Duel

Year:  1971

Director:  Steven Spielberg

Screenplay:  Richard Matheson, based on the short story Duel by Richard Matheson 

Starring:  Dennis Weaver

Running Time:  90 minutes

Genre:  Action, thriller

Middle aged travelling salesman David Mann (Weaver) sets off on a long drive through rural California to meet a client, but the uneventful journey soon turns into a desperate battle for survival when Mann finds himself involved in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a deranged truck driver (Carey Loftin).

Originally made as a television "Movie of the Week", this film is possibly most notable as the feature film debut from director Steven Spielberg, who at the time only had a few episodes of television shows under his belt, including episodes of Night Gallery and an episode of Columbo.  The original 74 minute TV movie was so successful with critics and audiences that the studio allowed Spielberg to shoot extra footage to increase the running time for a theatrical release.  Aside from several brief encounters with people he meets on his journey, the film almost entirely focusses solely on Mann.  The truck driver is almost entirely unseen, and never seen in full.  A couple of times we see a beefy forearm cocked out of the window, his hands on the steering wheel, and his booted feet, but that's all we see of the driver.  The antagonist becomes the huge, menacing truck itself, with its dirty windows, bellowing air horn and belching black fumes, like a vast mechanical dragon.  Aside from the anonymity of Mann's attacker, the randomness of the pursuit itself is scary, with Mann seemingly targeted for no reason.  Throughout the film, Mann seems almost painfully out of place, during the opening credits we travel from the comfortable suburbs, into the Californian deserts, and even when he is not in danger, Mann, in his suit and tie, seems to be uncomfortable in the blue-collar diners and truck stops where he finds himself.  In an early scene, he telephones his wife (Jacqueline Scott), providing the only glimpse we have of his home life, and she criticises him for not standing up for her against an offensive colleague of his at a party the previous night.  Ultimately, Mann has to shed his veneer of suburban civilisation to find a more primal survival instinct, if he is to defeat his enemy.  While the film doesn't entirely keep up its momentum throughout its entire running time, it is still a gripping suspense film, with plenty of excitement and a thrilling climax.

Keep on truckin':  Dennis Weaver in Duel

The Mark of Zorro

 Year:  1940

Director:  Rouben Mamoulian

Screenplay:  John Taintor Foote, story by Garrett Fort and Bess Meredyth, based on the novel The Curse of Capistrano by Johnston McCulley

Starring:  Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Basil Rathbone

Running Time:  94 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure

19th Century California:  Don Diego Vega (Power) is summoned home from Madrid by his father.  In California, Diego is horrified by how the local people are oppressed by the cruel and corrupt governor.  Outwardly coming across as a wealthy, cowardly fop, Diego adopts the secret identity of masked outlaw El Zorro ("The Fox") to fight for justice.

The swashbuckling hero Zorro had previously rode onto cinema screens in the 1920 silent film The Mark of Zorro, which starred Douglas Fairbanks in the lead role.  This is a spirited old fashioned adventure film, with some enjoyable action, and some exciting sword fights.  The film's title comes from Zorro's habit of marking things and sometimes people with three quick sword slashes to form the letter "Z".  Also it doesn't take itself too seriously and there is a welcome vein of humour throughout.  Tyrone Power is good in the lead role, obnoxiously foppish as Diego, but athletically physical and romantic as Zorro.  Basil Rathbone is good as the evil master swordsman who Zorro must defeat.  Linda Darnell doesn't really have anything much to do other than be courted by Diego, as she falls in love with his Zorro persona.  This is the kind of Saturday matinee film that really doesn't get made much anymore, and while it hasn't aged well in places, it is still a very entertaining film.   The Mark of Zorro has gone on to become part of the Batman mythos.  In both comic books and movies, it's depicted as the film that the young Bruce Wayne watched with his parent's the night that they were killed.  Although it differs among various versions whether it was the 1920 or 1940 film that they watched.  

Tyrone Power in The Mark of Zorro

To Live and Die in L.A.

