Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Otto Bathurst
Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, Jamie Dornan
RunTime: 1 hr 57 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence)
Released By: Encore Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 29 November 2018
Synopsis: Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) a war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander (Jamie Foxx) mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance.
Movie Review:
Ah, ‘Robin Hood’, a tale as old as time, which has inspired so many adaptations and interpretations – including the 1938 Errol Flynn classic, the 1973 Disney animation, the 1991 Kevin Costner romance, and the 2010 Russell Crowe war drama – that you wonder if you should even be bothered with this latest.
Well, yes and no – yes, if you’re not averse to the idea of Robin Hood as a late-12th century dark knight in a gritty medieval war epic; and no, if even within the bounds of artistic license, that description sounds just ludicrous to you. Indeed, how much you warm to director Otto Bathurst’s tale really depends on how prepared you are to set aside your preconceptions of the legendary English folk hero, an expectation which the movie itself acknowledges with an opening voiceover that urges you to “forget history, forget what you believe, forget what you know”.
As played by the Welsh actor Taron Egerton of the ‘Kingsman’ films, Robin of Loxley is a comfortable young Nottingham nobleman whose only concern, before he receives a draft notice from the Sheriff (Ben Mendelsohn) for the Crusades, is how much time he gets to spend with his love Marian (Eve Hewson). After fighting the infidels in Arabia, Robin returns home to find that the Sheriff has proclaimed him dead and seized his property. In turn, Marian is now living in the mines with the community’s de facto leader Will Scarlet (Jamie Dornan), where many of the poor in Nottingham have been forced to work.
Thankfully for Robin, he has been handpicked by a ferocious Saracen fighter Yahya (Jamie Foxx), whose son he had valiantly, though ultimately futilely, tried to save from execution before being sent home. Because Robin cannot seem to pronounce Yahya’s name right, they eventually settle for calling him John. But more significantly, both come to see in each other a chance to set things right – in other words, stopping the rich and powerful from oppressing the poor and powerless – and in the process, seek vengeance for the numerous injustices that had been done onto them.
So John becomes Robin’s mentor, building his strength, teaching him how to shoot faster and more accurately, and training his reflexes; although since Robin was chosen for having his heart in the right place, character-building isn’t at all part of the training. John also instructs Robin to lead a double life – by day to ingratiate himself with the Sheriff as Lord Robin to gather intel about the Sheriff’s inner circle, and by night to steal from the Sheriff’s coffers to give to the poor. Despite still being emotionally tied to Marian, John warns Robin against getting reacquainted with Marian, on account that it would only end up endangering her own life.
It isn’t before long that Robin graduates from stealthy night-time robberies to a brazen raid on the governmental treasury in broad daylight, and from that to sparking an uprising among the people to take up arms against the Sheriff’s heavily guarded convoy delivering riches seized from them for the war effort in the Middle East. There is a propulsive momentum that drives the film from start to finish, though it is to Bathurst’s credit that the proceedings never feel frenetic, even if they are urgent, gripping and often invigorating.
In part, Bathurst has to thank a surprisingly engaging script from relative newcomers Ben Chandler and David James Kelly, who manage to squeeze plenty of narrative reveals and character moments in between the breathlessly paced action. You’ll be kept intrigued as the story teases a larger conspiracy involving the Church of Rome (with F. Murray Abraham portraying one of its all-powerful cardinals pulling the Sheriff’s strings), sets Marian and Robin’s jovial good friend Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin) as two revolutionaries hatching their own plan against the Sheriff, and be transfixed by Will’s transformation from the Sheriff’s opposition vanguard to a political figure in his own right. Oh yes, there is plenty going on within the film’s two hours, and we dare say that there is hardly a dull moment to be found.
It is however true too that some of it will feel awfully familiar to Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’, hence our earlier reference to it. Not only are there parallels in how Robin’s disguise becomes his pseudonym, or how his identity of privilege is really his alter-ego, there are also very specific plot points that seem lifted from the movie, most notably a Two-Face analogue which sets up a potential sequel at the close of the film. Notwithstanding the obvious similarities, there are interesting contemporary thematic undertones which have been deliberately emphasised, including that of the rich-versus-poor/ wealth redistribution, anti-(white)establishment, and perhaps most provocatively, the insidiously divisive power of Christianity. To be sure, ‘Robin Hood’ isn’t intended to make a political statement, even though it is undeniably politicised.
Yet those simply looking for an edge-of-your-seat action movie will surely not be disappointed. One of the very first major sequences is the battle between the Christians and the Muslims in Arabia, which is intense to say the very least, and sets the tone for the rest to follow. Each of the set-pieces is efficiently choreographed and effectively staged for maximum thrill, and the standout ones include a fiery horseback chase through a mine and the parapets that run above it, as well as the climactic all-out street war between the people and the Sheriff’s heavily-armed guards. It helps that Egerton mostly performs all his own stunts, which shows in how the shots for each action scene are filmed and edited with relative clarity.
Speaking of Egerton, he makes a competent, if not particularly outstanding, impression as the titular hero. He brings both swagger and charm to the role, and holds his own against Mendelsohn’s deliciously evil turn as the Sheriff. Foxx is overall underused, and we’d have liked more time between him and Egerton to banter and bond, but there is a raw energy he brings that lights up the scenes he’s in. The rest of the supporting cast are equally stellar – including an appropriately steely Hewson as Marian, a droll Minchin as Tuck, and a sinister Ian Peck as the Arch Deacon of the church. Bathurst has filled many of the bit roles with solid English actors, and the ensemble is undeniably impressive.
It should be manifestly clear by now that ‘Robin Hood’ plays loose, fast and casual with historical or even cultural accuracy, which also explains why the costumes look generally anachronistic. If you’re not prepared to accept such revisionism, then very surely this version is not for you; otherwise, those in the mood for a balls-to-the-wall action movie will be delighted, even thrilled, by this folk hero reinterpreted as a modern shadow warrior. As long as you’re willing to go along with it, you’ll find yourself rewarded with an entertaining, engaging and exciting tale of vigilantism, politics/ religion, war, romance and brotherhood.
Movie Rating:
(Action, politics and romance rolled into one thoroughly engaging, though somewhat familiar, Dark Knight tale that plays it loose, fast and casual with the 'Robin Hood' legend)
Review by Gabriel Chong
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TRAILER WATCH - GLASSPosted on 21 Jul 2018 |
Genre: Comedy/Action
Director: Susanna Fogel
Cast: Mila Kunis, Kate McKinnon, Justin Theroux, Gillian Anderson, Hasan Minhaj
RunTime: 1 hr 56 mins
Rating: NC16 (Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 August 2018
Synopsis: Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon), two thirty-year-old best friends in Los Angeles, are thrust unexpectedly into an international conspiracy when Audrey’s ex-boyfriend shows up at their apartment with a team of deadly assassins on his trail. Surprising even themselves, the duo jump into action, on the run throughout Europe from assassins and a suspicious-but-charming British agent, as they hatch a plan to save the world.
Movie Review:
It seemed like a good idea to bring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon together in a buddy comedy.
The very attractive Kunis, who is also known as Mrs Ashton Kutcher, delivered memorable performances as the devious supporting character in Black Swan (2010) and the empathetic Wicked Witch of the West in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013). McKinnon, who was hilarious as Dr Jillian Holtzmann in the reboot Ghostbusters (2016), is also an Emmy Award winner for her very funny work on Saturday Night Live.
Why does this action comedy feel so bland and uninspired then? The two stars, who are commendable in their own rights, just doesn’t seem to have the chemistry to hit it off on screen.
Kunis plays an everyday woman who works as a cashier in a grocery store. After getting dumped via text by her boyfriend (the underrated Justin Theroux), she becomes heartbroken and embarrassed. Enter McKinnon’s character, who is the best friend anyone can count on during difficult times.
Things get a little complicated when the ex turns out to be a spy, and the story now involves angry mobsters, violent assassins and yes, you’ve guessed it – a flash drive containing extremely important information. The 116 minute movie then sees the two female protagonists setting off on a whirlwind tour of the European continent and getting into heaps of trouble. In the mix is also a handsome stranger (Sam Heughan), an annoying agent (Hasan Minhaj) and a powerful female boss (the much missed Gillian Anderson).
The movie tries hard to be too many things: a buddy comedy, a spy action thriller and a European travel catalogue. Unfortunately, that also causes the popcorn flick to lose focus and viewers may not be too welcoming about the continual change in tone. One moment you care about the friendship between the two girls and want to cheer on the awesomeness of girl power, and the next moment you are shocked by the surprisingly high number of body count (in one stunning scene, a bad guy was offed when his head gets thrown into a pot of boiling cheese fondue). A while later, you are enjoying the picturesque scenery of Europe, hoping that you and your best friend can go there for a road trip soon.
The best bits of the movie go to McKinnon, who effortlessly deliver her punchy one liners. They are chuckle worthy and remind you of her celebrity impressions of Justin Bieber, Ellen DeGeneres and Hillary Clinton (go search online if you haven’t seen these side splitting comedic acts). Meanwhile, Kunis puts in effort to catch up but you just get the feeling that something is holding her back from being outright comical.
Overall, we still take our hats off female director Susanna Fogel for pulling this off. It is not often we see a female driven spy movie that dares to step beyond the safe boundaries by incorporating foul humour and coarse language. Thanks to McKinnon’s charisma, this is still an enjoyable ride that allows you to escape reality for two hours.
Movie Rating:
(Kate McKinnon shines with her brand of hilarity in this serviceable action comedy)
Review by John Li
Genre: Romance/Comedy
Director: Yuichi Fukuda
Cast: Takayuki Yamada, Masami Nagasawa, Tsuyoshi Muro, Katsuya, Taiga
Runtime: 1 hr 54 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Clover Films and Golden Village Pictures
Official Website:
Opening Day: 26 July 2018
Synopsis: Daisuke, a flirty tour coordinator in Hawaii, meets a girl named Rui in a café and falls in love at first sight. But the next day, she has no idea who he is. Rui suffers from a condition caused by a car accident in which new memories are wiped clear on a daily basis. In an effort to shield Rui from the painful truth, her loving father and brother create an environment in which she continues to relive the day after her accident. Daisuke learns of her tragedy and is determined confess his love for her day after day. Each day, Rui meets Daisuke for the first time. Daisuke’s ingenuity and persistence bring them together, but Rui learns that Daisuke dreams of becoming an astronomer and is conducting research in Hawaii, where the night sky is more beautiful than anywhere else in the world. Rui knows Daisuke will love her despite her memory loss, but worries about his future and makes a bold decision…
Movie Review:
50 First Kisses is the Japanese remake of the classic American rom-com movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, 50 First Dates (2004). Set in Oahu, Hawaii, the movie is about Daisuke’s comical pursuit of Rui. Even though he is known to be a playboy who flirts with the Japanese tourists who come to Hawaii, Rui earns a special place in his heart from the first day he saw her at a diner. However, Rui suffers from anterograde amnesia, where new memories can last only one day. Despite learning about that, it did not deter Daisuke’s determination to chase Rui. Daisuke eventually wins over her heart through his countless tries and unconventional methods, but Daisuke’s impending offer to fulfil his dream makes Rui insecure…
This Japanese remake is not a 100% copy of the American original; there are several differences in the narrative. For instance, there’s no penguins or walruses in this movie, and the male lead is an astronomer, as opposed to being a veterinarian. Nonetheless, the set-up of the story and key scenes are replicated to perfection! Even the framing is duplicated to a tee.
People may be really skeptical about remakes at first, especially when the original is already quite conversation worthy and is one of the top ticket box titles of their time. But this movie totally outdone expectations, and is successful for many reasons. First, the casting was excellent. Both Takayuki Yamada and Masami Nagasaw, who plays Daisuke and Rui respectively, have worked with director Yuichi Fukuda on more than one occasion. Although the couple look quite incompatible at first, they managed to create their characters, the flamboyant guy and the girl-next-door, work out well together. Coupled with the fact that the both of them have actually worked with one another a decade ago, their onscreen chemistry was so natural and relaxed.
In making the humour such a big success, the side characters played by Jiro Sato (Rui’s father), Taiga (Rui’s brother) and Tsuyoshi Muro (Daisuke’s buddy) were fitting as well. The movie is also sprinkled with Japanese slapstick humour, and unique Japanese references that is highly entertaining. Special mention to Jiro, for being able to pull off the funny gags while putting on such a straight face! If not for the cast, the entertainment value of the movie wouldn’t be half as successful.
In general, what makes a rom-com enjoyable would be the overall entertainment and humour, the compatibility and chemistry of the couple, and the ‘feel-good-ness’. For 50 First Kisses, it definitely scores high across these factors. It’s also a dynamic movie, which brings you on the character’s emotional journey, making it quite genuine and thoughtful as well. Doesn’t take a genius to predict the ending of the movie, but thankfully it’s not that old-fashioned and cheesy!
Movie Rating:
(You NEED this if you haven’t been laughing enough lately. And if you’re a rom-com fanatic, you’ll not want to miss it!!! It’s possibly better than its original)
Review by Tho Shu Ling
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TRAILER WATCH - GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEENPosted on 12 Jul 2018 |
Genre: Romance/Crime
Director: Matthew Ross
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Molly Ringwald, Ana Ularu, Veronica Ferres
RunTime: 1 hr 45 mins
Rating: R21
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website:
Opening Day: 19 July 2018
Synopsis: From the producers of PASSENGERS and JOHN WICK comes a tale of obsession and intrigue: SIBERIA follows Lucas (Reeves), an American diamond merchant, who travels to St. Petersburg to sell rare blue diamonds of questionable origin. As the deal immediately begins to collapse, Lucas travels to Siberia in search of his missing partner and their diamonds, where he quickly falls into a relationship with Katya (Ularu), the owner of a small Siberian café. As Lucas and Katya’s passion builds, so does the treacherous world of the diamond trade from which he is unable to extricate himself. Both collide as Lucas desperately searches for an escape route in a world with no exit.
Movie Review:
There’s no other way to say this – ‘Siberia’ left us out in the cold. Even after sitting through 97 minutes of it, we’re not quite sure what the filmmakers intended with this cross between a romantic drama and an international thriller.
It starts off as the latter, setting up Keanu Reeves as an American diamond merchant named Lucas who arrives in St. Petersburg to make a US$50 million sale of ultra-rare blue diamonds to the ruthless Russian mobster Boris (Pasha D. Lynchnikoff), only to find that his partner Pyotr has disappeared with the merchandise. So after appeasing the unhappy customer, Lucas flies out to Mirny, a mining town in Siberia where Pyotr’s brother lives and where he figures his partner might have gone.
While waiting for news of Pyotr, Lucas wanders into a local café on his first evening there and has a meet-cute with its owner Katya (Romanian actress Ana Ularu). Though Katya can very well hold her own, Lucas steps in to intervene when one of the local men gets on a chair to flash himself at her while inebriated. Unfortunately, though that certainly leaves an impression on Katya, it doesn’t go all too well for him as soon as he steps out of the café. Finding him lying unconscious in the snow, Katya brings him back to her house, thus setting the stage for their ill-fated love affair.
Besides the fact that Lucas is already married (he has two brief FaceTime scenes with his wife, played by Molly Ringwald), the other men in town – including Katya’s older brother – disapprove of Lucas dating Katya, letting their disdain be known to him on a bear hunting trip they invite them on. All the same, Katya refuses to let her choices be dictated by them, and hooks up with Lucas despite knowing that he probably won’t be sticking around for her. Reeves and Ularu share about three to four sex scenes together, though those hoping to indulge vicariously in their lovemaking should probably just look elsewhere.
But that’s not even why their romance is doomed – when Katya follows Lucas back to St. Petersburg, she gets inadvertently mixed up with his wrong company, resulting in an act of coercive humiliation that explains the movie’s rating. She also becomes the FSB’s manipulation tool as they force Lucas to double-cross Boris, an act which also precipitates the film’s grim finale. Those expecting ‘Siberia’ to be in the vein of EuropaCorp’s sleek but straightforward action thrillers will most certainly be disappointed; besides a shootout in the wintry forests of Siberia, there is hardly any action to speak of, and the betrayals and conspiracies don’t add up to anything much intriguing too.
At best, we can fathom that director Matthew Ross and screenwriter Scott B. Smith (from a story credited to Smith and Stephen Hamel) intended for the sort of bleak romanticism akin to George Clooney’s muted ‘The American’. Certainly, this isn’t the sort of emotionally charged stuff where Lucas’ passion for Katya erupts into some single-minded vengeance after she is threatened and used against him. Rather than have Reeves go into ‘John Wick’ mode for Katya, the film subdues him to the extent that he seems almost doubtful how much he is willing to go to in order to protect and/or avenge Katya.
While it seems too easy to blame Reeves for an ambiguous lead performance, we think the fault lies more with both the scripting and directing, which can hardly be bothered to find some central motivation for Lucas. On one hand, he clearly has had some experience in shooting (which he demonstrates on the bear-hunting trip) and spy-craft (hence the numerous cheap phones and SIM cards); yet, on the other, he seems utterly inept at managing the situations he finds himself in. In contrast, Ularu makes a memorable impression as Katya, a woman who holds her own in the male-dominated community she lives in and accepts what she knows she needs to do given what she’s gotten herself into.
Yet Ularu alone is not enough to warm ‘Siberia’, not when her romance with Reeves hardly ignites and the whole diamond dealing plot proves to be just as tedious. It’s hard to think that Smith scripted the far superior dark thriller ‘A Simple Plan’ two decades ago from his own novel, and Ross directed the flawed but far more engaging ‘Frank and Lola’ two years back. Both appear too content with this half-baked romance thriller, which unfolds at its own languid pace and never builds to anything compelling. Much as we love Reeves, we hate to see him in such mediocre fare, although the fact that he also produced ‘Siberia’ makes him partially culpable.
Movie Rating:
(As frigid as the weather in the titular location, ‘Siberia’ is a slow-burn romance thriller that never builds itself into anything emotionally or narratively compelling)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Pierre Morel
Cast: Jennifer Garner, John Gallagher Jr., Method Man, Tyson Ritter, John Ortiz
Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins
Rating: NC16 (Some Coarse Language and Violence)
Released By: Golden Village Pictures
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/PeppermintMovie/
Opening Day: 6 September 2018
Synopsis: Peppermint is an action thriller which tells the story of young mother Riley North (Jennifer Garner) who awakens from a coma after her husband and daughter are killed in a brutal attack on the family. When the system frustratingly shields the murderers from justice, Riley sets out to transform herself from citizen to urban guerrilla. Channelling her frustration into personal motivation, she spends years in hiding honing her mind, body and spirit to become an unstoppable force - eluding the underworld, the LAPD and the FBI- as she methodically delivers her personal brand of justice.
Movie Review:
Like ‘Taken’, ‘Peppermint’ has as its lead protagonist a parent who decides to take justice into her own hands; although in this case, the motivation isn’t so much to rescue a loved one than to seek justice for the death of loved ones. Oh yes, as an extended flashback at the start of the film informs us, our anti-hero Riley North (Jennifer Garner) has had to endure the pain of seeing her husband and young daughter gunned down in a drive-by shooting, followed by the ignominy of a corrupt law and order system which lets the murderers walk away scot-free. So after a five-year disappearance, Riley is back in Los Angeles to exact her own brand of vengeance on those who have wronged her – not only the crooked cops, prosecutor and judge, but the very head of the drug cartel (Juan Pablo Rosa) who had ordered the killing in the first place.
As much as the occasional cutaways to TV news anchors debating the moral basis of Riley’s actions, this is less a socially conscious drama than it is a revenge thriller that sees the former ‘Alias’ and ‘Elektra’ female star return to ass-kicking mode. While Liam Neeson had the help of some buddies in ‘Taken’, Garner is essentially a one-woman army who is solely responsible for breaking into a store to steal military-grade weapons and ammunition, then staking out her victims one by one, and then taking them out in cold blood. The decade since 2005’s ‘Elektra’ hasn’t dulled her physicality and agility, and she more than convinces in the extended action show-pieces – there is one set in a piñata store, another at the drug lord’s mansion at night, and the pièce de résistance in the slums of downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row area.
Alas the same cannot be said of her transformation from grieving wife and mother into hardened vigilante, which frankly comes off a lot less compelling than it needs to. Part of that has to do with writer Chad St John’s script, which doesn’t give enough attention to her grief and subsequent emotional evolution; part of that also has to do with director Pierre Morel (who was also the director of the very first ‘Taken’), who takes for granted that Garner’s natural appeal will translate to us rooting for her character; and part of that has to do with Garner herself, who doesn’t quite summon enough depth to her portrayal of Riley for us to connect to her character’s agony, bitterness and resolve that are fundamental to that transformation. Without a deeper sense of empathy, we can’t quite say that we can cheer her on as she blazes her path of vengeance against her enemies.
It is also for this reason that ‘Peppermint’ doesn’t rise above the trappings of a routine B-action movie. From ‘Taken’ to ‘From Paris With Love’ to ‘The Gunman’, Morel has more than enough experience to ensure that the movie flows efficiently from scene to scene, and keeps up a reasonably exciting pace throughout. But without a hero whose emotional struggle we can truly identify with and/or get behind, the film lacks a much-needed visceral hook. It doesn’t help that the rest of the characters are too simplistically sketched – whether good cop or bad cop or ruthless criminal – such that Riley isn’t ever drawn into some sort of dilemma as judge, jury and executioner. Whilst conveying urgency, having the proceedings unfold largely over the course of a single day (i.e. the fifth year anniversary of the shootings) also makes it less realistic, especially since she seems to be able to get from one killing ground to another relatively effortlessly.
It is clear from the ending that there is intention for ‘Peppermint’ to be the start of a series, just as ‘Taken’ had spawned a trilogy (though of diminishing returns, we might add). Still, it is hardly likely that those ambitions will come to fruition, seeing as how this supposed franchise starter barely stands out in a long line of revenge thrillers. Garner definitely possesses the physical chops for such a role, but she as well as the filmmakers need to dig much, much deeper for Riley to be notable. As it stands, Riley is as pedestrian as it gets, with perhaps the exception of a scene where she hits back literally at a snobbish mother who had caused her and her daughter some consternation. So too can be said of the movie named after her nickname, which is no more than an average B-actioner that is at best disposable time-wasting entertainment.
Movie Rating:
(As average as revenge thrillers get, this 'Taken' wannabe lacks a compelling hero for us to root for)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Adventure/Action/Comics
Director: James Wan
Cast: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Dolph Lundgren, Ludi Lin, Temuera Morrison, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Patrick Wilson
Runtime: 2 hrs 23 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: Warner Bros
Official Website:
Opening Day: 13 December 2018
Synopsis: From Warner Bros. Pictures and director James Wan comes an action-packed adventure that spans the vast, visually breathtaking underwater world of the seven seas, "AQUAMAN" starring Jason Momoa in the title role. The film reveals the origin story of half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry and takes him on the journey of his lifetime-one that will not only force him to face who he really is, but to discover if he is worthy of who he was born to be...a king.
Movie Review:
Who would have thought, slightly over a decade after HBO’s ‘Entourage’ poked fun at the idea that anyone would try to make an ‘Aquaman’ film in earnest, that we’d in fact be staring at a big-budget adaptation of the DC comic book character? After all, a superhero whose key powers were his strength, his ability to swim at tremendous speeds and his telepathy with sea life does not immediately make for a compelling lead character, although his prior appearance in 2017’s ‘Justice League’ with Jason Momoa in the role did provide some memorable bursts of roguish fun. Yet with the ambition, imagination and chutzpah of director James Wan, ‘Aquaman’ surfaces as one of the most glorious and unapologetically entertaining comic book superhero movies we’ve seen of late.
Like last summer’s ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Aquaman’ takes a definitive shift away from the earlier grimness of the DC cinematic universe that Zack Synder established, choosing instead for bright phosphorescent colours and imagery that are reminiscent of an underwater ‘Tron’. There is plenty of dazzle and detail in Wan’s undersea settings that range from the massive palaces and arenas of the nation of Atlantis where its people ride on hammerheads and seahorses, to a creepy deep-sea trench teeming with fierce and deadly cannibals that look like the evil cousins of the monster from ‘The Shape of Water’, and right down to the Jules Verne-ian hollow interior within Earth’s core where dinosaurs as well as a Kraken-like creature still roam. Oh yes, the water-world-building here is breath-taking to say the very least, and fully worthy in and of itself of the IMAX experience.
Within the stunning visuals is a rollicking action-adventure that is familiar yet thoroughly enjoyable in its ‘anything goes’ attitude. At its core is an origin story of Arthur’s journey from small-time superhero (an early sequence sees him saving the crew of a Russian submarine from a band of nautical pirates, one of whom will go on to become his arch-nemesis Black Manta) to king of the seven sea kingdoms that make up Atlantis, while saving the land-dwellers from his half-brother cum present king Orm (Patrick Wilson) and falling in love with Orm’s fiancée Princess Mera (Amber Heard). If some part of that sounds to you vaguely familiar to the plot of ‘Thor’ or even ‘Black Panther’, you’re not mistaken, but what it lacks in originality, it certainly makes up for in pace, scope and scale.
Despite clocking in at close to two and a half hours, this is easily one of the most fast-paced and action-packed superhero movies ever. Staying just a couple of steps away from frenetic, Wan transports his characters from sequence to sequence of pulse-pounding action, pausing just long enough to let the emotional moments register. There is more scope here than one would expect in an origin story, not only in terms of the wondrous undersea kingdoms that we described earlier, but also the numerous above-water locations that Arthur and Mera globe-trot to (including the Sahara Desert where an abandoned Atlantean splinter kingdom now lies, and the picturesque Italian city of Sicily where the ruins of the statues of Roman kings still stand). And as befitting that extent of scope, the scale here is tremendous, combining the stakes in ‘Avatar’ with bits from ‘Indiana Jones’, ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.
Though so much of the movie is massive, there are a couple of standout ones worth singular mention. Arthur and Orm’s very first challenge in a Roman colosseum-like stadium dubbed the ‘Ring of Fire’, as well as their subsequent chase through Atlantis’ iridescent metropolis, is thrilling to watch, combining gravity-defying action choreography with seamless cinematography. The showdown between Arthur and Black Manta on the rooftops and in the town square of Sicily is also especially exhilarating, pitting the former’s raw strength against the latter’s powerful high-tech weaponry. But the piece de resistance is no doubt the colossal finale that unfolds with a jaw-dropping ferocity, intensity and enormity, what with all manner of sea creatures unleashing laser fire at one another, coupled with the destruction wrought by the gargantuan Kraken-like creature we mentioned earlier.
Amidst the underwater spectacle, the film packs some surprisingly emotional parts thanks to the stellar ensemble cast assembled here. Momoa brings charisma and charm to deliver a fierce yet funny Aquaman, while Heard makes Mera a smart and likeable heroine, and together they exude some genuine buddy chemistry as they trade barbs and riff playfully with each other. Nicole Kidman is easily the film’s standout supporting performer, packing so much in a relatively small number of scenes with both Momoa and Temuera Morrison (who plays a lighthouse keeper she falls in love and has Arthur with) as Arthur’s mother and former queen of Atlantis. Kidman’s humanity as Atlanna, coupled with Momoa and Heard’s conviction in their quest, pack a powerful message about the virtues of inclusion.
Truth be told, ‘Aquaman’ exceeded even our wildest expectations of a fun superhero blockbuster. There have been comparisons of it being ‘an undersea Star Wars’, and certainly the imagination on display is exciting, transportive and spectacular. Rather than mimicking its DC cousins or its Marvel counterparts, ‘Aquaman’ stands on its own distinct style in terms of colours, imagery and visual concepts, and sweeps you away into a whole hitherto unseen underwater extravaganza. As risky a proposition it may have been, its embrace of a wild mix of elements from different types of stories only makes it even more unique and delightfully quirky. But through it all, its purpose is to serve up big, bold and kick-ass entertainment – and in that regard, we guarantee you that you’d be swept away by its infectiously exuberant tide of action, fantasy, drama, romance and spectacle.
Movie Rating:
(Like no other DC or Marvel superhero blockbuster you've seen, this undersea extravaganza sweeps you away with its visual ambition, imagination and chutzpah, and thanks to a stellar ensemble, packs an emotional wallop too)
Review by Gabriel Chong
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Director: Sam Choi
Cast: So Ju-yeon, Kim Min-kyu, Kim Young, Kim Tae-min, Choi Hee-jin-I, Park Jin
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Rating: PG13 (Horror)
Released By: Clover Films
Official Website:
Opening Day: 26 July 2018
Synopsis: After the tedious college entrance exam, Eun-ha and her friends are supposed to have fun but are still trying hard to find ways to enter a better college. “This is going to be our last winter as teens and we should so something memorable!” Woo-sung, the teen ‘Youtuber’ suggests to go on a trip. On their way to the beach, they unexpectedly arrive at a spooky rundown house, where the owner killed his wife and daughter. Despite warnings from Shaman to stay away from this haunted house, Woo sung plots to broadcast a staged “Live show” of supernatural. When they are shooting, each of his friends disappear one by one after hearing a whisper. And when Eun-ha tries to find her friends, she hears another whisper of somebody she knows…
Movie Review:
While there is an ongoing debate to whether Japanese or Korean horror flicks are scarier, this reviewer broadly classifies this genre in the Korean film industry into two distinct groups. There are art house favourites like Na Hong Jin’s The Wailing (2016), and there are shlocky fright fests like Lim Dae Woong's House of the Disappeared (2017).
In this serviceable horror movie directed by Sam Choi, we follow a group of students as they take a road trip before they graduate. They find themselves in an abandoned amusement park and as screenplays of such movies have it, the characters dumbly venture deep into a haunted place. You can expect them to be off-ed one by one.
And because every horror movie needs a somewhat emotional back story, this one has the protagonist feeling depressed by an unfortunate incident that resulted in the disappearance of her best friend. Yup, there cheap scares and creepy nightmares that explain this part of the plot.
Back to the amusement park – like the recent Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, the annoying character decides to make use of social media to live stream the events inside the forbidden area. You can expect shaky camera shots, blood curling screams and mysterious disappearances of the characters.
The 91 minute movie is an easy watch. The story develops in a predictable manner, obligingly giving horror fans what they want. Sudden shocks, bloody makeup and a sinister kid that bafflingly appears out of nowhere? Check. Meaner characters getting their comeuppance before the rest? Check. A finale that is supposed to leave you feeling slightly sad? Check.
The production values are not too shoddy though. The art director and props master should have put in quite a bit of effort to create the several locations in the movie. Red strings, dusty coffins, eerie mannequins and moving eyeballs – you may want to stay away if you can’t stomach these items.
The ensemble cast does a decent job of looking truly terrified when they get stuck in the haunted amusement park. While the actors aren’t A list celebrities, they do their best within the constraints of the clichéd script. So Ju Yeon puts her wide eyed expressions to good use as the protagonist whose personal life has become affected by a past incident. Kim Min Kyu is the pretty boy of the pack, and his good looks should go down well with female viewers. Elsewhere, supporting roles meet the criteria of the stereotyped members in a clique of friends.
There are some genuinely scary moments in the movie. Just like some people are fearful of clowns, this movie may make you be wary of kids with shrill giggles. Also, if you are claustrophobic, you may be wishing that you won’t be caught in a situation where you are trapped in a coffin anytime soon. However, if you have seen enough horror movies, this one may be a cup of tea that will leave you wondering “That’s it?” when the end credits roll.
Movie Rating:
(A serviceable horror movie with occasional scares)
Review by John Li
Genre: Action/Thriller
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Cast: Amandla Stenberg, Mandy Moore, Bradley Whitford, Patrick Gibson, Harris Dickinson, Skylan Brooks, Miya Cech, Gwendoline Christie
RunTime: 1 hr 44 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: 20th Century Fox
Official Website:
Opening Day: 2 August 2018
Synopsis: When teens mysteriously develop powerful new abilities, they are declared a threat by the government and detained. Sixteen-year-old Ruby, one of the most powerful young people anyone has encountered, escapes her camp and joins a group of runaway teens seeking safe haven. Soon this newfound family realizes that, in a world in which the adults in power have betrayed them, running is not enough and they must wage a resistance, using their collective power to take back control of their future.
Movie Review:
Based on the first book in Alexandra Bracken’s best-selling young adult trilogy with the same title, The Darkest Minds is a relatively intense action movie with an adolescent forced to carry the weight of a power that could change the fate of the world although all she wants to do is to lead a peaceful life.
If the premise sounds familiar, that is because it is pretty much the cookie-cutter plot that has been used in various young adult series (and would-have-been series) ranging from the highly successful The Hunger Games series to the I Am Number Four flop. The movie also appears to recognise and, perhaps even celebrate, how derivative it is with two lead characters likening their roles to those of the lead characters in the Harry Potter series.
An exposition-heavy prologue establishes the premise of the dysfunctional world that this movie is set. An outbreak of a highly contagious disease that targets only children has left only 2% of the world’s children alive. The surviving children have now developed various forms of powers and have been shipped off to camps, either with or without their parents’ knowledge, in a bid to cure them. Except those camps are really just to isolate the children and make them slaves to the government which systematically kills off the most powerful kids that have been colour-coded as “Reds” and “Oranges”.
Has the disease also left adults infertile? Why does there seem to be no more children born after this? Why do parents allow the government to take their children away from them for years? If the children have powers ranging from superior intelligence to mind control, why do they not take over the world instead?
The movie conveniently avoids answering any of these and other logical questions as it focuses only on the journey of the lead character, Ruby Daly (played by Amandla Stenberg, a “The Hunger Games” alumnus). Ruby, who wakes up one day to find that her mother no longer recognises her, is shipped off to one of those camps at the age of 10 and escapes six years later with the help of a seemingly kind doctor, Cate (played by Mandy Moore). Through a strange coincidence, Ruby ends up travelling with a trio of runaway teenagers/children who collectively represent other powers and other ethnicities. There’s Zu (played by Miya Cech), the young Asian who doesn’t speak and who harnesses electricity; highly intelligent Chubs (played by Skylan Brooks), an African-American boy who serves as navigator as he is “able to read any map” and lastly, Liam (played by Harris Dickinson), a Caucasian young adult who has the power of telekinesis and stirring Ruby’s heart with his awkwardly cute attempts at courtship.
As the group set out to find a rumoured paradise run by fellow children survivors and safe from the government, they bond as a family of sorts. The young actors’ performance are outstanding enough that you find yourself caring for them and somehow believing that they can grow into caring enough for each other to the point of being willing to put their own lives at risk for each other in the span of a few weeks. Stenberg’s Ruby has the right amount of vulnerability that is balanced by a determination that makes you sympathetic towards this overwhelmed heroine who is simply trying her best. She and Dickinson have a sweet and shy chemistry that fits two young persons who probably never been in a relationship before but are clearly attracted to each other.
For a director who has only worked on animated films prior, Jennifer Yuh Nelson does a commendable job of having the story unfold at a comfortable pace. She also finds time to put in intriguing visuals, such as a shot of a sprawling parking lot filled with empty and abandoned school buses, that gives you a peek and clues you in on what the world has become without the presence of children.
The Darkest Minds is not bad as a movie with a standout young cast (but very forgettable adult actors). However, by virtue of its plot and characters being cookie-cutter, you find yourself recalling similar elements and scenes in earlier movies. This greatly reduces the pleasure of watching this movie as you end up knowing exactly what to expect during the movie’s most intense or moving moments.
Movie Rating:
(Worth a watch for its outstanding young cast who will engage you emotionally. Just don’t go in expecting an original plot)
Review by Katrina Tee
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