finally does justice to these beloved characters while still offering a few fun twists along the way.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Superman? What did you think to David Corenswet’s performance and his suit? Did you enjoy seeing him portrayed as fallible and vulnerable? Were you glad to see metahumans are the accepted norm in his new world? What did you think to Lex Luthor and would you agree this is the best cinematic portrayal of the villain? Were you a fan of Krypto and did you guess Ultraman’s true identity ahead of time? Feel free to share your thoughts on this new version of Superman, even if you’re a hardcore Snyder fan, in the comments, check out my other Superman content, and donate to my Ko-Fi to support more reviews like this.

Movie Night: Jurassic World Rebirth

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Released: 2 July 2025
Director: Gareth Edwards
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Budget: $180 million
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Rupert Friend

The Plot:
Five years after Jurassic World: Dominion (Trevorrow, 2021), with dinosaurs limited to remote, tropical locales, Zora Bennett (Johansson) leads a team to an abandoned InGen research facility to locate potentially life-saving dinosaur DNA, only to encounter horrific dinosaur mutates!

The Background:
Michael Crichton’s 1990 cautionary tale about the dangers of genetic engineering was well received and caught the eye of famed director Steven Spielberg, whose 1993 adaptation not only revolutionised computer-generated effects but also became one of the most influential movies of its era. While its sequels weren’t as well received, the ridiculously successful Jurassic World (Trevorrow, 2015) revived the franchise and kick-started a new trilogy. However, time is a circle as reviews were notably mixed for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (ibid, 2018) and Dominion, despite both making over $1 billion at the box office. It was Spielberg who pitched the idea of another Jurassic World film, leading writer David Koepp to mine new material from Crichton’s books in an effort to recapture the tone of the first movie with a focus on scientific accuracy and humans exploring a dinosaur environment. Gareth Edwards, no stranger to giant monster movies, and Scarlett Johansson jumped at the chance to join the franchise and Edwards insisted on filming on location as often as possible. As ever, the dinosaurs were created through a mixture of animatronics and CGI, courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic, with the team redesigning a more scientifically accurate Spinosaurus and taking inspiration from sci-fi and horror classics to present the tragically monstrous Distortus rex. Garnering largely mixed reviews and a box office of over $322 million, Jurassic World Rebirth was generally regarded as a retread of the previous films, offering some new elements and mindless entertainment, but was mostly seen as a disappointing and predictable rehash that more resembled a generic monster movie than the heights of the franchise’s peak.

The Review:
Honestly, Jurassic World Rebirth gets off on the wrong foot almost immediately from my perspective. Firstly, I feel we could’ve waited a good ten years for a new entry. Second, the title irks me no end. Why not just Jurassic Rebirth or Jurassic Island, just something to differentiate it like the revival trilogy separated itself from the original trilogy, especially as Jurassic World Rebirth takes a more back-to-basics approach. Third, the film takes place seventeen years after Jurassic World, only to find that the revived dinosaurs cannot survive in the modern-day climate. It’s too polluted, for one thing, and the world has changed too much to facilitate their long-term survival, so any surviving creatures have emigrated to the equator. No humans are allowed to travel to these areas and the world has lost interest in dinosaurs, to the point where palaeontologist Doctor Henry Loomis (Bailey) is in despair as museums are closing and all the dinosaur exhibits are being packed up. We got glimpses of this in Jurassic World (though the park’s packed attendance said otherwise) but that would never, ever happen. People go to zoos and museums all the time so they would flock to see real, live dinosaurs in urban areas. Also, to make matters worse, these films never delivered on the potential of seeing dinosaurs in the real world. The revival trilogy glossed over it and the creatures have been returned to near extinction, and Jurassic World Rebirth essentially wipes the slate clean and brings the franchise back to where it was around the second and third movies…only this time, Brachiosauruses are causing traffic jams and there’s a sense of apathy towards the creatures. Indeed, shady Martin Krebs (Friend) of pharmaceutical company ParkerGenix is only interested in dinosaurs since he (and the Board) believes that their largest specimens hold the key to curing or preventing heart diseases.

Zora and her motley crew brave dinosaur danger to obtain samples for medicinal purposes.

Determined to beat his competitors to this lucrative discovery, Krebs enlists mysterious mercenary Zora Bennett to lead an expedition to Saint-Hubert to collect blood samples from the three biggest dinosaurs ever to live. Though these creatures were conveniently resurrected by InGen, they currently inhabit an island where the dubious corporation dabbled in monstrous gene splicing and hybrids, leaving behind anything deemed too ugly or ferocious and eventually being slaughtered, the facility left in shambles, when the ghastly Distortus rex broke lose. Though initially sceptical, largely because she’s still processing the loss of her mother and a friend, Zora’s eventually convinced to join the highly illegal expedition by the promise of cold, hard cash. She plays Krebs like a fiddle, easily manipulating him into doubling his offer to get her long-time friends Duncan Kincaid (Ali) and Bobby Atwater (Ed Skrein) on the mission. While Duncan captains the ship and Zora oversees the weaponry, Kreb preps the special darts they use to extract their samples, which must be fired within ten feet of a live target. Strangely, none of them find this prospect scary, despite Zora later claiming they were underequipped against a dinosaur assault, and Loomis even being elated to see the prehistoric beasts up close. While Duncan’s other crew are largely expendable and may as well have targets on their backs, he exhibits some personality in the vaguely defined loss of his child and his believable relationship with Zora. Zora, however, is all over the place, being teary eyed one minute, cracking jokes the next, then being all business. It’s like her personality changes scene by scene, with her initially scoffing at Loomis’s suggestion that they make the dino medicine free for everyone and then refusing to leave anyone behind, making for a very unpredictable (if capable) character. At least Krebs is predictably untrustworthy, clearly having ulterior motives for collecting the dinosaur samples and even endangering Teresa Delgado (Luna Blaise) to keep her from calling for aid.

Beyond a semi-decent (if ridiculous) T.rex scene, this family added nothing to the film.

Yes, as if Zora’s rag-tag crew of barely defined misfits wasn’t enough, Jurassic World Rebirth clogs its runtime by introducing a civilian family stupidly taking a leisurely jaunt nearby. Led by patriarch Reuben (Garcia-Rulfo) and comprised on his youngster daughter, Isabella (Audrina Miranda), Teresa, and her lazy-ass stoner boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (David Iacono), the family get upended by a pack of Spinosauruses that aid the colossal Mosasaurus. Incredibly, the family stay adrift long enough for Zora’s group to rescue them but get separated from the others when the dinosaurs attack Duncan’s ship. Thanks to being present for much of their conversations, Reuben knows enough to lead his family through the perilous jungle and towards the abandoned InGen facility, acting as a thematic callback to Doctor Alan Grant’s (Sam Neill) own trek through Isla Sorna in Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, the family seem like an afterthought, a relic of a separate script for this largely redundant movie, as they contribute very little and barely have character arcs between them. It seems like the film’s building towards Xavier stepping up and earning Reuben’s respect, but every time he does (rescuing Teresa when she goes overboard, watching for predators while they rest), he immediately reverts to type and says the dumbest shit. Oddly, Xavier and Theresa barely say anything to each other, making me think he may as well have been Reuben’s unruly son since we don’t even get any romance between him and Theresa. Isabella is cute and somewhat raises the stakes and gives Reuben the chance to show what a devoted dad he is, but I never believed she was in real danger, even when the group are accosted by a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex. Isabella kind of gets a mini arc as she starts off hating dinosaurs and yet, despite being so traumatised by the events that she falls semi-mute and gorges on liquorice, she bonds with and adopts a cute baby Aquilops. Duncan is also quite taken by her and initially disgusted that Reuben would knowingly put his kids in such danger, eventually pledging to defend the youngster however he can, but even this is a half-baked idea as the two groups are separated for much of the runtime.

Since regular dinosaurs aren’t enough, we’re bombarded by these ghastly genetic freaks.

While it makes sense that InGen would have a separate island to conduct their more bizarre experiments, it does feel like overkill for there to be a third island. Jurassic World Rebirth could’ve easily taken place on the other side of Isla Nubar, where the other dinosaurs were developed before being shipped off, and very little would be different. InGen were apparently so rich that they could afford three islands, to build a whole bunch of high-tech facilities and stock them with as much product placement as you could want, and to afford the minimum $75 million a head for each dinosaur. When Loomis learns that InGen just let their mutations roam free rather than euthanise them, he’s aghast when Krebs gives a half-assed explanation that it was somehow better for the bottom line to not destroy the abominations, which I guess is designed to paint InGen as a morally bankrupt corporation but just seems insulting to me. This island is full of both regular dinosaurs and monstrous crossbreeds that finally push the franchise right over the line into generic monster movie territory. Whenever a regular dinosaur does appear, they’re often largely obscured or easily dispatched by one of their genetic offshoots, with the film sadly failing to deliver a compelling redebut for the Spinosaurus. Indeed, the dinosaurs oddly retreat once the group escapes to dry land, which is weird as they’re seen to be capable of exiting the water, unlike the larger Mosasaurus. While I’m grateful that the film doesn’t rely on the overexposed Velociraptors for a change, it does evoke both these creatures and the iconic kitchen scene from Jurassic Park with the Mutadons, weird ‘raptor/Pterosaur hybrids that return from a semi-tense chase in the finale. Krebs’ missions sees Zora and her team extracting samples a the Mosasaurus, a Titanosaurus, and a Quetzalcoatlus, with the latter proving especially terrifying and dangerous, especially as the group opt to take a sample from the beast’s eggs! The T.rex pops up for a cameo in an adaptation of the raft/rapids section of the original book, showcasing an amazing ability to swim that I never associated with it before, but we’re denied any dinosaur-on-dinosaur action this time around as the film ends with a desperate escape from both the relentless Mutadons and the horrifying D.rex.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Jurassic World Rebirth certainly leans into its horror aspects, that’s for sure. The body count is quite high, with the forgettable Bobby and Nina (Philippine Velge) both being offed by a Spinosaurus once the group finally reach the island. LeClerc (Bechir Sylvain), who’s single defining character trait is that he’s French, doesn’t far much better, being devoured by a Quetzalcoatlus while frantically escaping its nest. However, you can clearly see him being swallowed by the creature and Krebs is later bitten in half by the D.rex which, coupled with the dark, intimidating aesthetics and the overall more gruesome appearance of these dinosaur hybrids, certainly pushes Jurassic World Rebirth into a horror-adjacent monster movie. There’s an attempt at delivering something more here, but it’s very on the nose and nothing we haven’t seen a hundred times before. Loomis delivers a not-so-subtle soliloquy about how humans are an arrogant and destructive species that are destined to destroy themselves and/or been shaken off by the planet, and the film beats you over the head with the idea that the modern world is too polluted and unstable for the revived dinosaurs. The commentary about the public being sick of dinosaurs also harkens back to the metatextual undertone of Jurassic World, which suggests that we are sick of dinosaurs and want something more monstrous and exciting in these films, when that’s clearly not true given how much money the franchise makes. Jurassic World Rebirth stumbles somewhat by taking far too long to get going, lumbering us with forgettable characters for the first hour or so and building anticipation for the dinosaurs, which sounds great on paper but is unnecessary by the seventh movie. Not only that, but the film simply rehashes many of the narrative beats and visual cues of the pervious films, with characters stumbling through the jungle, being in awe of gigantic sauropods, fleeing from voracious carnivores, and sneaking about abandoned facilities. It’s all very familiar, making the film about as redundant as Jurassic Park III (Johnston, 2001) was back in the day because we’ve seen all this before, and done better.

The usual awe and grandeur is downplayed in favour of a more horror-focused approach.

It’s doubly frustrating as the film could’ve presented something new by exploring the impact dinosaurs have in the modern world, something barely touched upon in the last two films and constantly swept under the rug because God forbid we have a Jurassic movie not set in the jungle! Even Duncan complains about the jungle setting, and rightfully so as there’s nothing new here at all. I thought we were in for a treat with all those Spinosauruses, but we barely get a glimpse of one on land and they conveniently just swim away once the survivors beach themselves. Xavier gets stalked by some Velociraptors at one point but the scene’s played for laughs as a Mutadon pounces on them while he’s peeing, ostensibly to establish this flying ‘raptor hybrid as the latest threat but falling way off the mark as they’re essentially the same creature…but with wings they barely use. It was fun to see the T.rex/rapids scene make it onscreen, and it was quite tense watching Theresa drag the lift raft to the water, but it fell apart the moment the family jumped into the raft and tried to paddle away from the T.rex. As if that wasn’t crazy enough, they amazingly survive this encounter and the T.rex just gives up, despite clearly being able to walk around the rocks, never to be seen again. While it was nice to see something new in the Titanosaurus, they’re literally just bigger, more awesome variations on the Brachiosaurus and their weird, whip-like tails looked ridiculous. The star of the show is meant to be the D.rex, an honestly gruesome T.rex mutation that boasts four colossal legs, two spindly arms, and a massive, Xenomorph-like head. I’m torn, though, as the creature is used sparingly, adding to its horror and mystery, but it might’ve been good to get a sense of it stalking the island, perhaps having characters come across dismembered corpses, to help build towards its big reveal. I was also impressed by the Quetzalcoatlus, even if I didn’t get the sense of scale Loomis kept exaggerating. It would’ve been nice to see this and/or the Mutadons and T.rex factor into the ending to battle the D.rex, but Jurassic World Rebirth seemingly goes out of its way to avoid any big dinosaur fights…which, again, can be seen as either good or bad.

The terrifying finale with the D.rex is undercut by some bizarre narrative choices and dull characters.

I think I fall into the latter camp. The film seems to be trying very hard to evoke the spirit of the first movie, alternating between awe and horror and not big dinosaur fights, but that doesn’t make for a very exciting finale as the characters obviously stand no chance against the D.rex and yet still manage to avoid it without any outside assistance. After being separated, both groups head towards the InGen facility, with Zora’s group stopping off to collect their samples with a minimum of fuss, to rendezvous with Zora’s helicopter extract team. Theresa is eager to reunite with them and get some revenge on Krebs after he leaves her to die, only for him to pull a gun on them, take the samples, and attempt to flee without them. Obviously, this goes very badly for him as, in his last moments, he’s too obsessed with money and the dino samples to avoid being munched on by the D.rex. This monstrous abomination easily devours Zora’s helicopter in a startling sequence and stomps about the facility, largely missing its prey as Duncan leads them through a convenient series of underground tunnels. Though pursued by Mutadons, the creatures are easily evaded through a combination of bullets and convenience, though the group faces disaster when they struggle to lower the one remaining boat on the island. Realising that everyone’s in jeopardy, Duncan makes the brave decision to lead the D.rex away using a flare, much to Zora’s dismay, fading into the jungle and seemingly being eaten. However, barely two minutes after his heroic sacrifice, a flare goes up and he wades out completely unharmed, having miraculously survived the encounter with no explanation. Somehow speeding away from the island without the D.rex or any of the aquatic dinosaurs following them, Zora decides to agree with Loomis’s earlier suggestion and provide their ill-gotten samples to the world for free, thereby allowing countless people to benefit rather than the top one percent. And that’s kind of it. All the characters you’d expect to survive make it out, with barely a scratch, and all those hideous dinosaur hybrids are just left to wander around for the inevitable sequel (assuming they’re not killed off between films, which is what I expect to happen).

The Summary:
I was sceptical of Jurassic World Rebirth right from the first trailer, and with good reason. I feel we needed a longer break between films as the last trilogy definitely suffered from diminishing returns by the end, and nothing here makes me think otherwise. While it desperately tries to revisit the smaller scale approach of the first film, Jurassic World Rebirth comes across as a “best-of” compilation of moments from the previous movies, wrapped up in a largely generic monster movie that somewhat betrays the spirit of the franchise. It doesn’t help that there are far too many characters. It might’ve been better to reduces Zora’s crew to four and follow four survivors on the island as that family added nothing to the film, apparently being left over from earlier drafts and kept in to pad the runtime. The main plot of the film is laughable as I don’t believe that anyone would choose to visit this island, regardless of the money offered, unless they were poachers, a rescue team, or had wandered off course. I struggled to connect with any of the main characters as they were incredibly one-dimensional or kept switching personality from scene to scene, with even Loomis proving adept in the field because the plot required it. The dinosaur action was impressive, except for the Titanosauruses, but there’s not enough of it because the film wastes time building unnecessary anticipation. I liked that it leaned into horror, and the D.rex was pretty damn horrific, but I think we needed a bit more to keep things moving and the keep a sense of dread and urgency to the film (Zora’s group, especially, never seems to be in a rush despite literally facing a ticking clock). Ultimately, I think Jurassic World Rebirth may be more appealing to newcomers but, for long time fans of the franchise, there’s little here than hasn’t been done in previous films and it just feels like a big-budget cash grab designed to wring more money out of the franchise, whether it makes sense or not.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Jurassic Word Rebirth? Were you disappointed that the dinosaurs were driven back to extinction again? Do you agree that there were too many characters in the film and that they lacked personality? Which of the mutated dinosaurs was your favourite and did you like seeing the rapids scene finally make it to the big screen? Which Jurassic film is your favourite and where would you like to see the franchise go next? Whatever your thoughts on Jurassic Word Rebirth, leave them below and then go read my other Jurassic reviews and donate to my Ko-Fi to support the site.

Movie Night [Friday the 13th]: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

Dr. K3 Comments

Long considered an unlucky day due to superstitions involving the number thirteen and religious connotations, Friday the 13th is equally well-known as a long-running series of slasher movies. As a result, this is clearly the best opportunity to take a look at the Friday the 13th (Various, 1980 to 2009) horror series and to commemorate this unlucky and dreaded date.

Released: 13 May 1988
Director: John Carl Buechler
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Budget: $2.8 million
Stars: Lar Park Lincoln, Kane Hodder, Kevin Blair, Susan Jennifer Sullivan, Susan Blu, and Terry Kiser

The Plot:
Unwittingly resurrected by traumatised, psychically-endowed Tina Shepard, decomposing serial killer Jason Voorhees (Hodder) renews his killing spree, only to match his brute strength against Tina’s psychic powers.

The Background:
Following the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), which popularised the “slasher” sub-genre, Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) proved a surprising box office success. Despite producer/director Sean S. Cunningham distancing himself from the resulting franchise, which has been beset by negative reviews, Friday the 13th Part 2 (Miner, 1981) and Friday the 13th Part 3 (ibid, 1982) were financial successes. Still, embarrassed by the franchise, Paramount tried to bring it to an end with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Zito, 1984). However, its financial success led to Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (Steinmann, 1985), a disastrous experiment that saw Jason’s resurrection the following year. Despite a modest box office and mixed reviews, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (McLoughlin, 1986) is now considered one of the best entries. Initial ideas for the seventh film included a potential crossover with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), though Paramount and New Line Cinema couldn’t agree on how to best execute this and it would be some fifteen years before audiences saw this come to fruition. Instead, associate producer Barbara Sachs leaned towards the idea of granting the “Final Girl” telekinetic powers not unlike those of Carrie White (Sissie Spacek). Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood marked the first appearance of fan favourite Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted onscreen controlled burn in Hollywood history and debuting one of Jason’s most horrific and iconic looks. With many explicitly gory scenes cut during post-production, The New Blood performed about the same at the box office as its predecessor and received largely negative reviews. Fans of the franchise, however, treat the film more fondly, regarding it as one of the better entries, and its poor reception didn’t stop Paramount producing an eighth instalment the following year.

The Review:
Seven movies into the slasher franchise and Jason Voorhees has become more than a rumour; he’s a legend. The long-dead “Crazy” Ralph (Walt Gorney) returns as an unseen narrator to give a quick rundown of Jason’s previous hits and misses, which have seen the “death curse” of Crystal Lake translate into “Jason Voorhees’ Curse”, with no mention of his mother or the tragedy that befell him as a child. It’s interesting that Crystal Lake is even called that here since such a big part of the previous movie revolved around the locals renaming the area “Forest Green” to disassociate themselves from Jason and his memory. Now, it’s just back to Crystal Lake with no explanation, which is odd. Even stranger is that no one stops our new crop of victims from hanging around the cursed lake and no one, save the pushy and manipulative Doctor Chris Crews (Kiser), is even aware of Jason. To be fair, it’s not stated how much time has passed since the ending of Jason Lives and the present day of The New Blood. It could’ve been years, so maybe the residents felt comfortable believing Jason was long gone. The New Blood takes a similar approach to The Final Chapter with the landscape of Crystal Lake and its forest, showing residential cabins placed around the lake, such as Tina’s childhood getaway and the cabin Nick Rogers (Blair) and his friends rent to surprise his cousin, Michael (William Butler). I would’ve liked to see The New Blood double down on this and have these be the same buildings from The Final Chapter, renovated and available to rent to bring some tourism to the local community. This doesn’t appear to be the case and nothing is mentioned about the town or what’s happened between Part VI and Part VII, meaning the New Blood title doesn’t just refer to Jason’s newest crop of victims but also the narrative, as the film’s almost like a soft reboot of the series in some ways.

Traumatised Tina finds her unique gifts being manipulated by the shifty Dr. Crews.

The New Blood adds some additional lore to Crystal Lake with its opening flashback, which shows young Tina (Jennifer Banko) fleeing to the lake to escape her parents’ constant arguing. Having witnessed her alcoholic father, John (John Otrin), strike her mother, Amanda (Blu), little Tina took a boat onto the lake and wailed her anguish and hatred to her father. Unfortunately for Tina (and John), her heightened emotional state triggered her unpredictable psychokinetic powers, causing John to fall into the lake and drown/be crushed be debris. The trauma of witnessing this and the guilt from having caused her father’s death scarred Tina, leading to her spending most of her life in therapy and in a psychiatric hospital under the care of Dr. Crews. Although Tina’s visibly uncomfortable at returning to Crystal Lake and Amanda is desperate to hide her concerns behind blind optimism, the Shepards return to their family cabin in what’s stated to be a last-ditch attempt to help Tina overcome her trauma. However, Dr. Crews is far more concerned with exploring and documenting Tina’s psychic abilities, badgering her into working herself into a state so she’ll perform parlour tricks for his camera. While he justifies this by saying that her powers and vivid delusions are manifestations of her guilt and thus intrinsically linked, it definitely seems like he’s less concerned with her wellbeing and more concerned with attained some kind of accolade for discovering her psychic powers. Annoyed when Tina gets distracted by Nick and his friends and frustrated by Tina’s reluctance to adhere to his demands, Dr. Crews constantly belittles Tina and waves away her panic when she starts seeing visions of dead bodies and accidentally reanimates Jason while remembering her father’s death. At her wit’s end and desperate to bring her daughter some peace, Amanda puts all her faith in Dr. Crews and is thus enraged to find that he’s been using and manipulating Tina, even more so when Dr. Crews decides Tina’s a lost cause and threatens to have her committed. While she struggles with her guilt and is noticeably uneasy around other people, Tina can’t help but be attracted to nice-guy Nick, who encourages her to socialise with his friends, takes an interest in her past and her feelings, and reacts with shocked amazement rather than horror and ridicule when her powers caused chaos and disruption.

Nice guy Nick is surrounded by largely forgettable or overly exaggerated victims.

Disturbed by her visions of death and Jason, Tina constantly tries to warn those around her and is repeatedly shot down. Dr. Crews refuses to entertain her wild claims as anything other than delusions and the catty Melissa Paur (Sullivan) openly mocks her, to the amusement of her otherwise disinterested friends, in a desperate attempt to discredit Tina so she (as in Melissa) can have Nick to herself (despite him quite bluntly stating that he doesn’t even like her!) Nick’s a bit of a bland do-gooder on the surface; he’s tall and ruggedly handsome but there isn’t much to him. He says he ran with a bad crowd and is trying to turn his life around, but he’s mainly there to offer Tina some affection outside of her family and to try (and fail) to shield her from Jason. His friends, however, are as painfully one-note as all the Friday the 13th victims, focused mainly on sex, skinning dipping in the freezing cold lake, drinking, and getting high. There are a few standouts from this largely cliché group, as ever: Eddie McCarlo (Jeff Bennett) fancies himself a science-fiction writer and regularly bores and freaks out his friends with his bizarre imagination, Robin Peterson (Elizabeth Kaitan) is a perky little stoner in contrast to shy Maddy Paulson (Diana Barrows) but doesn’t hesitate to put her friend down so she can claim clumsy stoner David Peabody (Jon Renfield) for herself, and Ben MacNeal (Craig Thomas) is having undisclosed issues with his girlfriend, Kate Pataki (Diane Almeida). The film tries to give Maddy an empowering moment when, in an effort to defy Robin’s claim that she needs “little touch-up work”, Maddy defiantly…goes and touches herself up with make-up. She then wanders outside calling for David as though expecting him to be in the dark forest and is unceremoniously killed. I quite liked Eddie, who is seduced by Melissa to try and make Nick jealous and storms out after she rejects him in an amusing scene, though the others are mostly forgettable and simply there to be eye candy and add to the kill count.

Jason looks more horrifying than ever and utilises some bizarre weapons.

The New Blood sees the debut of Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees, and boy does he embody the role in an instant! Sporting one of Jason’s most disturbing and iconic looks, the hulking Hodder stalks the forests and darkness of Crystal Lake with an enraged determination, as though Jason is royally pissed off at being disturbed by Tina. Now degenerated into a rotting, skeletal form and sporting a cracked mask and heavy chain around his neck, Jason appears more inhuman than ever and seemingly savours the hunt, never breaking from a brisk stride and as happy to stalk, taunt, and slowly off his victims as he is to crash through windows or catch them unawares. Jason sports an uncanny ability to sneak up on people, even when they’re barely looking the other way, and to get ahead of his fleeing victims, to say nothing of shrugging off nails, bullets, and blunt trauma thanks to functionally being a zombie. Exhibiting superhuman strength powerful enough to plunge his hand through chests and crush heads, Jason is surprisingly gentle with Nick in the finale, preferring to simply toss and throw him aside rather than crush his rib cage. Jason sports various weapons in The New Blood, from spiked implements, large kitchen knives, and even a party horn that he rams into Kate’s eye. This is taken to almost comical levels when Jason pursues Dr. Crews and Amanda through the forest and he attacks with a bizarre bladed implement, prompting Dr. Crews to use Amanda as a human shield! This respite is short-lived, however, as Jason soon comes after him with a motorised bench saw like he’s Leatherface (Various) or something! I have no idea where Jason got these weapons from or why he discards them, and we’re denied a decent look at the damage since the film’s butchered by cuts. Jason slices throats, hacks off heads, and leaves victims strewn around the forest to scare Tina but is visibly puzzled by the girl’s inexplicable psychic powers. Jason thus becomes fixated on Tina, not just because she’s the “Final Girl” but also because he sees there’s something different about her. Tina gives Jason a run for his money, tangling him up with nearby roots, electrocuting him, and causing his hockey mask to shatter so we get a good look at his gruesome, rotting visage.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Jason Lives marked a turning point for the Friday the 13th franchise. From the moment Jason was brought back as an undead killer, all bets were off and the series leaned more heavily into the supernatural for the following sequels. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; the formula was getting stale, after all. However, it’s still a bit weird to suddenly see psychic powers in this world. Tina is obviously a stand-in for Stephen King’s Carrie, a disturbed and emotionally distraught young woman who cannot control her powers, much less understand them. Tina’s ability to move objects with her mind is directly tied to her emotions, something Dr. Crews regularly manipulates just to see them in action. Tina’s also cursed with a degree of clairvoyance; she has visions of people’s deaths but is always too late to save them and is haunted by delusions of Jason that have her questioning her sanity. This makes Tina wary to be around others since her powers can be chaotic and they earn her scorn, fear and hatred even when characters have no reason to think it was Tina who caused Melissa’s necklace to break. Tina’s powers are seemingly limitless; she can combust matches, smash open floorboards, move roots and electrical wires, and even resurrect the dead if she concentrates hard enough. Sadly, her powers also appear really feeble. The only reason Jason doesn’t just snap her in two is because the script says he must stand there gawping at her while Tina flings nails at him, douses him in gasoline, and hangs him from the ceiling. Indeed, when Jason gets his grubby mitts on her, Tina’s largely helpless and dependant on Nick to save her cute ass. The technology just wasn’t there to make Tina’s powers look threatening enough to Jason, who was made to look like a chump during their “fight”, and it makes for a very poor substitute for a throwdown between Freddy and Jason. Perhaps if Tina’s powers had been more pyrokinetic things might’ve been different but, as is, her abilities seem more bizarre than formidable and make The New Blood one of the stranger entries in the franchise.

While some of the kills are good or even iconic, Tina’s psychic powers are pretty lamely realised.

It’s also one of the most butchered. Sure, we get some great shots of Jason’s spine, skull, and bones sticking out from his ragged clothes and the effects used on his ghastly face are top-notch (it may very well be the best Jason look ever!) but this doesn’t excuse the disappointingly bloodless kills. This is doubly disappointing as there are some creative weapons and methods at play in The New Blood, with Jason resorting to simple stabbing and tossing people to their deaths alongside more elaborate means of killing, such as launching an axe into Russell Bowen’s (Larry Cox) face and stabbing Maddy with a scythe. The movie’s not entirely bloodless, of course: we see severed heads and blood splatters and a lot of time is spent lingering on the mangled corpses of Jason’s victims. In a way, this is a bit more horrific than if we’d seen the deaths in detail since your imagination can fill in the blanks…but Dr. Crews was such a dick, I wanted to see him get shredded by that weed-wacker! I liked that Jason didn’t simply go around swinging a machete and tried a few different things here, even if some of his kills largely amounted to the same thing (David may as well have been stabbed by a machete, for example, same with Amanda, especially as Jason discards that unique weapon). Of course, the most memorable kill in The New Blood is Judy Williams’ (Debora Kessler). Her and her boyfriend, Dan Carter (Michael Schroeder), are a couple of randoms Jason attacks while camping (an odd choice given these roles could’ve been filled by some of Nick’s friends). He plunges a fist though Dan’s back and snaps his neck and then drags Judy from their tent while she’s still in her sleeping bag. Hauling her across the brambles, Jason slams her against a tree, snapping her spine and leaving her a horrified, bloody mess. It’s a simple, exceedingly brutal kill that stands as one of the best in the franchise. Naturally, we also get a bit of sex and nudity here, far more than in Jason Lives but still less than I’d like. Despite being a horny little she-devil, Melissa never gets any action and has to settle for an axe to the head, though Robin, Kate, and Sandra Casey (Heidi Kozak) all get a chance to get naked and have some sexy times before being butchered.

When Jason proves to be unstoppable, Tina summons her dead father to take care of business.

Unable to convince anyone that her visions are real and desperate to help her mother, Tina drags a confused Nick all through the forest and the cabin trying to find Amanda before it’s too late. She discovers newspaper clippings about Jason in Dr. Crews’ drawer and realises he knew she was telling the truth about “the man in the lake” and has been trying to gaslight her into thinking she’s crazy. Unfortunately, Tina’s unable to save her mother and Nick finds the cabin empty, save for Eddie’s slaughtered corpse and a disbelieving Melissa. His friends are just hanging around in the forest, though, their bodies on display to lure Tina back into the cabin, where Jason attacks. Although Nick tries to fight the monster off, he’s tossed aside like nothing and, grief-stricken and enraged, Tina finally unleashes her full power. Using her destructive psychic powers, Tina shatters Jason’s mask, hanging him by a cord, and drops him into the basement. When he drags her down with him, Tina douses him in gasoline and sets him on fire, with her and Nick barely escaping the house before it inexplicably explodes. They’re relief is short-lived, however, as Jason reappears on the docks, sporting no evidence of being set on fire or caught in an explosion. Though Nick tries to fend him off with a gun, Jason is unfazed and closes in for the kill. Hurt and desperate, Tina summons all her power and, unbelievably, causes her father (who’s looking remarkably well for a guy trapped underwater for years) to burst up from the lake. John’s clearly agonised spirit wraps a chain around Jason’s neck and drags him back into the cold depths, ending the film on a bit of an anti-climax as Tina and Nick are rescued by emergency services. Quite why John’s body was still in the lake is beyond me. Tina “felt” him earlier, but it turned out to be Jason and I don’t see why her father’s body couldn’t have been recovered after he fell in when she was a child. I guess it’s supposed to be a call-back to the first and third parts, but it felt quite lame and cartoonish in execution, much like Tina’s powers.

The Summary:
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is a bit of a disappointment for me. A lot of this has to do with my fondness for the previous film, which is still one of my favourites; nostalgia gives Jason Livs an edge that The New Blood lacks. I tried to cut it some slack on this viewing, but there are a lot of elements that don’t work for me. As much as I liked the score from Jason Lives being recycled, it felt quite repetitive and the weird, jingly, fairy tale music used when Tina used her powers got old fast. I quite liked Tina, even though she was a bit bland and pure. I liked the struggle she faced with her guilt and her powers and she had some cute chemistry with Nick, despite him being a white-meat good guy. It was nice that he just accepted Tina and gave her unconditional encouragement and affection. Dr. Crews and Melissa made for interesting secondary antagonists. While Melissa was ridiculously one-note, she was such a conniving bitch, making her comeuppance well deserved. I would’ve liked to see Dr. Crews’ motivations explored a bit more: maybe he could’ve been trying to profit from Tina, or purposely using her to resurrect Jason for some reason. Nick’s friends were alright, but largely forgettable and full of dumb decisions. The group offered nothing we hadn’t seen in every Friday the 13th movie prior to this one and we were even denied the satisfaction of some gory kills since The New Blood has been hacked to death worse than Jason’s victims! I fully believe The New Blood is highly rated purely because of Kane Hodder’s performance and unique appearance as Jason, the bizarre weapons he uses, and that sleeping bag kill. These elements are far more memorable than the lame-ass psychic powers and the weak-ass showdown between Jason and Tina, where the formally menacing Jason just stands around and lets her make him look like a fool. Jason’s look is incredible here, almost unmatched, and seems to be where all the time and budget went. It’s such a shame as the concept had a lot of potential and I liked the suggestion that Tina was descending into madness because of her abilities and visions. The execution was lacking and hampered by the technology of the time, however, and the gory effects are completely wasted as the film cuts away before we can see them in all their glory. I appreciate the effort to try and do something new, but I think The New Blood needed another go-around at the scriptwriting stage. Jason looks great, better than ever, but it’s not enough to keep this one from being pretty dull at the end of the day.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Is Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood one of your favourites of the franchise? What did you think to Tina, her trauma, and her bizarre psychic powers? Which of Nick’s friends was your favourite and which death scene were you most disappointed by? Do you agree that the sleeping bag kill is one of the franchise’s most iconic? What did you think to Jason’s look and his showdown with Tina? Is Kane Hodder your favourite Jason actor Are you watching a Friday the 13th movie today? Whatever your thoughts on Friday the 13th (the movie, franchise, and day), leave them down below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other horror content.

Movie Night: Predator: Killer of Killers

Dr. K2 Comments

Released: 6 June 2026
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Distributor: Hulu / Disney+
Budget: Unknown
Stars: Lindsay LaVanchy, Damien Haas, Louis Ozawa, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn, and Britton Watkins

The Plot:
In this interconnected series of shorts, a bloodthirsty Viking warrior (LaVanchy), a battle-weary ninja (Ozawa), and a hot-shot pilot (Gonzalez) are forced to fight to the death after besting three separate Predators (Watkins) throughout history.

The Background:
What started as a high-budget B-movie that had Jean-Claude Van Damme running around a jungle in a bug suit eventually became a box office success when Predator (McTiernan, 1987) released on this day in 1987. Though praised as one of the best of its genre, Predator was followed by a troubled and financially stunted sequel in Predator 2 (Hopkins, 1990). Despite positive reviews, it took twenty years before Predators (Antal, 2010) revived the series with a back-to-basics approach. Though a minor hit, hopes for a direct sequel were quashed in favour of a soft reboot, though The Predator’s (ibid, 2018) divisive response saw the franchise take a hiatus despite its respectable box office. After 20th Century Fox was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2017, director Dan Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison returned the franchise to its roots with Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022), a surprise hit that promised big things for the franchise. Indeed, while Trachtenberg was busying himself with a Predator-centric follow-up, he also spearheaded this separate project, an anthology film inspired by hyper-violent and stylised anime. Released exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu, Predator: Killer of Killers was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews that praised its visual design, varied stories, and intriguing expansion of the lore.

The Review:
Predator: Killer of Killers came somewhat hot off the heels of the surprise success of Prey, which successfully rejuvenated the Predator franchise after years of ups and downs. It seems my desperate call for new Predator stories set in unique time periods and locations has finally been answered as Predator: Killer of Killers takes place in the frigid wastelands of Scandinavia, the beautiful landscape of ancient Japan, in the midst of the Second World War, and finally on an alien world that could very well be the Yautja home world. Yes, after years of me fighting against it, the term “Yautja” is now undeniably canon thanks to the film’s opening quote from their codex. While I’m sure long-time fans of the extended Predator media are glad to see this, I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of this name and would prefer the species went unnamed or were referred to as “Hunters” or “Predators” and the like. Still, I’m really glad we’re finally seeing the Predators being used in new settings and time periods as there’s so much potential for that to see how different people combat the Yautja threat depending on their technology or understanding of the alien foe. Indeed, to two of our main characters, the Yautja are seen as devils or demons rather than an extraterrestrial force, which is understandable given when they encounter them. Predator: Killer of Killers adopts a framing device where each of the main characters are trapped on a Yautja transport ship taking them to a gladiatorial arena for the finale, though this is primarily used as interludes between each story and to show who’s the main character of each segment. Finally, Predator: Killer of Killers uses subtitles when appropriate, particularly throughout “The Sword” and the final segment, where the characters talk exclusively in their native tongue even if we’ve heard them speak English before. I liked this aspect as it added some authenticity to the film, and each character, and I liked that their words weren’t translated for us beyond subtitles despite the characters wearing explosive translation collars.

Ursa’s quest for revenge sees her turning her rage against a vicious, hulking Predator.

The first segment, “The Sheild”, is set in Scandinavia, 841 and follows Viking warrioress Ursa as she leads her son, Anders (Hass), and their battle hungry clan into battle against the Krivichs to avenge the death of Ursa’s father, Einar (Doug Cockle), at the hands of the Krivich chieftain, Zoran (Andrew Morgado). While Anders is keen to make his mother proud, this is his first expedition so he’s understandably a little rattled at the sheer wanton destruction and violence his clan, and his vengeful mother, heap upon the Krivichs. Thus, he freezes when presented with his first kill, both out of fear and concerns for his place in Valhalla should he kill an unarmed man, though Ursa has no hesitation in cutting their prisoner in half after learning Zoran’s location. Unaware that a Yautja ship has dropped off a Predator to hunt the ruthless Vikings, Ursula shares the story of Einar’s death with Anders, which saw young Ursa (Cherami Leigh) consumed by anger and vengeance from a young age and determined to avenge her father, wearing his bloody handprint with pride despite initially being too overwhelmed by grief to function. So righteous is Ursa’s quest that she storms Zoran’s heavily fortified fortress alone, cutting through and bludgeoning many of his men single-handedly before her warriors (and Anders) join the fray. Using her sharpened, splintered dual shields, Ursa severs limbs and slaughters Zoran’s troops to confront the chief in his throne room. Despite Ursa’s rage, Zoran openly mocks her, disrespecting her in front of her men and leading to Anders beheading him for his insolence. Before Ursa can comment, the hulking Warlord Predator decloaks before them, naturally startling the Vikings and easily brutalising them with its superior speed, strength, and bionic hand appendage. Anders successfully wounds the Warlord with a spear, leading Ursa to leap to this defence, only for the Predator to bring the whole fortress down with a single concussive blow. Its helmet damaged by Ursa’s attack, the Predator stalks her on the brittle, frozen water, though she eventually traps and seemingly kills it by improvising with an anchor and turning its own weapon against it. Despite her victory, the exhausted and wounded Ursa is distraught when Anders succumbs to his wounds and dies in her arms.

Brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi must set aside their differences to battle a common foe.

“The Sword” is set in Japan, 1609 and follows twin brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi Kamakami, bright and optimistic youngsters who are forced to duel to determine which of them is strong enough to succeed their father, a stoic and demanding samurai warlord. Though Kiyoshi shares Kenji’s reluctance, he ultimately attacks with a sudden viciousness, forcing the hurt and heartbroken Kenji to flee. Upon his father’s demise twenty years later, Kiyoshi adopts his grim persona and succeeds to the throne, ceremonially burning his father’s corpse and ringing the bells to indicate the succession. This attracts Kenji’s attention, with him gearing up to confront his brother for his betrayal using the ninja skills he cultivated while living in exile. As a Predator watches with curiosity, Kenji stealthily subdues Kiyoshi’s guards and infiltrates his old homestead, utilising shuriken and a chained weapon to overwhelm his foes. When the alarm is raised, Kenji’s forced to take a more direct and violent route, cutting his brother’s personal guard down with his katana using a smoke bomb for cover. With a mere glance and a glare, they match swords once more as the Predator observes, with Kiyoshi’s straightforward samurai skills being somewhat outmatched by Kenji’s shinobi deviousness as Kenji utilises various weapons to press his attack. Still, the brothers are largely evenly matched, especially as Kiyoshi dons his father’s samurai outfit throughout the fight. Still, Kenji gets the upper hand and symbolically scars his cheek, just as Kiyoshi did when they were younger, then sheathes his sword rather than deliver a killing blow. Stunned when Kiyoshi apparently plummets to his death, Kenji’s ambushed by the Predator, who cuts down a bunch of Kiyoshi’s guards with its spear, katana-like blade, and fancy spring-loaded chains. Forced from the pagoda, Kenji utilises his ninja skill to hide, flee, and even launch surprise attacks on the cloaked Yautja, who relentlessly pursues him across the rooftops. Driven to the moat, Kenji’s amazed to find his brother alive and, though skewered by the Predator’s wrist blades, Kiyoshi joins his brother against their mutual foe. Despite the Predator’s great strength and explosive gadgets, Kiyoshi stabs it through the neck and the brothers injure and then dramatically cut the Predator in two with dual sword strikes, though Kiyoshi dies after making peace with his brother.

World War Two pilot Torres finds his aviator skills tested by a Predator with a taste for war.

The third segment, “The Bullet”, starts in Florida, 1941 and finds free-spirited John J. Torres dreaming of being a pilot, much to the chagrin of his down-to-earth mechanic father (Felix Solis). Though Torres gets his wish, it comes from being drafted into the United States Navy and, one year later, Torres puts both his dreams and his practical skills to use when he impresses with his dad’s mechanics knowledge. Frustrated at being grounded by Captain Vandenberg/Vandy (Biehn), Torres is bewildered when one of their squadrons is decimated by a mysterious aircraft. While Captain Vandenberg leads a squadron to investigate, Torres inspects the alien, harpoon-like device stuck into one of the plane’s engines and is stunned when it suddenly activates and flies off, dragging an engine behind it on a chain. Despite Torres’ best efforts, he’s unable to warn the squadron of the greater threat in the skies around the Atlantic, so he commandeers a battered old fighter plane (the titular “bullet”) and goes to warn them. Though they take out the opposing squadron, Vandy’s planes are suddenly attacked by a decloaking Yautja craft, whose one-eyed pilot easily rips apart Vandy’s planes. With his wing burning, Torres makes a desperate climb to fix the damage while the remaining planes provide cover fire. Despite their bravery and aerial skill, the pilots are no match for the Predator’s technology, with one shredded by an energy net. After sorting out his plane, Torres regroups with Vandy and correctly theorises that the Predator can only see heat, so they make a desperate gamble and lure the ship as high as they can. With the alien ship closing in, Vandy bravely sacrifices himself to buy Torres the time to swing behind the blinded ship and take out one of its engines. Enraged, the alien pilot pursues Torres through the city streets, struggling to get a lock on and being drawn into a Naval skirmish. After the cannon fire heavily damages the alien ship, Torres tricks the Predator into firing, blowing his parachute and turning its massive harpoon against it to finally bring the craft down, though Torres is abducted after the war while working in his father’s garage.  

The Nitty-Gritty:
Predator: Killer of Killers is a fitting homage to everything that makes the Predator franchise so good, with Benjamin Wallfisch offering a fresh take on Alan Silvestri’s classic “Predator” theme, infusing it with a darker edge befitting of his horror roots, and the Yautja technology is very similar to previous films. Each segment follows radically different main characters, with Ursa being a venge-seeing Viking warrior, Kenji wishing to get a little payback against his brother, and Torres dreaming of being a heroic wartime pilot. While they’re all from very different backgrounds and have very different skills, with Ursa attacking first and asking questions later, Kenji largely laying down his sword, and Torres desperately trying to keep the peace and escape, they share a unique bond in their shared experiences with different Yautja. These Predators were as different as the protagonists are from each other, of course, with the Warlord being a bulky fighter, Kenji’s adversary favouring stealth, and the pilot attacking from a space craft. All three were ultimately outwitted by their foes turning their technology against them, however, with even the pilot’s systems and numerous armaments proving useless without a clear target. Ursa’s story is one of violence and vengeance, with her soul being consumed by both for years, while Kenji has no desire to fight any more and Torres just wants them to join forces against a common foe. Ursa is driven to a suicidal madness by the end, wishing only to die in glorious combat to reunite with her son in Valhalla, and even Kenji is completely at peace with meeting his end to be reunited with Kiyoshi. Torres’ infectious demeanour ultimately wins both over and they learn to take up arms once more against their shared enemy, with the ultimate message being that human tenacity, adaptability, and co-ordination is what makes us such a compelling target for this warrior species.

We finally get to see some visually distinct Predators in unique environments and time periods.

Predator: Killer of Killers employs a stylised, jerky, comic book-esque animation style that’s very similar to the Spider-Verse movies (Various, 2023 to present) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Rowe, 2023). If this animation style isn’t for you, you may struggle with the film but I think it worked really well. It’s not as frenetic and overstylised those movies, but it accentuates the violence and action with a comic book-style aesthetic that I find really appealing. The character models also reminded me of the exaggerated models used in TMNT (Munroe, 2007), though they’re far more varied, nuanced, and detailed here. For the most part, human characters are rendered in a stylish but ultimately realistic way, being proportionate to their size, with only Kenji and Kiyoshi seeming to defy gravity in their agile nature. The Yautja, however, are the extreme opposite, presented as towering, monstrous beasts who defy explanation and live up to their description as “devils”. The Warlord Predator, for example, is a massive brute far beyond any hunter we’ve seen before and the pilot is a grizzled, battle-scarred veteran who reminded me of Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd). The stealthier Predator who attacks the Kamakamis is probably the closest to a regular Yautja in the film and even he boasts chain-like weapons and a more samurai-styled appearance. The Grendel King, however, takes the award for most elaborate and intimidating Predator design, sporting full-on tusks, elongated dreadlocks that appear to be Xenonorph tails, and showcasing a ferocity far beyond his peers. There’s some fun new Yautja technology on show here, including miniature explosive devices, the Warlord’s concussive arm device, and the pilot’s energy net. Predator: Killer of Killers gives us a taste of the Predator ship’s combat skills, which is very refreshing, with the pilot utilising a devastating harpoon weapon that essentially frames the dog fights as old school Naval battles. There’s also some gruesome gore on display here, with characters being sliced in half, heads and limbs being lopped off, and blood splattering everywhere, which was glorious to see to sell how vicious both the Predators and their prey are.

Rather than fight to the death, the three survivors team to fight and escape the Grendel King.

“Final Battle” reveals that Ursa, Kenji, and Torres were placed into suspended animation after being abducted. Thanks to the language barrier and his cell mates being largely anti-social, Torres struggles to communicate with the two, though they’re soon brought to a gladiatorial arena on a scorching hot alien world. There, they encounter another elder Predator that Ursa dubs the “Grendel King” who, thanks to the translation collars fitting around their necks, commands them to fight to the death for the honour of facing him in tribal combat. The three are furnished with fitting weapons, with Torres gifted Captain Raphael Adolini’s (Bennett Taylor) pistol, and are threatened with having their heads exploded by their collars if they refuse to fight. Naturally, Ursa attacks first, determined to prove herself the “killer of killers”, but Kenji defends Torres and refuses to fight, urging the others to join forces against their captors. While Torres struggles to load Adolini’s pistol and Kenji desperately defends himself against Ursa’s savage attack, the Grendel King unleashes a massive alien beast that promptly swallows Torres whole! Enraged after seeing Anders’ likeness in Torres, Ursa attacks the creature alongside Kenji on the outside while Torres desperately stabs it with a Predator’s severed gauntlet arm from the inside. Together, they successfully kill the creature, much to the Grendel King’s amusement, but the suicidal Ursa only agrees to join forces with them upon seeing Torres alive. Having disabled their collars and commandeered a Yautja hoverbike, Torres flies his new allies to the Grendel King, who overpowers them with little effort, suffering only superficial wounds as Torres tries to figure out the Yautja ship’s controls. Just as the Grendel King is preparing to finish off his foes, Torres activates the ship, sending the brutish Predator flying. However, as they limp to safety, Kenji’s right arm is severed by the vengeful alien’s spear and the ship is anchored by a harpoon cable. Thus, Ursa slides down the chain to destroy the launcher, allowing herself to be recaptured so they can escape but eschewing her father’s ways by demanding they not avenge her. Though she mocks the Grendel King’s efforts, he orders his forces to pursue the escapees and has Ursa returned to suspended animation, where she’s stored alongside thousands of others…including Naru (Amber Midthunder).

The Summary:
Predator: Killer of Killers was another pleasant surprise after the fun return to form the franchise enjoyed with Prey. I’ll admit that I was a bit dubious at first by the idea of an animated anthology movie, but I enjoyed the framing device of these three characters triumphing over separate Predators and being brought together to earn the right to fight the Grendel King. This was a new wrinkle in the Predator lore that adds new layers to Predators, which already revealed that the Yautja abduct the best of the best (or worst of the worst) to hunt for sport. The animation style might not be for everyone, but I think it did a great job of presenting these visually arresting Yautja as incredible, monstrous beings that are so far beyond our understanding. Put simply, Predator: Killer of Killers makes the Yautja scary again as we see them absolutely decimate anyone who gets in their way, ripping them to pieces and deftly wielding incredible alien technology repurposed into practical weaponry. It thus takes a very special individual to overcome them, and our three main characters certainly fit that bill as they use their individual strengths to endure and overcome the alien threat, largely by turning their strengths and technology against them. I really enjoyed that we got three different time periods for the Predators to play around in, showing how the distinctly different hunters approach their unique environments and prey, and the ways the main characters react to and tackle them. Framing each segment as a character driven piece that happens to feature an alien hunter was a great choice as it allows you to connect with each character and for them to stand out against each other, with the finale showing how their vastly different personalities clash but ultimately result in victory once they come together. Even if you don’t like the animation and can’t connect with the characters, there’s some fantastic Predator action here. Each one is distinct and uses different tactics and weaponry and we get a glimpse into a different aspect of their society and overall lore. Honestly, I wouldn’t be against seeing a couple more films like this to explore this aspect of Yautja society and tie up a few loose ends in the franchise, and Predator: Killer or Killers just reinforced how much potential there is for more stories in this world.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Predator: Killer of Killers? Which of the characters and segments was your favourite? What did you think to the animation style and the visual design of the new Predators? Are you a fan of the Yautja name or do you prefer the species to go unnamed? What did you think to the gore and how each character overcame their alien foe? Would you like to see more anthology films like this for the franchise? Which of the Predator films is your favourite and how did you celebrate Predator Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Predator: Killer of Killers, feel free to leave a comment below, check out my other Predator reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest future Predator content.

Movie Night [Ghostbusters Day]: Ghostbusters (2016)

Dr. K6 Comments

Throw on your proton pack and get ready to bust some ghosts because June 8th is officially “Ghostbusters Day”! Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) was first released on this day back in 1984 and has become a major pop culture franchise that includes comic books, a popular cartoon and line of action figures, and videogames.

Released: 15 July 2016
Director: Paul Feig
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $144 million
Stars: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, and Andy García

The Plot:
Estranged friends and physicists Doctor Erin Gilbert (Wiig) and Doctor Abby Yates (McCarthy) team with engineer Doctor Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) and transport employee Patty Tolan (Jones) to investigate a spate of ghost sightings across New York City, creating both chaos and controversy.

The Background:
Originally conceived by Dan Aykroyd as a project for himself, Eddie Murphy, and John Belushi, Ghostbusters came into being when director Ivan Reitman, writer/actor Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray joined the project. A critical and financial success, it was followed by an under-rated sequel that both underperformed financially and was met with mostly negative reviews, Rumours of a third movie circulated for decades, often stalling due to Murray’s reluctance to return and Aykroyd’s ambitious scripts being too costly to produce. After everyone got on the same page for Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality, 2009), plans for a third movie regained traction, however Murray continued to veto scripts and Columbia Pictures eventually decided on a complete reboot rather than a sequel. Initially marketed as a soft reboot set in the same continuity and later distinguished by its tagline, “Answer the Call”, the new Ghostbusters would feature an all-female lead cast, a decision that effectively killed the film for many audiences. After the leads and cameos for many of the original cast (including, bizarrely and hypocritically, Murray) were secured, Sony Pictures Imageworks produced 1700 visual effects shots for the film, which also included some more traditional, practical effects. Unfortunately, controversy surrounding the casting, its status as a reboot, and claims that director Paul Feig failed to conduct reshoots saw Ghostbusters underperform at the box office. While some reviews praised it as a fun time with some entertaining performances, others criticised the overreliance on CGI and uninspired script. In the end, the vocal negative reaction and undue racial and sexual backlash towards the film killed any plans for a sequel. While the characters lived on in IDW’s comics, Columbia Pictures opted to ignore the film and produce a legacy sequel to the original five years later.

The Review:
Rather than being a legacy sequel or a re-quel, as the original trailers first suggested, this version of Ghostbusters is a complete reboot with an all-new cast, though all the principal names from the original movies appear in cameo roles and the film does follow a similar narrative structure. Erin starts the movie on the cusp of earning tenure at Columbia University and desperate to impress department head Doctor Harold Filmore (Charles Dance) with her capability and professionalism. She’s thus very perturbed when Ed Mulgrave Jr. (Ed Begley Jr.) shows up with a copy of her previous co-authored musings on the paranormal and asks her to investigate ghost sightings at the allegedly haunted Aldridge Mansion after an employee (Zach Woods) is attacked following a tour. Ashamed of her past dealings with the supernatural and wishing to shut down any further publications of the book to secure her teaching position, Erin’s forced to confront her co-author and former friend, the loud and obnoxious Abby Yates. While the two were best friends in high school and Abby was the only person who believed Erin was haunted by the ghost of her mean old neighbour as a child, the two have grown distant in recent years and Erin is exasperated that her old friend would republish their work just to get some extra revenue for her research. Unlike Erin, who abandoned the paranormal to focus on physics, Abby never gave up researching and pursuing the supernatural and her interest is only encouraged by her partner at the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science, enthusiastic engineering physicist Jillian Holtzmann. Together, they’ve assembled a mess of prototype gadgets and gizmos to detect, subdue, and (eventually) capture ghosts, all while going under the radar of the institute’s dean, Thomas Shanks (Steve Higgins). However, after Erin reluctantly accompanies the two to the Aldridge Mansion and they’re attacked by its resident malevolent spirit (Bess Rous), all three lose their jobs when their frantic, indistinct footage goes viral, forcing them to relocate to a cramped apartment space above a Chinese restaurant since they can’t afford the outrageous rent for the more familiar firehouse.

Four misfit women come together to investigate and capture the ghosts suddenly haunting New York.

Despite having no income, Holtzmann continues to tinker with their equipment, dreaming up a clunky prototype proton pack and additional weapons, all scavenged from whatever resources they can get their hands on and the equipment they liberate from the institute. With her distinguished career in tatters, Erin has no choice but to team with the two to establish themselves as bona fide paranormal researchers, though her reluctance is swayed when goofy hunk Kevin Beckman (Hemsworth) shows up to be their receptionist. Despite noted supernatural debunker Doctor Martin Heiss (Bill Murray) publicly discrediting the “Ghostbusters” (a name Erin begrudgingly comes to accept), lonely and explosive transport employee Patty Tolan comes to the team after sighting a ghost (Dave Gruber Allen) in the subway. This leads to the perfect field test for Holtzmann’s new gear, which successfully ensnares the spook and encourages her to make the weaponry smaller and more accurate, as well as cooking up a containment unit to capture a ghost for them to study. Amazed by the experience, Patty joins the team and provides them with overalls to keep them from being slimed by the ghosts’ ectoplasm and even provides them with a vehicle, a hearse borrowed from her uncle (Ernie Hudson) that Holtzmann repurposes into something more akin to Ecto-1. The team is kept surprisingly busy as more ghost sightings are called in, and are troubled and confused by strange, burned-out devices at each location, leading to a very public display of their abilities at a heavy metal concert that sees them successfully capture a ghost and become overnight celebrities. This earns them the attention of Mayor Marth Bradley (García), who reveals that they (and Homeland Security) and well aware of the supernatural threats and cautions the group that they’ll be publicly labelled as fraudsters despite his office acknowledging their contributions to the situation. Undeterred, the Ghostbusters continue their research, continue to get calls, and continue to pay their bills and build more accessories for their actions, presumably eating into their savings since none of them have a family home to remortgage.

Rowan’s mad plot sees him unleash ghosts upon the city and become a gigantic spirit!

This minor plot point aside, I have to say that I enjoyed the rapport between the four leads. I could’ve done with less toilet humour from the always obnoxious McCarthy (who’s clearly been given license to ad-lib a lot of her lines, leading to some awkward moments) and the two cringe-inducing musical numbers, but the four had great chemistry. I must’ve missed how she and Abby fell out but their issues are quickly worked out within the first fifteen minutes as Erin is swept up in Abby and Holtzmann’s paranormal research. Holtzmann was a great standout for me; I loved how wacky and enthusiastic she was. Patty was also great, being loud and having a down-to-earth attitude that made for some fun comedic moments. It definitely felt like the four bounced off each other well and were left to do their own thing with the material, and I liked that they didn’t bog down the runtime with immature disagreements or love triangles. Kevin is mostly played as a bumbling idiot who can’t work a phone properly but is easy on the eyes (for Erin, at least), while even Mayor Bradley acknowledges their good work despite having to discredit them to keep ghosts a secret. They’re very real, however, and being actively summoned through devices built and placed by doomsayer Doctor Rowan North (Casey), a socially maladjusted man who’s been convinced by a horde of malevolent spirits that the world needs to be “cleansed” by breaching the barrier between the living and the dead. He plants these devices along “ley lines” to break down the barriers, and ultimately crosses over himself when he commits suicide after being confronted by the Ghostbusters, an act that only increases his power as his spirit possess first Abby and then Kevin. Far from seeking to bring forth an Eldritch God, Rowan wishes to unleash the spirits of the dead upon the world and trigger an apocalypse, leading to a string of ghosts to rum amok through Times Square in a surprisingly impressive CGI finale that evokes both the original movie and the cartoon with some off the ghosts’ wacky designs.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Although I was surprised by how much I didn’t mind this version of Ghostbusters, it is strange to me that the filmmakers went for a full-blown reboot rather than trying to tie it into the original canon. This is doubly confusing by the cameos from returning actors as Patty could have easily been Winston Zeddemore’s niece, Erin could’ve been the daughter of one of the other original Ghostbusters, and Mayor Bradley’s line about the paranormal being covered up could easily have been used to explain why the Ghostbusters have been defunct for so long. I just find it odd, especially as Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and the later legacy sequels showed that a generational story could work in this universe. To its credit, though, Ghostbusters does do things a little differently. For starters, we spend more time with them field testing their equipment and Holtzmann puts together a bunch of different gadgets for them to use, including ghost-busting grenades and a glove accessory, though sadly I felt their new uniforms left a lot to be desired and Ecto-1 is largely an afterthought until the finale despite boasting its own armaments. Secondly, the team have to earn their firehouse by saving the city, meaning they’re working in cramped quarters for the entire film and the team seem far less adept with their cobbled together equipment, often being knocked on their asses or flung through the air for comedic value. This isn’t to say that they’re incompetent, but it’s interesting that these Ghostbusters are more likely to flip out in excitement and appear like raving lunatic compared to their more subdued predecessors. I was glad that the film didn’t fall back on crude, man-hating humour but the toilet humour and musical numbers were a bit weird. The movie seems to be trying to force comedy where the original so effortlessly executed it, and it doesn’t always land. Hemsworth is funny in his role and there were some good moments between the leads, but often it felt like this was more accidental than intended. I liked that the four come together much faster than the original four, allowing a lot of screen time and personality for each, though we learn more about Erin than any of the others until Holtzmann’s surprisingly emotional toast in the finale.

The team’s gadgets, rapport, and the film’s ghosts were surprisingly entertaining.

This Ghostbusters also veers into the horror aspect in surprising ways. Obviously, there’s no blood or gore but the ghosts are pretty horrific here, appearing as looming, intimidating spectres that roar and spew ectoplasm and loom from dark corners. The subway ghost (apparently the victim of the electric chair) was surprisingly menacing, as was the gargoyle that terrorises the heavy metal concert and gives Ozzy Osbourne a scare. In fact, the ghosts and the special effects were really impressive here, even though there are obvious moments where the film was pandering to the 3D craze of the time, potentially because the filmmakers are mixing real actors and practical effects with the CGI. Fan favourite Slimer (Adam Ray) even briefly shows up and the Ghostbusters tackle a spectral balloon parade during the final act, eventually being squashed and almost suffocated by an inflatable Mr. Stay Puft. These balloon ghosts were really fun and reminded me of the old cartoon, as did the barrage of malicious spirits Rowan unleashes upon Times Square. While it’s kind of crazy that the ghosts attack one at a time rather than using their obvious superior numbers and powers, this is an impressive showcase of the Ghostbusters’ teamwork, camaraderie, and Holtzmann’s gadgets as they evaporate spirits all over the place. They tackle a skeletal pilgrim, a towering, monstrous corruption of Uncle Sam, and innumerable wicked spirits in an all-action showcase the original film could only dream of. It’s a good thing these special effects work so well as Ghostbusters is crammed full of some of the most egregious product placement I’ve ever seen, to the point where it’s almost painful, to say nothing of its parade of cameos. It’s nice to see the original actors show up but it’s also kind of a slap in the face since they dragged their feet on making a third movie, only to later return to their roles anyway. It just makes me wish the film had been a legacy sequel, or an offshoot following a new team in a new city.

Despite Rowan’s army and girth, the Ghostbusters are victorious and finally legitimise themselves.

As the Ghostbusters investigate the spate of hauntings and slowly build their confidence in tackling and trapping ghosts, they discover strange devices not unlike their proton packs at each location. Together, the four figure out that they’ve been placed at ley lines, with Erin and Abby theorising they could weaken the barriers between life and death. This is exactly what Rowan hopes to do having grown despondent by humanity and society’s treatment of him and having made contact with the malevolent spirits seeking to “pester” the living with unspeakable tortures. Ignored and mistreated by those around him, Rowan easily places his devices and grows increasingly aggravated by the Ghostbusters’ interference, before dramatically killing himself so he can possess Abby and wreck their equipment. He then upgrades to hijacking Kevin’s body to enact the final stage of his plot, the activation of a large device that, similar to the first film, unleashes a hoard of ghosts upon New York City. When the Ghostbusters’ frantic warnings are met with scorn and dismissal, they suit up to tackle the threat directly, subduing Rowan’s army and confronting him in Times Square. There, he toys with them, promises to bring about the end of days, and eventually corrupts their iconic logo to become a Kaiju-sized apparition and go on a rampage not unlike Gozer the Destructor’s (Paddi Edwards/Slavitza Jovan) as a gigantic Mr. Stay Puft and the opening sequence of the old cartoon. Though their proton packs are useless against the creature, the Ghostbusters trick Slimer into driving Ecto-1 into the swirling vortex Rowan conjured, turning it into a giant ghost trap and sucking him in. Though Rowan tries to drag Abby down with him, Erin rescues her and the team are heralded as saviours, despite Mayor Bradley continuing to downplay the paranormal threat. In the aftermath, the Ghostbusters finally move into the iconic firehouse and further upgrade their operation thanks to secret funding from city officials, constructing a containment unit and a device to monitor spooky sound waves, alerting the team to a potential threat named “Zuul”…

The Summary:
After years of hearing nothing but negativity about the Ghostbusters reboot and being sure that I would hate it due to a combination of Melissa McCarthy and what would surely be an obnoxiously anti-male stance, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. While it teases appealing to the lowest common denominator with some of McCarthy’s painfully unfunny toilet humour, the film shows some surprising restraint in its all-female approach, characterising the leads not as sex-starved bimbos or wacky nuts obsessed with their genitals but as kooky, enthusiastic, and ultimately good natured individuals who come together as a team and family to save the city. While I’m not a fan of McCarthy, I did enjoy Abby’s sisterly relationship with Erin and Holtzmann, whose energy and mad scientist aesthetic was a constant stand out. Patty was also great, bringing a grounded rawness to the team and I really enjoyed the banter with the four, who all appeared as equals and to have a deep respect for each other, even if they drive each other crazy at times. While the film hits many of the same notes as the original, I liked that it changed things just enough to stand on its own, from the different equipment, the bumbling receptionist, and the main villain. Rowan’s threat was palpable by the end and I really liked the depiction of and the variety in the ghosts, who were surprisingly creepy even when they were charging at the screen for a jump scare. While I would’ve much preferred this was a legacy sequel or a spin-off to better utilise all those cameos, I do think Ghostbusters gets a bad rap that isn’t fully justified and that perhaps things would’ve been different if it had been a legacy sequel, allowing these characters to return in future films. As is, it’s obviously not as good or as iconic as the original but nostalgia is a big part of the original’s appeal and I think there’s enough here to allow this Ghostbusters to work as a comedy/horror for a new generation.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the Ghostbusters reboot? Were you disappointed that it wasn’t a legacy sequel or do you think it works better as a standalone film? Which of the new characters was your favourite and did you like their rapport and new gadgets? What did you think to the ghosts and the bigger, action-packed finale? Did you enjoy IDW’s continuation of this universe? Which Ghostbusters film or project is your favourite and how are you celebrating Ghostbusters Day today? Whatever your thought about the Ghostbusters reboot, drop a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Ghostbusters content.

Movie Night: Non-Stop

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Released: 27 January 2014
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Distributor: Universal Pictures / StudioCanal
Budget: $28 to 50 million
Stars: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Corey Stoll, Nate Parker, and Jason Butler Harner

The Plot:
United States Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) must set aside his personal demons to save a transatlantic hijacked by vengeful terrorists seeking recompense for the September 11 attacks.

The Background:
Taken (Morel, 2008) was a surprising critical and financial success that was not only followed by two largely substandard sequels and a short-lived prequel television series, but also reinvigorated Liam Neeson’s career by recasting him as an aging action hero. As if inspiring a slew of similarly-themed movies wasn’t enough, Taken also saw Neeson star in a bunch of similarly low-budget ventures in a bid to recapture the magic of that movie. One of these was the action/thriller Unknown (Collet-Serra, 2011), which teamed Neeson with Spanish-American horror director Jaume Collet-Serra for the first time and which also resulted in notable success. Thus, Neeson was eager to reprise their working relationship with Non-Stop, a thriller that tied into very real fear about flying and acts of terrorism against the United States after the tragic and horrendous events of 9/11. Working closely with the same Special Forces trainers who work with real Air Marshals, Neeson sought to make the action as gritty and realistic as possible, resulting in some minor injuries for the eager actor. Meanwhile, Collet-Serra relished the challenge of filming on a single, enclosed set, though the script was heavily reworked to capture the vibe of fear and mistrust he wished to evoke. Despite garnering a mixed reaction from critics, Non-Stop proved a decent box office success and Neeson’s performance was praised, despite the film’s more ridiculous moments. Although there was talk of a sequel, nothing has materialised yet. Still, since today is Liam Neeson’s birthday, this seems like a good excuse to revisit it.

The Review:
Non-Stop follows a routine day in the life of morose Air Marshal Bill Marks, a man haunted by his past and who has isolated himself from his peers, friends, and family, preferring a good smoke and a glass or two of whiskey over socialising or confronting his issues. As if still grieving for his young daughter, who tragically died of leukaemia when she was five, and the break-up of his marriage wasn’t bad enough, Marks is irritated that he must board a transatlantic flight to London and stay in the United Kingdom for three days. This leads to a heated call to his supervisor and Marks being especially grouchy and dismissive of his fellow passengers, such as computer whiz Zack White (Parker), the overly chatty Tom Bowen (McNairy), and even his fellow Air Marshal, the condescending Jack Hammond (Anson Mount). In fact, just about the only people Marks isn’t rude towards are Becca (Quinn McColgan), a young girl travelling alone to meet her father, Nancy (Michelle Dockery), a flight attended with whom Marks is already familiar (enough that she brings him a bottle of water when he orders a gin and tonic), and fellow passenger Jen Summers (Moore), who comforts Marks when he shows distress and displeasure as the plane takes off. I can relate to that; flying is an awful experience and it’s comforting knowing a guy as seasoned in air travel as Bill Marks still gets anxious during take-off. Marks eases his anxiety with a ribbon from his daughter, a keepsake from her vast collection of “magic” ribbons that he desperately clutches to remember her and to help with the transition. He also makes sure to regularly visit the toilet and have a cheeky smoke, blocking the vents with some duct tape, and stays in contact with the plane’s pilots, Captain David McMillan (Linus Roache) and co-pilot Kyle Rice (Harner), to ensure the flight is relaxed and smooth. Though he engages with Jen, Marks mostly just wants to be left alone and limits his interactions, though even he can’t help but be hyper aware of his surroundings and attentive to those around him, watching with envy as young couples smooch, brushing past Zack when he holds up the checking in line, and generally keeping a profile to blend in as an ordinary passenger.

Gruff Marks faces a race against time to locate a terrorist on a transatlantic flight.

Marks is therefore annoyed and disturbed when he suddenly receives a series of vague threats on his fancy little phone that demand a hefty ransom to be paid in exchange for the lives on the plane. Since Marks is working from a secure, Federal line, he initially suspects Hammond of playing a prank on him and angrily confronts him, only to be brushed off as paranoid and the victim of an elaborate hoax. However, Marks takes the threat very seriously and, with just twenty minutes to identify who’s behind the texts before a passenger is killed, recruits Nancy and Jen to watch the security monitors and identify potential suspects. As Marks texts the unknown number, with the messages cleverly popping up onscreen for our benefit, he’s shocked when Hammond appears to be a suspect and angrily confronts him in the cramped toilet. When the crooked Air Marshal first tries to bribe Marks and then frantically fights him, Marks has no choice but to break Hammond’s neck to keep the plane from being compromised by an errant gunshot. After finding a stash of cocaine in Hammond’s briefcase, Marks alerts the Transport Security Administration (TSA), only for Agent Marenick (Shea Whigham) to reveal that Marks is their chief suspect not only after his threatening call to his supervisor but by the hijacker’s account number being listed in Marks’ name. Thus, Marks receives no support from Marenick, who orders him to stand down and begins negotiating with him as though he’s a terrorist, even ordering Captain McMillan to relieve Marks of his badge and gun. Undeterred, Marks takes Hammond’s firearm and continues his surreptitious investigation, eventually fingering Bowen after he reveals he was paid to engage with Marks at the airport. Although Agent Marenick insists that Bowen is clean, Marks manhandles and detains him before the shocked passengers, raising the suspicions of New York cop Austin Reilly (Stoll) and even alienating Jen when she asks too many questions. When Captain McMillan is suddenly and fatally poisoned and Marks’ next suspect also suddenly dies from anaphylactic shock, the situation worsens when video footage from the passengers paints Marks as a paranoid, dangerous man with nothing to lose who’s accosting passengers, searching them at gunpoint and under the guise of some higher authority, while plotting to bring the plane down as some kind of statement.

Marks’ erratic behaviour raises suspicion amongst the passengers and crew.

Considering how paranoid and terrified September 11 left the United States, in particular, the passengers, led by Reilly, grow increasingly concerned and incensed, especially when Marks forces them into one cabin and searches his chief suspects, coming up empty handed each time. Thanks to Jen chatting to Zack, Marks finds a potential solution with a computer virus, only for it to lead to bankruptcy attorney Charles Wheeler (Frank Deal) who, as mentioned, is killed by a poisoned dart. Investigating this leads Marks to briefly suspect Jen, who convinces him of her innocence by sharing how she nearly died and is facing a sudden death from a heart condition, and Marks loses Kyle’s support when Royal Air Force (RAF) jets force the plane to redirect to Iceland due to the perceived threat. After discovering a time bomb in Hammond’s briefcase, Marks desperately prepares for the worst-case scenario and is suddenly jumped by the terrified passengers, who are determined to overwhelm their apparent hijacker and keep from being killed like the unfortunate souls in 9/11. However, an unexpected assist from the bound and scared Bowen sees Marks released and he delivers an emotional tirade to the plane, admitting his flaws and insisting that he’s trying to save them, regardless of the damage to his reputation, winning them over and seeing even Reilly and Zack help pack the briefcase bomb against the rear-end of the plane to reduce the damage from the inevitably explosion. Marks is equally aided by Doctor Fahim Nasir (Omar Metwally), who faces racial profiling from the other passengers, especially when he’s let into the cockpit to attend to Captain McMillan, and faces an uphill battle first keeping the situation quiet and under control and then dealing with the accusations about his chequered past.

The Nitty-Gritty:
This paranoia and fear is palpable in Non-Stop, one of many post-9/11 movies that dealt with the fallout from that horrific event and the way the world changed as a result. Following the hijacking of those planes, Air Marshals became more prominent and were charged with identifying and subduing potential risks, though the capability and suitability of such agents is specifically being questioned by the hijackers in this film. Marks is the perfect candidate to be put to the test given his violent past, unpredictable nature, and withdrawn personality, which paint him as an unstable individual, something not helped by his gruff attitude and demanding nature. Almost everything he says and does is easily taken out of context when filmed by the passengers and in his conversations with Agent Marenick, despite Marks insisting he’ll surrender himself once they land and demanding that the plane be lowered to even out the pressure once the bomb explodes. As someone who abhors air travel, I appreciated Non-Stop’s depiction of flying, especially the traumatising take-off, the buffeting of turbulence, and the concern whenever there’s a technical glitch. I loved that Marks hates flying and is deeply uncomfortable while taking off and when in the air, and the use of such claustrophobic and restrictive sets. Marks is a big dude and seems to struggle in such a confined space, which leads to some thrilling and impactful close quarters combat that’s very visceral and raw. It was very tense seeing everyone packed like sardines in a can, and watching Marks desperately try to spot the perpetrator and constantly being restricted by the environment. It also doesn’t help that the few allies he has grow frustrated with his stern demeanour and suspicious behaviour, with the pilots and cabin crew gradually losing faith in him until it’s revealed he really is on their side and that there’s a very real threat that requires everyone to chip in to defend against. This leads to an inspirational moment of co-operation as prejudices and paranoia are set aside and everyone works together to lower the risk faced to them all, even with the threat of being shot down looming from the jet fighters.

Marks wins over the crew and saves the plane, despite a rough landing!

After learning that video footage of his wild actions has gone viral, Marks demands to review the video and sees that Bowen slipped an incriminating phone to Wheeler while being detained. This makes Marks realise all-too late that he had the right guy all along. This grievous error leads to Reilly being held hostage and then injured by a gunshot, and Marks attacked by Zack, who’s revealed to be Bowen’s partner. Bowen, who was left traumatised when the September 11 attacks not only revealed the failings of the air security system but also killed his father, signed up to fight against those who perpetrated the attacks, only to return home and find things were no different and had actually gotten worse since Air Marshals are so unpredictable. Bowen aimed to frame Marks and force the United States to tighten their air security laws, thus preventing further attacks and ensuring the safety of innocents, and convinced Zack to help him with the promise of a big payoff for them and other veterans, though Bowen is fully prepared to go down with the plane. This gives Marks the chance to try and convince Zack to help by disarming the bomb, leading Bowen to wound his partner with a gunshot, though a sudden descent from Rice allows Marks to overpower and dramatically kill the misguided Bowen. When Zack attacks with a knife, Marks delivers an awesome retort and fights him with nothing but his grizzled bare hands and an oxygen mask, a conflict that ends when Marks shoves Zack into the path of the bomb’s explosion. With the plane being torn apart from g-force, Rice struggles to maintain control and execute a messy landing, one that sees part of the plane torn off and Marks and Jen desperately dragging Becca to safety. In the end, the plane grinds to a halt and the shellshocked passengers quickly disembark, with the media now labelled Marks a hero and even Agent Marenick giving him his props. Marks also earns the gratitude of the injured Reilly and emotional Becca, before presumably leaving to spark up a relationship with Jen and keep hold of the hansom money now sitting in that bank account.

The Summary:
Given how poorly received the Taken sequels were, I’ve long said that I wished Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, had been placed in other thrilling scenarios, with each film in the franchise having a different title and a handful of shared characters, not unlike the Dirty Harry series (Various, 1971 to 1988). Therefore, I’ve always felt one of the biggest disappointments about Non-Stop is that it wasn’t a substitute for Taken 2 (Megaton, 2012), with the premise being rewritten to place Mills in this situation. As much as I enjoy the movie, I feel this would’ve made it a lot more interesting and engaging, though the role of Bill Marks does give Neeson a chance to showcase his range. Unlike Mills, Marks is a dejected and haunted man, a self-confessed alcoholic who’s isolated himself since he was (understandably) too afraid to watch his little girl suffer and die. He’s a gruff, grizzled man who makes demands without thinking and is so determined to safeguard lives that he doesn’t care if he gets branded as a terrorist and a hijacker. This costs him valuable time and the trust of the passengers and crew, making his uphill battle even harder since he bullies his way through the situation, desperate to resolve it as quickly as possible, and ends up having to win over the justifiably unnerved passengers to make progress. Non-Stop does a great job of capturing the nervousness of air travel following 9/11 and the fear of those around us. This leads to racial prejudice as even Marks is suspected because he’s of Irish descent, and plays right into Bowen’s hands since he believes the system is fundamentally flawed and requires a dramatic example to change it. Non-Stop is much more of a thriller than an action piece, with Marks constantly against the clock and desperately trying to find his man, though the brief spurts of action are very engaging thanks to the claustrophobic sets and the setting limiting gun fire. Liam Neeson carried the film with his intense, cantankerous performance but he’s supported by some decent character actors, such as Corey Stoll and Nate Parker. I can’t say that Non-Stop is a film I put on all the time and I wouldn’t necessarily rank it that highly in Liam Neeson’s filmography, but it’s an under-rated action/thriller that definitely holds its own, and I imagine it especially hits the mark for those affected by 9/11 or who are still afraid to fly!

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Non-Stop? What did you think to Liam Neeson’s performance as a more tortured soul? Would you have preferred to see it reworked into a Taken sequel or do you think it works as a standalone piece? What did you think to tense game of cat and mouse and Marks’ struggle to find his man? Did you find the close-quarters setting suitably unnerving? How did 9/11 impact you and what are your thoughts on Air Marshals? How are you celebrating Liam Neeson’s birthday and what is your favourite Liam Neeson film? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my reviews of other Liam Neeson films on the site.