Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga review

Director: George Miller
Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Brown, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Goran D. Kleut, Nathan Jones, Josh Helman, Charlee Fraser
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-fi
Run Time: 149 min
Opens: 22 May 2024
Rating: NC16

Mad Max: Fury Road almost immediately became canonised as one of the greatest action movies ever made. Receiving ten Oscar nominations and winning six, it is a genre piece that was taken very seriously and beloved by audiences and critics alike. Director George Miller returns to the wasteland for this spin-off.   

Young Furiosa (Alyla Brown, Anya Taylor-Joy) lives in the Green Place of Many Mothers, an oasis in the middle of barren, post-apocalyptic Australia. She is kidnapped by the Biker Horde, followers of the tyrannical warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth). Furiosa’s mother Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser) attempts to rescue her. Furiosa eventually becomes caught up in a negotiation between Dementus and rival warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), who holds court in the Citadel. Furiosa teams up with war rig driver Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), learning to drive the rig herself and earning the title of Imperator. She plots to take revenge on Dementus and find her way back to the Green Place.

While some might have wanted Miller to make another mainline Mad Max film instead of a spinoff, there’s no arguing that Furiosa is suffused with the franchise’s spirit. Making this movie as a follow-up to Fury Road was always the plan; it was just going to be with Charlize Theron at first. There’s an authenticity to the weirdness, the grotesque and idiosyncratic elements, and the explosive action sequences that makes Furiosa feel like it more than belongs in the franchise – and why not, seeing as Miller remains at the helm. This is a world he has lovingly crafted for decades, a world of beautiful desolation and vehicular carnage. Action designer, supervising stunt coordinator and second unit director Guy Norris returns alongside other key crew members from Fury Road, making the elaborate action in this movie feel of a piece with those in Fury Road. A 15-minute-long war rig chase sequence involving powered paragliders swooping down onto the rig and Furiosa clambering underneath the chassis is a genuine showstopper.

Fury Road is often described as one long chase sequence, and while Furiosa does have extended set-pieces, it is structurally different and doesn’t feel like a rehash. The movie earns being called a “saga” as viewers follow Furiosa across a span of 15 years, witnessing the events that make her into the woman she is in Fury Road. This is a complete, satisfying story that works even if viewers are unfamiliar with the larger Mad Max milieu.

The Mad Max movies are synonymous with practical vehicular stunts and set-pieces, and while there is plenty of that in Furiosa, there are also moments that feel ever so slightly more synthetic than in Fury Road. It’s not as big a deal as some were making it seem when the trailer was released, and it is true that Fury Road employed lots of digital visual effects work too, but Furiosa does feel different. Maybe it has to do with Simon Duggan replacing John Seale as the cinematographer, even though much of the movie is still beautiful.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Theron do not resemble each other, but the casting works. Taylor-Joy has an undeniable screen presence and brings an intensity and physicality to her performance as Furiosa that most other roles don’t typically demand of her. As much as Furiosa is an action hero, she also has a lot of interiority and Taylor-Joy has fewer than 30 lines, meaning a lot is conveyed with just a look. Alyla Brown plays the young Furiosa and has a considerable amount of screen time (it’s about an hour before we see Taylor-Joy). Brown portrays a defiant child facing myriad horrors face-on – we know young Furiosa will make it through this, but we also can’t help but feel protective over her. \

Chris Hemsworth steals the show, playing against type as a blowhard villain. Dementus is both frightening and funny, a different type of villain from Immortan Joe. While Immortan Joe is more inhuman and monstrous, Dementus feels like a cross between a circus ringmaster and a gym bro. Hemsworth relishes lines like “Do you have the balls, the bollocks, the testes to ride with Dementus?”

Tom Burke might quietly be the movie’s MVP as Praetorian Jack, who is kind of a proto-Mad Max. The character becomes Furiosa’s ally when it feels like she can trust nobody and becomes something of a mentor to her. Burke isn’t much of an action star, but he has a steadfastness that makes him feel convincing at the wheel of the war rig.

Summary: Furiosa is an action epic that very much contains the spirit of the Mad Max franchise. Director George Miller has spent decades crafting this post-apocalyptic world, which is further explored in this spin-off. Anya Taylor-Joy might not look much like Charlize Theron, who played Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, but she does an excellent job channelling the character’s intensity, resourcefulness, and bottled rage, further proving her movie star bona fides. Chris Hemsworth is having the best time playing against type as the villain Dementus, a sadistic hybrid of circus ringmaster and gym bro. While some of the visual effects work feels a little more synthetic than in Fury Road, the action sequences are still spectacular, elaborate, and hard-hitting.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars                        

Jedd Jong

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Director: Adam Wingard
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Brian Tyree Henry, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, Fala Chen, Rachel House
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Run Time: 115 min
Opens: 28 March 2024
Rating: PG13

The Monsterverse began ten years ago with Godzilla. It was going to conclude with the fourth instalment, 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong, but that movie’s good box office performance led to a fifth movie being greenlit. And so, the Monsterverse lives to roar another day.

A few years after the events of Godzilla vs. Kong, Kong lives a relatively peaceful life in the Hollow Earth while Godzilla tangles with various other Titans on the earth’s surface. A mysterious signal coming from the Hollow Earth catches Godzilla’s attention. Dr Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall), her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), vet trapper (Dan Stevens) and conspiracy theorist Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) travel to the Hollow Earth to investigate. There, they discover hidden civilisations, including a secret colony of giant apes led by the formidable Skar King, who immediately views Kong as a threat to his reign. Kong forms an unexpected bond with Suko, a juvenile ape Titan from the Skar King’s clan.