 Year:  1985

Director:  William Friedkin

Screenplay:  William Friedkin and Gerald Petievich, based on the novel To Live and Die in L.A. by Gerald Petievich

Starring:  William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Pankow, Debra Feuer, John Turturro, Darlanne Fluegel, Dean Stockwell

Running Time:  116 minutes

Genre:  Action, crime, thriller

When his partner is killed investigating a counterfeiting operation, corrupt Secret Service Agent Richard Chance (Petersen) is determined to bring down master counterfeiter Rick Masters (Dafoe) by any means necessary.  However, Chance is forced to team up with by-the-book agent John Vukovich (Pankow), who opposes Chance's anything goes philosophy.

Adapted from the 1984 novel by Gerald Petievich, this gritty crime thriller returns director William Friedkin to the seamy world of amoral cops and brutal criminals that he previously explored in The French Connection (1974), the film that made his name.  In fact, aside from being set in Los Angeles rather than New York and dealing with counterfeiters rather than international drug runners, there are some similarities between To Live and Die in L.A. and The French Connection, both deal with ruthless cops (or, more accurately, Secret Service agents in To Live and Die) who will break any rules they have to to bring down a powerful enemy,  and To Live and De in L.A. also features it's own spectacular car chase set piece.  Despite being set in December and January, Los Angeles seems to burn under blazing sunlight, and beautiful pink evening skies (I don't know, I've never been to Los Angeles, maybe it really is like that in the bleak midwinter).  The film looks beautiful throughout, and has a pulsing score from British new wave band Wang Chung.  There is a gritty, authentic feel to the proceedings, which are filmed in some of the less glamorous parts of the city.  The cast is impressive with a number of actors who weren't well known at the time, but later went on to become major stars, notably Willem Dafoe and John Turturro.  William Petersen is believably callous as the repellant Richard Chase, who is the film's nominal hero and extorts his informer Ruth (Darlanne Fluegel) for information and sexual favours, under threat of having her parole revoked.  Willem Dafoe is good as the murderous counterfeiter,  John Turturro is convincingly desperate as the member of Dafoe's gang who Chance arrested and tries to make a deal with.  Darlanne Fleugel takes the acting honours as the unfortunate collateral damage in Chance's war on crime, and her desperation to break free and make a fresh start is heartbreaking.  The big problem with the film is, as good as it is, there is really no-one to root for here.  The ostensible "heroes" aren't much better than the crooks they are chasing.  However, this is an involving and exciting slice of '80s action thriller.

William Petersen and John Pankow in To Live and Die in L.A.

Foxy Brown

 Year:  1974

Director:  Jack Hill

Screenplay:  Jack Hill

Starring:  Pam Grier, Antonio Fargas, Peter Brown, Terry Carter, Kathryn Loder, Harry Holcombe

Running Time:  91 minutes

Genre:  Action, crime

 

When her narcotics agent boyfriend is murdered by a powerful crime ring, Foxy Brown (Grier) poses as a  call girl to infiltrate the syndicate.

This is one of the defining blaxploitation films.  Blaxploitation (the term is a portmanteau word made up of "black" and "exploitation") was a subgenre of American action and crime films that were very popular in the 1970s, which featured predominantly black lead characters and were ostensibly aimed at black audiences.  These films were criticised at the time and since for perpetuating stereotypes of African-Americans, but they were also one of the few places where black characters and stories were shown.  Directed by exploitation veteran Jack Hill, who had previously worked with Pam Grier on Coffy (1972), the film is full of violent action, and it all moves along at a good pace.  Pam Grier is fantastic as Foxy.  Antonio Fargas, who is best known as Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch (1975-1979), plays Foxy's deadbeat brother.  Kathryn Loder is good as the sinister head of the "modelling agency" which is the front for the crime ring.  Veteran exploitation actor Sid Haig appears as a pilot who runs drugs between the US and Mexico.  The film does have some social commentary, Foxy has connections to the local Black Panthers, who help keep the streets safe from drug pushers.  Foxy also is in favour of direct, vigilante action against crime as opposed to her upstanding boyfriend who believes in the due process of law.  The film is funny, fast and dynamic.  The fashions and jive-talking dialogue scream 1970s, as well as the funky soul soundtrack featuring songs by Willie Hutch, and the film had kind of a second life in the late 1990s when there was a lot of '70s nostalgia, and has been a heavy influence on Quentin Tarantino, who cast Pam Grier as the lead in his homage to blaxploitation Jackie Brown (1998).  However, the film does have plot holes, and there are elements of it that are certainly not politically correct, particularly in the film's mos disturbing sequence where Foxy is kidnapped by the villains, forcibly injected with heroin and sexually assaulted (although the assault isn't shown, but her violent retribution certainly is).  

Pam Grier is Foxy Brown
  

Prey

 Year:  2022

Director:  Dan Trachtenberg

Screenplay:  Patrick Aison, from a story by Patrick Aison and Dan Trachtenberg, based on characters by Jim Thomas and John Thomas

Starring:  Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, Dane DiLiegro

Running Time:  100 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, action

The Great Plains of North America, 1719:  Naru (Midthunder) is a young Comanche woman, who is a hugely skilled healer and tracker, and dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Tabbe (Beavers).  However, after seeing strange signs, and coming across strangely mutilated corpses of animals, Naru becomes convinced that there is something else out there, that is even more dangerous than the vicious cougars and bears, and the brutal fur trappers.  Soon the hunter becomes the hunted as Naru has to face a completely new type of Predator.

This is the fifth film in the Predator franchise, not counting the two Alien vs. Predator films which mix Predator with the Alien franchise.  The Predators are a race of aliens who come to Earth to hunt humans for sport.  This is a well made film, mixing panoramic visual beauty (in fact it is a real pity that the film debuted on streaming rather than in the cinema because it would look spectacular on the big screen).  Amber Midthunder is great in the lead as the calm but ferocious Naru, who uses her intelligence and skills, rather than just a strength against her opponents, and also turns the fact that she is almost always underestimated to her advantage.  The Predator itself is different to the ones previously seen on screen.  As in the other films, it has a cloaking device to make itself more or less invisible, and uses heat vision to track down it's prey, unlike previous versions, however, it's mask is made of bone, rather than metal, and it doesn't use an energy gun, using instead it's strength and bladed weapons.  As with previous Predators; it has it's own code of honour, not attacking those who it doesn't deem to be a threat.  The film takes it's time building up the characters and the world of the story, a world if kill or be killed, emphasised by repeated scenes of animals hunting and killing other animals.  It also takes it's time in building up Naru's world, exploring the customs and practices of the tribe.  The film is well made by Dan Trachtenberg, who previously made 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).  While there are references to other films in the series, they don't feel forced, and there is no need to see any of the others to watch this.  it is a completely stand alone film.   While it doesn't feel very original, aside from the setting and largely indigenous cast, the story structure feels very similar to the first film, particularly towards the end, it is probably the best film in the series.

 Amber Midthunder in Prey

Top Gun: Maverick

Year:  2022

Director:  Joseph Kosinski

Screenplay:  Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer and Christopher McQuarrie, from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks

Starring:  Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer

Running Time:  131 minutes

Genre:  Action, drama

US Navy test pilot, Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Cruise) is ordered to return to the elite fighter training school known as "Top Gun" train some of the best Top Gun graduates for a seemingly impossible mission.  To complicate matters, one of Maverick's students, Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw (Teller), is the son of Maverick's former co-pilot and close friend Goose, who was killed in an accident during their time at Top Gun in the 1980s.

Top Gun (1986) is possibly one of the most beloved films of the 1980s, and it is extremely risky to return to such a popular film over thirty years later.  Top Gun: Maverick opens with a virtually shot-for-shot remake of the opening of the original Top Gun, the same music, the same opening text explaining what Top Gun is, the same scenes of fighter jets lifting off of aircraft carriers to the strains of Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" and even the same typeface for the credits.  After this, Top Gun: Maverick settles down to it's own thing, while still delivering enough call backs and references to the original to satisfy nostalgic '80s kids. Maverick follows the same basic plot structure as the original but, in the original, the goal for the pilots is to win the Top Gun Trophy, in this film the goal is to complete this almost impossible mission and return alive, immediately raising the stakes.  While the first Top Gun is bookended by aerial scraps against the enemy (who are not identified in either film, but you can probably guess who they are supposed to be) they almost seem like add ons to provide some drama and action.  In both films the enemy pilots are completely dehumanised, rendered faceless by the black visors and full face masks.  Tom Cruise, reprising his star making role, does what he does best, with his mega-watt smile and movie star charisma undimmed despite the passage of years.  Miles Teller is good as Rooster, the son of Maverick's best friend Goose, who dies in the first film.  Rooster hates Maverick, blaming him not only for his father's death, but also for apparently sabotaging his career.  Jennifer Connelly does what she can with a fairly underwritten role as bar-owner Penny, Maverick's love interest.  As with the first film, women don't have much to do, however at least here there are a couple of female pilots.  The film is tense, and has some real excitement in the aviation sequences.  It has humour, drama and some emotion.  While the film is as pro-military as the first, and will doubtless cause applications to the US Navy to climb higher and faster than one of Maverick's jets, it is most of all a perfect example of a real summer blockbuster.

Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 Year:  2022

Directors:  Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Screenplay: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert

Starring:  Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis

Running Time:  139 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, action, comedy

Evelyn Wang (Yeoh) is having a very bad day.  The laundromat she runs with her husband, Waymond (Quan), is struggling; her elderly father Gong Gong (Hong) who has effectively disowned her has arrived from China to be cared for by Evelyn and her family; she has a difficult relationship with her daughter, Joy (Hsu); and Waymond is trying to serve her with divorce papers.  To make matters worse, they are being audited by the IRS and have an appointment with severe auditor Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Curtis).  The last thing Evelyn needs is to learn that she has to connect with multiple alternate versions of herself from parallel universes in order to defeat a powerful force which threatens to destroy all of the infinite realities.

This film is a wild, unpredictable mix of genres and styles, taking in family drama, science-fiction, martial arts action and surreal comedy.  The result is one of the most imaginative, vibrant, and funniest films to come along in a very long time.  The basic concept is that for every decision that is made, the alternative outcome is played out in a parallel universe.  Through a technique called "verse jumping" which involves a special portable headset and performing a completely improbable action an individual can connect to their counterpart in a particular parallel universe that has the skills or abilities that they want to access.  In this way Evelyn is treated to glimpses of her life if she had made different choices, such as ending up as a skilled martial artist, a famous film star, a chef and more bizarre realities including one where humans have hot dogs instead of fingers, and one where she ends up as a rock.  Michelle Yeoh is great in the lead role and convincingly depict Evelyn's change from stressed and unhappy wife, mother and business owner, to action hero; Ke Huy Quan, who is possibly best known as a child actor in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and The Goonies (1985), is affecting as Evelyn's gentle and goofy husband; Stephanie Hsu is good as Evelyn and Waymond's troubled daughter and Jamie Lee Curtis gives a great comic performance as the tough IRS investigator.  In all the film's wildness and goofiness it doesn't lose sight of the more serious issues such as Evelyn's inability to accept the fact that her daughter is gay and has a girlfriend, and the importance of accepting people as they are and not how we may want them to be. Evelyn is someone who has had endless dreams and hopes but has abandoned them thanks to cruel reality, and now seems to see life itself as something of a miserable chore, but when she opens herself to the limitless possibilities, the experience is both frightening but ultimately liberating for her. The film also examines themes of Chinese-American cultural identity and existential despair.  The film is surprisingly emotional, and by the end is genuinely moving.  While at times it can be overwhelming, even with the generous run time of two hours and twenty minutes it seems to shoot past at breakneck speed with little pause for breath, this is one of the best films that I have seen in a very long time.

Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

 Year:  2022

Director:  Tom Gormican

Screenplay:  Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten

Starring:  Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Sharon Horgan, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Neil Patrick Harris

Running Time:  107 minutes

Genre:  Action, comedy

Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage is struggling with his career, and is becoming increasingly estranged from his ex-wife (Horgan) and teenage daughter (Lily Sheen).  Reluctantly he accepts a lucrative assignment to travel to an island off Mallorca and appear at the birthday party of a billionaire super-fan, Javi (Pascal).  Shortly after he arrives, however, Cage is contacted by CIA agents Vivian (Haddish) and Martin Etten (Barinholtz) who inform him that Javi is an international arms dealer, who is behind the kidnapping of the teenage daughter of a prominent politician.  The CIA want Cage to act as a spy for them.

