John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum: Film Review

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum: Film Review

Cast: Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Halle Berry, Laurence Fishburne, Asia Kate Dillon, Anjelica Huston
Director: Chad Stahelski

Keanu's back picking up his besuited assassin John Wick just moments after the end of John Wick 2, where he was declared excommunicado and a multi-million dollar bounty placed on his head.

With everyone apparently after him, Wick has to try and clear his name, and set the record straight as he deals with the consequences to his actions...

For the first half of the film, John Wick: Chapter 3- Parabellum is a taut, inventive brawler that finds new ways to breathe life into the genre.

Its commitment to bone-crunching beat downs delivered with tightly choreographed almost balletic fights are visually and kinetically thrilling.

But when the film tries to incorporate a mystical and mysterious edge, striving to flesh out the nefarious High Table organisation, it wallows in its pomposity, much to the detriment of why Wick worked before - a man on the run, or a man desperate to get out. It meanders when it should be sleek, and goes for lazy gunplay in one elongated section, when stripped back offers more pleasure.

In fact the fleshing out of the universe is almost criminal, a wider context not needed within the framework of why these films work.

Add to that a need to throw in some comedy with potential assassins turning out to be fans of Wick and the film testers dangerously into unwarranted self-knowing, winking territory .

It’s fatal to the vibe that’s gone previously and does little to stop the script dipping into campy one liners and dialogue delivery.

Reeves however excels, his Wick looking beaten, fragile and trapped when needed- but reeves digs deep to allow Wick the physical and emotional heft to fight back.

John Wick: Chaper 3 - Parabellum isn’t a full disaster. It’s a film of two halves and those involved in future elements would be wise to step back, regroup and reassess why the series was working and to build on those foundations, and stick to the basics, rather than trying to flesh it all out.

Free Solo: DVD Review

Free Solo: DVD Review

Released by Madman Home Ent

There's an inordinate amount of set-up in Free Solo, the documentary that centres around what many would perceive as madness.

It's the story of Alex Hannold, the climber who's gained fame for going up tall mountains, without support or ropes. This follows him as he prepares for the ascent of El Capitan in Yosemite in 2017.

The first part of the doco is the usual stock standard character stuff - peppered by some more intriguing and interesting moments. Hannold undergoes an MRI to see if he's wired differently, reveals how much time he spends living in a van - it all goes to provide a portrait of someone who's definitely different to many others.

But the built up is like an extremely long tease as everyone is really just waiting for the climb itself.

Which it has to be said, delivers.

Shot from the bottom up to give the sense of scale for El Capitan and Hannold's actual feat, it's a vertiginous pay-off for what's gone ahead, a true salute to man's achievement.

It's worth it, also for the growing sense of guilt and unease on the ground - both from Alex's girlfriend but also the camera crew who wonder how complicit they would be should anything happen.

Ultimately, Free Solo delivers in its last 20 minutes - but like the mountain size itself, it's a big climb to get there.

Holmes & Watson: Blu Ray Review

Holmes & Watson: Blu Ray Review

Released by Sony Home Ent

The reteaming of the StepBrothers stars Will Ferrell and John C Reilly should in theory be a success.

However, what Holmes & Watson achieves is nothing short of an utter mess.

The supersleuths are called in when Moriarty apparently threatens the life of Queen Victoria. Claiming she will die within 4 days, the game's afoot for the duo.

Mixing slapstick and the usual Ferrell over-acting, Holmes & Watson is a struggle from beginning to end. Positing Holmes as a kind of idiot is an obvious choice, given the detective is barely ever wrong.  But making him a real dolt gives the film a hard watch from beginning to end.

While Reilly and Ferrell trade on their usual bromance, the film's stultefyingly stupid script  fails to land anything other than the truly corny and wildly unoriginal. It doesn't help that Rebecca Hall is utterly wasted as a love interest for Reilly's Watson.  An odd parody of Ghost in an autopsy room is just the tip of the iceberg of where the film goes - every lazy target is hit and every gag falls flat.

Holmes & Watson isn't perhaps the worst film ever made; though, to be frank, it's up there.

Watch the God Of War documentary, Raising Kratos

Watch the God Of War documentary, Raising Kratos

Glass: DVD Review

Glass: DVD Review

There's a lot of pseudo-waffle in Glass; there's a lot of pontificating about what superheroes are, if they exist etc and there's a lot of labouring the points as this unexpected trilogy delivers its capper.

Set merely a few weeks after Split ended, Bruce Willis' David Dunn, complete with trenchcoat, is on the heels of the Horde and their monstrous member the Beast (another ferocious turn by McAvoy), following a series of abductions.

But when both the Beast and Dunn are captured and imprisoned in a sanitarium run by Dr Ellie Staple (Paulson, in expositionary mode), they find themselves questioning if they are superheroes or freaks of a medical nature.

Things are further complicated when it's revealed that also staying at the hospital under duress is Samuel L Jackson's Elijah Price aka Mr Glass....

Glass does not deliver what you'd expect, or perhaps what you'd hope for.

In some ways, that's a great thing, but it's also a stumbling block as the film lurches tonally between drama and psychobabble.

Once again McAvoy is resplendent in the role, bringing the physicality and ferocity of Split back to life as he pivots between characters with ease, imbuing the Horde with the subtleties of difference and the scale of screen grandeur that's needed.

Willis is muted, and almost sidelined in the film, adding a requisite level of tragedy to the tortured hero. And Jackson is, to be frank, solid but borderline annoying as he espouses meta-dialogue gifted him by Shyamalan, who's keen to labour each comic book point and make sure you don't miss a single one. Subtlety is not on show here, with exposition heavy scenes dulling the impact of what's gone prior.

Shymalan goes the circuitous route in Glass, fiddling with expectations and wrongfooting you at every turn. He delivers comic book action in a different way, with fights happening from other perspectives rather than the smash and crash you're used to - it's not exactly bravura stuff, but it is notable that someone's trying something different with the genre in a saturated smash-em-up market.

There's creepiness aplenty, and while you may not be emotionally invested in the Glass-half-full-glass-half-empty characters on show, Glass delivers something akin to a muted crescendo of a trilogy ender.

It stymies itself in the asylum sequences and shuts down the excitement of the earlier scenes and also films (Unbreakable and Split) - but it does deliver something which proffers an occasionally more cerebral take on a genre that's now de rigeur.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Film Review

Pokémon Detective Pikachu: Film Review 

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Kathryn Newton, Justice Smith, Bill Nighy
Director: Rob Letterman

How you feel about the family friendly Pokémon Detective Pikachu will depend largely on how you feel about the crazed cult of Pokémon.

The uninitiated may struggle with the film, which is set in a world where both Pokémon and humans co-exist, thanks to the benevolent Howard Clifford (Nighy) who believes co-existence and betterment is possible.

One who doesn't agree is 21-year-old Tim (an awkward Justice Smith) who resents the Pokémon and refuses to be paired up with them like others. When he discovers his dad is missing after a car accident, Tim goes to Ryme City, the hub of the human Pokémon harmony, and ends up working with Ryan Reynolds' Pikachu to try and solve the case.

If you're a Pokémon fan, you will adore this film, packed as it is with creatures from the cards and the TV series, and no doubt riddled with Easter eggs.

But, to be honest, for all others, it's kind of middling, narratively flat fare that's more about its nostalgia than a degree of coherence, and its plot is saddled with exposition for character development and sees a lurching plot stop and start while someone drops reams of necessary explanation.

There are elements of everything that's gone before here, with a Zootopia mesh, some Roger Rabbit hating of the opposites, X-Men, a film of fathers and sons and other all-too familiar sci-fi DNA tropes that can be seen a mile off. It unfortunately cripples part of the movie, as you can see what's coming before it hits, lacking weight and heft when it should.

In fairness, Ryme City is wonderfully realised, a kind of cartoony Blade Runner cityscape that shows the co-existence with ease. And Reynolds' trademark motormouth may be dialled down this time, but it still gives the over-caffeinated Pikachu some much needed laughs here and there. The buddy cop relationship between Pikachu and Tim makes for amiable fare as well.

But Pokémon Detective Pikachu lacks the noir edges it's clearly aspiring to, saddling everything with heavy flashbacks early on to paint the portraits and relying on audience love and nostalgia to forego the repetitive simplicities of the plot. And that could be fatal, seeing as newer audiences are what will continue this series.

In truth, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is less gumshoe, more candy coloured gum stuck to your cinematic shoe. The series' refrain may be that you "gotta catch them all", but if you're not in the in-crowd, you should be happy to let this one go free.

Win a double pass to see BRIGHTBURN

Win a double pass to see BRIGHTBURN

What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?

With Brightburn, the visionary filmmaker of Guardians of the Galaxy and Slither presents a startling, subversive take on a radical new genre: superhero horror.

Directed by

David Yarovesky

Written by

Brian Gunn & Mark Gunn

Produced by

James Gunn, Kenneth Huang

Executive Producers

Brian Gunn, Mark Gunn, Simon Hatt, Dan Clifton, Nic Crawley, Kent Huang

Cast

Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Matt Jones, and Meredith Hagner

Brightburn is in cinemas May 23

All you have to do is email your details and the word BRIGHTBURN!

Email now to  darrensworldofentertainment@gmail.com 
Or CLICK HERE NOW  

Competition closes 23rd May.