One of my favourite subgenres is the “B-movie with an A-movie’s budget”, which Godzilla x Kong very much is. It leans into the goofiness of a classic creature feature but infuses it with the energy and kineticism of a present-day action blockbuster. If monster fights are what you want, then Godzilla x Kong has that in spades. The movie has a massive scale, featuring battles that take place in Egypt, Brazil, and Italy, among other locales. The sight of Godzilla curling up in the Colosseum to take a nap, apparently inspired by director Adam Wingard’s cat Mischief, is just wonderful. The Jules Verne-inspired sci-fi adventure vibe that Godzilla vs. Kong had is very much expanded upon in this movie, with more action taking place in the Hollow Earth.

A lot of CGI-heavy spectacles can be dark and muddy, but this movie is vibrant and delights in its colourful visuals. There are comparisons to be drawn to the campier entries of the Shōwa era of Toho’s Godzilla movies, which Wingard cites as an inspiration. Tonally, the movie isn’t ashamed of its silliness, nor is it trying to overcompensate with self-aware winks and nudges. If you liked Godzilla vs. Kong and want that but bigger, then that’s pretty much what Godzilla x Kong is.

While this is a big movie, it also feels overstuffed. There are so many monsters that it seems like some show up only to get defeated in mere seconds. While there are plenty of fights and many do take place in broad daylight, some succumb to too much shaky-cam and choppy editing, such that it can be difficult to keep track of the combatants in the space. There are plenty of monster fights, but Godzilla and Kong only really team up in the third act. The story is very reliant on ancient prophecies illustrated with wall carvings that Rebecca Hall conveys via exposition-laden dialogue. The plot often strains to justify the monster fights, which is the point after all. While a lot of the visual effects work is good, the character animation on Suko seems a little off – he’s supposed to be endearing, but he often too feels artificial, especially next to Kong.

The human characters are never the main draw of a kaiju movie, but it is possible to do them well, as in the recent Godzilla Minus One (or so I hear; that movie never made it to Singapore). Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle return from Godzilla vs Kong, all doing more of the same. The mother-daughter relationship between Andrews and Jia is meant to be the movie’s emotional centre, and both Hall and Hottle are doing the best with the material they’re given, but it’s clear the movie isn’t really interested in that.

The new main character is Dan Stevens as Trapper, reuniting the actor with his The Guest director. Stevens is having great fun as the free-spirited maverick vet and has a good rapport with Henry, who was often a little too annoying in the previous movie and seems to benefit from playing against Stevens here. Fala Chen shows up, but unfortunately, her character is mostly a plot device and doesn’t have any lines.

Summary: Godzilla x Kong is a supersized version of its immediate predecessor in the Monsterverse. The movie packs in monster fights and is a vibrant, energetic spectacle. The extensive visual effects work is mostly good, and the movie generally operates in the right mode of silly. The story strains under the weight of the spectacle and the movie isn’t really interested in generating human emotion, but all the actors do what’s asked of them well. Dan Stevens is a fun addition as a maverick vet. If the Monsterverse continues, it might not be able to stay in this lane forever, but for the time being, this is a good place for the franchise to be.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom review

Director: James Wan
Cast: Jason Momoa, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Amber Heard, Dolph Lundgren, Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Randall Park
Genre: Action/Adventure/Fantasy
Run Time: 124 min
Opens: 20 December 2023
Rating: PG13

When Aquaman was released in 2018, few could have foreseen that it would go on to become the highest-grossing DC movie of all time. Five years later, its sequel rolls around, bringing with it the end of the DC Extended Universe. DC movies will continue to get made a new cinematic universe is in the offing, but the oft-tumultuous journey that began with Man of Steel in 2013 ends with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Arthur Curry/Aquaman is settling into life as a husband and father and as the King of Atlantis. An old threat rears his head in the form of David Kane/Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who was defeated by Aquaman in the first film and has since been plotting his revenge. Black Manta has discovered the remnants of the fabled Lost Kingdom of Necrus in Antarctica, acquiring the powerful Black Trident. He is haunted by the Kingdom’s long-dormant leader King Kordax (Pilou Asbæk), the brother of Atlantis’ first king Atlan (Vincent Regan). Aquaman turns to his half-brother, the exiled former ruler of Atlantis Orm Marius/Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson). Orm is being punished for murdering the Fisherman King in the first film and is imprisoned in a desert cavern. Together, they must overcome their differences to battle Black Manta and save Atlantis and the world at large.

One of the best things about the first Aquaman film was that it didn’t seem bound by the desire to be tough, gritty, and badass which had constrained some DC movies before it. Director James Wan leaned into the sillier aspects of the source material, embracing them in a whole-hearted way rather than acknowledging them with self-aware winks and nods. At its best, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom echoes that. The movie excels when it leans into its fantasy adventure elements, with much inspiration taken from Jules Verne stories like 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. The production design by Bill Brzeski includes lots of steampunk touches, and the Octobots with their multifunctional mechanical limbs are especially cool. Black Manta has a Bond villain-esque volcano lair, and our heroes briefly visit a “dive” (heh) bar that’s a hangout for undersea no-goodniks. Parts of the movie burst with imagination and spectacle and it’s mostly breezy rather than water-logged. There are also sequences when Wan lets his horror flag fly – one of the movie’s villains commands an underwater zombie army, after all – and those are fun.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has, like many DC movies before it, weathered an infamously troubled production process. The movie was delayed multiple times owing to the Covid pandemic and was in production while leadership of DC Films and Warner Bros changed hands more than once. For a movie that was extensively reshot and reworked, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not a trainwreck. It does sometimes feel disjointed and emotionally hollow, and it is harder to connect to the characters than in its predecessor. At some point, it was intended to link more directly to the larger DCEU, with Ben Affleck, then Michael Keaton, set to appear as Batman. It is better off for not having to remind audiences of other movies besides the first Aquaman (there is quite a bit of footage from it that shows up in flashback recap sequences), but it’s also a little disappointing that the DCEU doesn’t come to an end with more ceremony. The one mid-credits scene is an unfortunate final image for the DCEU.