Nicolas Cage has had a strange and eclectic career.  Making his name with such films as the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona (1987), Moonstruck (1987) opposite Cher, and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), to action hero turns in The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997) and Face/Off (1997), and an Oscar-nominated performances in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and Adaptation. (2002), and after a series of small, straight-to-video films, he has had something of career resurgence in recent years with cult horror films such as Mandy (2018) and Color Out of Space (2019), and finding critical success with Pig (2021).  Cage has also had a strange form of cult celebrity appearing in numerous internet memes and his face appearing on things such as mugs, clothes and even cushions, due to his eclectic career choices, his often flamboyant style of acting (which Cage himself described as "nouveau shamanistic") and his distinctive look and drawling voice.  In this film Cage doesn't just play a version of himself but also an imaginary version of his younger self, digitally de-aged and credited under his birth name of "Nicolas Kim Coppola", who crops up to give the older Cage advice or insults. Here he reminds us once again that he can still deliver a great performance and has a real gift for comedy.  Here he pokes fun, not only at his own career, but at his public image and even his financial troubles.  Pedro Pascal is funny and charismatic as the possible arms-dealer and Nicolas Cage super-fan, with whom the actor bonds.  Great comedy actors such as Sharon Horgan and Tiffany Haddish are a little underused in the supporting cast, but it is really the Nicolas Cage show.  Neil Patrick Harris also appears in a small role as Cage's agent.  The story turns into a fairly average buddy action film and it runs out of steam a little by the end, but the action scenes are well staged and there are consistent laughs throughout.  The performances elevate the film, and the concept of Nicolas Cage playing himself gives the film an extra dimension of fun.  

Pedro Pascal and Nicolas Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

The Northman

 Year:  2022

Director:  Robert Eggers

Screenplay:  Sjón and Robert Eggers

Starring:  Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, Willem Dafoe

Running Time:  137 minutes

Genre:  epic, action, drama

895 AD: After King Aurvandill War-Raven (Hawke) is murdered by his brother Fjölnir (Bang), who carries off Queen Gudrún (Kidman), Prince Amleth (Skarsgård) swears to avenge his father and save his mother.  As years pass, Amleth plans to pose as a slave in Fjölnir's stronghold, and prepare for his revenge with the help of sorceress Olga (Taylor-Joy).

The film is based on the medieval Scandinavian legend of Amleth, which also inspired William Shakespeare's Hamlet.  However, if you are not into the Bard, you don't need to worry about this being Hamlet, it is basically more like a Viking version of Gladiator (2000), or a plot line from Game of Thrones (2011-2019).  Eggers, who has made his name with cerebral so-called "elevated horror" films such as The Witch (2016) and The Lighthouse (2020), may not seem like the obvious choice for making a blood-and-thunder action film, but the action is staged very well, even though it can be difficult to tell one hairy. bearded, mud-caked Viking from another.  The film is well-designed and it is a pretty bleak, unsympathetic worldview, even anti-hero Amleth seems more than happy to raid and pillage villages.  Alexander Skarsgård is good as the snarling, steely-eyed Amleth, Nicole Kidman is good as the sinister queen, and Anya Taylor-Joy, who made her name with Eggers' The Witch,  provides the film's conscience as the mystical, nurturing Olga.  The film has a semi-supernatural aspect with Olga's magic, and Amleth's frequent hallucinatory visions, as well as a magical sword.  Even though it is quite a long film, there is too much going on for it to ever get dull.  It's been a while since there was a proper musclebound sword and shield historical action film like this, so it is quite welcome.  It also comments on the price to be paid for vengeance on both sides.

Alexander Skarsgård is The Northman

Total Recall

 Year:  1990

Director:  Paul Verhoeven

Screenplay:  Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon and Gary Goldman, from a story by Ronald Shusett, Dan O'Bannon and John Povill, based on the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" by Philip K. Dick

Starring:  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Rachel Ticotin, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Ronny Cox

Running Time:  114 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, action

In a future where humans have colonised other planets of the Solar System, construction worker Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) who lives on earth with his wife, Lori (Stone), is plagued by recurring dreams of a mysterious woman (Ticotin) on Mars, which is under the dominion of industrialist dictator Cohaagen (Cox).  Quaid visits an agency called Rekall, Inc. which implants realistic fake memories.  Quaid chooses an "Ego Trip" package where he can have a memory of visiting Mars under the guise of being a secret agent. However, during the implant procedure Quaid suddenly starts lashing out, revealing that he has already had his memory suppressed by a shadowy organisation.  Soon Quaid finds himself on the run, pursued by gunmen, lead by Richter (Ironside), Cohaagen's chief henchman, as he learns that his entire life as Douglas Quaid was an illusion, and Lori and his friends are all spies sent to watch him.  Searching for his true identity, Quaid travels to Mars, and makes contact with the underground resistance against Cohaagen's tyranny.  However, as Quaid's investigation progresses, dreams and reality become harder to distinguish.

