Today I went to see Captain America: Civil War.

No time for a proper review, suffice to say in my view it’s the best Marvel Superhero movie since Avengers: Assemble.

I will give it a rating though.
(8.5 / 10)

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This week I went to see Hardcore Henry. A very short, spoiler free review follows.

I sent an email to a friend summing up my thoughts on this movie as follows: “Very true to the trailer, manages to keep the momentum going for long enough but not too long. Very good locations. Without the humour I don’t think it would be watchable for more than a few minutes, but it is very funny in places. Brutality, crudity and even a bit of nudity. Anyone who liked Deadpool would probably like it, and vice versa.”

If it wasn’t obvious, by the last statement I really meant that anyone who disliked Deadpool would probably dislike Hardcore Henry too.

Here is the trailer:

That’s it!

Conclusion – Hardcore Henry

A very enjoyable experience if you like action. I’ll be viewing it for a second time to see what I missed.

I’ll finish with a rating out of 10.
(7.5 / 10)

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This week I went to see The Huntsman: Winter’s War. Ferrero Rocher meets Bacofoil. Spoilers follow, if anyone cares.

The movie stars an Oscar winner (Charlize Theron), an Oscar nominee (Jessica Chastain) and a good prospect for a future Oscar (Emily Blunt). Chris Hemsworth may not be thought of in the same acting class, but he has more than his fair share of charisma and is a definite box office pull. With support from the ever-reliable Nick Frost and Ron Brydon, plus big screen appearances for Sherdian Smith (let’s hope a Hollywood breakthrough really comes through one day) and Alexandra Roach (who I recognized but took me a while to connect with Utopia) this should have been excellent. Apart from a few quibbles, it also looks fantastic – the Ferrero Rocher quip was a cheap shot but it did spring to mind when Charlize Theron reappeared near the end, teamed with Emily Blunt amidst the Ice Palace.

So what went wrong? Just the script, the plot, the directing – and Jessica Chastain’s “Scottish” accent.

Let’s get the latter out of the way first. While Chris Hemsworth’s accent is just as bad, somehow when delivered through his cheeky grin, or dour scowl, he can get away with it. Since it was a “feature” of the first movie, he couldn’t really drop it for the sequel. However, there was absolutely no reason to make Jessica Chastain follow suit, and shame on whoever thought it was a good idea – she deserved better.

I won’t dwell too much on the script, the plot and the directing, but I’ll throw in a few random thoughts. The best dialogue was reserved for the supporting actors, and it’s almost like they improvised some of it. Emily Blunt did the most with what she had to work with, although I think that if her backstory and the reason for her becoming the Ice Queen had been held back to the end it would have had more impact. Instead, she appeared to be too sympathetic because we knew too much about her, and the betrayal by her sister was so obvious that to hold it for a reveal at the end was pointless. Charlize Theron wasn’t on screen long enough to have a real impact.

The real stars of The Huntsman: Winter’s War were the visuals, especially Emily Blunt’s costumes (okay, the Bacofoil reference was unfair, but I still can’t get the thought out of my head) and the all-too-brief mossy snake. The only criticism relates to Charlize Theron’s wispy tentacles, which seemed like a placeholder for a better effect that no-one could think of during post production. The fight scenes were generally good, but looked like they had been filmed to be more violent, then edited down to keep the child-friendly rating. Ditto the baby cremation at the beginning (how dark was that!) and I genuinely feared for one moment that they were going to show the contents of the crib. Maybe there’s a R-rated cut waiting for home release (just joking).

Conclusion – The Huntsman: Winter’s War

I’m clearly the wrong demographic for this movie – the screening I went to was largely filled with young children (mostly girls) and their parents, still on their Easter break. The friend I went with (male and of similar age to me) spent most of the film asleep. I’m fairly tolerant of poor films, and managed to stay awake, but my first reaction was just that it was “alright”. In hindsight that was probably over-generous. I can’t recommend it unless your kids want to go.

I’ll finish with a fairly neutral rating out of 10. Only the cast and the visuals saved this from a significantly lower rating.
(5 / 10)

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I went to see Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice today. This isn’t intended as a lengthy review, just giving a few of my thoughts, but there are spoilers below. If you were thinking of seeing the movie, but were put off by the reviews, my recommendation is to read no further, go and see it and make up your own mind. If you hate it though, apologies in advance, because I won’t be refunding your ticket or giving you your time back.

I clearly hadn’t been put off by the almost universally negative reviews for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I did fully expect to fall asleep (I didn’t), get bored (I didn’t) and be confused by the dream sequences (I wasn’t). It was longer than it needed to be and although it looks like a lot ended up on the cutting room floor possibly more could have gone as well. A shorter theatrical release and a much longer version (even longer than the current one) reserved for DVD/Blu-Ray would in my view have been better. The Flash’s time-travelling appearance (presumably from an alternative future) for example really only makes sense if you realise who this is and that he is capable of time travel. It is more likely to confuse than advance the narrative. Bruce Wayne’s extreme exercise regime could have been saved for the home release too. Lois Lane’s decision to hide the Kryponite spear in a watery pit seemed like a good idea at the time. For her then to have to retrieve it shortly afterwards (and put herself in peril in the process) rendered that all unnecessary. We didn’t need to see Superman save Lois yet again.

Lex Luthor isn’t the best executed villains of recent superhero movies. His “Plan B” for getting rid of Superman was far too straightforward to execute. Kryptonian security is clearly easier to crack than an IPhone. I’m also not sure that creating a more dangerous adversary for an alien that you think is an existential threat to the planet is necessarily the wisest move. However, Jesse Eisenberg’s OTT performance didn’t grate as much as I expected it to do after the trailers. Ben Affleck acquitted himself well with his performance. Henry Cavill had less to work with, but that says more about the character than his acting skills. Gal Gadot’s debut as Wonder Woman would have had more impact if it hadn’t been trailed so heavily. Jeremy Irons is pitch perfect as someone exasperated with a man who won’t take his advice. You know this is isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

At the time I felt that, when the climax of the showdown came between the titular characters, Batman’s change of heart seemed too abrupt. His reversal of perception of Superman as the stuff of nightmares to the friend he had failed felt compounded this. However, the more I think about it, the revelation that Superman was capable of loving his mother in the same way that Batman loved his own justifies it all in the context of Batman’s tortured psyche.

Conclusion – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice isn’t one of the best of the recent superhero movies, and DC still haven’t got their formula right in the same way that Marvel seem to have. It’s not even Zack Snyder’s best attempt. I reserve that accolade for Watchmen, which is still one of my favourites, although I know that’s far from a common opinion. From the same genre, I see it as on a par with Man of Steel and slightly better than (for example) Iron Man 2 & 3, and Thor: The Dark World.

That’s it. I’ll conclude with a rating out of 10.
(7 / 10)

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