If the first movie was patterned after Romancing the Stone, then this one wants to be 48 Hours. The dynamic between Momoa and Wilson is often fun even if some of the back-and-forth banter, laden with pop culture references to things like Castaway and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, can feel a little forced. Wilson is in fine action hero form, and while Orm’s redemption doesn’t carry a lot of dramatic heft, he is a sufficiently charismatic foil to Momoa, whose Aquaman is probably close to how the real-life Momoa behaves a lot of the time.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is suitably imposing and it’s great to see him get a second stab at playing Black Manta, now sporting a costume that even more strongly evokes the classic comic book design. He’s a generic villain but he’s also cool. Many cast members from the first movie, including Nicole Kidman, Temuera Morrison, Dolph Lundgren, Amber Heard and John Rhys-Davies reprise their roles, but it sometimes seems like they’re just there rather than doing very much in the story.

Summary: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is not the momentous conclusion to the DC Extended Universe that some might have hoped, but it is an enjoyable fantasy adventure movie. It has dynamic and entertaining action sequences and boasts some incredible design work inspired by Jules Verne and steampunk. Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson make a fine buddy duo, but the movie’s more emotional notes can ring rather hollow. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sometimes feels disjointed, but given its tumultuous production history, is far from a disaster.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                   

Jedd Jong

Wonka review

Director: Paul King
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Matthew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Jim Carter, Tom Davis, Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Natasha Rothwell, Rich Fulcher, Rakhee Thakrar
Genre: Musical/Fantasy
Run Time: 116 min
Opens: 6 December 2023
Rating: PG13

In late 2023, audiences learned how an idealistic young man eventually became a powerful figure with a penchant for child endangerment – but enough about The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Wonka tells the origin of the enigmatic and mercurial chocolatier from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Young Willy Wonka (Timothée Chalamet) arrives in the big city, with dreams of setting up shop in the famed Gallery Gourmet. The inventive chocolatier faces immediate resistance from the Chocolate Cartel, comprising Slugworth (Paterson Joseph), Prodnose (Matt Lucas) and Ficklegruber (Matthew Baynton). While looking for a place to stay, Wonka is tricked by innkeepers Mrs Scrubbit (Olivia Colman) and Bleacher (Tom Davis). Wonka befriends the others who are indebted to Mrs Scrubbit, including young orphan Noodle (Calah Lane). Wonka devises a plan to pay his debt and start selling his chocolates, but a small, mysterious, orange-skinned, green-haired man (Hugh Grant) keeps stealing his stash.

Wonka is one of those projects that seemed to elicit a collective eyeroll when it was announced. After all, it’s hard to think of a more cynical IP extension cash grab than an origin story about Willy Wonka. It’s a good thing then that this is in the hands of director and co-writer Paul King, the man who brought us Paddington and Paddington 2. Together with co-writer Simon Farnaby, King infuses the same earnestness, sweetness, silliness, and kinetic filmmaking from the Paddington movies into Wonka, delivering something that is wholly captivating and enchanting.  

There is an old-fashioned charm to the movie’s visuals, which feel sufficiently tactile even when they’re enhanced by digital visual effects work. Costume designer Lindy Hemming and production designer Nathan Crowley, who both worked on Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, are among the crew members who make Wonka look incredible. Cinematographer Chung Chung-hoon, an oft-collaborator of Park Chan-Wook, gives the movie an inviting richness and warmth that makes it feel real and alive despite its deliberately artificial, constructed elements. Wonka avoids specifying exactly when or where it’s set, combining texture and detail with a heightened sensibility.

Wonka is a musical through and through, featuring original songs by Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. “A World of Your Own” is a stirring anthem that bravely tries to live up to “Pure Imagination”, the theme from the 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film, that also gets featured here. Weirdly enough, Wonka seems very influenced by Sweeney Todd – the opening number is reminiscent of “No Place Like London”, there’s a Mrs Lovett-esque “Mrs Scrubbit”, and there’s even a scene that takes place in a barbershop (but fear not, for nobody gets baked into any pies). There are shades of Oliver! and Annie and there’s a palpable love for musicals that runs through Wonka.

There are times when Wonka runs into the “prequel problem” where it’s trying to explain certain bits of lore or planting (chocolate) easter eggs and references. It’s certainly nowhere near as clumsy as we’ve seen before, but it does sometimes feel like it interrupts the flow of the story. This is most evident in the Oompa-Loompa subplot featuring a digitally shrunken Hugh Grant, who says a line made famous by Gene Wilder’s iteration of Wonka in the 1971 movie. This movie’s iteration of the Oompa-Loompas also runs into the Uncanny Valley problem – it is unsettling seeing a green digital facsimile of Hugh Grant’s face.

Timothée Chalamet has been carving an interesting movie star career for himself, consciously avoiding comic book blockbusters. His foray into a big-budget franchise was Dune, indicating that he’s going for slightly more prestigious stuff. Wonka allows Chalamet to be in a family-friendly holiday blockbuster while further shoring up his reputation as a Serious Actor. Interestingly, he kind of has the wrong energy for this – Chalamet is weirdly intense rather than goofy and whimsical, but it also works because the character is an obsessive genius. This is not an effortless performance, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It looks like Chalamet has stayed up all night learning the choreography, and something is endearing about that.