Total Recall began as a short story called "We Can remember It for You Wholesale" by prolific science-fiction author Philip K. Dick.  The project spent a long time in development, at one time acclaimed horror director David Cronenberg was attached to direct, his vision of the film stuck close to the short story, in which Quaid, called Quail in the original, was a timid, weedy, little clerk.  Cronenberg wrote twelve drafts of the script, but the producers were unhappy with his cerebral take on the material, because they wanted, in producer/writer Ronald Shusett's terms "Raiders of the Lost Ark go to Mars".  Eventually Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who had had a hit with RoboCop (1987), was given the director's job, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was chosen to star.  Obviously, Schwarzenegger is no-one's idea of a timid, weedy little clerk, as the film moved further away from the Philip K. Dick short story.  At the time, Total Recall was one of the most expensive films ever made, and it remains one of the iconic science-fiction and action films of that era.  Verhoeven was good at lacing fast paced, lurid action and carnage with  often quite subversive satire (here Cohaagen is the ultimate evil capitalist who has even privatised the air supply).  The special effects are showing their age, but mostly still stand up, particularly the vast alien complex where the film's climax takes place, and the Martians, who are mutated due to the use of cheap, inadequate protective domes, are memorable.  The film moves along at a good pace, it's funny, there is plenty of action, and very graphic violence, although the pulpy plotting often becomes very silly.  Although, one of the most interesting aspects of the film is the possibility that the whole thing is  Quaid's fantasy, which makes the daftness and weirdness make more sense.  The film leaves the question open, and there are hints in the film either way.  The performances are pretty good, including Sharon Stone in her first major role, but everything takes second place to Arnie and the action.  Arnold Schwarzenegger is basically Arnold Schwarzenegger, doing what he does best, he handles the action well and delivers the odd quip. Quaid himself comes across more as a gleefully violent anti-hero in his quite callous attitude, probably a lot of civilians get caught up in the crossfire in this film  (in the film's most controversial scene he points a gun at Lori who says: "You won't shoot me, will you?  After all, we're married."  Quaid shoots her point blank in the head and quips: "Consider that a divorce.").  One of the movies incidental pleasures is the future world, including self-driving taxis, with irritating robot taxi drivers, called "Johnny Cabs", although some of the future world looks charmingly dated now.  This is the kind of film that as it goes on, you get caught up in it, and it is a fun action packed ride.  Later you start picking holes in it.  It is flawed, but I enjoyed it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall

The Batman

Year:  2022

Director:  Matt Reeves

Screenplay:  Matt Reeves and Peter Craig, based on characters from DC Comics

Starring:  Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell

Running Time:  176 minutes

Genre:  Action, superhero, crime, thriller

On Halloween night, the mayor of Gotham City is brutally murdered by a masked individual calling himself The Riddler (Dano), who leaves a series of cryptic clues aimed at masked vigilante, the Batman (Pattinson), the secret identity of reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne, who has been fighting crime in Gotham for two years.  As Batman investigates, he realises that The Riddler is just getting started, as more and more of the great and good in Gotham turn up murdered.  With the help of nightclub waitress Selina Kyle (Kravitz), who has her own secret, the Batman uncovers a vast criminal conspiracy, which hits uncomfortably close to home.  

