Dark Phoenix (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 6/10

A decent though disappointing sendoff for the First Class

The Good: A more personal portrayal of the phoenix force manifestation, great acting, decent action, excellent music, good closure for the "First Class" cast

The Bad: bland directing, lacks narrative focus, lacks thematic depth, inconsistent execution of story, cannot decide if it should be a character driven drama or a team based action spectacle.

***********Review***********

DARK PHOENIX ends the Fox Studio’s X-MEN franchise with a train wreck. No this is not a critique of the movie's quality. An actual train wreck is the centerpiece for its climax. I for one did not find this movie to be the "train wreck" so many claim it to be. But it does have its issues.  In DARK PHOENIX, set 10 years after the events of X-MEN APOCALYPSE, Professor Xavier has marketed the X-men as publicly visible superheroes. On a mission to save a space shuttle, one of the X-men, telekinetic Jean Grey, merged with a mysterious cosmic entity. She becomes erratic, unsure of herself, impulsive; qualities shared by this movie as a whole.

This movie is unsure of itself. It seems unable to decide what it wants to be. The overall tone is befitting of a smaller, character driven piece centering either on Jean’s slow descent into madness grappling with her new abilities, or Charles Xavier’s pride before the fall where some of the questionable actions he did in the past have come back to bite him. I appreciated this serious darker tone very much. 

Another aspect i loved was the portrayal of Jean and the phoenix, contrasting with how they were portrayed in X-MEN 3: THE LAST STAND. In X-Men 3, the phoenix was this sort of hollywood split personality; a completely different side of Jean that she has no control over and is unaware of until it is too late and the personality of the old calm Jean is completely subsumed by the more violent, vengeful phoenix personality. 

In DARK PHOENIX, Jean is completely aware of what the phoenix force does. There is no split personality, no excuse for any of the horrors it unleashes. All of it is Jean, whether it be due to losing control, or just lashing out in anger. We see how the power tempts her and how she slowly gives in to the temptation. 

The performances by the cast are great, particularly Sophie Turner as Jean, and James McAvoy as Xavier. Every cast member brings their utmost professionalism to their role, imbuing the dialogue and interplay with heightened emotion and gravitas. Sadly, the performances seem wasted thanks to the erratic focus of the movie. In giving more focus to the overall x-team and even a mid movie reintroduction of Michael Fassbender’s Magneto, DARK PHOENIX instead tries to market itself as this big team based action spectacle instead of a character focused piece. Which wouldn’t be so bad if it also didn’t fall short in that aspect.

After past movies with big action set pieces, a pitched naval battle, killer sentinels in the future, and worldwide destruction, DARK PHOENIX movies too slowly for an action movie and only delivers two bland action set pieces; one on an uptown New York street, and another on a moving train. And even with the latter, most of the fighting takes place in the train itself.

Contributing to its blandness is Simon Kinberg’s inexperience with directing such a movie. His camera angles, how he sets up action and even how he films a dialogue seems so cookie cutter like someone ticking off a checklist. If it weren’t for the polished cinematography and special effects, the way DARK PHOENIX is shot reminds me of a tv show. Conversation? Cut back and forth from each character’s close ups. A fight? Jostle the camera a bit to make it seem more intense. There is hardly any creativity or distinct style at play in how the movie is shot. Hans Zimmer’s musical score does a commendable attempt to elevate the movie but his energetic synth and orchestral blend can only do so much.

This movie, in a word, is just “serviceable”. It has too little of emotional depth and intensity to be something like LOGAN, and at the same time it had too little visual and action spectacle to be a big ensemble blockbuster like X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST. It does give some closure to the character arc of Charles Xavier, so if you are fan of James McAvoy’s portrayal since X-MEN FIRST CLASS, as I am, then this was a satisfactory sendoff. Other than that, while this is better than the previous live action portrayal of the Dark Phoenix story, it is only a middling entry at best in the 19 year old franchise

***********Review***********

Entertainment: B+

Story: C-

Acting: B

Characters: B

Music: C

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C-

Hellboy (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 7/10

The "heavy metal remix" version of Hellboy.

The Good: awesome action, dark humour, witty dialogue, new fresh take on the character, features many rarely seem creatures from english folklore

The Bad: seemingly fragmented narrative, many flashbacks break flow of story, little development of main character, 

***********Review***********

Hellboy does not deserve its negative reviews. It is a competently made, thoroughly enjoyable adaptation of Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy: The Wild Hunt” “Darkness Calls” and “The Storm and the Fury” comic stories. It is a briskly paced film, with a tone that combines CONSTANTINE with DEADPOOL.

David Harbour portrays an angrier more quick tempered Hellboy which he describes as being more adolescent compared to Ron Perlman’s previous version. Not necessarily darker, but less at ease with himself, more rebellious, and swapping out Perlman’s more laid back attitude with a more tight wound angsty one. His performance and make up are fantastic, looking much more natural than the previous portrayal and less cheesy.

Our story starts with Hellboy in Mexico on a mission to retrieve a rogue agent. He ultimately fails but receives a dire warning which brings him to Britain. There he runs into Guargach, this fearsome boar man, who is working for the blood queen Nimue. But before he embarks on his quest to slay Nimue, requiring him to dig deep into ancient legends of King Arthur, he has to contend with The Osiris Club who are a posh uppity society who hunts giants on what they call “The Wild Hunt”. A twist of fate brings Hellboy together with Alice Monoghan, a british girl with a supernatural gift who he saved when she was still a baby. Saved her from Guargach, for that matter. Her story is fleshed out in flashbacks. Then there is the UK arm of the BPRD organisation, and the abrasive agent Daimio, whom Hellboy is forced to work with.

Already this narrative may seem fragmented, despite slowly coming together by the end. It feels like separate stories that detract from the main plot of the blood queen. However I will posit a counter argument and say it replicated the feel of reading the comic more so than any of the previous movies. Each story is like a monthly single issue. Unfortunately, unless you can appreciate this aspect, the comic style of storytelling might not be to the majority’s preference.

Thanks to the brisk pace of the movie there is little room for character development of Hellboy himself. It fleshes out its side characters through flashbacks, we see Hellboy’s origin in a flashback, Nimue and Guargach origin in a flashback. So many flashbacks that it takes time away from our main character. At times it seems he gets no development at all and is just a player put in different situations to see how he would react. The climax of this movie where a Hellboy realises his true power should have been an emotionally powerful turning point but ultimately feels too similar to the climax of the previous HELLBOY movie with less of the emotional impact.

It is not my typical style to compare a new movie with a previous incarnation featuring the same character, but HELLBOY replicates one too many story beats from Guillermo Del Toro’s 2004 HELLBOY movie. An ancient enemy resurfaces intent on unleashing Hellboy’s full power and turning him against humanity. Meanwhile, Hellboy is dealing with his personal problems, gets sent on a disastrous mission, and gets saddled with new teammates that he would rather not have. He gets separated from his adoptive father Professor Bruttenholm at one point thanks to his own emotional falling out with his father. At the climax Hellboy’s full power is unleashed and he makes a choice to not give in to his demonic nature and defeats the big bad. These plot points apply to both Hellboy movies! That is how similar they are.

Where this movie falls short in character and emotional impact, it makes up for it with some great action. The CGI is decent considering the movie's modest budget, but the action is a real thrill to follow; clearly shot and well paced. There is a lot more superhuman feats of strength compared to the movies that came before in which the action tended to be more grounded in reality. Fight scenes are intense when they have to be, and epic where it fits. The humour too falls into black comedy most of the time and it is genuinely funny. The witty dialogue adds to the energy of the script and does not feel forced. My favourite aspect is definitely the make up and prosthetics on Hellboy himself. It looks real, raw and never once feels like a man painted red with stuff stuck all over him. It looks amazing. 

So is this the worst movie of 2019? Hardly. HELLBOY 2019 is a solid action movie replicating the experience of reading a comic book, almost to a fault. Splitting a movie like issues of a comic book might not work for everyone. Although director Neil Marshall revels in showcasing UK landscapes, london and old english folklore, there does seem to be an overall lack of the same passion the director brought to previous movies like DOOMSDAY and THE DECENT. It looks great, sounds great and is thoroughly entertaining but it does feel superficial in thematic or emotional depth. Like the soundtrack by Benjamin Wallfisch, this Hellboy is to the previous Hellboy movies what heavy metal is to classic rock music. 

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A-

Story: B-

Acting: B+

Characters: B-

Music: B-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": D-

Bright (2017) movie review

Overall verdict: 8/10

What if Warcraft became a cop drama?

The Good: Amazing production design, excellent cast, unique urban fantasy setting, good action, great cast chemistry, interesting villains

The Bad: uninspired music, simplistic storyline, a lot of backstory goes unexplained

***********Review***********

BRIGHT is a movie that deserves a big screen theatrical debut. It’s got a great premise and delivers it through David Ayer’s signature gritty realism playing on racial politics, social segregation, gang culture and polar opposite individuals coming together for a common good despite their differences. All this set to a familiar yet unfamiliar urban fantasy Los Angeles where elves live the high snobbish life, orc gangs run the streets, and humanity is right in the middle with all races just trying to get along despite seething tensions.

Where some reviewers saw the whole orc/human/elf segregation as a story of racial prejudice that was being too on the nose, I merely saw the fantasy setting as the medium and not the message. David Ayer isn’t using the fantasy races to bring an anti racism message. Instead he is making a statement that with all the magic, all this fantastic stuff happening right out of fairy tales, the resulting society will be no different than how our society is in real life. Cruel, violent, prone to all the social failings that we see everyday.

Into this setting comes policeman Ward who is basically Will Smith playing Will Smith in a cop uniform. Smart mouthed, cocky, and just trying to get by day to day, Ward is suddenly saddled with officer Jakobi, an orc, as part of the department’s initiative to hire more minorities. A foiled shooting by an orc gangster and his subsequent escape despite Jakobi giving chase places him squarely under suspicion of aiding an escaped felon. Despite half the police force distrusting the orc officer, Ward sticks by his guns and continues his patrols with Jakobi at his side despite his own personal misgivings.

The unlikely duo get caught up in a clandestine plot by a cult to resurrect a dark lord that almost plunged the world into chaos millenia ago. A former elf cultist named Tikka (not at all related to Chicken or Masala) has escaped with the magic wand capable of granting its wielder anything they so desired as long as they were a “Bright”: a one in a million being with a unique ability to wield a wand and not be obliterated by the magic. Twists, turns, betrayals and hijinks ensue, taking Ward and Jakobi deep into the fantasy criminal underworld and face to face with forces well beyond their police paygrade.

BRIGHT balances the main plot with the world building setting up the rules of this unique universe without too much exposition. The acting is excellent with the characters of both Ward and Jakobi being easy to relate to. Jakobi, played by Joel Edgerton (Star Wars: Attack of the Clones) is especially endearing in his idealistic dedication to upholding the law and doing the right thing despite the overt prejudice against him.

Minor nitpicks would be the the run of the mill action movie music by David Sardy (Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance), and the haphazard way the action is shot and edited. Other than that, BRIGHT boasts excellent performances, production values and equally excellent makeup in bringing this realistic fantasy world to life. I for one would love to see a sequel or at least a spinoff taking place in the same world.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A-

Story: B

Acting: A

Characters: B+

Music: D

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C

Godzilla: King of The Monsters (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 8.5/10

The ultimate gateway movie into the Godzilla franchise.

The Good: Magnificent monster battles, well acted relatable characters, memorable supporting cast, simple human centred storyline, great visual effects, probably the best soundtrack ever by composer Bear McCreary. 

The Bad: rushed plot with little breathing room, seemingly light on underlying themes or philosophical depth.

***********Review***********

The sequel to 2014’s GODZILLA and third installment to Legendary Studio’s “Monsterverse”, is a non-stop, edge of the seat thrill ride in the vein of classic worldwide disaster movies like INDEPENDENCE DAY. Building on feedback from the previous installment, director Michael Dougherty delivers a spectacular love letter to the entire 65 year old (as of this year) franchise. It is exciting, it is beautiful, tragic, grand, an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish.

We start off in real-time 2019. In the years following Godzilla’s battle which leveled San Francisco back in 2014, the world is divided over the knowledge that more of these so called titans exist and that the organization”MONARCH” desires to protect them despite the destruction they may cause. Amidst this chaotic backdrop, a MONARCH facility in China is raided by an eco terrorist cell who kidnaps scientist Emma Russell along with her daughter Madison, so as to use her invention called the “orca”; a machine that is able to record and mimic the titans' bioacoustics signals which they use to communicate with each other. 

Led by the enigmatic renegade Alan Jonah, the eco terrorists plan to use the orca to awaken the hibernating titans in hope that they will restore the earth to its former glory. But there is more to this plot than meets the eye. Meanwhile, MONARCH engages the help of Doctor Mark Russell, Emma’s estranged husband, and co-inventor of the orca, to try and locate the stolen device, his kidnapped ex-wife and child.

If it starts to sound like a human focused “angry dad rescuing family” kind of movie, rest assured it is not. Our giant monsters, the titans, they are not just the backdrop, they feature front and centre from the get go. The target of the terrorists plot is to awaken “Ghidorah”, a three headed dragon who had been the basis of myths. They hope for Ghidorah to establish dominance over the other titans and control them. Unfortunately, Ghidorah himself has other plans. With seemingly alien abilities and power beyond measure, the only titan that might stand a chance against the multi headed monstrosity, is Godzilla.

From the very first on screen appearance of Mothra, to Ghidorah, to the bird-like Rodan, and of course Godzilla, the whole movie goes full throttle with its plot. There is never a dull moment as we follow Mark and the MONARCH scientists led by Dr Serizawa across the globe trying to prevent an end-of-the-world scenario. You could say that it moves so fast that there is hardly any breathing room. Plot developments and characters development happen simultaneously and it’s easily to get lost in the details if you do not pay attention. At times, it feels like there may have been a scene or two which was cut out which may have eased the flow of the movie, but this is a minor complaint.

At our story’s core is a tale of a broken individuals dealing with loss at the expense of a loved one. The Russells were victims of the San Francisco Godzilla battle. Their ordeal drove Mark to drink and become abusive leading to his divorce with Emma who in turn buried herself into her work, all while Madison suffered the fallout. In their journey towards making peace with the past, we see two hurt individuals who had let their loss fracture their family,  now choose to put aside their differences for the sake of their child and the world. It is a simple plot thread but with a heartwarming message.

The cast play their roles perfectly; especially Kyle Chandler as Mark Russell and Serizawa played by veteran actor Ken Watanabe. The latter‘s role in the story becomes even more poignant if you watch the first movie and read both prequel comics “Godzilla Awakening” and “Godzilla Aftershock”, knowing more about his history and a his connection to both Godzilla and nuclear weapons.

However, the ones I found the most memorable were the G-Team led by badass lady Colonel Diane Foster. They are side characters with minimal development but the situations they are called to deal with, suppressing a terrorist attack, evacuating a city, luring an enraged Rodan away from a populated area, they do all that with guts and a strict dedication to their duty. The best part of it all? The human element is sufficient and never overstays it’s welcome.

Equal focus is given to the star attraction themselves: the giant monsters. All of them, Mothra, Rodan, Ghidorah and Godzilla all feature cool redesigns that pay homage to their original looks while taking it to a whole new level of badass. Moving Pictures Company (MPC) has outdone themselves once again in the CGI department. Special mention goes to the performance capture used for Ghidorah and Godzilla. Their expressions showcase clear human-like emotions and traits. Their body language blending the actor’s performance with animalistic like movements. This motion capture is truly the descendant of traditional rubber suit monster performances.

And when the titans clash, the visuals and cinematography effectively convey the immense scale of their battles. Thanks to Director Michael Dougherty and cinematographer Lawrence Sher, the movie is spectacularly shot with dark apocalyptic visuals, heightening the surreal spectacle of these massive clashes. We are truly witnessing war among gods! Pulse pounding music by composer Bear McCreary reproduces many of the iconic tunes from past Godzilla movies while giving his own unique spin, with drums and chants, imbuing an almost operatic feel to the movie. This is easily his greatest work to date.

From the music to the characters to the monsters themselves, everything! The passion and love of the genre coming from the cast and crew is evident in every minute of this film. I would have liked a bit more time and focus spent on its underlying themes but perhaps the underdevelopment of such themes was the result of the movie's fast pace. 


That being said, it is great for Newcomers to the Godzilla franchise thanks to the simple story, memorable characters, decent actors, and tight script. If you needed a gateway into the Godzilla or giant monster franchise, this is it! For long time fans, there are numerous Easter eggs, references, callbacks, and parallels to past films. See if you can recognise them all. All in all GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS distills everything cool about Godzilla into a single modern movie. Highly recommended.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A

Story: B

Acting: A

Characters: A-

Music: A

Replay value: A

"Brains": C-

Death Note (2017) movie review

Overall verdict: 6.5/10

Like Donnie Darko Meets Final Destination

The Good: Decent acting, beautiful cinematography, relatable main character, well paced first half, fitting music, genuinely suspenseful, L

The Bad: rushed third act, unable to shake off the more outrageous elements of the original manga, goes off on a tangent that seems unrelated to main plot

***********Review***********

DEATHNOTE, the popular manga series gets its obligatory Hollywood remake. While taking liberties with the source material, it works less like a faithful adaptation and more like a alternate universe scenario of “what if a book that is able to exert supernatural control over anyone whose name is written in it, leading up to their deaths, ends up with a typical American teenager?”.

Light Turner is that teenager. He is the bullied loner from a broken family, the under appreciated smart kid sitting by himself in the corner. The law has failed to bring his mother’s killer to justice, the education system has failed to punish those that pick on him daily, all around him Light is faced with a world of injustice. Enter the death god Ryuk (an immaculately rendered CGI creation with performance by William Defoe) and the titular Deathnote. Ryuk is the devil on Light’s shoulder tempting him to use the power of the Deathnote for selfish means.

It sets up a familiar tragedy of a young person pushed to the edge by unfairness, given the power to change things, and who ultimately abuses said power to take his anger out on the world. This is the familiar stereotype of school shooting perpetrators as sensationalized by the media and Light is set up specifically as such a character. The performances by Nat Wolff (Paper Towns) as Light and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) as his father help sell Light’s plight and set up his expected eventual fall.

However, director Adam Wingard tastefully plays with and eventually subverts this expectation. Though Light does test out the deathnote’s power against the aforementioned bully, and uses it again to send his mother’s murderer to a nasty gruesome end, he ultimately tries to reject Ryuk’s temptation of absolute power over others’ fates. It isn’t the idealistic “with great power comes great responsibility” shtick of superhero comic books but neither is it the nihilistic trope of absolute power’s corrupting influence. This middle ground makes Light more relatable and is a much appreciated deviation from the source material. Where Light Yagami of the manga and the Japanese Deathnote movie was this cold, haughty sociopath with a god complex, Turner, in all his social awkwardness, genuinely regrets his decisions to use the Deathnote, with much of the movie being about him trying to avoid being found out, making the wrong choices as any teen in a panic would, and ultimately escalating the situation by mistake.

But things aren’t so straightforward. Into Light’s life comes manipulative girlfriend Mia Sutton who’s ambitions for the Deathnote extend beyond just simple payback. Under Mia’s influence, Light starts killing any suspected criminal based on the news. They create the persona of “Kira”, Japanese mispronunciation of “killer”, to divert police suspicion. Kira’s supernatural killing of criminals splits the world; while unlawful many support what they see as justice in an unjust world. Complicating the matter further is when Light’s policeman father gets involved in the investigations into the killings, and a mysterious super genius detective named L takes on the case.

Now this second half when L comes along is where things get shaky. I get the sense that on one hand we have this deeply personal look at the birth of a sociopath and subsequent subversion of said villain’s journey by focusing on Light himself, yet on the other hand we are tied down to the plot beats of the original manga. That means a Kira cult, a convoluted cat and mouse game between L and Light, new rules for the Deathnote, memory loss as a means to be absolved from all suspicions, etc. The generally over the top nature of the original manga just does not match the more grounded “Everyman” tale in the movie.

While Light’s dilemma of trying to shake off Mia’s manipulations, evade capture, and plan an outrageous series of events to get away scot free is thrilling and tightly plotted, the movie takes a weird tangent to explore L’s origin. L, played by Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out), is amazing. His demeanor, body language, everything is right out of the original manga. How he slowly loses it after being outsmarted time and again by Light is also well done. But the whole tangent storyline to explore his origin may have been better left to a spinoff.

One thing that got lost in the translation was that the original source material brings up philosophical and moral dilemmas, questioning the rights and wrongs of its characters’ actions, this movie focuses squarely on Light and his own struggles with the escalating situation he finds himself in. This makes the movie less deep than its Japanese counterparts.

Despite its ups and downs, I enjoyed DEATH NOTE. Like a combination of Donnie Darko and Final Destination, DEATH NOTE is suitably suspenseful, well cast, and boasts great shots courtesy of Adam Wingard making this low budget movie look much better than it ought to. Combined with the music and the cinematography, this is a loving tribute to 80s and early 90s teen horror movies with both the pros and the cons of what that entails.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: B+

Story: B-

Acting: B+

Characters: B+

Music: B-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C-

Polar (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 6.5/10

Nothing to do with our melting ice caps

The Good: Stylish action, memorable characters, great acting, lots of dark humour

The Bad: cliched plot, lack of character development, clashing tone

***********Review***********

With a title like “POLAR” you’d imagine something set in the chilling arctic circle or on freezing Antarctica. While snow does feature in some scenes, this movie has nothing to do with the frigid imagery a title like POLAR conjures up. Instead, POLAR may be describing the movie’s tone and style; a mixture of 2 very different tones literal polar opposites of each other.

On one hand, we have the plottings of the deliciously decadent and devious Mr Blut, played by Matt Lucas (Alice in Wonderland), who runs his own hitman-for-hire organization called Damocles. He’s a greedy nut, Mr Blut is, and plans to inflate his company’s value by killing off all retiring hitmen before they retire so that he would not have to pay their pension. To do this dirty work he enlists a new team of colorful crazy assassins, each one as weird as the next almost to the point of being caricatures. Scenes involving Blut or his assassins are shot in this saturated brightly coloured style calling to mind parodies and R Rated cartoons.

On the other hand, we have retiring hitman Vizla aka the Black Kaiser, played by Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) one of the best in the business. And he’s days from retirement and his fat pension payout. Vizla’s subplot meanders a bit in the first act showing his failed attempts at reintegrating with normal society, being a good neighbor to the timid Camille, played by Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical)  and taking up regular jobs or hobbies, often with darkly humorous results. His scenes, mostly confined to a snowy mountain town, are nearly devoid of colours other than stark white and varying shades of grey and brown.

Once Vizla is finally tracked down and cornered, the action is swift and very satisfactory. We see how Vizla’s old fashioned ways and experience outsmart and overpower the new assassins’ gimmicks and flashy tactics. The action and the way it’s shot is the high point of this movie. That and the inherent craziness of what Vizla is up against separates this movie from the whole “retired badass forced into a new fight and winning by his experience” genre that seems overdone in a film market trying to cash in on the popularity of the TAKEN and JOHN WICK franchises.

If you can get over the clashing styles of gritty and cartoony, POLAR is a cool albeit cliched movie. We have seen it all before with this movie being light on plot and light on developing its main character beyond the simplest single statement character description of “retired hitman who can’t reintegrate”. It is however great fun, never boring, and full of that dark humour that I love.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A-

Story: C-

Acting: A

Characters: B-

Music: C-

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C-