Sin City: A Dame to Kill For - Review

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller Writers: Frank Miller Studios: Dimension Films, Troublemaker Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment, Miramax Entertainment, Demarest Films, Solipsist Films Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Rosario Dawson, Bruce Willis, Eva Green, Powers Boothe, Dennis Haysbert, Ray Liotta, Jaime King, Christopher Lloyd, Jamie Chung, Jeremy Piven, Christopher Meloni, Juno Temple Release Date (UK): 25 August, 2014 Certificate: 18 Runtime: 102 min

Creamy white blood splattering through the night air. Gun-toting prostitutes in bondage gear prowling the streets of Old Town. Shoulder to shoulder drunks drooling over the dancer Nancy at Kadie’s Saloon. And the big brute Marv growling about his “condition” -- right before crushing some punk’s throat with the heel of his boot.

Welcome back to Sin City. It’s been a while: it’s been damn near a decade, in fact, since Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s 2005 neo-noir first burst onto cinema screens in all its twisted, sleazy and hyper-stylised glory. And after year upon year of delay upon delay, a sequel is finally here. So I guess the question is, was follow-up “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For” really worth the 9-year wait? In truth, not entirely: back in the directors’ chairs, Rodriguez and Miller essentially present us with more of the same, but not as good -- hardly surprising for a sequel, but after 9 years, it is difficult not to expect, and indeed hope for, something more. And yet, speaking as a big fan of both the first film and the original comic series (and as someone who may or may not own the entire set of “Sin City” action figures, bought from his local Forbidden Planet), it is, I have to admit, quite thrilling to be thrust back into this comic book world full of anti-heroes, femme fatales, crooked cops and limb-lopping ninja hookers once again -- even if it is a clear-cut case of diminishing returns.

Visually, the film is a striking, electrifying joy. It oozes raw style, with its select splashes of colour against stark monochrome, its noirish shadows and white-against-black silhouettes, its splattering bodily fluids, its CG backdrops, and its ragdoll, Looney Tunes physics. If one were to be magically transported into the panels of Miller’s original comics, this is exactly what it would look like: many of Rodriguez’s compositions are even taken straight from those panels. Of course, we saw all this in the first film, so the element of surprise in regards to its outlandish visual aesthetic has long since passed. But there’s still a pulpy verve to it, as well as a delightfully depraved sense of humour to its OTT violence -- though a moment where an unconscious character has his eyeball viciously torn out rang a little needlessly cruel and sadistic for my taste.

As in the first film, we are presented with three standalone, occasionally intertwining stories, plus one mini story. The mini story, based on Miller’s “Just Another Saturday Night,” kicks off proceedings in an unashamedly nutty fashion, with Mickey Rourke’s street thug Marv waking up on the highway, surrounded by a bunch of dead men and a crashed police car, and trying to figure out what happened that night. It’s a wickedly fun little short with a punchline that perfectly sums up Sin City as a place packed full of stories, as Marv looks down at his gloves and growls to himself that he has no idea where he got them from. The title story, based on the second of Miller’s graphic novel series, sees Josh Brolin’s tabloid photographer Dwight (previously played by Clive Owen) receiving a desperate cry for help from his ex, Eva Green’s Ava Lord, who fears for her life. Vowing to save her from her seemingly abusive husband, the multimillionaire tycoon Damian Lord (Marton Csokas), Dwight discovers too late that not all is as it seems.

The other two stories are both originals, not based on comics but written by Miller for the film. The first of them, titled “The Long Bad Night,” stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Johnny, a cocky young gambler who enters a backroom game of poker with the menacing and corrupt Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). After draining Roark, Johnny discovers that his opponent is one hell of a sore loser and finds his life in imminent danger. The second original story, titled “Nancy’s Last Dance,” continues the tale of Jessica Alba’s Nancy, who’s gone mad since her one love, Bruce Willis’ Hartigan, blew his brains out to protect her from Roark. Haunted by visions of Hartigan and turning to drink, she plots revenge against Roark, making regular visits to the shooting range and getting closer and closer to pulling that trigger.

Of the three main stories, “A Dame to Kill For” is the strongest, and it’s the strongest for one reason: Eva Green. As Ava, Green is the ultimate femme fatale: sultry, deadly and irresistibly bewitching, she’s a manipulative, man-devouring goddess, and Green’s hamming it up in spectacular fashion. Earlier this year, she was the best thing in “300: Rise of an Empire;” she’s the best thing here too, and every moment she’s on screen she elevates proceedings to a whole new level. For “The Long Bad Night,” Rodriguez and Miller make the odd decision to stop the story halfway through and continue it later on, a tactic which worked well with “That Yellow Bastard” in the first film, but then that was a big, meaty yarn which spanned eight years; “The Long Bad Night” is very slight in comparison, and the split makes it feel even more slight. And the shock revelation concerning Johnny and Roark’s relationship falls flat on its face. Still, Gordon-Levitt carries it with his suave charisma, playing Johnny with a man-about-town swagger worthy of Frank Sinatra, and Christopher Lloyd has an amusing cameo as a heroin-shooting doc. As for “Nancy’s Last Dance,” it’s interesting seeing the harsh blow Hartigan’s suicide had on Nancy, and seeing her transform from the first film’s damsel in distress into a badass killer is certainly fun, but the story as a whole feels too brief, and the big finale doesn’t have the emotional punch it should have.

Though each story is enjoyably pulpy, none of them are nearly as engrossing as “The Hard Goodbye,” “The Big Fat Kill” or “That Yellow Bastard.” There’s a reason Rodriguez chose those stories for the first film: they’re the best and most full-blooded in the whole series. And because “A Dame to Kill For”’s storytelling isn’t as strong or engaging as the first film’s, it too often feels like empty style. But what style! It genuinely feels like you’re walking inside the panels of Miller’s comics, which, for a fan of the comics, is alone worth the price of admission. If you’re going to see the film (and you’d be one of the few, judging by the box office figures), see it for the stylish visuals, the pulpy verve and Eva Green’s magnificent performance -- combined, they’re almost everything a “Sin City” movie should be; it’s just a shame that the stories themselves are rather lacking. It should be stressed, by the way, for those worried, that this is absolutely nowhere near as bad as the Frank Miller-directed “The Spirit;” though to be honest, few things are as bad as the Frank Miller-directed “The Spirit.”

Rating: 7/10

Lucy - Review

Director: Luc Besson Writer: Luc Besson Studios: Universal Pictures, Canal+, Cine+, EuropaCorp, TF1 Films Production Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Amr Waked, Choi Min-sik Release Date (UK): 22 August, 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 89 min

“Lucy” is an action movie with real style, verve and high-concept silliness. It works more than it doesn’t, though I wish it didn’t fall victim to so many genre trappings. Its concept sees Scarlett Johansson gaining superhuman abilities as she gradually unlocks the full potential of her brain capacity. This concept is based in bogus science -- that disproved theory that humans only use 10% of their brains -- but for the purposes of the plot, we’ll just have to swallow it. At least Morgan Freeman’s wise, all-knowing exposition is there to make it go down smoothly.

The film is written and directed by French action maestro Luc Besson, who gives it a propulsive flow and the kind of knowingly goofy vibe you’d expect from the guy who made “The Fifth Element.” Johansson is Lucy, a young American woman living and studying in Taiwan who is tricked into being a drug mule and ends up with a strange, blue synthetic drug sewn into her abdomen. The drug, called CPH4, has the ability to increase the user’s brain activity to superhuman levels -- it’s similar to the pills Bradley Cooper popped in “Limitless,” though it’s much more powerful, and it really lives up to that title. Whilst in captivity, she’s kicked in the stomach, resulting in the CPH4 leaking into her system. Soon enough, her intelligence is rapidly increasing, her senses are bursting through the evolutionary roof, and she’s gaining psychic powers which allow her to control the elements around her.

Throughout the film, the level of brain capacity Lucy has activated flashes onto the screen -- 20%, 30%, 40%, etc. -- as she becomes more and more powerful and nears what we can only assume is a state of omnipresent godliness. Johansson is tasked with playing a sympathetically frightened everywoman, a badass action heroine, and a supreme, almighty being -- she nails all three, and remains in complete command throughout. And as Lucy gets closer and closer to 100%, and her pains, fears and desires whither away, Johansson still manages to elicit flickers of humanity through her steely coolness. She and Besson make for an entertaining team-up, and her Lucy is a welcome addition to the list of tough woman warriors in Besson movies, alongside Anne Parillaud’s Nikita, Natalie Portman’s Mathilda, and Milla Jovovich’s Leeloo.

Besson, of course, can’t resist the urge to fill the film with mindless, high-velocity gunfights and car chases, which, some nifty effects aside, are a little routine considering the potential of the premise. Still, the majority of the film is appealingly absurd, and in the end it comes to a finale that’s daringly, refreshingly outlandish. And despite Besson’s philosophical musings and pseudo-scientific hypotheses, the film isn’t really trying to be anything more than a trippy thrill-ride -- in that sense, it’s a solid success. Johansson’s been on a roll recently, with “Her” one of the best movies of last year and “Under the Skin” one of the best of this year. “Lucy” isn’t on quite the same par as either of those movies, but like them, it shows that despite her status as a smoldering Hollywood sex symbol, she picks her projects with a bold adventurousness.

Rating: 7/10

The Expendables 3 - Review

Director: Patrick Hughes Writers: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Sylvester Stallone Studios: Lionsgate, Nu Image, Millennium Films Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Antonio Banderas, Jet Li, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Kelsey Grammer, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell, Victor Ortiz, Robert Davi, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger Release Date (UK): 14 August, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 126 min

Three movies in, and the “Expendables” franchise is starting to have a serious overcrowding problem. Apparently discontent with the already mile-high pile of beefcakes stacked up in “The Expendables 2,” series overlord Sylvester Stallone has stacked it even higher for “The Expendables 3,” and the pile’s beginning to wobble. The newbies are as follows: Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Glen Powell and Victor Ortiz make up the new Expendables recruits, Kelsey Grammer plays an old Expendables ally, Harrison Ford replaces money-grubber Bruce Willis as the CIA boss, and Mel Gibson is the villain. Add that entire bunch to the original Expendables -- all seven of them -- and you’ve got yourself one hell of a busy crowd. Which is not to say that a cast of this size can’t be done justice; Bryan Singer proved it possible earlier this year with his superhero ensemble “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” But under the direction of Patrick Hughes, much of the Expendables crew, with the notable exception of Stallone’s ever-present leader Barney Ross, end up disappointingly lost in the mix -- ask me to name anything Randy Couture or Dolph Lundgren do in the film and you will be met with a blank stare.

Still, cluttered though it may be, it’s a fun cast of faces fresh and familiar, and most of them give it their all in what limited screen-time they get. Snipes is the stand-out of the new recruits, his ex-Expendable Doctor Death rescued from imprisonment -- geddit? -- in the opening helicopter assault on a heavily guarded, armoured train. A loose cannon who likes to play with knives, he’s enjoyably nutty and intense, though after the opening 20 minutes he’s sadly given little to do. Banderas’ chatterbox mercenary Galgo is equal points lovably and loathsomely manic, with Banderas so springy and energetic he’s like an excited puppy in a woolly hat. And Kelsey Grammer lends dry humour as Bonaparte, who aids Barney in scouting new, younger members (among whom MMA fighter turned actress Ronda Rousey fares best, introduced as she kicks major ass while wearing a pair of stilettos).

But by far the highlight of the cast is Gibson, who’s at his dastardly best as Conrad Stonebanks, a thought-dead rogue Expendable turned ruthless arms dealer. Spotting him while on a mission, Barney embarks on a personal quest for vengeance against Stonebanks, who in turn vows to wipe out Barney and the rest of the Expendables. Gibson is delightfully smug and slimy, and he plays Stonebanks with a mad twinkle in his eye. He’s just hamming his way through the whole film: he’s a maniacal cackle or two away from sprouting horns from his forehead and growing a bright red, spade-tipped tail out of his backside -- though given his reputation as a person, it’s a surprise that hasn’t happened already.

As for the plot, it’s expectedly bare bones stuff, and it barely supports the overstretched 126-minute runtime. And the grand finale, a gigantic action set-piece which runs, leaps and explodes its way through an abandoned Russian complex, though it has its moments of fun, has far too much going on. But for the most part, this is enjoyable junk, with a likeable sense of humour about itself and a script made up almost entirely of banterous one-liners. For a brainless Friday-night diversion, it does the trick well enough, though Sly would do good to think about whittling down that cast for “The Expendables 4,” lest the pile finally topple over.

Rating: 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy - Review

Director: James Gunn Writers: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman Studios: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro Release Date (UK): August 1, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 122 min

“Guardians of the Galaxy” is an exhilarating blast of pure sci-fi pulp, stuffed full of thrilling outer space mayhem, driven by a commitment to unabashed nuttiness, and topped off with a kick-ass retro mix-tape soundtrack guaranteed to put a big, stupid grin on Quentin Tarantino’s face. It’s been widely proclaimed that this was a big risk for Marvel Studios, and from the outset it’s easy to see why: among its main characters are a walking, talking tree and a gun-toting, anthropomorphic raccoon, its setting is a bunch of weird whatchamacallit, thingamabob alien planets somewhere, and it’s based on a nerd property hitherto known only to the most hardcore of basement dwellers. Hardly an easy sell for the average Jane or Joe Movie-Goer. Then again, halfway through watching director James Gunn’s action-crammed comic-book space opera, I did begin to wonder, how is a film this stupendously entertaining in any way a risk?

I mean, it’s weird: certainly the weirdest film in Marvel Studios' 6-year, 10-film history. And it’s the most “out there” project they’ve ever embarked upon: it does, after all, take place in the far reaches of the galaxy and it stars a bunch of funky looking extraterrestrials. But it’s *fun*. Like, really, really fun, with an infectious sense of excitement, humour and adventure akin to the original “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” trilogies. Our hero, Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill/Star Lord, is even introduced in his adult form as a sort of intergalactic Indiana Jones, shown thieving a mysterious spherical artifact from a ruined temple on a desolate alien terrain -- though it should be said, his roguish swagger and sarcastic tongue come straight from Han Solo. In the opening scene set in 1988, we watch as his younger self is plucked from Earth by a pirate spacecraft. 26 years later, he wanders the galaxy as a self-proclaimed legendary outlaw, stealing goods while his Walkman blares a mix-tape of ‘70s and ‘80s pop tunes.

He’s a misfit, and unashamedly so. And he’s just a flat-out fun character, with quips galore and Pratt nailing both the wise-ass routine and the action-man heroics. And yet, frequently the show is stolen from under his rocket-powered boots by his fellow Guardians, who are brought together in a high-security prison following a very public tussle. They’re your typical ragtag team of misfits, though to call this bunch typical would be to do them a great disservice. There’s Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), a vengeance-seeking, muscle-bound maniac oblivious to his own social ineptness. His species take everything literally -- fling a halfhearted metaphorical quip at him and risk getting your spine ripped out. There’s slick, green-skinned assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who betrays the bloodthirsty radical Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) when his thirst for power becomes too much. There’s Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper), a genetically engineered, wise-cracking raccoon with an undying love of explosions and gun violence. And then there’s Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), a humanoid tree whose vocabulary consists solely of three words: “I,” “am,” and “Groot,” and in that exact order. Anyone not especially into the film’s comic book shenanigans is bound to have their hearts won over by this walking, talking houseplant: he’s equal points adorably sweet and unstoppably deadly -- he’ll slaughter an army of badguys then turn around and flash you the goofiest, most lovable grin you’ve ever seen.

They join forces to defeat Ronan, who seeks the mysterious artifact stolen by Quill. See, that artifact, it turns out, contains an all-powerful orb called an Infinity Stone, which Ronan plans to use in a quest for vengeance against an entire populace. As an embodiment of heartless, power-hungry malevolence, Ronan works well; as a fully rounded character, he’s a little lacking, and Pace doesn’t quite have the gravitas to pull of such an underwritten character. Karen Gillan fares better as Nebula, the blue, mechanical equivalent to Gamora’s green assassin. Not just Ronan’s right-hand robot mercenary, she’s also Gamora’s jealous sister, and Gillan plays her with both sadistic glee and a deadly grace.

But it’s the Guardians who really shine here: they’re such an enjoyable collection of clashing personalities, and watching them butt heads and grow as a team is a real joy. Groot and Drax in particular are a joy: Bautista, a former pro wrestler with little acting experience, makes for a great comic relief, completely oblivious to his frequent insensitive remarks and social misunderstandings; and as he did as The Iron Giant, Diesel proves himself to have a knack for saying so much while saying so little. Gunn, meanwhile, infuses the film with style, energy and a nutty gusto, and handles the hectic outer space spectacle like a pro. The highlight, I would say, is the prison escape sequence, a stand-out set-piece full of thrills, laughs and gorgeous visual effects in a film absolutely bursting at the seams with all three of those. For sheer, unadulterated fun, the film gives “The Avengers” a run for its billion-dollar box office sum. “The Guardians of the Galaxy will return,” is displayed across the screen before the end credits roll. I for one await their return with eager anticipation.

Rating: 9/10

The Purge: Anarchy - Review

Director: James DeMonaco Writer: James DeMonaco Studios: Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, Platinum Dunes Cast: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, Isaiah Pearce, Kiele Sanchez, Michael K. Williams Release Date (UK): 25 June, 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 103 min

The trouble with “The Purge,” director James DeMonaco’s dystopian 2013 thriller, was that it started off with a genuinely scary premise -- in the near future, America is once a year plunged into a government-enforced 12-hour period called the Purge, during which all crime including murder is legal -- and for the following 90 minutes proceeded to flush it down the crapper. Restricting the action to a single location, that location being a locked-down suburban home under attack from masked Purgers, DeMonaco wasted pretty much all the potential of that great premise on what was ultimately the most boringly generic home invasion horror imaginable -- here you have a concept that results in widespread panic and carnage across the entirety of America, and yet here we are, stuck between four walls. It’s no coincidence that the opening titles, in which we’re presented with CCTV footage showing all the anarchic chaos going on outside, are the most interesting and entertaining part of the film -- given the premise, that’s the kind of film you’d expect, not a suburban remake of “The Strangers.”

In that sense, sequel “The Purge: Anarchy” is everything its predecessor could and should have been. Clearly taking criticisms of the first “Purge” to heart, and armed with a bigger budget thanks to the first film’s highly profitable box office takings, DeMonaco removes the action from those restrictive four walls and drops it into the streets of Los Angeles. As the annual Purge commences once again, we follow a group of five individuals who find themselves trapped in downtown L.A.: there’s Shane and Liz (Zach Gilford and Kiele Sanchez), a young couple whose car dies on the highway and who are being relentlessly pursued by a masked gang; there’s Eva and Cali (Carmen Ejogo and Zoe Soul), a waitress and her teenage daughter just trying to make it through the night when they are mysteriously targeted in their home by an armed military force; and then there’s Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo), an ex-cop who willingly sets off on Purge Night, armed to the teeth and driving around in an armored car, for reasons unknown.

Brought together, they battle to survive in a city-wide 12-hour warzone, dodging armed thugs, snipers on rooftops, and family members with a grudge. DeMonaco maintains a gripping air of unease as the group are stalked, hunted and attacked at practically every corner they turn, all the while he recalls images of gangland anarchy from dystopian cult classics “Escape from New York” and “The Warriors:” a city bus racing down the road while fully ablaze, the body of a pension-thieving stockbroker strung up outside a court, and masked maniacs running down the streets wielding machine guns and baseball bats. All haunting images which paint a brutal picture of an America torn apart by violence, and violence not only sanctioned by the US government, but encouraged by it, too.

Grillo, meanwhile, makes a pretty damn convincing argument for him to play Frank Castle in a future “Punisher” movie: protective yet stand-offish, grizzled and commanding, and with an intriguingly tragic undercurrent, he’s got the personality down pat -- not to mention, he’s a certified badass, practically unstoppable either with a gun or his bare mitts. All that’s missing is a skull on his chest. His fellow survivors are a mixed bag: Eva and Cali are quick to gain our sympathy thanks to their believable and touching mother-daughter connection, plus the fact that they’re thrust into this horrible situation despite their best efforts. Shane and Liz, meanwhile, are a boring and rather vacuous couple, without much personality or chemistry. Not to be mean, but giving a hoot about either of them proves difficult, resulting in a supposedly heart-wrenching moment towards the end falling flat on its face.

In the scene before that, DeMonaco sees an opportunity to ram home the film's message and rams pretty damn hard, as we witness the top 1% auctioning off the poor for slaughter. It’s this darkly disturbing scene, along with the earlier depictions of city-wide violence among the poor, which makes “The Purge: Anarchy” not just a solidly diverting b-movie, but one with real satirical bite. If “The Purge” merely nibbled on America’s culture of violence and government-enforced class inequality, “The Purge: Anarchy” takes a big, fat chomp out of it and spits it back out in disgust. Sure, it’s hardly the most subtle of messages -- the point about the inequality gap is repeatedly shoved down our throats, and as if to shove it even harder, a stupendously unnerving rendition of America the Beautiful blares over the closing credits -- but in terms of taking advantage of and exploring the satirical potential of its central concept, it boasts an appreciable thoroughness that was entirely lacking in its predecessor.

Rating: 7/10

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - Review

Director: Matt Reeves Writers: Mark Bomback, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver Studios: 20th Century Fox, Chermin Entertainment Cast: Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee Release Date (UK): 18 July, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 131 min 

If “Transformers 4” is a big, dumb gorilla flinging its feces at the audience, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is a hyper-intelligent chimp treating the audience with the respect they deserve. The superior being, it’s what all summer blockbusters aspire to be, or at least should be aspiring to be: a rollercoaster ride not just in action but also in drama and emotion, all three of which director Matt Reeves knocks out of the stadium. Recognising that spectacle without heart or purpose is empty and meaningless, he gives “Dawn” a real emotional weight and a robust narrative pushed along by its characters and their clashing ideals. The result is an all too rare breed: an emotionally charged summer blockbuster whose dazzling spectacle has meaning and purpose, and consequently, real, juicy meat on its computer-generated bones.

On top of all that, the eighth film in the 46-year sci-fi franchise is quite simply a rock-solid piece of old-fashioned storytelling. At the conclusion of the previous “Apes” movie, Rupert Wyatt’s surprisingly terrific prequel/reboot “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” genetically engineered super-chimp Caesar led an ape rebellion against mankind as a deadly man-made virus began its spread across the globe. Now that virus has wiped out most of human civilisation, and Caesar and his apes live in peace away from the few remaining humans. That is, until a chance meeting between human and ape ends violently, sparking a conflict between Caesar’s colony and the humans who survive in a ruined San Francisco.

For the film’s opening 10-15 minutes, we’re with the apes. We watch them as they hunt for food in the woods, look out for each other’s safety, teach their young how to read and write, and bond with their families. This bold, gripping and surprisingly touching opening is like its own little silent film, with the apes communicating not through speech but through sign language, as well as the occasional huffs and grunts. Providing us with an intimate look at their daily activities, it allows us to understand the apes’ way of life and form a strong emotional connection to them. In particular, we form a connection to Caesar and his family: his son Blue Eyes, basically your average stroppy teenager but hairier, we see is still young and learning, and his wife Cornelia we witness giving birth to her and Caesar’s new son. Through their affection and strong sense of family and community, we see that the apes are just like us, if not better -- though common sense tells us these are complex creatures, and this peaceful bliss cannot last forever.

In “Rise,” Caesar shared the lead role with James Franco’s human scientist Dr. Will Rodman; in “Dawn,” he shares it, albeit to a lesser extent, with Jason Clarke’s Malcolm, a human survivor living in San Fran with his new wife Ellie (Keri Russell) and step-son Alexander (Kodi Smit-McPhee). With the human community in need of power, and the only power available requiring the cooperation of the apes, Malcolm bravely enters the ape community to ask for their cooperation. As he and his family stay in the woods and live among the apes, the apes’ initial distrust begins to fade, as ape and human bond like family unseparated by fear, hatred and species. However, Malcolm and his family are joined by one rather nasty human whose hatred of the ape community prevails and soon causes trouble. Here, Reeves shows that the ape vs. human conflict is not simply a battle between good and evil, with the apes good and the humans evil, but one between differing ideals on both sides -- and it’s this complexity which makes it so compelling to watch. In any community, be it ape or human, there’s good, evil and everything in between, something Caesar realises all too late.

Caesar is once again performed by mo-cap whiz Andy Serkis, whose every expression and emotion bursts through the digital effects like they were merely make-up. These effects are so convincing one often feels like one is watching a living, breathing creature -- this is thanks, of course, not just to Serkis’ commanding performance, but also to the painstaking work of the animators at Weta; the sheer level of detail that goes into creating these photorealistic apes is incredible and the results are truly breathtaking. Motion-captured alongside Serkis is Toby Kebbell as Koba, a bonobo chimp whose man-inflicted scars have left him with nothing but burning contempt for the human race. Koba is a frightening beast, his brutish aggression matched with a cunning mind and a thirst for vengeance against mankind.

It’s he whose deception really kicks off the battle between the apes and the humans: unhappy with Caesar’s increasing tolerance and trust of the humans, he takes matters into his own stinking paws. And thus begins an explosively spectacular climax in which we absolutely care about the characters and feel the stakes of the action. Emotionally, we’re fully involved because crucially, the drama at the centre of it all is absolutely working. As a result, this action-packed finale is seriously intense and utterly exhilarating, which ought to be something of a relief for anyone who sat through “Transformers 4.”

If there’s a criticism to be made against the film, it’s that the plot follows a mostly predictable path; most viewers could probably map out the individual story beats in advance with little difficulty. But Reeve’s patient telling of this story is so gripping and involving that knowing what’s inevitably coming doesn’t weaken its impact or raw emotional power. Blockbuster movie-makers would do good to look at how Reeves has made this movie: here’s a blockbuster that’s smart, emotionally resonant and balances spectacle with story in a way that’s both thrilling and utterly compelling. In a year of great blockbusters, with “Godzilla,” “Edge of Tomorrow,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” all proving more than worth the price of admission, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is one to really get you pounding your chest in excitement.

Rating: 9/10

Transformers: Age of Extinction - Review

Director: Michael Bay Writer: Ehren Kruger Studios: Paramount Pictures, di Bonaventura Pictures, Hasbro, China Movie Channel, Jiaflix Enterprises Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Kelsey Grammer, Jack Reynor, Sophia Myles Release Date (UK): 4 July, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 165 min

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if audience members emerge from “Transformers: Age of Extinction” like Kyle Reese emerging from the electric time-travel ball at the beginning of “The Terminator,” all sweaty and exhausted and writhing in pain, and asking startled passers by what year it is. This is entertainment in the same sense that getting a prostitute to stomp on your testicles with the heel of her stiletto is a sex act: technically it is, but surely there are other methods of physical pleasure out there that result in far less ball-aching agony.

Lasting a baffling 165 minutes, “Age of Extinction” is the longest of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” films and it absolutely feels like it. Rumours that the franchise had finally hired an editor have been greatly exaggerated: there’s at the very least a whole collective hour that very cleary should not be in here. Rumours that the franchise was getting a fresh new reboot are also of the greatly exaggerated variety: though there is indeed an all-new cast led by Marky Mark Wahlberg, Mr. Bay is just up to his old tricks again: that is to say, the plot is complete gibberish, the storytelling is almost entirely incomprehensible, the pace is akin to that of a glacier, and the product placement is insane, so much so that the film basically amounts to the world’s longest Bud Light commercial. Oh, and if you’re able to tell the good robots apart from the bad robots, you should probably look into joining the X-Men: your radioactive super-sight might come in handy.

What’s new? Well, there’s the Dinobots, which have been widely showcased in all the trailers and TV spots. But if you go into “Transformers 4” all pumped up for some Dinobot action, I’ve got some bad news for you: you’re gonna have to wait over 2 hours and 10 minutes for a single Dinobot to turn up. No, I’m not fucking kidding. Then there’s Stanley Tucci, who does good as a smarmy bad’un trying to build his own Transformers for inevitably incoherent reasons -- as is always the case with Tucci, his performance is the most entertaining thing in the film. As for Wahlberg, he’s given little to do outside of cracking witless one-liners, smoldering in front of sunsets, chugging back those Bud Lights, and worrying about the safety of his daughter. Which he probably should be, ‘cos surprise surprise, Bay’s still filming his female characters like glamour models at a worryingly leery photo shoot. Nicola Peltz, playing Wahlberg’s 17-year-old daughter, is treated as nothing but barely concealed cleavage bouncing up and down atop a hot pair of sunlit legs. Her introduction is literally an upskirt shot as she exits a car. Again, I’m not fucking kidding.

Then again, Bay shoots *everything* like glamour models at a worryingly leery photo shoot. His pornographic visual sensibility extends not just to tussling Transformers but to every object on-screen. I’m sure if you were to turn the camera on him during any given scene, you’d see him grinding up against a couch or a lamppost. This guy shouldn’t be directing movies; he should be directing porn, ‘cos everything to him is a money shot. And while yes, some of those shots sure do look pretty, giving a damn about any of it is an impossibility -- when everything is a money shot, nothing is at stake (well, except maybe your sanity).

And that’s all this is: just 165 pulverising minutes of relentless, showboating shots of exploding, nonsensical junk. About halfway through, you’ll look at your watch and discover to your horror that there’s another 90 minutes to go and your jaw will drop and your heart will sink and you’ll finally realise, if you haven’t realised it already, that Michael Bay fucking hates you -- cos “Transformers 4” is almost three hours long and he knows you’ll sit through every damn minute and you’ll go see “Transformers 5” when it comes out in two years. He’s even said as such: “I don’t care, let them hate: they’re still going to see the movie!” he was quoted as saying in a recent MTV interview. And we will: like a battered wife, we keep going back. But I say this: let’s not go back. Let’s stand up against this vacuous franchise and refuse to buy a ticket for “Transformers 5.” Let’s march on the streets and shout, “No, Michael Bay! Not this time!” Let’s say enough is enough, and that we will not stand for anym-- ooh, Optimus Prime riding *two* Dinobots at the same time?! “Transformers 5” *might* be fun...

Rating: 3/10

3 Days to Kill - Review

Director: McG Writers: Luc Besson, Adi Hasak Studios: Relativity Media, EuropaCorp, Wonderland Sound and Vision Cast: Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld, Amber Heard Release Date (UK): 20 June, 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 117 min

If there’s a balance to be found between a gritty action-thriller, a sappy father-daughter drama and a lighthearted crime comedy, “3 Days to Kill” fails to find it -- and then some. This absurdly clumsy spy movie comes from mononymous mega-hack McG, and if you want proof of just how ham-fisted a director he is, look no further than his latest film’s staggeringly muddled tone: one minute we’re watching Kevin Costner’s CIA man with a brain tumour Ethan Renner blowing badguys’ faces off and snapping necks, the next we’re watching a cheery montage of him teaching his estranged teenage daughter (Hailee Steinfeld) how to ride a bicycle (!). To say it's tonally confused would be an understatement: don't get me started on the torture scenes played for laughs or the bit where Steinfeld's character is almost gang-raped in a public bathroom.

French action maestro Luc Besson also produces, and there are echoes of his 2008 hit “Taken” heard throughout: its action hero is, after all, a greying CIA dad who marches through the streets of Paris, taking no names and torturing silly-sounding foreigners, and in amongst the punching and shooting there lies a family conflict. The thing is, “3 Days to Kill” can’t decide if it’s the next “Taken” or a parody of it, with its unfunny comedy scenes sticking out like a broken thumb. On three separate occasions, a tense situation is *hilariously* interrupted by an Icona Pop ringtone blaring from Ethan's pocket. It’s not funny the first time; it’s even less funny the second time; by the third time, you begin to yearn for the good old days when McG was directing the “Charlie’s Angels” movies.

The sole saving grace is Costner, though even he seems confused as to who he’s supposed to be playing: Jason Bourne, Bryan Mills or Disney dad Tim Allen. In a career which includes “Waterworld,” a.k.a. that film where he drank his own piss and had gills on his neck, this just might be Costner’s low point -- for crying out loud, he’s being directed by McG. For an action film, “3 Days to Kill” is nowhere near thrilling enough. For a comedy, it’s nowhere near funny enough. For a McG film, it’s exactly as expected; that is to say, it’s vacuous, empty-headed, boring nonsense.

Rating: 3/10

22 Jump Street - Review

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller Writers: Michael Bacall, Oren Uziel, Rodney Rothman Studios: Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Media Rights Capital, Original Film, Lord Miller Productions Cast: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Peter Stormare, Ice Cube Release Date (UK): June 6, 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 112 min

“Everybody knows the sequel’s never quite as good,” sang Kermit the Frog earlier this year in the rib-ticklingly self-deprecating opening musical number of “Muppets Most Wanted,” a sequel which, as fate would have it, was indeed not quite as good as its fantastic predecessor. It seems Kermit may have sung too soon: “22 Jump Street,” a sequel which shares the same ironically mocking attitude towards the concept of sequels as “Muppets Most Wanted,” is every bit as good as “21 Jump Street,” if not even better. And as anyone who saw Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s spectacularly funny 2012 action comedy will agree, that’s a damn impressive feat. Matching the first film’s gut-busting laugh-a-minute hit rate as well as its boisterous energy and subversive wit, it’s a more than worthy follow-up to that comedy tour de force, and may well be the greatest comedy sequel of all time.

An affectionate send-up of money-grubbing sequels which is itself a money-grubbing sequel, “22 Jump Street” has stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum doing the exact same thing they did in the first movie all over again, but with a slight twist: instead of going undercover as students at a high school, they’re going undercover at a college. And as per the rule of the sequel, everything’s bigger and louder: the opening action set-piece has ridiculously OTT stunts; Ice Cube’s Jump Street headquarters are given a pointlessly expensive refurbishment; in an on-campus chase scene, Hill and Tatum ride around in a giant football helmet on wheels, crashing into every statue and sculpture in sight. There’s even an exotic change of locale for the action-packed, helicopter-dangling final showdown, as Hill and Tatum join party-crazy spring breakers at the sweltering beach of Puerto, Mexico.

Even Hill and Tatum’s bromance is off the charts: cranking it up to 11, Lord and Miller have their central pair's bromantic friendship teetering dangerously close to an all-out love affair. Hill and Tatum are once again a hilarious buddy duo worthy of Riggs and Murtaugh. Tatum was a comedic revelation in “21 Jump Street” and here he’s knocking it out of the park. Case in point: in the improv class scene, he shouts one word, and I was laughing my ass off; then he shouts another and I was laughing even harder. The dude’s a natural. As for Lord and Miller, they’ve had quite a year, with the insurmountably awesome “The LEGO Movie” one of 2014's best cinematic offerings, and this not trailing far behind. They continue to prove that they’re a pair of directors who really understand the art of comedy: their latest is a full-blown blast of hilarity which halfway through had my ribs hurting from all the giggle fits. By the way, make sure you stick through the end credits -- they alone are worth the price of admission.

Rating: 9/10

Edge of Tomorrow - Review

Director: Doug Liman Writers: Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson Release Date (UK): May 30, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 113min

“Edge of Tomorrow” might just be the greatest video game movie ever made. Only, it’s not actually based on a video game, thank God -- in actual fact, it’s based on a novel, 2004’s “All You Need is Kill,” penned by Japanese writer Hiroshi Sakurazaka. What I mean is, it’s a film which takes on the structure of a video game, thanks to a premise which has Tom Cruise respawning over and over again like a video game character against the war-torn backdrop of an alien invasion. Cruise plays William Cage, a cowardly army major and PR specialist who to his horror is thrust into the battlefield when Earth is invaded by militarised extraterrestrial beasties. Killed by the enemy, he awakens the previous day, finding himself stuck in a time-loop where he must fight the exact same battle day after day until the battle is won.

The moment Cage wakes up is essentially the film’s checkpoint: each time he dies, he respawns before the battle begins, given another chance to win the war and effectively beat the game. And each time he goes into battle, he’s given a chance to improve, to work out a new and more effective strategy: he memorises every detail and plans out every step, much like a player would on an especially tough level. There’s even a tutorial stage, as Cruise is trained by Emily Blunt’s iron-tough Special Forces Sergeant Rita Vrataski in a room full of spinning metal claws. It’s all very video gamey. Of course, that’s a term oft considered an insult in this medium: you call a film video gamey, chances are you ain’t giving it five stars. And yet in the case of “Edge of Tomorrow,” a film which operates under the rules of a video game, it’s a full endorsement. And unlike every movie based on a video game I’ve seen in the past, I felt like I was involved in the action and the drama rather than watching someone else play a game while waiting to be handed the controls. For Doug Liman’s film manages to do what no movie based on a video game has ever done before: it’s engaging, it's involving and it's (*gasp*) fun.

Of course, with the idea being that the film repeats itself over and over again, it runs the risk of becoming monotonous -- but thanks to brisk editing, genuinely funny levity and the always developing relationship between Cruise and Blunt, the action never grows tiresome (in fact, it remains hugely enjoyable right through to the high-stakes Louvre-crashing finale). And Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth’s script successfully taps into Cage’s mentality: it understands that reliving the same day and over and over again and dying at the end of it would exhaust, frustrate and dishearten, especially when you have to watch a person you’ve grown to care for, i.e. Blunt’s character, die time and time again. Blunt, by the way, is terrific, holding her own against Cruise’s movie star mojo; with this, ”The Adjustment Bureau,” “Looper” and the upcoming “Into the Woods,” she’s establishing herself as the next big star of sci-fi/fantasy cinema.

I wasn’t a fan of Cruise’s previous sci-fi vehicle, 2013’s “Oblivion.” I felt it was too derivative of other, better sci-fi movies and struggled to find an identity of its own. “Edge of Tomorrow” is also derivative, taking its central time-loop concept from “Groundhog Day” and “Source Code.” But it takes that concept, makes it its own, has fun with it and allows us to have fun with it too. In a year of strong popcorn movies, “Edge of Tomorrow” is one of the best, offering pretty much everything you could ask of a summer blockbuster: heart, thrills, laughs, spectacle, an engaging story and Tom Cruise battling alien scum. My only disappointment: it’s a video game movie co-starring Bill Paxton and yet at no point does he utter his immortal line from “Aliens:” “Game over, man! Game over!”

Rating: 8/10

X-Men: Days of Future Past - Review

Director: Bryan Singer Writer: Simon Kinberg Studios: 20th Century Fox, Marvel Entertainment, Bad Hat Harry Productions, The Donners’ Company Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Peter Dinklage, Ellen Page, Nicholas Hoult Release Date (UK): May 22, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 131 min

14 years after effectively jump-starting the ongoing superhero boom, and 11 years after giving the “X-Men” franchise its best entry with the pitch-perfect “X2,” director Bryan Singer returns to his world of super-powered mutants with “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” and in doing so, breathes new, ambitious life into the franchise’s lungs. As if the series’ scope wasn’t wide enough, Singer widens it even further, presenting us with a dark and bleak vision of the future: a nightmare world where surviving mutant rebels are exterminated like vermin by terrifying robot hunters called Sentinels -- not only does this lend the film an epic scale, it also gives it a really neat sci-fi edge, with unstoppable killer cyborgs and a grimly scary dystopia straight out of James Cameron’s “Terminator” movies. But this dystopia is not the film’s main setting, because also like in “The Terminator,” there’s a time travel plot, as Hugh Jackman’s older Wolverine, now sporting silver streaks which jut out from his temples like the claws from his knuckles, is sent back to his younger body of 1973: united with the characters from “X-Men: First Class,” Wolverine leads a mission to change the course of history and put an end to the genocidal war on mutants before it even begins.

The groovily fashioned ‘70s setting essentially makes “Days of Future Past” a continuation of Matthew Vaughn’s stylish, ‘60s-set prequel “X-Men: First Class,” continuing the stories of the young mind-reader Professor Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), metal manipulator Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) and shapeshifter Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). Worries that Wolverine was once again hogging the spotlight (exacerbated by the fact that in the comic book source material it’s Ellen Page’s Kitty Pryde who goes back in time, not ol’ metal claws) are proven to be of the knee-jerk variety: the film is absolutely an ensemble piece, with Xavier, Erik and Mystique (once again all played to utter perfection by McAvoy, Fassbender and Lawrence) as the main players, and Wolverine, along with Nicholas Hoult’s blue furred Beast, sort of tagging along for the ride. Oh, and not forgetting Evan Peters’ super-speedy teen Quicksilver, whose jail-break set-piece, where he effortlessly springs Magneto from a maximum-security prison, is a dazzling and funny highlight -- I guess first appearances aren’t everything.

As he did in his first two “X-Men” movies, Singer does a terrific job in balancing out the spectacular, energetic action with resonant character development: McAvoy’s arc is particularly moving, as a troubled Xavier must learn to give up the use of his legs and regain his telepathic powers, both for his own good and the good of mutantkind. All the while Singer gracefully keeps the film from feeling crushed under the sheer weight of its ambitious scale and overload of mutant characters: despite the epic scale, Singer keeps the spectacle firmly grounded in the emotions of his protagonists. The end result is both a hugely enjoyable summer blockbuster and a thoroughly satisfying franchise entry, impressively topping the excellent “First Class,” if not quite knocking “X2” off its almighty perch. Of course, attempting to work out all the ins and outs of the intricate time travel plot will surely turn your brain to scrambled eggs, but one thing’s for sure: it rather brilliantly renders the franchise’s more rubbish entries, i.e. “X-Men: The Last Stand” and “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” entirely null and void. For that we can be eternally grateful.

Rating: 8/10

Godzilla - Review

Director: Gareth Edwards Writer: Max Borenstein Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston Studios: Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures Release Date (UK): May 15 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 123 min

Hey, high-up nuclear science men and women of the world, could you do us all a big favour? If you’re building a brand new, fully functioning nuclear power plant, or dumping a shit-ton of radioactive waste far out in the desert somewhere, could you please make sure that there’s not a giant, radiation-absorbent mega-monster buried in the ground directly below? Y’know, just in case. Cos if the real-life results of that are anything like they are in the new “Godzilla” movie, and those radioactive beasts rise from the depths to stomp mankind out of existence, we’d be in for what can only be described as a fuck-load of truly catastrophic, nay world-ending death and destruction. On the bright side, however, we would be treated with some seriously gorgeous monster vs. monster action to look at from the mounting rubble below. Silver linings and all that.

Oh, and blockbuster filmmakers, could you do us all a big favour too? Could you take a look at what British director Gareth Edwards has done with “Godzilla” and see how it’s really done? Cos in a world where blockbusters have a tendency to be nothing but non-stop monotonous CGI action and explosions, Edwards’ film is a Godzilla-sized breath of fresh air. Here we have a blockbuster that takes its time, that doesn’t reveal its tricks all at once but instead gives them a steadily patient build-up to a roaringly spectacular finale. And here he have a “Godzilla” movie that’s not necessarily about Godzilla himself — here a stunningly rendered CG creation rather than a man in a rubber suit — but rather about human beings reacting to a never-before-seen global crisis (and their utter helplessness in the face of that crisis). In making “Godzilla,” Edwards hasn’t just brought cinema’s greatest kaiju back to the big-screen, he’s also brought a real sense of wonder, awe and anticipation back to the summer blockbuster. And he’s done this by always looking up at the monsters from the perspective of the people down below.

Of course, anyone who saw Edwards’ debut, the shoestring-budgeted 2010 sci-fi “Monsters,” shouldn’t be surprised by this: “Monsters” kept its focus almost entirely on the two human protagonists, a photojournalist and the tourist he travels through an alien-infected quarantine zone with, while keeping the titular creatures lurking in the background. “Godzilla” is much the same, with the protagonists this time Bryan Cranston’s Joe Brody, an emotionally tortured nuclear physicist who watched his wife (Juliette Binoche) die in what the Japanese government claimed was a natural disaster, and Joe’s estranged son Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), a young army man who’s just come home to his loving wife (Elizabeth Olsen) and son. As Joe and Ford become embroiled in a conspiracy involving the re-emergence of prehistoric behemoths, we are presented with glimpses of the gargantuan freaks of nature; glimpses which are brief but nourishingly intriguing.

This is not to say that anyone going into “Godzilla” with expectations of proper, full-on monster action will feel shortchanged: there’s plenty of “disaster porn” carnage featuring the big lizard himself (and big he is, standing at a mighty 350 ft), as well as a pair of “MUTOs,” ferocious, insectoid beasties which eat atom bombs for breakfast — literally (I’m not kidding, they actually pick up armed atom bombs and eat them like they were a radioactive cheerio). But like Spielberg when he made “Jaws,” Edwards understands the power of the slow reveal, and it’s this which makes the properly spectacular San Fran-set climax, where we finally get to see the monsters going at each other, really feel special: that the monsters haven’t already been needlessly over-exposed makes that final brawl all the more rewarding, breathtaking and jaw-slackening. I’ll also note that this grand finale features no less than seven (7!) instances 100% guaranteed to induce spasms of geeky ecstasy: not to spoil anything, but when I saw a certain monster’s tail start to light up, my eyes didst bulge from their sockets.

All the while, Edwards grounds the massive-scale monster action by shooting it from the perspective of the human characters, who, like us sitting in our cinema seats, look up at the towering and clashing super-beasts with an equal mixture of awe and terror. That is, after all, all they can do: Edwards' ultimate point in “Godzilla” is that nature is out of our control, and that sometimes all we can do is stand and watch; sometimes, as Ken Watanabe's monster-expert scientist says, you just have to “let them fight.” I’d loudly proclaim Edwards’ film to be the best King of the Monsters outing since the 1954 original, but frankly, that isn’t saying much: the vast majority of the original’s sequels are cheesy, if not unenjoyable, slug-fests and Roland Emmerich’s infamous 1998 redo (“That’s a lotta fish!”) was a steaming Godzilla turd. But I’ll say this: for its sense of humanity, its graceful beauty and its ability to stun, it gives the ‘54 original a run for its yen, and with an uncommonly firm understanding of pacing and momentum, it’s one of the sturdiest and most satisfying blockbusters in recent memory.

Rating: 9/10

Sabotage - Review

Director: David Ayer Writers: David Ayer, Skip Woods Studios: Open Road Films, Albert S. Ruddy Productions, Crave Films, QED International Roth Films Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam Worthington, Olivia Williams, Terrence Howard, Joe Manganiello, Harold Perrineau, Martin Donovan, Max Martini, Josh Holloway, Mireille Enos Release Date (UK): 7 May 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 109 min

Following up his first directorial stab, the grippingly authentic 2012 cop drama “End of Watch,” screenwriter-turned-director David Ayer continues his career-lasting obsession with American law enforcers. In “Sabotage,” he turns his eye to a crack DEA task force fighting Mexican drug cartels, only this bunch wouldn’t look out of place on the other side of the US war on drugs. Led by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s grizzled cigar-chomper John “Breacher” Wharthon, they’re all tattoos, cornrows and beaded goatees, and they live up to their dodgy looks — while raiding a cartel warehouse, they secretly thieve $10 million from the stash in the basement and blow up the rest to cover their tracks. Sounds like a solid plan, only the money goes missing, they’re found out by their superiors and soon enough they’re being hunted down one by one in variously nasty ways.

As it was in “End of Watch,” Ayer’s vision of American policing is admirably grim and gruesome — struck by a speeding train, a grown man is reduced to a pile of meat, another is nailed to a ceiling, and recalling the kidnapping of his late wife, Arnie angrily barks, “They sent me her face in the mail!” But anyone going into “Sabotage” expecting the same level of authenticity or intensity of Ayer’s debut is sure to be let down by the lunkheadedness of the script and the emptiness of the drama — despite the sky-high body count and hefty funeral costs, the film lurches through its plot with nary an emotion on display. And anyone hoping for some brainless action based on the presence of Arnie is also in for disappointment: on the excitement front there’s a raid scene at the beginning, a car chase/shootout at the end and precious little in between. As for the Governator himself, he’s handed a grimly tragic backstory, yet his facial expressions rarely change from T-800 blankness and constipated straining — though as ever, he sure does look mighty fine with a cigar between his gnashers.

Rating: 4/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Review

Director: Marc Webb Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Jeff Pinkner Studios: Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment Cast: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Dane DeHaan, Colm Feore, Felicity Jones, Campbell Scott, Emberth Davidt, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field Release Date (UK): April 16, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 142 min

Without doubt, the absolute best thing about Sony’s 2012 “Spider-Man” reboot was the pitch-perfect casting of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. As Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, the costumed webhead and his brainbox lover, Garfield and Stone are an endlessly watchable delight, bursting with personality, flaunting a warm passion and sharing a buzzing chemistry which for electrical surges rivals Electro himself. So it was with a great deal of joy that I discovered while watching “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” that despite the marketing’s overwhelming showcases of special effects action and comic book villainy, director Marc Webb had decided to make Peter and Gwen’s relationship the focus of the film — a relief, considering my worries that the story was to be a cluttered, unfocused mess.

As you may recall, at the end of the first "Amazing Spider-Man," Peter broke a promise: he swore to the late Captain Stacy that he would leave Stacy's daughter alone and thus keep her safe from Spider-Man's enemies. Now Peter's having to deal with the consequences of breaking that promise: haunted by guilt, he's seeing Stacy everywhere, and it's put a strain on his and Gwen's relationship. This is what drives the drama of the film: Peter loves Gwen and wants to be with her, and she too wants to be with him, but at the same time he wishes to keep her from harm. Peter and Gwen's relationship is the core - or the heart, if you will - of the story around which everything else revolves, and it's what keeps the film from being that cluttered, unfocused mess I worried it would be.

To that effect, it's ultimately what keeps “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” from being another “Spider-Man 3.” Like Sam Raimi’s much-derided threequel, Webb’s second Spidey outing has the infamously worrying count of three villains, these being Jamie Foxx’s electrically charged Electro, Dane DeHaan’s cackling Green Goblin, and Paul Giamatti’s roaring Russian mobster Rhino. Many internet commenters feared that this was once again too much, that the film would be crushed under the weight of its villains; as Scotty from “Star Trek” would proclaim, “She cannae take anymore, captain!” But if anything, it proves that the problem with “Spider-Man 3” was not, as is so frequently claimed, the number of villains, it was the lack of focus. Raimi didn’t find a focus to his story and the result was a cluttered muddle; Webb does, and he finds it in the romance between Peter and Gwen, who through being in the spotlight give the drama and the story a focal point and a driving force.

Which is not to say that the story’s structure is not a little unwieldy: alongside Peter and Gwen there is an awful lot going on, with the rise of Electro and the Green Goblin both requiring lengthy set-ups and the mystery behind Peter’s parents finally being solved. And which is not to say that the balance is perfect: following his transformation and a brief scuffle with Spidey at Times Square, Electro is disappointingly missing from action until the big finale, for example. But in juggling many balls, Webb impressively drops very few; certainly less so than he did in the first “Amazing Spider-Man,” where Peter’s intriguing pursuit of the truth behind his parents’ death was glaringly forgotten in the film’s second half. Considering all the sub-plots it’s surprisingly coherent, which I’ll put down to two things: 1. Peter and Gwen being front and centre, and 2. The sub-plots all being related to the evil entity of OsCorp, which ties them all together in a neat and sinister little bow.

I suppose it also helps that the film as a whole is fantastic fun and that it zips along with a bouncy energy. The sights of Spidey gliding and web-swinging between the skyscrapers of New York are utterly spectacular, the splashy special effects are universally splendid, and the action, which now utilises bullet-time to incorporate our hero’s spidey-sense, is properly thrilling. But Garfield and Stone are so good together, and their chemistry so warm and engrossing, that the scenes they share are alone worth the price of admission — all that other stuff is just an extra treat. I’d also like to mention that I’ve loved this reboot’s treatment of Gwen, who at no point has been the shrieking, helpless, ever-endangered damsel in distress that Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane was rather embarrassingly reduced to in the previous trilogy. Smart, resourceful and bravely getting in on the action, she’s effectively Spider-Man’s sidekick, and I just love that.

Rating: 8/10

The Raid 2 - Review

Director: Gareth Evans Writer: Gareth Evans Studios: Sony Pictures Classics, Entertainment One, PT. Merantau Films, XYZ Films Cast: Iko Uwais, Arifin Putra, Oka Antara, Tio Pakusadewo, Alex Abbad, Julie Estelle, Ryuhei Matsuda, Kenichi Endo, Kauki Kitamura Release Date (UK): 11 April 2014 Certificate: 18 Runtime: 150 min

Poor Rama: having just barely limped his way out of one Jakartan hellhole, the battered and bruised rookie SWAT member finds himself thrown straight into another one. There’s one key difference, however: this hellhole’s considerably bigger than the tight corridors of a locked-down apartment block, with Rama thrust into a ruthless world of violent mobsters, deadly assassins and impending gang wars. With his family in danger, he’s forced to go undercover, tasked with infiltrating the Jakartan criminal underworld under the guise of a no-name thug turned foot soldier for the mob. What this means for action hero Iko Uwais and director Gareth Evans is that in sequel “The Raid 2” they have a bigger playground to play in than they did in 2011: now that we’re not stuck inside a single building, there's more room to explore and more chance for the action to be more varied and more spread out. Evans takes full advantage of this: we have a speeding car chase, a nightclub punch-up, a mud-soaked prison riot, a baseball bat attack on the street and a brawl on a subway train between knife-wielding gangsters and a character known only as “hammer girl” — no prizes for guessing her weapon of choice. What this also means is that along with the increase in scale, Evans has a bigger, more complex story to tell, which certainly shows in the runtime: clocking in at a whopping 150 minutes, it runs almost a whole hour longer than its predecessor. But though it’s certainly not as lean as “The Raid,” “The Raid 2” is just as mean, if not meaner: there’s enough broken bones and splattering blood on display to help keep Steven Seagal’s career going for the next few decades, and though the scale of the story has been greatly upped, Evans crucially keeps the action operating on the same level of bare-knuckle intensity that made the first “Raid” such a blast.

The action, as anyone could have predicted, is exhilarating, achieving the same kind of operatic, visceral mayhem achieved in the first “Raid:” you feel every punch, every kick, every baseball bat to the face and every claw hammer to the jugular. As pro ass-hander Rama, Uwais is once again an astonishing force of nature, as is Evans’ camerawork, which again matches the mesmerising, hyper-kinetic fight choreography in breathtaking agility. The difference is that there are more breathers in between the fights, with a fair chunk of the runtime spent outlining a complex story involving gangsters and their various betrayals, and following Rama as he works undercover in the mob system. This obviously won’t please everyone; this is not the non-stop thrill-ride that was “The Raid,” with the action scenes more spread out and more time spent on plot and character. But for me, “The Raid 2” does what any great sequel does: it expands on its predecessor’s universe and pushes things in a different direction, all the while retaining what made the first film tick. Evans maintains a balance between story and action and delivers a film that's equal counts an enthralling, sprawling, who-betrayed-who crime thriller in the vein of “Infernal Affairs” and a bone-snapping, jaw-dropping martial arts extravaganza guaranteed to have you gasping in awe and squirming in disgusted delight.

Rating: 10/10

Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Review

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely Studios: Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Cast: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Robert Redford, Samuel L. Jackson Release Date (UK): 26 March 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 136 min

Though recently defrosted from his days as a WWII super-soldier and supposed to be readjusting to the ways of the modern world, Chris Evans’ star-spangled man with a plan has found himself slap-bang in the middle of a ‘70s paranoia thriller — featuring Robert Redford, no less. In Marvel’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” there are some shady goings-on over at S.H.I.E.L.D. — shadier than usual, anyway. The super-spy organisation at the centre of Marvel’s ever-expanding cinematic universe is not to be trusted, if you’d believe such a thing: in an underground bunker, they’re building helicarriers worryingly capable of wiping out suspected threats before they’ve actually done anything; a covert mission to stop the hijacking of a ship turns out to be a cover for extracting top-secret data; hunted by mysterious foes, S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury breaks into Cap’s apartment and advises him to “trust no one;” and Redford’s high-up official Alexander Pierce, along with the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D., is starting to look awfully sinister. If Joe Johnston’s 2011 predecessor “The First Avenger” was in the pulpy vein of the Indiana Jones adventures, the Russo Brothers’ sequel has the paranoid political charge of old conspiracy movies like “All the President’s Men,” “Three Days of the Condor” or “Marathon Man” — albeit with a little more computer-generated leaping and flying and kicking and punching, mind you.

What ultimately makes “The Winter Soldier” work is that not only does it strike a good balance between its CG action and political intrigue — for every time Cap bashes a badguy in the face with his big metal shield, there’s a cutting dig at government surveillance or the fine line between freedom and fear — it actually blends them together in a way that’s very effective. A scene in an elevator between Cap and some curiously nervous-looking S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives builds up suspense through suspicious glances and dripping beads of sweat, and then pays it off with a thrilling, electrically charged punch-up; similarly, a tense attack on Fury’s car by supposed police officers in the middle of a Washington street explodes with some high-tech weaponry. And the plot itself, following Cap as he and Scarlett Johansson’s agile and sharp-minded super-spy Black Widow go on the run from the organisation they once trusted, is straight out of an old-school Sydney Pollack thriller, just with a mechanically winged paratrooper and a super-powered, metal-armed assassin added in for fun. The result is a gripping and exciting mishmash of resonant political paranoia and special effects blockbusting, even if the scales tip a little too much in favour of the latter towards the (nevertheless enjoyable) explosive finale. Phase Two of Marvel’s master-plan continues to impress: Cap worked well on the WWII battlefront; he works even better on the ‘70s conspiracy scene.

Rating: 8/10

Divergent - Review

Director: Neil Burger Writers: Evan Daugherty, Vanessa Taylor Studios: Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate, Red Wagon Entertainment Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ashley Judd, Jai Courtney, Kate Winslet Release Date (UK): 4 April 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 139 min

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: in a future dystopia ruled by a twisted totalitarian government, one resilient teenage girl finds herself plunged into life-threatening danger; with the odds stacked against her, she soon becomes a symbol of resistance and bravely rises up against society’s cruel oppressors. For a film which so fervently promotes individualism over conformism, and for a film called flippin' “Divergent,” it's ironic how slavishly — and hypocritically — Neil Burger's teen-oriented sci-fi blockbuster complies with proven Hollywood formula. The latest in a long line of big-screen YA adaptations, “Divergent” is, let's be honest, filling the gap between the previous and upcoming “Hunger Games” movies, which would be fine if Burger had given the film a voice all for itself — as he hasn't, it comes across as little more than a cheapo clone of the Suzanne Collins-adapted movie series.

The premise is solid enough, derivative though it may be: in a world where society is divided into five distinct “factions,” Shailene Woodley’s 16-year-old heroine Beatrice Prior discovers that she’s a Divergent, fitting into no specific category and thus a threat to the powers that be. Trouble is, the execution is so blandly generic that differentiating it from the rest of the YA crowd proves a difficult task; stick this next to “The Host,” “Twilight,” “The Mortal Instruments” or any other film of that ilk and you’ll go cross-eyed. The gifted Woodley tries her darndest, adding a little personality to the largely lifeless mix, but it’s a losing battle; this is “The Hunger Games” lite and at no point is it as exciting, gripping or interesting as that series has proven to be. Do yourself a favour: “Catching Fire” recently came out on DVD and Blu-ray; watch that instead and see how it’s really done.

Rating: 4/10

Need for Speed - Review

Director: Scott Waugh Writer: George Gatins Studios: DreamWorks Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Bandito Brothers Cast: Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots, Scott Mescudi, Dominic Cooper, Ramon Rodriguez, Michael Keaton Release Date (UK): March 12, 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 130 min

And here I thought we’d finally got a good movie based on a video game; turns out “Need for Speed” can’t even top the two best entries in video game-to-movie history, the equally lousy “Prince of Persia” and “Silent Hill” — hardly towering hurdles to leap over, but like a drunk driver trying to avoid a parked car, “Need for Speed” crashes straight into them. Taking its name from the massively popular EA street racing series, Scott Waugh’s action-thriller arrives with promises that it’s a proper old-school actioner with proper old-school stunts and proper old-school action throwbacks; indeed, all of the high-speed mayhem appears to be practically filmed and indeed, early on in the film, the classic ‘60s thriller “Bullitt” is seen playing at a drive-in movie theatre. But although its stunts sure are impressive, this frankly feels like a cheap “Fast and Furious” wannabe. Any gamer going into “Need for Speed” expecting the full-throttle exhilaration of the video game racing series will instead be treated with a film that’s merely diverting in fits and starts.

The problem isn’t Aaron Paul — though this is certainly a step down from his iconic role as Jesse Pinkman in “Breaking Bad,” he has the brooding charm down pat — nor is it the action; in a genre dominated by computer-generated imagery, it’s refreshing seeing an action blockbuster which keeps things wholly practical. The problem is the script, whose characters are so thinly drawn that Scott Mescudi’s character may as well be called “laughing black man in helicopter” and Rami Malek’s character “man who walks around naked for no discernible reason.” Also, the pacing: the story, a rather inert tale of revenge, takes far too long to kick into gear and when it finally does the film moves along at an awfully languid pace. Surprising, considering the title, which after viewing becomes riddled with irony: what should be a fast and furious b-movie has a serious need for speed, plodding along for over two hours, with only some neato driving stunts to hold our attention. This begs the question, will there ever be a good movie based on a video game or will the curse prevail forever? Duncan Jones’ “Warcraft,” you must lift this curse once and for all.

Rating: 5/10

300: Rise of an Empire - Review

Director: Noam Murro Writers: Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad Studios: Legendary Pictures, Cruel and Unusual Films Cast: Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Lena Headey, Hans Matheson, Rodrigo Santoro Release Date (UK): 7 March 2014 Certificate: 15 Runtime: 102 min

Buff, baby-oiled beefcakes prance about in bulging leather underpants, letting out roars of pure testosterone and swinging their mighty swords as various bodily fluids spurt all around. As we journey for a second time through hyper-stylised, Zack Snyder-ified Ancient Greece in “300: Rise of an Empire,” it’s nigh impossible not to feel the flaming homoeroticism once again scorching the Athenian air. If anything, the homoeroticism has been knowingly amped up since Snyder’s 2006 comic-book hit: in an early scene of the Noam Murro-directed side-quel, one testy Athenian senator tells another to “shut [his] cock hole;” later, encountering General Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) watching tussling Spartan soldiers, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) wryly remarks, “You’ve come a long way to stroke your cock while watching real men train;” having emerged from a pool of liquid gold, the bejewelled Persian god-king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) walks away strutting his golden arse back and forth; and as if history had a sense of humour, the final clash is called the Battle of Salamis, for crying out loud.

And yet in spite of what appears to be an increased self-awareness in its own risible campiness, “Rise of an Empire” is quite a bit duller than the rip-roaring first “300,” telling a story that’s much less resonant than that of the brave 300 Spartans, and telling it clumsily. Though it starts off as an origin story for Xerxes, he’s all but forgotten until the final 15 minutes; the main story instead focuses on Athenian General Themistokles, who leads an army against war-crazy Persian naval commander Artemisia (Eva Green), with whom he develops a bitter and all too personal feud. Of course, there’s plenty of the slow-mo, fast-mo, CGI blood-splattered battle scenes which featured so prominently in the first film, only here they’re quick to grow monotonous; though they're pretty, we’ve seen them before, and here they’re fought by drab Athenian warriors, none of whom hold a Spartan torch to Gerard Butler's commanding King Leonidas (present only in brief flashbacks). By far the best thing in the film is Eva Green, whose viper hisses and piercing glares would be enough to scare off any Spartan army. With Stapleton’s grizzled hunk, Green also gets to take part in one of the most mental, and certainly one of the most aggressive, sex scenes in recent memory. Tellingly, Themistokles makes a point of switching position midway through to bend her over and take her from behind. Oo-er.

Rating: 5/10

Non-Stop - Review

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra Writers: John W. Richardson, Chris Roach, Ryan Engle Studios: Universal Pictures, Silver Pictures, StudioCanal, York Studios Cast: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Michelle Dockery, Nate Parker, Corey Stoll, Anson Mount, Lupita Nyong’o Release Date (UK): 28 February 2014 Certificate: 12A Runtime: 106 min

File this under “dumb but fun.” “Non-Stop,” the new Liam Neeson action-thriller, is pretty much non-stop stupid. It’s so stupid that Neeson’s character, Bill Marks, is — get this — an air marshal who’s scared of flying. Marks is also a raging alcoholic and his co-marshal is discovered to be smuggling cocaine — if ever there was a film to make us put our utmost trust in air marshals, it ain’t this. I’d trust Air Marshall John from “Bridesmaids” over these two guys any day of the week.

Things get really bonkers when Marks boards a non-stop flight from New York to London, where he starts receiving mysterious texts on a secure network: the texts are from someone threatening to kill a passenger every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred to a specific bank account. The texter is true to his word: 20 minutes later, there’s a body in the lavatory. It’s up to Marks, along with the aid of a trusted passenger (a sadly wasted Julianne Moore) and Michelle Dockery’s flight attendant, to figure out who the mystery passenger is before more lives are lost.

As has been said on the film’s press tour, it sounds like the premise of a Hitchcock movie, but truth be told “Non-Stop” is more poppycock than Hitchcock — the villain’s master plan makes zero sense, relying on coincidence after coincidence, and the explosive climax is just plain preposterous. Still, director Jaume Collet-Serra keeps the engine running smoothly and even manages to ratchet up some suspense as Neeson interrogates passengers with varying levels of aggression, and begins to suspect, along with us, that it might all be in his head. It’s Neeson who really sells this, with his grizzled persona and no-nonsense attitude: “Taken” on a plane, it turns out, is much better than “Snakes on a Plane.”

Rating: 6/10