Just like in King’s Paddington movies, the supporting cast is wonderful. Calah Lane is a safe distance from treacly as Noodle, making her feel like a fully realised character instead of a stock sidekick. Sally Hawkins has a small but impactful role as Wonka’s mother in a flashback sequence while the afore-mentioned Hugh Grant is an amusingly stuffy and self-serious presence. Paterson Joseph has a great time hamming it up as a moustache-twirling villain, while Keegan-Michael Key is weirdly compelling as a corrupt police chief easily bribed with chocolate. Rowan Atkinson pops up as a priest. It feels like everyone fits in the world King has crafted, except Chalamet, and yet, that’s what makes it interesting.

Summary: Wonka is far better than it has any right to be. A prequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory telling the origin story of Willy Wonka sounds like exactly the kind of studio IP extension project that people roll their eyes at, and yet, director Paul King turns it into something magical. An earnest, whimsical musical tale bursting with life and detail, Wonka is an exuberant, warm, silly and emotional experience. Timothée Chalamet brings both intensity and charm to the title role and he’s surrounded by an excellent supporting cast. Wonka sometimes runs into the problem a lot of prequels do of feeling the need to explain and set up little things, but it’s much less pronounced an issue here than in other movies like it. Wonka takes what could have been a cynical cash grab and processes and refines it into something genuinely enchanting.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes review

Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, Hunter Schaefer, Josh Andrés Rivera, Jason Schwartzman, Viola Davis, Fionnula Flanagan, Burn Gorman, Ashley Liao
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-fi
Run Time: 157 min
Opens: 16 November 2023
Rating: PG13

The last instalment in the Hunger Games film series, Mockingjay Part 2, was released in 2015. Since then, Lionsgate has been eager to extend the franchise in some way, and so when author Suzanne Collins announced she was penning a prequel, it was a given that it would be adapted into a movie.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes centres on Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth), the future president of Panem. Coriolanus is the son of General Crassus Snow, who died in the war between the Districts and the Capitol. The Hunger Games, an annual deathmatch between youths from each of the Districts, was instated to punish the Districts for daring to rise up against the Capitol. The Games are now in their tenth year and were created by Casca Highbottom (Peter Dinklage), Dean of the prestigious Academy.

The Games’ flagging popularity leads Gamemaker Dr Volumnia Gaul (Viola Davis) to make several drastic changes: for the first time, the Games will have a host, TV anchor Lucretius “Lucky” Flickerman (Jason Schwartzman). The Tributes from each District are also assigned a student from the Academy as their mentor, and Coriolanus is paired with Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler), a singer from District 12. As the Games begin, Coriolanus and Lucy form an unexpected bond and Coriolanus undergoes experiences that will eventually lead to him becoming the ruler of Panem.

We’ve seen franchises dip into the prequel well before – the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, the Fantastic Beasts series, the Hobbit trilogy and Prometheus and Alien Covenant come to mind. In all cases, these movies were not as well-received as their forebears, and it’s easy to be sceptical about what seem like cynical attempts to stretch out the IP.

Part of the Hunger Games brand has always been that it has a bit more on its mind than its Young Adult fiction cohorts. What The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes has going for it is that the setting of The Hunger Games is intriguing and raises many questions, notably: how did teenagers killing each other in a televised competition become a building block of society? This story is interested in exploring the various factors that make people gravitate towards authoritarian rule, and the ways in which seemingly good people can be bent to the will of the ruling class. We see the origins of how the Games got turned into a media spectacle. While the Games still feature heavily in the story, it’s the academics and politicians who create and run the Games that are the focus.

The production design by Uli Hanisch is eye-catching: the main Hunger Games movies were vaguely futuristic, whereas The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes has a bit more of a 50s vibe. The logo for the tenth Hunger Games looks a bit like the sign for a retro diner that sells overpriced hamburgers. Trish Summerville, who designed the costumes for Catching Fire, returns. The world-building is layered and works especially if one is already invested in the Hunger Games lore.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is long. There’s a lot of lore to fit into its 157-minute runtime, and while there are thought-provoking ideas at play, the movie sometimes struggles to hold the audience’s attention. It’s not quite to the extent of The Phantom Menace being about trade route negotiations, but the action takes a backseat in this movie, such that it’s rarely very thrilling. There are suspenseful moments, especially during the Games itself, but otherwise, it’s very much a character piece. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but for audiences who aren’t already acquainted with the existing books or films or both, it might sometimes be difficult to care too much about what happens. The movie is split into three chapters, and as such feels a bit more like a TV miniseries than a movie. When the Games conclude, there’s still over an hour left in the movie’s runtime – while that hour is essential to Coriolanus’ character development, it feels like the movie has already ended. 

Who do you get to play a young Donald Sutherland (younger than Kiefer and Rossif Sutherland are now)? Tom Blyth proves a good pick. He plays a golden boy who gets tarnished, and Blyth conveys Coriolanus’ ambition and intellect and initial struggle to be an ethical person well. The character goes on a complete arc, and even though there are many years in between the ending of this film and the beginning of The Hunger Games, it still feels like a satisfying story.

Lucy Gray Baird is, in many ways, a proto-Katniss. There are major differences between the two characters, but Lucy Gray is intended to remind audiences of Katniss. She is a folk singer, and so the casting of Rachel Zegler, who delivered an astounding vocal performance in Spielberg’s West Side Story, makes sense. The movie’s incorporation of music might not work for everyone, but this reviewer thinks it works as a textural element in the world-building. The story is very much Coriolanus’, and so Lucy Gray sometimes feels sidelined.

Josh Andrés Rivera, who also appeared in West Side Story, plays the idealistic Sejanus Plinth, who opposes the Games. The dynamic between Sejanus and Coriolanus is perhaps the movie’s most interesting thread.

The Hunger Games movies boasted wonderful supporting performances from actors like Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci and the aforementioned Donald Sutherland. Here, that tradition is continued by both Jason Schwartzman and Viola Davis, who are having a grand old time as over-the-top villains (or villain-adjacent characters).

Peter Dinklage is more subdued, but still makes an impact as the man who devised the Games and is perhaps a little haunted by his creation.

Summary: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes audiences back to the dystopian land of Panem. It sets itself apart from other prequels by displaying a keen interest in exploring the way the fictional world works, and how the decisions of academics and politicians affect the citizens’ lives. Tom Blyth steps up to fill Donald Sutherland’s big shoes as the younger version of Coriolanus Snow and puts in a compelling performance of a golden boy who is increasingly tarnished as the story goes on. The movie is long and relatively light on action, sometimes feeling more like a TV miniseries than a movie. However, there are more than enough ideas at play to justify the movie’s existence and to remind audiences that the Hunger Games series wasn’t quite as disposable as some might have thought.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

The Marvels review

Director: Nia DaCosta
Cast: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Samuel L. Jackson
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-fi
Run Time: 105 min
Opens: 8 November 2023
Rating: PG13

2019 was a different time for the world at large and for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Captain Marvel opened in March, crossed a billion dollars at the box office, and then was followed by Avengers: Endgame. Yes, Captain Marvel still had the attendant controversy, but audiences couldn’t get enough of Marvel. Things have changed and many feel the MCU’s fortunes have turned, but that doesn’t mean the return of Captain Marvel can’t still be enjoyable.

The Marvels finds Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel caught in a bit of a predicament: an encounter with an ancient alien artefact cause the three heroes’ powers to become entangled, making them physically switch places each time they use their powers, which are all light-based. While Kamala is thrilled to be teaming up with her idol Captain Marvel, there is awkwardness between Carol and Monica, who last met during the events of the first Captain Marvel movie when the latter was a little girl. Carol was the best friend of Monica’s late mother Maria, and Monica feels Carol has abandoned her. The trio must team up to solve the problem of their entangled powers while facing off against the Kree alien revolutionary Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), who bears a grudge against Captain Marvel and is armed with a bracelet like the one Ms Marvel has.

A lot of comic book movie fans view silliness as the enemy, and some might say with good reason. However, when a comic book movie captures the inherent exuberance and joy that comics have the potential for, it is something special. Director Nia DaCosta keeps things airy in a franchise that can feel weighed down by all its baggage. The Marvels has a largely upbeat energy and embraces the kind of sci-fi shenanigans that have made something like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds so enjoyable. The Marvels has a planet of musical numbers and a space station overrun by cats (okay, aliens that are outwardly indistinguishable from cats), and there’s a place for stuff like that in a comic book movie. The latter moment is accompanied by perhaps the greatest needle drop in MCU history.

There’s an earnestness and good-naturedness that keeps The Marvels going, and it is at its best when it’s a three-hander buddy movie. Larson, Parris and Vellani do make for a watchable team and each actor imbues their character with a humanity that can sometimes be missing from big franchise movies. Vellani’s fangirl exuberance, which she carries over from Ms. Marvel, is especially endearing. There is also a fun dynamic with the conceit of the characters switching places each time they use their powers, which is incorporated into the fight sequences.

Samuel L. Jackson has been in so much of the MCU, and the largely poorly received Secret Invasion is still on a lot of people’s minds, but he just brings both a sense of gravitas and levity to the proceedings like nobody else can.

As alluded to above, the discourse surrounding the MCU is trending negative for various reasons. Unfortunately, a lot of that will be pinned to The Marvels and it won’t be allowed to exist as the thing it is. Still, it is a movie that feels held back by needing to tie back to not just Captain Marvel but WandaVision and Ms. Marvel, and it seems like the filmmakers struggled with just how much information to convey in flashbacks and exposition. The Marvels is also saddled with some typical MCU problems, including a generic villain, a mismatch between the overall tone and the dire end-of-the-world stakes, and of course, portals in the sky. There are big wide terrible portals in the sky.

Summary: The Marvels is an enjoyably upbeat sci-fi adventure with room for silliness and an easy, likeable dynamic between its three leads. The movie is often breezy and light enough on its feet in a franchise that can often feel weighed down by its labyrinthian continuity. Yes, there are connections to other MCU entries that might be confusing even with flashbacks and exposition, and old MCU problems like a generic villain rear their head. However, The Marvels should be allowed to exist as the largely enjoyable, diverting thing that it is, tempting as it might be to pin all the MCU’s current troubles on it. The mid-credits scene is a big deal, but you don’t have to stay until the very end of the credits if you don’t want to.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars                   

Jedd Jong

Expend4bles review

Director: Scott Waugh
Cast: Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Megan Fox, Dolph Lundgren, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Randy Couture, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran, Andy García
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time: 104 min
Opens: 21 September 2023
Rating: NC16

In 2010, The Expendables sought to make every action movie fan’s dreams come true by assembling actors associated with the genre, especially those who had been stars in the 80s and 90s. Two more movies followed, and nine years after 2014’s The Expendables 3, the franchise is back – but can it deliver what action movie junkies want?

Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), the leader of the mercenary team known as the Expendables, is on a mission to Libya to stop arms dealer Suharto Rahmat (Iko Uwais) from acquiring detonators for nuclear weapons. The mission goes awry, and Barney’s second-in-command Lee Christmas (Jason Statham) pursues Rahmat before he can sell the weapons to a mysterious client named Ocelot. Christmas’ team includes Gina (Megan Fox), who is also his girlfriend, veteran team members Toll Road (Randy Couture) and Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and newcomers Galan (Jacob Scipio), Lash (Levy Tran) and Easy Day (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson). Christmas tracks down Decha (Tony Jaa), an old ally of Barney’s, who also joins the team. Under the supervision of CIA agent Marsh (Andy García), the Expendables must stop Rahmat and prevent a conflict between the US and Russia that will result in World War III.

Expend4bles often feels like a direct-to-DVD or direct-to-streaming action movie with a slightly bigger budget, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing because those movies can have their charms. Director Scott Waugh, who also helmed the Jackie Chan and John Cena-starring action-comedy Hidden Strike, has a background as a stunt performer, so the action in Expend4bles is largely competent. The movie isn’t as plagued with shaky-cam and quick-cut editing as many other American action movies are. There is an especially fun sequence involving Christmas astride a motorcycle with mounted machineguns as he rides through a ship, up the stairs and onto the deck, mowing down henchmen.

Jason Statham is a reliable action star and this movie plays to his strengths. Expend4bles is at its best whenever Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa are onscreen. They bring an action movie cred to the movie as real athletes who routinely perform impressive feats on camera. It is, however, disappointing that Uwais and Jaa do not fight each other in the movie. Expend4bles is also brutal and violent, as the franchise should be – Stallone has admitted that making The Expendables 3 a PG-13 movie was a mistake, and that is rectified here.

Unfortunately, the series has strayed far from its premise of bringing together iconic action stars for a nostalgic action romp. This movie is very much a passing of the torch from Stallone to Statham, and so Stallone sits out most of the action. There is an attempt to create a playful dynamic amongst the crew, but it falls short of the chemistry and banter in the earlier movies, especially the second. Few of the jokes land.

The newcomers to the franchise do their best, but the characters are generally unlikeable and indistinct, especially because they aren’t played by actors who are bringing their own iconography to the table. Jacob Scipio’s character Galan is the son of Galgo, Antonio Banderas’ character from the third movie, which means Scipio is doing an impression of Banderas, and it just feels a bit odd in this franchise.

Megan Fox is the weak link. Fox can be watchable in the right roles and has more recently emerged as an unexpected comedic talent in things like the TV series New Girl, but she is unconvincing as an action heroine, especially in a franchise that’s built around established action heroes. Fans have long been rooting for actresses like Cynthia Rothrock, Michelle Yeoh, Lucy Lawless, Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver to be a part of the franchise, but frustratingly enough, that hasn’t happened.

Summary: Expend4bles is ever so slightly better than its immediate predecessor, with Jason Statham taking over the franchise from Sylvester Stallone and further proving himself as a reliable action star. Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa are the highlights, and the action is suitably brutal and bloody. Unfortunately, the franchise has strayed from its promise of assembling iconic action stars from the 80s and 90s, and the new actors don’t really work as a team. Megan Fox seems miscast, seeing as she has been in action movies, but isn’t really thought of as an action heroine. As far as action movies go, you could do a lot worse than Expend4bles, but you could also do a lot better.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One review

Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Pom Klementieff, Frederick Schmidt, Shea Wigham, Greg Tarzan Davis
Genre: Action/Adventure
Run Time: 163 min
Opens: 13 June 2023 (sneaks from 8 July 2023)
Rating: PG13

For almost 30 years, Tom Cruise has been flinging himself into danger in the name of our entertainment, and Ethan Hunt has been flinging himself into danger to save the world. It’s the seventh go-round, but the Mission: Impossible movie series has steam left it in yet.

The world is threatened by the Entity, an artificial intelligence-based superweapon with startling capabilities. Everyone wants to get their hands on it, but first, they need to get their hands on two halves of a cruciform key. Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny), the Director of National Intelligence, tasks Impossible Mission Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) to acquire the key. Hunt’s team comprises tech experts Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), and former MI6 agent Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson). Also after the key is terrorist Gabriel (Esai Morales), who has ties to Ethan’s past. A mysterious thief named Grace (Hayley Atwell) complicates matters when she shows up also seeking the key. The fate of the world hangs in the balance as Ethan and crew battle their way across the world, but the Entity knows their every move.

Christopher McQuarrie is one of the best action directors currently working. He has helmed the Mission: Impossible films since Rogue Nation in 2015. Each of the four films before that had a different director, but it’s clear that Cruise found the collaborator he should stick with, and Dead Reckoning Part One is further proof of that. The movie is elegant but muscular, brimming with expertly staged suspense. Despite its timely plot, addressing the threat posed by advanced artificial intelligence, the movie is reassuringly old-fashioned in its cloak-and-dagger spy movie machinations. The movie draws on classics of cinema, referencing Buster Keaton and Alfred Hitchcock. It feels like Hitchcock on steroids.

This movie is less reliant on big set-pieces and more reliant on character dynamics than some of the previous entries in the series, but the set-pieces are there. Each scene is gripping, and every effort is made to clearly communicate the sometimes-complicated plot, without it seeming like reams of exposition. The action sequences are staged with flair – between this and Fast X, Dead Reckoning has the better Rome car chase. The climactic sequence set aboard the Orient Express, headed for a collapsing bridge, is drawn-out but always engaging and has its share of hold-your-breath moments. Editor Eddie Hamilton, who was nominated for an Oscar last year for Top Gun: Maverick, deserves a nod for this one too.

The series has become known for its stunts, and much of the marketing focused on the scene in which Tom Cruise rides a motorcycle off a cliff and parachutes into the valley below. Now, one would be forgiven for thinking that maybe the movie has several more such daredevil feats – after all, Rogue Nation and Fallout each had multiple. Unfortunately, that’s really the only big stunt like that – there are many other action sequences, sure, but audiences have come to expect more than one death-defying Tom Cruise stunt from a given Mission: Impossible movie, but maybe that’s just us being greedy.

Making the Entity the main threat is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it’s a handily scary, seemingly omniscient and omnipotent villainous force. On the other, it can feel convenient, because the Entity can do anything. Dead Reckoning Part One mostly stays away from obvious plot contrivances, but sometimes gets close.  

The movie also falls back on an old storytelling device to motivate the protagonist that then does another character a great disservice. It feels like the Mission: Impossible movies should be slightly more sophisticated than that.

Cruise is, as usual, firing on all cylinders. In addition to the movie’s big signature stunt, he sprints for extended distances and looks great doing it, as expected. The movie has many confrontations, and he plays them with unwavering intensity.

As the big new addition to the cast, Atwell is wonderful playing a character who is a classic femme fatale, or so it seems at first. Grace is confident and competent, but the movie also throws her into situations where she’s very out of her depth, and we see her react when things get real, fast. She has a charisma that makes her feel like a natural part of the franchise. Unfortunately, placing Atwell at the forefront means Rebecca Ferguson takes more of a backseat when they’re both great.

Ving Rhames and Simon Pegg are reassuring presences, and Pegg gets an excellent moment involving a bomb Benji needs to defuse.

On the villain front, Esai Morales is serviceable, but the Entity is the main villain, so it’s almost as if he’s the henchman to an abstract concept. That makes Pom Klementieff’s Paris the henchwoman to the henchman, and she is a striking character who feels like she could have come out of a Quentin Tarantino film: a stylish, ruthless, unhinged assassin.

Henry Czerny returns from the very first film, giving the franchise a sense of continuity that it hasn’t always had. He’s moved up in the world, but is still the same, less-than-trustworthy man.

Summary: Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One may feature a timely threat in the form of an artificial intelligence-based superweapon, but its sensibilities are reassuringly old-fashioned. Tom Cruise is his usual intense, physically adept self, while director Christopher McQuarrie ably assembles a satisfying spy thriller, even given that this is Part One and certain plot threads are left unresolved. The movie is sold on its big set-pieces, but there is an equal emphasis on plot and characters, and the twisty cloak-and-dagger stuff is as fun as the heavy-duty action scenes. Dead Reckoning Part One is not quite as satisfying as Fallout, but it does leave audiences wanting more and looking forward to seeing whatever Cruise flings himself off in Part Two.

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars                      

Jedd Jong

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse review

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Cast : Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, Oscar Isaac, Greta Lee, Rachel Dratch, Jorma Taccone, Shea Whigham, Andy Samberg, Amandla Stenberg
Genre: Action/Adventure/Animation
Run Time : 140 min
Opens : 1 June 2023
Rating : PG

From Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to Everything Everywhere All at Once to The Flash (on big and small screens), it seems everyone wants a multiverse. In 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse introduced moviegoers to the vibrant, dynamic multiverse populated by Spider-People of all stripes. In this sequel, the Spider-verse expands, and the characters we know and love from the first film are put through their paces.

Miles Morales/Spider-Man (Shameik Moore) struggles to balance his crime-fighting career with his academic responsibilities, putting a strain on his relationship with his parents Jeff (Brian Tyree Henry) and Rio (Luna Lauren Vélez). His friend Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld), who comes from another dimension, stops by to say hi. She is now part of the Spider-Society, a team of heroes headed by Miguel O’Hara/Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). Miguel regards Miles with disdain, considering him an anomaly among the Spider-People, since the spider that bit Miles and gave him his powers was from a different dimension. In the meantime, Miles faces off against Dr Jonathan Onn/Spot (Jason Schwartzman), who seems like a low-level villain at first, but whose presence eventually endangers the multiverse. Miles and Miguel face off: one Spider-Man wants to embrace his own destiny, while the other strives to preserve the status quo, lest everything falls apart.

Across the Spider-Verse is an improvement over its already-impressive forebear in every way. The directing trio of Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson, leading an army of over 1000 animators, have delivered a triumphant sequel. The visual dynamism and creative chaos in the animation of the first movie is ramped up here, with audiences already acclimated to the eye-catching, erratic, yet carefully crafted blend of styles. This also does what a good sequel should: it builds upon the first movie, progressing the arcs of the characters, while introducing enough new elements without feeling like a re-tread of the first movie. There are stretches of the movie without action, but the time we spend with the characters feels worth it.

We’ve seen a lot of criticism of big movies that seem to coast by on nostalgia and recognition of the intellectual property; The Super Mario Bros. Movie being a recent example. Yes, there’s a lot here that will inspire excited pointing at the screen, but beyond that, there’s a grandeur and ambition to what this movie is trying to tackle. A big part of the iconography of Spider-Man and a reason why the character is so popular and resonant is that each iteration weathers roughly the same beats. This movie calls them “canon events”, invoking the language of storytelling. This is a movie that takes a step back and examines the structure of the hero’s journey. It’s also a coming-of-age story, and the feeling of being a young person trapped in a narrative that someone else has written for you is one that is very relatable. And yet, for all its ambition, Across the Spider-Verse never loses sight of Miles’ and Gwen’s respective journeys, and how their stories are intertwined.

As with the first movie, there’s a lot going on here. There are probably going to be four-year-olds going to see “the cartoon Spider-Man movie” who will get very lost, given the density of the plot and the sheer number of characters, not to mention the heaviness of the themes. You don’t have to be familiar with the comics, but a passing knowledge of them does help immensely. This is a movie that requires multiple viewings to fully appreciate, because there’s just so much going on. It also ends on a cliffhanger because this was originally named “Across the Spider-Verse: Part One”. The follow-up due next year is now named Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

The animation and voice acting of the returning characters continue to be excellent. Shameik Moore’s Miles has had his origin story and is now figuring out his place in the grand scheme of things. Being told he doesn’t even belong in said scheme is like a slap in the face, and the way Miles navigates this as a character who’s good-hearted but impulsive makes him very easy to root for.

Gwen is given a lot to do here, with her relationship with her father George (Shea Whigham) serving as one of the movie’s emotional linchpins. We spend a lot of time in her world and in her head, and the movie benefits from focusing on her. In the centre of the chaos, there Miles and Gwen are, taking the audience along with them. Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) also returns, now accompanied by an adorable baby daughter named Mayday.

Miguel O’Hara popped up in the post-credits scene of Into the Spider-Verse, and is the main new Spider-Person here. Oscar Isaac brings great intensity to bear as the one Spider-Man who doesn’t crack any jokes, and while he is an antagonist to Miles, he’s not a villain, and his motivations are efficiently communicated.

There are a bunch of fun Spider-People, including the badass, pregnant, motorcycle-riding Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman (Issa Rae), and Pavitr Prabhakar/Spider-Man India (Karan Soni), who hails from Mumbattan. But the show is truly stolen by Daniel Kaluuya as Hobart “Hobie” Brown/Spider-Punk, a guitar-playing anarchist who looks like a magazine cut-out and gets some of the movie’s funniest lines. Miles is simultaneously threatened by him (it’s implied that Hobie and Gwen have a thing going on) and in awe of him.

The movie’s use of Spot brings to mind Polka Dot Man in The Suicide Squad: both are silly second-or-lower-string comic book villains who are fleshed out and made more sympathetic and more powerful. The choreography of the fights involving Spot is exciting and inventive.

Summary: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is everything a sequel should be. The movie has its cameos and references, but those aren’t its greatest joys. The way it builds upon the first film, advancing character arcs and expanding on themes and world-building, while never losing sight of its emotional centre, is. Both Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy remain the focal points of the story, even as new and exciting Spider-People (Spider-Punk being the most fun) get tossed into the mix. Be warned that this is kind of the Empire Strikes Back of a planned trilogy, so it ends on a cliffhanger, but is wholly satisfying all the same.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars                   

Jedd Jong

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 review

Director: James Gunn
Cast : Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Will Poulter, Sean Gunn, Chukwudi Iwuji, Maria Bakalova, Sylvester Stallone, Elizabeth Debicki, Nico Santos
Genre: Sci-fi/action/adventure
Run Time : 150 min
Opens : 4 May
Rating : PG13

It seems like a long time ago that anything associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) could have an underdog quality – nine years ago, to be exact. That was when the first Guardians of the Galaxy (GotG) movie was about to be released and some predicted it might be a failure. Two very successful movies and a holiday special later, writer-director James Gunn and company close out the trilogy with one last ride.

Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) is on a downswing after the death of Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) and the appearance of a version of Gamora from before she had met him, having lost the romantic relationship the pair had shared. Quill is the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, comprising Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket, Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo (Maria Bakalova). Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), a powerful being created by Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki) the Sovereign following the events of the previous GotG film, attacks the Guardians’ home base of Knowhere. He has been sent by the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who created the Sovereign, in pursuit of Rocket. Rocket has refused to reveal his past, including his painful connection to the High Evolutionary, which finally surfaces. The Guardians must protect Rocket from the High Evolutionary, whose ruthlessness and power threaten the galaxy.

The Guardians of the Galaxy movies have generally demonstrated a good balance of rebelliousness, silliness, imagination, and heart. That’s mostly intact in Vol. 3. Gunn smartly focuses the story on Rocket, and him being the dramatic linchpin works. There are performances from Rocket and other computer-generated animals that are lovingly crafted and genuinely moving. If you’re particularly sensitive to animal cruelty, this will be a tough watch. Parts of the movie are dark, and parts of it are kind of gross, but it’s all in keeping with Gunn’s sensibilities. The sci-fi world-building continues to be wild and woolly, with the Orgoscope, a flesh-covered high-tech laboratory facility and Counter-Earth, a facsimile of earth populated by sentient humanoid animal creatures, being the two main settings. While computer-generated visual effects are obviously very present, there is more of the sense of the action taking place on elaborate sets as the compared to the ‘infinity green screen’ feeling of some other MCU movies.

While the throughline of Rocket’s backstory and the connection between Rocket and the film’s main villain serves as a strong narrative backbone, there is a lot in this movie that kind of feels piled onto the plate. There’s a lot going on in the movie, such that additional characters feel like they’re competing for screentime.

Adam Warlock, whose appearance was teased in the mid-credits scene of GotG Vol. 2, winds up being little more than a plot device in this movie, despite the best efforts of actor Will Poulter. The GotG movies have generally been good at giving everyone a chance to shine, but with the team now including Cosmo (Maria Bakalova) and Kraglin, there’s the sense that some characters have been given stuff to do just for the sake of it. Also, so much of the dialogue consists of the characters yelling at each other, which is funny in controlled doses, but seems excessive here, especially since this is the third movie and everyone being so aggro feels like a regression.

While there might be just a bit too much of everyone calling everyone else a “dumbass”, the characters remain largely likeable and the canny casting of the first movie continues to pay off. The interplay between Mantis and Drax is especially endearing, carrying over from their unlikely team-up in the holiday special made for Disney+.

The best performance might be Linda Cardellini’s warm, tender voice acting turn as Lylla the otter, one of Rocket’s compatriots.

Chukwudi Iwuji portrays a villain who thinks of himself as a rational intellectual but is prone to throwing tantrums. The High Evolutionary is not among the topmost tier of MCU villains, but the cruelty he practices in the guise of progress adds a chilling edge to what is mostly a standard mad scientist supervillain character.

Summary: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an emotional send-off to the MCU’s team of space-faring misfits – or to this incarnation of the team, at least. The movie’s emotional throughline is Rocket Raccoon’s heart-rending backstory, and you might find yourself tearing up over CGI animals. Unfortunately, the movie is laden with lots of characters and while the performers are mostly likeable, everyone yelling and being at each other’s throats all the time gets old fast. It’s not the strongest note to end the trilogy on, but enough of it is satisfying, James Gunn’s stamp is undeniable, and its weird mix of heart and surprisingly dark elements winds up working more than it doesn’t.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong