The Suicide Squad

Copyright © 2021 by Warner Bros. Pictures

Story
After a military coup from an anti-American regime in Corto Maltese, intelligence officer Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) taps Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to lead a Task Force X team of Belle Reve penitentiary inmates. They must infiltrate the South American island nation to destroy a secret laboratory boarding an extinction-level threat that is funded by the U.S. government.

Review
Is it a reboot or a sequel? Can it be both? ‘The Suicide Squad’ also has an article included to the title, suggesting it is the movie which we should have gotten five years ago. While not exactly a reboot, its sequel allusions merely comes from some familiar faces that were featured in ‘Suicide Squad’. I supposed it does hit reset to the critically-panned 2016 debut of these supervillains but without forsaking entirely the events which happened in the David Ayer-directed misfire.

No matter how you view it, James Gunn’s revamped is superior to its predecessor in every aspect. There is wit, elation and coherent action, things lacking in the original which hit rock bottom for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Saved for Margot Robbie’s fantastic Harley Quinn, ‘Suicide Squad’ was perplexing and undercooked. In the latest, Gunn has wisely retained Robbie, Davis and Kinnaman with a bevy of new and pulsating characters, led by Idris Elba’s Bloodsport.

Even though it is Harley’s third appearance, the movie does get even more creative with her thoughts and actions than her last outing in 2020’s ‘Birds of Prey’. Kinnaman injects new life to his previously stoic Rick, a bridge to Elba and John Cena’s amusing bickering. As with the ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ hits, Gunn brings the same fervent technique that he combines with the use of terrific music as needle drops. The death toll may be high and bloody but in the right hands, the squad will live to fight another day.

Rating
Entirety: A
Acting: A
Plot: A-

​Rated R for strong violence and gore, language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and brief graphic nudity

The Green Knight

Copyright © 2021 by A24

Story
An aspiring knight and nephew to King Arthur (Sean Harris), Gawain (Dev Patel) accepts a challenge proposed by the Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) on Christmas day. He willingly submits to be struck down by Gawain but the Knight will return in kind a year later at the Green Chapel. A year passes and Gawain heads out to fulfill the mission many consider will earn him the honour befitting a brave warrior.

Review
High fantasy had its revitalisation through the ‘Lord of the Rings’ movies and since then, many have tried to capitalise on its growing popularity with varying success. Some innovate in oft-told tales but the numbers are just too few and the descent into irrelevance again seems inevitable. When news broke that David Lowery was going to direct and write a contemporary retelling of the 14^th century tale ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, it was wonderful hearing an Arthurian legend getting its due that had the king and sword only play a minor part.

After all, Lowery’s past work is testament of his singularity that revolved around single and simple images which are powerfully used to draw their thematic meaning. Whether it was an orphan and his furry green best buddy defying the drudgery of modern living in ‘Pete’s Dragon’ or a ghostly apparition ‘dressed’ in a childhood Halloween costume justly signifying itself for the first time in ‘A Ghost Story’, the director’s formal rigour was most effective when the fables were less constricted by an existing structure with more complex issues.

Without an involving lead, ‘Knight’ meanders and is a slog in pursuit of honour and destruction. The letdown is not what Lowery does not address in the poem’s intricacies but is that they are not established profoundly. There is a copious amount of exposition yet it is not clear in relating the importance and its relationship to the Green Knight’s test. The film clocks in at 130 minutes though the protracted experience feels lengthier than that. Lowery has demonstrated once more his capacity for a unique approach but is nullified by a hollow and disjointed text.

Rating
Entirety: B
Acting: B
Plot: B

Rated R for violence, some sexuality and graphic nudity

Stillwater

Copyright © 2021 by Focus Features

Story
An out of work oil rig worker from Stillwater, Oklahoma, Bill Baker (Matt Damon) has been visiting his imprisoned daughter Allison (Abigail Breslin) in Marseille, France. Allison claims she was wrongfully sentenced for the murder of her roommate. When new information surfaces that could free Allison, she asks Bill to inform her lawyer about reopening the case. But the lawyer refuses as the given information is hearsay. Bill then goes on his own to piece the clues together despite his lack of proficiency in the French language.

Review
If the premise to ‘Stillwater’ is familiar, its foundation is based on the Amanda Knox case, a young American girl who was erroneously blamed for killing her roommate, and how an engineered confession made by the Italian forces was used against her in court for a conviction. It was a harrowing event filled with drama and the unforeseen, ripe for the picking of any screen adaptation. Although this is not that film, director Tom McCarthy has created a fictional account seen through the eyes of the girl’s dad.

It is the latest theatrical follow-up to McCarthy’s Oscar Best Picture winner ‘Spotlight’, with less lucid fact-finding and more character-bound that resembles his earlier works. It is a thoughtful look of a father’s efforts to redeem his failure as a parent and be a better man while on the quest for justice. The script which McCarthy co-wrote with an American and two French screenwriters authenticate the tale with local credibility while still surprising us with a twist in the last reveal.

The film fuses domestic drama within a crime thriller rather inherently but McCarthy’s interest in the humans behind the headlines jettisons any detestation of the answers provided to the mystery’s development in the third act. The ending has been discordant to many but Damon’s performance as a roughneck from Oklahoma is 100% Oscar worthy. Bill may not be someone you could root for in reality but Damon’s gentleness and sturdiness will undoubtedly tip the scales to see him thrive in a foreign culture as he reconnects with Allison.

Rating
Entirety: A-
Acting: A
Plot: A-

​Rated R for language

Jungle Cruise

Copyright © 2021 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Story
Through her supportive brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall), research about a fabled tree in the Amazon rainforest that can heal any illness recorded by Dr Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) is presented to the Royal society for their approval of acquiring an arrowhead artifact which the association just received. Along with an old map, she believes the arrowhead will lead her to the location of the tree. Rejected by the members, Lily steals it and heads to Brazil with MacGregor on a hired riverboat skippered by Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson) as their guide for the rest of the voyage.

Review
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’ turned Johnny Depp into a superstar. Of course, Disney’s theme park ride which the movie and sequels (though deteriorating with each new chapter) were based on profited from renewed interests. ‘The Haunted Mansion’ released later that year had less success but a reboot is currently in the works. While we wait for how the new ‘Mansion’ turns out, Disney cordially invites us to a jungle cruise, with Johnson’s skipper Frank mouthing bad puns to his clients.

It is the only time Johnson’s introduction has these references to the ride that somewhat relates to the source material. So could the film makers be attempting something more original? If a hodgepodge of other memorable adventure films such as ‘The African Queen’, ‘Romancing the Stone’, ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘The Mummy’ constitutes as original storytelling, then we have a winner here, folks. At the second hour of this CGI-filled fantasy, it even shares a lot of its DNA with ‘Pirates’.

Despite a pleasantly unexpected twist in the third act, ‘Cruise’ is burdened with extra lore that the quest itself is too conveniently wrapped up minus the excitement and danger. The energy, colourful setting, stunts and quips courtesy from director Jaume Collet-Serra’s deftness with a trio of notable performances in Blunt, Johnson and Jesse Plemons at the start are dampened by the sudden tonal shift. Although the magic from the fine talent just about gets us through to the end, Disney really missed the boat on this one for what could have been a real thrill ride at the movies.

Rating
Entirety: B
Acting: A
Plot: B

​Rated PG-13 for sequences of adventure violence