Violent Night review

Director: Tommy Wirkola
Cast : David Harbour, John Leguizamo, Alex Hassell, Alexis Louder, Leah Brady, Cam Gigandet, Edie Patterson, Beverly D’Angelo
Genre: Action/Comedy
Run Time : 112 min
Opens : 1 December 2022
Rating : M18

He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, and if you’ve been especially bad, he might bash your knees in with a sledgehammer, or maybe stab you in the eye with the star atop the Christmas tree (before plugging the Christmas lights into the mains). This is the take-no-prisoners version of Santa Claus featured in this action comedy.

It is Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus (David Harbour) is busy delivering presents to children around the world. He happens to be visiting the Lightstone estate as terrorists led by Scrooge (John Leguizamo) break into the compound and hold the family hostage. The hostages include Lightstone matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo), Gertrude’s adult son Skyler (Alex Hassell), Skyler’s estranged wife Margie (Alexis Louder), Skyler and Margie’s young daughter Trudy (Leah Brady), Skyler’s sister Alva (Edie Patterson), Alva’s boyfriend Morgan (Cam Gigandet) and Alva’s son Bert (Alexander Elliot). Gertrude has stashed away $300 million in a vault on the property, and Scrooge and his team are after the loot. The one thing they didn’t count on was Santa Claus saving the day in, as the title suggests, particularly brutal fashion.

Violent Night has an absolutely delightful premise: given all the arguments over several decades about whether or not Die Hard classifies as a Christmas movie, why not make a Die Hard-esque movie that is definitely a Christmas movie – by placing Santa himself at its centre? Pat Casey and Josh Miller’s screenplay is frequently funny and director Tommy Wirkola is perfectly at home with the dark humour and bloody action, having helmed the Nazi zombie horror comedy Dead Snow and its sequel Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead. Violent Night is produced by 87North, the studio behind Nobody, Kate and Bullet Train. Second unit director and stunt coordinator Jonathan Eusebio’s credits include the John Wick movies, The Fate of the Furious and Black Panther. True to its promise, Violent Night delivers lots of satisfyingly bone-crunching action.

It’s a given that Violent Night would be cynical, but sometimes, perhaps it’s a little too cynical and glib for its own good. It can be difficult to take the stakes seriously because everyone is very quippy, and the movie’s emotional moments struggle to land because they’re at odds with the bleakly tongue-in-cheek tone of the rest of the movie. There is some good action in the beginning and there’s an explosive finale, but the midsection sags a bit, not unlike Santa’s belly that shakes when he laughs (like a bowlful of jelly).

The big draw is David Harbour as Santa Claus, a role which he, if you’ll forgive us, sleighs. Harbour makes great use of his persona as a larger-than-life figure, honed via roles like Sheriff Hopper in Stranger Things, Red Guardian in Black Widow and the title character in the much-maligned Hellboy reboot. Harbour executes all the action beats convincingly, but also conveys the weariness of a man who has been alive for millennia, and whose spark is all but extinguished. The movie also sprinkles in just enough hints of a backstory for Santa. And unlike the wholly unlikeable dark Santa played by Mel Gibson in Fatman, Harbour’s version still has a loveable side.

Summary: Violent Night delivers what it says on the tin: Die Hard starring Santa Claus. It’s a darkly funny movie that features action devised by the stunt team that worked on the John Wick movies. David Harbour’s central performance as Santa is funny and even unexpectedly emotional. There’s plenty of blood and gore and the filmmakers have a lot of fun with the incongruity of bloody violence set against a holiday backdrop, even if this is far from the first movie to attempt it. With a strong premise anchored by a committed star, Violent Night is destined to be added to the Christmas action movie rotation alongside Die Hard, Lethal Weapon and Batman Returns.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Strange World review

Director: Don Hall, Qui Nguyen
Cast : Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Jaboukie Young-White, Gabrielle Union, Lucy Liu
Genre: Action/Adventure/Family
Run Time : 101 min
Opens : 24 November 2022
Rating : NC16

The family that explores together, stays together – but as with every family, this one doesn’t quite get along all the time. Disney’s 61^st animated feature film takes audiences to the centre of the earth alongside the Clades, in an homage to the pulp adventure comics of yore.

Searcher Clade (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a farmer in the land of Avalonia. Nobody has been able to cross the mountains that border Avalonia, and years ago, Searcher’s famed explorer father Jaeger (Dennis Quaid) vanished while attempting to do just that. As a boy, Searcher discovered a power-generating plant called Pando, which he now cultivates. When Pando plants across Avalonia start dying, threatening the land’s power source, Avalonia’s president and former member of Jaeger’s expedition team Callisto Mal (Lucy Liu) calls upon Searcher to help solve the problem. Searcher’s son Ethan (Jaboukie Young-White), who seems more apt to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps than in his father’s, stows away on the ship, and Searcher’s pilot wife Meridian (Gabrielle Union) joins the expedition too. The crew journeys deep below the surface of Avalonia, discovering a bizarre realm populated with unearthly creatures as they attempt to solve the Pando crisis.

Strange World is an earnest, sweet movie made by people who clearly have a great affection for classic adventure stories, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth and King Kong as two of the main reference points. There is an inventiveness to the Jules Verne-esque world-building and the characters are generally loveable. There are times when the movie is reminiscent of Atlantis: The Lost Empire, also a Disney animated movie inspired by pulp adventure tales. There’s also a big three-legged dog named Legend and putting a big dog in anything is wont to skew this reviewer’s opinion towards it.

Strange World wears its good-heartedness on its sleeve, and in addition to being an adventure story, it is very interested in a topic which Disney has covered in a few of their recent animated films: generational trauma. There is a worthwhile if not especially novel message about the expectations we place on our children and the importance of letting them find their own path. Much has been made of the character Ethan’s sexuality, but that is something that feels organic in the movie and doesn’t feel shoehorned in, and whenever it’s mentioned, it is done so very sweetly. The movie also touches on the relationship between man and nature, and the value of living harmoniously with nature. It might be too late for us here on earth, but it isn’t for the residents of Avalonia.

Unfortunately, there’s a palpable struggle between the adventure and family drama elements of Strange World. It seems to almost get there, but it never becomes wholly satisfying and thrilling in the way the stories it’s trying to evoke do. There are action scenes and moments of peril, but weirdly enough, the stakes never feel especially high, even though a big reveal towards the end does establish them as being astronomical. While Strange World is more adventure-driven than most Disney animated films, it still feels overly familiar. For example, the gelatinous comic relief character Splat is essentially a blue Flubber, with shades of Morph from Treasure Planet. When the characters bicker and argue, it is reminiscent of a real family, but it also feels like a distraction from the fantastical action. The movie is by no means boring, but it does feel longer than its 101 minutes.

Strange World has a solid voice cast. Jake Gyllenhaal is the sensitive, somewhat anxious Searcher, lending the character sincerity and a degree of insecurity. Dennis Quaid does a big, boisterous cartoon voice as the stereotypically masculine Jaeger, while Jaboukie Young-White is laid-back and endearing as Ethan. Gabrielle Union and Lucy Liu round out a voice cast that is not the starriest one in recent memory, but each of the actors makes sense in their roles.

Summary: Strange World is a loving ode to classic adventure stories, while also tackling a subject that Disney has become quite fond of lately: generational trauma. There are times when Strange World struggles to balance its pulp adventure side and its family drama side, but the overall good-naturedness of the production smooths that over. While sci-fi adventure is territory that Disney animation doesn’t often venture into, Strange World does have a comforting familiarity to it. It might not be an immediate hit, but perhaps like Atlantis: The Lost Empire, it is destined for cult status.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review

Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast : Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Winston Duke, Dominique Thorne, Florence Kasumba, Michaela Coel, Martin Freeman
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time : 161 min
Opens : 10 November 2022
Rating : PG13

2018’s Black Panther is one of the highlights of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It garnered commercial and critical success, including winning three Oscars, the first MCU movie to do so. All eyes were on director Ryan Coogler to see where Black Panther 2 would take the hero. After a tragic turn of events in real life, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever takes unexpected turns of its own, further exploring the world of Wakanda and beyond.

King T’challa has died of an illness, leaving his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) distraught. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) continues to guide her daughter as she leads the people of Wakanda. Having opened itself up to the world, the nation is vulnerable to those who wish to exploit its precious natural resource, the metal Vibranium. An expedition in search of Vibranium in the Atlantic Ocean provokes K’uk’ulkan/Namor (Tenoch Huerta), the ruler of the underwater kingdom of Talokan. Former Wakandan spy Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) must return to work alongside General Okoye (Danai Gurira) as Namor threatens to attack Wakanda. Caught in the middle of it all is a brilliant young scientist named Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), whose role in developing a Vibranium detection device has made her a target of Namor. Still shaken by her brother’s death, Shuri is faced with taking on the mantle of the Black Panther in a time of great instability.

Some have decried various MCU movies for being a little too silly, and for having humorous moments undermine dramatic stakes. That is not a problem here. Wakanda Forever is a sombre, sincere and respectful affair; the real-life passing of Chadwick Boseman infusing the film with a dignified sadness. This is a movie about grief, and responsibility in the face of said grief. It’s a movie about the decisions we make when we are affected by tragedy, and the consequences of making decisions in that state. Coogler continues to be a force to be reckoned with behind the camera, and there is the sense that this is the story he wanted to tell, and not something producers meddled extensively with. Wakanda Forever’s greatest strength is the movie’s balance of character interiority and expansive world-building, without sacrificing one for the other.

Wakanda Forever’s heaviness means it is not exactly the most exuberant, entertaining comic book movie, but it isn’t trying to be that either. Perhaps it could do with a few more cheer-worthy moments, something the first movie did not lack for, but it generally wears its seriousness well. The movie is long, and suffers the most when we are focusing on CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who shares many scenes with a character introduced in one of the Disney+ TV series. While perhaps necessary to emphasise the wider impact of the goings-on in Wakanda, this feels like distracting set-up for future, non-Black Panther related MCU projects.

The absence of Chadwick Boseman is something the movie leans into instead of avoiding. Letitia Wright is truly magnificent in a role that asks a lot of her. Shuri is pushed to the forefront as she struggles with a disdain for ancient traditions and a lack of faith in spiritual beliefs, spurred by her brother’s untimely passing. We are used to seeing Shuri being playful and intelligent, but here she is broken and understandably prone to rage. Wright plays all this without losing sight of what made the character so endearing to begin with. Bassett is also undeniable here, and her scenes with Wright are some of the movie’s most emotional.

The movie introduces Namor into the MCU. Much like his DC Comics counterpart Aquaman, there are aspects of the character that are unavoidably silly: he has pointy ears, winged ankles, and wears green trunks. The movie reimagines Namor and the civilisation he hails from, taking inspiration from Mesoamerican mythology. Some design aspects remain a little goofy, but the movie’s world-building is impressive, and Tenoch Huerta is a commanding screen presence as a complicated character, someone who is antagonistic towards our heroes but is always sympathetic. Namor’s entry into the MCU is something that fans have long been waiting for, and while this incarnation might not fit what everyone was imagining, the movie makes a good case for the changes to the source material and integrates Namor into the wider Black Panther story well.

Summary: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a movie with true gravity, more so than many recent MCU films. The movies in the franchise are sometimes in danger of feeling inconsequential, but Wakanda Forever feels like a movie that matters. The real-life death of Chadwick Boseman is handled in a respectful and dignified way, leading to a movie that has a certain heaviness and seriousness to it. The fantastical elements and world-building are balanced with an emotional honesty. Shuri gets a fantastic character arc and Letitia Wright plays her with strength and nuance. This is not the exuberant fun some audiences might be expecting from the MCU, but Wakanda Forever wears its seriousness well and is still an expansive and spectacular adventure. There is one mid-credits scene.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong