Review: The Odyessy

Since the days of Memento, Christopher Nolan hasn't been much of a fan of linear storytelling. That works in his favour here: most of us know the broad strokes of Homer's Odyessy, and right from the beginning - where a storyteller begins to tell the story of the ten year Trojan War, only to be told we've already heard that one - he leans into the fractured timeline of the original and shuffles the cards. The first time we even see Odysseus (Matt Damon), his story is almost over... well, apart from one important bit.

So there are a few timelines here. In one, Odysseus' wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and her not-quite-of-age son Telemachus (Tom Holland) have to endure a hall full of rowdy freeloading suitors, each there to claim her hand once she finishes weaving her grandfather's shroud and admits her husband is never coming home. Sleazy Antinous (Robert Patterson) is first amongst equals here, though his decent facade crumbles the more we see of him and the more his desire to claim the throne and dispose of Telemachus comes to the surface.

In another, it's the dying days of the Trojan War, with a big wooden horse left behind on a seemingly abandoned beach. This feels like the kind of thing we could probably gloss over, but we keep returning to it - often at the prompting of various veterans of the war. There's a deeper meaning behind all this recollection, though it does also provide some thrilling action sequences.

Occasionally we check in with an aged Odysseus, wandering a beach collecting driftwood while a mysterious woman (Charlize Theron) watches on. He's trying to remember his past, and she's both helpful and fearful of what he may learn. Maybe have a bit more lotus and we'll check back in the morning.

And then there's the younger Odysseus and his crew trying to get home after the war is won. When everyone else strikes out along the established trade routes, Odyessus thinks he knows better (and after figuring out how to win the war,  he's clearly got a bit of hubris going on). Soon they're lost, raiding coastal towns where the residents are increasingly worried about lawless "sea people" and landing on islands where you probably have a pretty good idea what awaits.

As far as Gods and magic goes: no to the former, aside from the occasional cameo from Athena (Zendaya), and yes to the latter. People believe in the Gods or they don't, and their workings are through nature and the hearts of men. But there are giants, monsters, and witches in this version of the story - and no version of The Odyessy would be complete without a trip to Hades.

The afterlife here is - as in the original - a bleak, dour place, and while the idea of any kind of faithful version of The Odyessy is silly at best (even in the original Greek, Homer didn't write a screenplay) this largely stays close to the broad strokes of the classic. So much so that at times it almost feels like the story is forcing Nolan to be more overtly entertaining than he's recently been: a lot of the crowd-pleasing stuff is in here, and it works just like it has for the last three thousand years.

That said, Nolan does work in his own take on what it's all about, though he merely adds new angles rather than outright rewriting the classic. Odysseus here has an extra new-ish reason for maybe not rushing directly home; people talk about the end of their "civilisation" as if the Trojan War has shattered its very foundations. There's even a callback (call forward?) to The Lord of the Rings if you want to see it.

But anyone looking for links to today (specifically, the USA and its military culture post 9/11) won't have to look hard; there's an awful lot of veterans wandering around in this story, using your wealth to get out of military service isn't a good look, and once you value results over the basic rules of society that society is in serious trouble. 

All that aside, this is a thrilling story skillfully told. By it's very nature the story is episodic, but each strand is equally compelling and the almost three-hour run time flies by. Some scenes are a little wordy (the modern-ish dialogue works fine), but there's plenty of near-silent action, and Ludwig Goransson's soundtrack is blunt and powerful.

Not every big name in the star-stuffed cast (including Samantha Morton, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, Lupita Nyong'o and John Burnthal) gets a lot to work with, but pretty much everyone gets a moment to shine bright - well, maybe Theron is a little short changed. And Damon acquits himself well, though his version of Odysseus isn't so much cunning as annoyed everyone else doesn't realise he's right.

Whether you're here for stunning visuals, exciting monster action, creepy witchcraft, a thoughtful meditation on the importance of rules or just the original payback warrior taking out the trash, The Odyessy brings it all home.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: Evil Dead Burn

What separates the Evil Dead movies from the rest of the unholy possession / unstoppable zombie pack is that they usually try to be a little funny. What makes the goings on more than just a gore fest is that the Deadites aren't afraid to go way over the top when it comes to treating their possessed bodies badly. To quote another zombie movie, "they're all messed up".

But while Evil Dead Burn has a few jokes, for the most part it takes itself a little too seriously. Which has been a bit of a problem with the movie franchise since it was revived sans Bruce Campbell a decade or so ago. The previous film, Evil Dead Rise, seemed to suggest the series was finding its way back to the cartoony gore gags that made the whole thing work back when Sam Raimi was directing; that direction does not continue here under co-writers and co-directors Sebastien Vanicek and Florent Bernard. 

Still, the whole thing has a solid foundation. After her abusive - hey, he's under a lot of pressure, okay - husband Will (George Pullar) dies in a car crash, French ex-pat Alice (Souheila Yacoub) has to attend a funeral where his parents - Susan (Tandi Wright) and Edgar (Erroll Shand) - don't quite openly despise her, but it's close.

Her brother-in-law Joseph (Hunter Doohan) and his girlfriend Thya (Luciane Buchanan) are a bit more sympathetic, but once everyone's back at the decaying old mansion Joseph's been given (and is struggling to repair), tensions are rapidly on the rise. Oh, and Will was killed by a Deadite who infected Edgar and the demons are looking for a magical dagger Joseph's nutty grandfather stashed somewhere in the house. Carnage ensues.

The gore is both excessive and inventive, which is good because the story itself struggles to get into second gear. There's plenty of conflict between the characters, both living and dead; being a bit of a self-serving dick when the Deadites attack might save you at first, but when the person you left behind comes back they're going to give you a serve. But nobody here is all that interesting, which makes the "family reunion from hell" angle a bit of a fizzle.

(it probably doesn't help that The Invite is also out this week, a more successful film that's also about a small group of connected characters getting on each others nerves. If they'd started turning into Deadites halfway through, then we'd really have something)

Putting technical proficiency ahead of character is something pretty much every Evil Dead movie has in common. But where the Raimi-directed films had the crazy charisma of Campbell to cover it, the later films just take for granted that we're not here to connect with anyone on a human level. That's not to say there aren't decent performances here, but the focus is on the blood and guts rather than the characters its spilling out of.

It seems a little foolish to be complaining about a lack of humanity in an Evil Dead movie. But with nobody to care about and only a handful of decent jokes to break up the mood, all that's left to offer is a whole lot of gore. Which isn't nothing, and some of the kills are fun (in an ewwww way). It's just that in the end, that's not enough to fully animate this particular corpse.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: Jackass: Best and Last

The final ever Jackass movie - don't laugh, Johnny Knoxville gets all serious about it in the movie - is basically a retrospective with a bunch of new stunts mixed in; it's one last lap around the bull ring rather than anything that'll drag you into cinemas on its own merits. 

Despite the new cast members, 2022's Jackass Forever was the real farewell; this is making bank off the odds and ends - which is totally appropriate considering the way the franchise has constantly reworked itself from TV to film to .5 versions to spin offs and so on. Jackass wouldn't be Jackass without a "new" installment where you spend half the time wondering if you've seen a particular clip before, and this is your chance to enjoy that feeling one last time.

If you're invested in the cast you'll be glad to know that pretty much everyone still alive is here. The estranged Bam Margera shows up a bunch in old pranks; the deceased Ryan Dunn's "classic" toy car in the rectum X-ray prank gets a re-run. As far as the new footage goes, sadly not everyone gets to shit themselves or stick their hand up someone's butt. 

There's no real thematic link between the old stunts shown here - it really is just the greatest hits - but there's a bit more variety when it comes to both suffering and just plain inventiveness in the old material, including a never-before-seen early prank where Knoxville dressed up as an escaped convict and tried to get a hacksaw from a hardware store (things took a turn when the LAPD arrived).

Then again, there's also the classic portapotty slingshot ("Poo Cocktail Supreme") which will haunt everyone who ever sees it until the grave, so thanks for that.

Johnny Knoxville continues to demonstrate that without him as a kind of demented carnival barker all we'd have is a bunch of slightly off-putting people hurting each other (though an honourable second place goes to Steve-O). It's no surprise he's largely watching on during the new stunts; in case you've forgotten what he put himself through, his near suicidal rocket ride and the legitimately scary scene where he gets tossed hard by a bull from Jackass Forever both show up here.

We also get to see the first ever Jackass stunt, where Knoxville shoots himself in the chest while wearing a bulletproof vest (and a few porno mags), which seems almost innocent compared with what followed. Bored teens with access to guns and (hopefully) bulletproof vests were almost certainly shooting at each other well before Knoxville and his friends - they just had the technology to film it and the idea that other people would want to see it.

The appeal of Jackass has always been as much about watching everyone else wet themselves with laughter as it is seeing just how much abuse a human can take. There's a definite touch of sadness here as everyone realises that they won't get together to do this kind of thing any more. 

Then again, "this kind of thing" is pretty gross. Bodily waste, rectal examinations, people getting electrocuted; at least they'll have something they can look back on with pride.

- Anthony Morris 

 

Review: Supergirl

An important part of what makes superheroes work is setting. Without a well defined backdrop, it's hard for a superhero to define themselves; being able to do more than mortal man doesn't count for much if we don't know what mortal man is doing. Batman has Gotham City, Superman has Metropolis. Supergirl has... 

Well, she has a bunch of seedy bars in outer space, where she, AKA Kara Zor-El (Milly Alcock) is currently enjoying a planetary pub crawl to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Despite the presence of her dog Krypto, it seems a bit lonely; having grown to almost adulthood on a chunk of Krypton that survived the planet's destruction (for a while), she doesn't really see Earth as home, nor her cousin Clark (David Corenswet) as much more than an annoying nerd.

Meanwhile elsewhere in space, a bunch of brigands led by Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthais Schoenaerts) have murdered a family - but not their youngest member, Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who has sworn vengeance. She may be (too) young, but she has a sword and a serious demeanor, which makes an impression on Kara when their paths cross. Just not enough of an impression to offer her any help, as clearly she's never seen either version of True Grit.

Then, in a space version of a carpark fight, Krem poison Krypto, and without the antidote he'll be dead in three days. Now both Kara and Ruthye are after him, only Kara thinks it's a bad idea for someone so young to be burdened by the weight of a man's death so if you're considering a drinking game you could do worse than take a swig every time a fight scene starts with Kara telling Ruthye to "stay here" (and then another drink every time she immediately moves off).

Supergirl is relatively short and small scale for a superhero movie, which works to its advantage. It's strengths largely lie around the edges of the meandering story its telling: we also get Kara's backstory, which adds a lot to her character, and around the halfway point burly bounty hunter Lobo (Jason Momoa) arrives to give proceedings a jolt with his good natured badassery. 

There's also Alcock's performance, which keeps Kara on the right side of likable early on and builds to some emotional growth that's actually earned by the end. Not everything here feels as fresh as it should - after two decades of superhero movies, unless you're really willing to mix things up you're going to be hitting a lot of notes we've heard before - but Alcock makes Supergirl a hero you want to see more of.

As for Supergirl, it never quite soars. There are enough high points to get it across the line, but the comedy is more about smirks than big laughs, the action is competent rather than memorable (guess when you have heat vision you don't really have to try too hard), the big climax is a fight on board a huge flying thing that's falling out of the sky - something that multiple Marvel movies were doing a decade ago - and while Schoenaerts does his best, the bad guys are kind of bland for people who are basically evil space vikings.

You wouldn't want to bet against superheroes, but after twenty years of domination they're no longer the new kid on the block who can pull a crowd simply by showing up. Supergirl isn't exactly more of the same, but it's not all that fresh either; as a smaller, scrappier version of something we saw a year ago, it's got a fight ahead of it.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: The Death of Robin Hood

The idea of a revisionist take on a classic hero has been around for almost as long as the heroes themselves. The Death of Robin Hood doesn't bring a lot that's new to the table; even the focus on storytelling - the role of legend in shaping and warping real people's lives - was a pretty large part of Unforgiven a generation ago. But even with this kind of revisionist take, the point is that the story continues. Every new film gives Robin Hood a chance to live on.

On the side of a bleak and barren hill, Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) lives, waiting for people seeking revenge for his countless crimes to show up and (try to) kill him. It seems that being a bandit was a license to rob and kill without pity; his good deeds (and Maid Marion) were all made up, while his brutal decades-long murder spree was wiped from the legend.

One thing that wasn't fictional was Little John (Bill Skarsgard), who turns up with a problem. A decade or so ago, he murdered a man, stole his identity, and took his farm and wife. It all worked out fine - the wife loved him, they had a daughter - but the locals finally cottoned on, threw him out, and claimed it all for themselves. Now he wants it back, and he needs Robin's help.

Robin says sure - he's basically just hoping to find someone tough enough to kill him anyway - and a series of extremely violent and somewhat horrifying murders take place. Robin isn't killed but he comes pretty close, and Little John ships him off to an island priory, where the woman in charge (Jodie Comer) is a renowned healer with a tragic past of her own.

Things progress from there, though not in the way you might expect. Robin does heal and becomes the protector of the island in a fashion, but his method of staving off the expected carnage shows him gradually growing in a way unrelated to his (already pretty impressive) skills with the bow and knife. Even on the island, he can't escape his past; his only way forward is to embrace it, for good or ill.

Jackman has form in this area, with Logan being a somewhat similar take on Wolverine. Visually his Hood is a scruffier, shaggier character; Jackman's performance suggests someone forced down a path he'd rather have not chosen, his killing skills an asset in a way that his other talents (he's a natural storyteller; in the few scenes where he gets to use that talent Jackman dials up the warmth) could never be in a violent world driven by revenge.

Unsurprisingly the tone is dour and brooding, especially early on, set in a bleak and windswept landscape that has little to do with Sherwood Forest. This grim setting undercuts the drama somewhat; this isn't a place where the thrilling tales of Robin Hood would seem even remotely plausible to the struggling inhabitants. A stirring tale of adventure this is not.

Strong performances all round (including Australian actor Murray Bartlett as the island's leprous orchard keeper) do eventually pay off, and thanks to a story that slowly struggles towards the light this becomes more than the one note slaughterfest it initially promises to be. Jackman's take is about as far from the swashbuckling hero as you can get, but a connection of sorts to the legend eventually surfaces; a good story always wins out in the end.

- Anthony Morris 

Review: Toy Story 5

Does the world need another Toy Story movie? It's a bit of an odd question, as you'd be hard pressed to name any movies the world actually needs (well, aside from safety ones from the 70s about not putting your hand in a blender). But with the Toy Story story having pretty much wrapped up with the third film, and the fourth being generally seen as a tolerable but pointless extension, what hope is there for number five?

While your mileage may vary, Toy Story 5 does make a reasonable case for its existence, thanks largely to two things: Jessie (Joan Cusack) steps up into the lead role, with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) now the sidekick and Woody (Tom Hanks) as Special Guest Star, and the story is about something shiny and new.

That new thing being the world of screens, which we're informed fairly early on has led to the end of the Age of Toys. Well, not Jesse and the rest of the supporting cast (who this time are barely more than cameos), thanks to their current owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) being built different from the average screen-addled pre-teen.

This does have a downside when it comes to connecting with the other kids (fans of the classic Pixar approach to emotional devastation will be glad to know this gets in early and hard with Bonnie sadly asking her parents why nobody will be friends with her). Her parents have the solution; a kid friendly tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee), on which she can play games with the kids from her dance class via "the pond".

Jesse is horrified at the idea of Bonnie just randomly fishing for friends. The cool kids will eat her alive; Jesse's own unresolved trauma at being cast aside by her first owner has, of course, nothing to do with it. Lilypad's sassy attitude doesn't help matters much, and soon the war is on - and in war, the newest technology always has an edge.

Jesse calls in Buzz, who's out in the world working alongside Bo Peep (Annie Potts) rescuing discards tossed aside as screens re-order toy society. Plans go awry, toys get lost, Jesse ends up back on her old farm teaming up with a bunch of obsolete electronic toys in need of a recharge, and are screens really the problem or is it just that little kids can be jerks?

Meanwhile, a shipping container of all-new Buzz Lightyear toys has been washed up (and broken open) on a tropical isle. They come to life, break out of their packaging, get busy surviving, and find meaning in their lives: find Star Command. But what does their quest have to do with the rest of the story? 

It's a solid mix of heart-wrenching emotional drama for toys and kids (tears will be shed) alongside some well-crafted physical action, each amplifying the other while it all moves along at a bouncy pace. Bumping Woody to a supporting character (the running joke is that he's now seen as past it, with a bald patch repeatedly deployed for humorous effect) helps to avoid the feeling of fan service, while Buzz (the original) is largely fumbling around trying to figure out a way to propose to Jesse.

The verdict on screen time is surprisingly nuanced - there's no bad way to play, just bad people to play with - and using your imagination is prized no matter what. There's a number of sequences animated in a looser style showing the stories the kids have come up with for their toys that are entertainingly bonkers; fancy costume balls and extravagant weddings are mashed up with bomb plots and murder in a way that makes playtime seem a lot of fun.

The series hammers home hard the idea that toys should be passed on when the owners grow tired of them, which feels like a counter to the argument that the Toy Story series should have ended a decade ago. And - as the film almost but not quite acknowledges - the idea of living toys that watch over kids and know what's best for them is moving ever closer to high-tech reality. Enjoy your imagination while you can.

- Anthony Morris 

 

Review: Disclosure Day

Disclosure Day is a movie about aliens in much the same way as your average Mission: Impossible movie was about whatever was on the USB everyone was rushing around trying to grab. Aliens are what drives the story, but they're not what the story is about. Unfortunately, while the M:I movies eventually figured out that what they were about were insane stunts that were fun to watch, Disclosure Day is often about running around a lot while only moving forward a little.

That said, being directed by Steven Spielberg does mean that much of that running around is firmly entertaining, and every now and again he throws in a quality action sequence to perk things up. But for much of the running time this falls between two (or more) stools, as the plot never quite comes together while never really using its slipshod nature to throw in some entertaining curveballs.

Half the story is about whistleblower Daniel (Josh O'Connor, taking it seriously), on the run with a treasure trove of data covering decades of alien encounters. With him is Jane (Eve Hewson), his girlfriend who proves to be both asset and liability; pursuing him is a corporate entity known as Wardex, led by a very hands-on Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), who aside from running a giant organisation and having dismissive meetings with military top brass is also the only one who can successfully use the alien tech they have stashed away.

The other half of the story is about weatherwoman Margaret (Emily Blunt, keeping it light), who is hoping to move up to real reporting but who seems a little frazzled for that kind of responsibility. Then she becomes multi-lingual, develops the ability to sense - and solve - other people's issues, starts speaking a weird alien language live on air, and ends up in the sights of Wardex. Fortunately her new psychic skills turn out to be an advantage in these situations.

They run around a lot across rural America before their paths cross, and there's even more running after that. Being on the run does get a little repetitive, though the bursts of action spice things up and keep the tension relatively high. More of a problem is the lack of any real menace from Wardex, though Scanlon does get one pretty creepy scene of long-distance psychic manipulation, which suggests a much scarier and more paranoid film then the one we get.

There's also the occasional discussion as to whether revealing the truth about aliens is a good idea. This is largely couched in religious terms, where the big question is "what happens if aliens replace God in human society?" Even the characters in the film don't really take this seriously as a proposition, though some aliens are tortured and die off-camera for our sins. 

It's not a problem that this ends up being much more about the characters than the aliens. It is a problem that it ends up being about these characters, as for plot reasons their backgrounds are largely hidden for much of the film in a way that makes them feel a little thinly sketched. The performances are all good (Blunt is often in comedy mode, and is the better for it), but for a character-based drama as this turns out to largely be, these characters are lacking.

With the alien side of things being surprisingly traditional, the most interesting material here is on the fringes. The world is moving to the brink of war but it's only glimpsed here and there; the alien encounters are dream-like and fragmentary; Margaret's boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) is the most likable character here but his role diminishes as things progress. 

Oh, and the big ending is the one point where this film takes a big swing; it's also something you could cut out (or just end the film right before it happens) and not really change the story we've just been told.

President Nixon getting drunk and wanting to impress a 50s TV star with a freezer full of alien corpses is pretty funny though.

- Anthony Morris