Metro Exodus: PS4 Review

Metro Exodus: PS4 Review

Developed by 4A Games
Platform: PS4

Metro: Last Light was a riveting experience.

But Metro: Exodus has taken that to another level, with the latest game from Dmitry Glukhovsky's novels revelling in the atmospherics and diving deeper into the world.

In the latest first person shooter, you find yourself as Artyom in the Russian post-apocalyptic wastelands, where shooting and horror are the only constants. As if dealing with post rag-tag humans isn't bad enough, there are also mutated horrific creatures to deal with as well.

But as if survival isn't enough, this game is not your typical run and gun and hope to survive. Pulling in elements of maintenance as well, Metro: Exodus delights in keeping you aware of the surroundings and ensuring your equipment is always in tiptop condition.

Beginning within a nuclear winter and spanning a year, it's about survival and dealing with more unstable elements than ever before as you begin to search for life beyond the Metro...

Beautifully realised and with some truly edge-of-the-seat jump scares, Metro Exodus makes a case for one of the best survivalist shooters out there - from the small details like dirt on your gas mask to some real jolts, the game's prided itself on being atmospheric in extremis, and engrossing as it plays out.

There's the usual QTEs in place, and the game does style over substance at times, but that doesn't detract from what Deep Silver is trying to achieve with it. In some ways, in terms of style, it's a mix of Far Cry's New Dawn post-apocalypse world and Doom style creatures piling in on you as it swirls up stealth and gunplay in equal amount. There are a few issues with long load times here and there, but with a game looking like this, it's to be expected - though one can only hope long term, it's sorted.

All in all, Metro: Exodus is an engrossing game, one which shows that once the story mechanics are truly realised and the game elements folded in, a post-apocalyptic world can be more than its cliches would suggest.

New Avengers Endgame trailer drops

New Avengers Endgame trailer drops

A Brand new Avengers Endgame trailer has released, showing new suits for the gang and a new look for Captain Marvel.

Watch it below

Destroyer: Film Review

Destroyer: Film Review

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Tatiana Maslany, Scoot McNairy, Sebastian Stan, Bradley Whitford
Director: Karyn Kusama

As thrilling as it can be to see Nicole Kidman completely transformed in this role of Erin Bell, the intricacies of what Karyn Kusama has constructed may lead some to recall the winding narrative of True Detective.

Kidman is detective Erin Bell, who discovers at a crime scene that a body has a connection to a case from her past, and the possibility that a gang boss (Kebbell) she once believed dead is somehow back.

Setting out on a dogged trail, Bell finds the dots from her past reconnecting as the former LAPD detective gets more deeply involved.

Destroyer is a hard film to endure at times, such is its unrelenting commitment to bleakness.

And despite a transformed Kidman's tenacious grip on proceedings, she's occasionally  a hard emotional and unempathetic character to latch on to, no matter how intriguing proceedings are.

But where Destroyer triumphs is in layering a narrative that takes a little time to crack.

As the pieces on the board shift and re-align, things start to fall into place as they should, eventually rewarding you for your efforts. And it's here that Destroyer's strength seems to appear, thanks to
Kidman's gritty turn and the fact she's shuffling through past mistakes of her life.

It may be difficult to love, but it's not difficult to salute Destroyer for doing something that feels different, even if parts of the story are traditional in many ways. It could have done with some more urgency at times, but for now Destroyer shows that a combination of killer acting and material are no bad thing.

Hotel Mumbai: Film Review

Hotel Mumbai: Film Review

Cast: Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi, Jason Isaacs, Anupam Kher
Director: Anthony Maras

Tense, claustrophobic and never once exploitative, Hotel Mumbai's recreation of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks is simultaneously nail-biting and verging on the factual.

Dev Patel is a worker at the Taj Hotel, one of those places targeted by Pakistani militants who launch a series of attacks to wreak chaos. Trapped inside and with time running out, a group of disparate guests and hotel workers try to survive.

Hotel Mumbai has a sense of claustrophobia, a sense of terror and a sense of the unending mercilessness of terrorism. As the almost robotic servants carry out their master's bidding communicated to them via phone lines, there's a true feeling of horror as the attacks take place, a relentless march against the perversion and hatred of other's ways of life.

But Maras, while delivering an almost workman-like and straight forward retelling of events, never once slips into the exploitative, giving it a feeling of something sickening growing with dread throughout.

The thing with Hotel Mumbai is that the film's unswerving dedication to the unfolding reality of a terrorist attack helps it to grip, and leaving you twisting in its grimmer edges.

What Maras is smart enough to do is to realise that within the horror of every crisis, there is humanity to be found at every level.

While he does use the story of Hammer and  Boniadi's baby being trapped and separated with their sitter to promote some tension, he's wise enough to not milk it for all it's worth and just leave you teetering on the edge of your seat. Slivers of background provide enough to guide an audience in, and don't feel like sentimental set-up sap.

It's this element of sensitivity with the film's truly awful premise that helps ground Hotel Mumbai into a gripping and sickening watch.

Equally Patel and Kher show the humanity of the staff and the humility of their approach that the guest comes first, no matter what the situation. It's horrifying in many ways, but like any disaster film, it's the human elements which shine through in Hotel Mumbai to keep the light burning.

Ultimately, Hotel Mumbai's commitment to the reality of the Mumbai terror attacks means the film passes without direct judgement on those perpetrating them. There's a subtlety in the condemnation that does play out, but not an overtness - it's a key difference in making this disaster movie crowd-pleasing and turning tragedy into gripping drama.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: DVD Review

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: DVD Review

In truth, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald struggles to justify carrying on the franchise into five-films beast.

From the pen of JK Rowling and expanding on what was a flimsy compendium of creatures, the latest picks up the end thread of the appearance of nasty wizard Grindelwald (Depp, bleached white, and downplaying the menace for once) and ups the ante with talk of shattering the fragile peace between the wizarding world and the Muggles.

Finding himself in the centre of all this is Eddie Redmayne's awkward, but openly honest and pure-of-heart Newt Scamander, still being punished for his altruistic actions in Fantastic Beasts.

To say more, is to break the marketing omerta imposed on all reviewers, but suffice to say the problem with Fantastic Beasts 2 is that it gets tied up in its own world, starts talking only to its own and not the average Muggle who's not that keen on every throwback.

Character arcs feel unformed with one twist feeling unearned and emotionally underwhelming, demanding you appreciate them because you met them in the last film, rather than for their own journey.

And for a film whose subtitle is The Crimes of Grindelwald, Grindelwald himself carries out scant any crimes - although given the uproar of Johnny Depp's casting as the veiled Trumpian baddie, some may strongly disagree.

The major problem is a lot of what's delivered here is swathed in large amounts of world-building, of set-up and of promises further down the line; sub-plots swirl and float, leaving undernourished edges to waft among the murkily executed CGI.

Of the principal cast, Depp is serviceable and serves really to bookend the film; Redmayne and Waterston conjure up the same kind of tension that was last seen executed by Edward and Bella in The Twilight Saga; and Law brings a heart and earnestness to a young Dumbledore which is sorely needed to anchor the film's lack of anything else.

Ultimately, the Fantastic Beasts film series needs to deliver more of a case for being fantastic and bring the magic back to the world - and feel like less of an ill-conceived thinly-veiled cash grab to extend a dying franchise. 

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: DVD Review

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms: DVD Review

Possibly the best-looking film of the year, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms' fairytale approach is the one thing strongly in its favour.

Foy plays Clara, whose life is staccato following the death of her mother; with her father trying to ensure Christmas still happens, even though nobody is interested, Clara's given a gift from her departed mother - a locked egg that says everything she seeks is within.

During attending an annual festive ball, Clara finds herself pulled into the magical world that's facing danger from Mother Ginger (Mirren). Recruited by Sugar Plum (Knightley in Marilyn Monroe squeaky voice territory) to help, Clara finds her loyalties torn as she tries to save the realms from falling into war.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms's production aesthetic is second-to-none, and is Oscar-worthy in extremis.

Every sequence oozes with sumptuous details, with figures from fantasy tales standing out and with each scene dripping with colour and attention to detail. It's almost overwhelming, but does go some way to setting the fantasy tone needed for the film, whose plot sadly falls flat and feels uninspired and underwhelming at best.

The message is easy to decipher from early on, and even though Foy tries, she can't quite summon enough of the depth needed to sell the lighter story to an audience. Knightley's flouncy Sugar Plum is a joy to behold, although Mirren's baddie Mother Ginger feels underwritten and inconsequential.

Ultimately, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms feels more shallow than a tale as old as time should.

Its fantastical visual images may capture the audience of a younger generation, but in truth, they may get restless later on with the film as it ploughs a furrow between whimsy and empowerment message.

It may have some elements of visual pleasure, but The Nutcracker and the Four Realms is more a confectionary headrush than a nourishing lasting pleasure. 

Creed II: Blu Ray Review

Creed II: Blu Ray Review

Essentially lacking the knockout blow that helped the first Creed achieve a technical win at the box office, Creed II does much you'd expect a film about pugilist pride to handle and still delivers a solid bout in the cinematic ring - even if you've seen a lot of it before in Rocky IV.

This time around, Michael B Jordan's Adonis Creed is on the top of the world - having won the Heavyweight champion title, and with his relationship with singer girlfriend Bianca (Thompson, making good of a role that barely calls on her for more than support and a few rote relationship scenes).

But when Ivan Drago, the song of the boxer who killed his father in the ring challenges him to a bout, Creed has no choice but to rise to the challenge, with or without the help of Rocky Balboa.

Creed II is as formulaic a sequel as you could expect for a boxing franchise that has spawned more than a few of them in its time. That's to say it very much wants to hit the beats of an expected sequel, and does so with veritable ease and aplomb.

However, without Coogler at the helm this time, and with a script that relies heavily on sports commentators providing the exposition via match commentary, it feels somewhat flat and lacking the killer punch, preferring instead to provide the requirements like a training montage and some inspiring speeches when necessary.

Jordan makes the best of his pride-before-a-fall arc, and there's a lot to be viewed in the hubris of the boxer and the subtext of American arrogance against Russian brute strength.

Equally Muntenau as Drago's son does much with what little he has as well, with hints of family tensions nicely put in place, and cinematography showing the icy conditions of Russia against the relationship opulence of Creed.

A reliance on the aforementioned commentary leads to a feeling the film's been heavily subsidised by pay-per-view channels, and robs Creed II of the kind of emotional depth and heft that was present the first time around. And what's outside the ring is more emotionally hefty than what's in - even if it does occasionally veer into heavy-handed territory.

All that said, while this doesn't quite go the full 12 rounds of cinematic excellence, it does provide a solid title card and spirited defence of the sports sequel, thanks in part to Jordan and also a taciturn Stallone as Balboa who's terrified of history repeating itself.

But with moments like an enforced family rift laid on heavier than repeated body blows raining down, Creed II emerges a victor only on a technicality, rather than delivering a knockout from beginning to end.