It's tempting to roll the eyes at the thought of yet another Batman film, or indeed yet another superhero film as the last ten years has seen a seemingly endless stream of them.  The tendency, particularly of the Batman films, has been to get increasingly dark and gritty, which to be fair is in keeping with the character's origins in the pages of Detective Comics in 1939, but a long way from the colourful, campy Batman TV series with Adam West and Burt Ward which defined the character for decades, at least until the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film.  Despite Batman Forever (1995) and Batman and Robin (1997) the character seems to get darker and grittier with each new iteration, and this is possibly the bleakest yet.  Devoid of light (literally for the most part, the film takes place almost entirely at night in gloomy, cavernous rooms, and strobe-lit nightclubs), humour and mostly any sense of hope, this is Batman for the 2020s.   It is less of a superhero action film, although there are some very good action scenes, including a spectacular car chase, it's more of a gritty crime thriller, closer to films such as Se7en (1995).  Batman is more of a detective here, trying to crack the case by solving the clues and interviewing witnesses and suspects.  Robert Pattinson is good as Batman, and his Bruce Wayne is a very different take on the character.  Instead of the traditional billionaire playboy, his Bruce is a recluse lurking around the Batcave, always in black, listening to Nirvana and writing his thoughts in a journal. and seems to be more than. little bit disturbed, closer to characters such as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) or Rorschach in the comic series Watchmen (1986-87), who incidentally was inspired by Batman.  Andy Serkis plays Alfred, Bruce's one connection to a normal life.  Zoë Kravitz is very good as Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, who helps Batman for her own purposes and whose moral ambiguity challenges Batman's black-and-white worldview.  Paul Dano is chilling as the Riddler, turning the character from a gimmicky prankster to a genuinely frightening killer.  Jeffrey Wright is good as Commissioner Gordon, Batman's friend on the police force, and one of the few honest cops in a corrupt city.  Colin Farrell is almost completely unrecognisable under layers of makeup as mobster and club owner the Penguin.  While the Batmobile does make an appearance in the film, and very impressive it is too, Batman uses less gadgets than usual in these films, mostly allowing his targets to hear his heavy footfalls as he looms from the shadows  This is an impressive and complex film which spins out an intriguing mystery and remains gripping throughout what could politely be described as a generous run time.  While this may be too dark and sombre for many people's tastes it feels right for the character, and I liked the fact that it was a smaller scale than most recent superhero films, and I also liked the portrayal of Batman as a crime-solving detective.

Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and Batman (Robert Pattinson) in The Batman

Westworld

Year:  1973

Director:  Michael Crichton

Screenplay:  Michael Crichton

Starring:  Richard Benjamin, Yul Brynner, James Brolin

Running Time:  88 minutes

Genre:  Science-fiction, Western

Welcome to Delos, a state of the art amusement park where, for a mere $1,000 per day, guests can live out their fantasies in one of three different "worlds": Western World (themed on the Wild West), Medieval World or Roman World.   The zones are populated by highly sophisticated robots, which look virtually indistinguishable from humans, and are programmed to allow the guests to live out any adventure or desire that they have.  Of course, the sophisticated computer programming means that the robots will never turn on their human guests and begin slaughtering home.  Nothing can possibly go wrong.  Until everything does.

This was written and directed by author/filmmaker Michael Crichton, who would return to the theme of a futuristic amusement park run amok with his novel Jurassic Park (1990).  The film moves between two friends, Peter Martin (played by Richard Benjamin) a first time visitor to Delos and John Blane (played by James Brolin) who is something of a Delos veteran, and their experiences in Western World as they become targets of a homicidal Gunslinger (played by Yul Brynner); the scientists and technicians in the vast subterranean complex below the theme park, where damaged androids are repaired, and the whole park is monitored; and an obnoxious guest in Medieval World.  It's not really until nearly an hour into the film where the robots completely break down and become murderous, and the story moves fully into thriller territory.  Up until then its is almost a comedy parodying Western tropes.  In it's last half hour the film becomes a genuinely tense chase as the Gunslinger remorselessly hunts down it's prey.  Richard Benjamin is good as the nervous, slightly jittery first time visitor, and James Brolin is charismatic as the relaxed would-be cowboy, but it is Yul Brynner as the deathly pale, blank-faced robot who provides the most iconic performance.  The film is mostly well structured, opening with an advert for Delos, which really gives all the backstory you need, and following Peter and John as they arrive and get to experience Western World.  Meanwhile in Medieval World a would be king (Norman Bartold) spends his time flirting with the Queen (Victoria Shaw) and eyeing up buxom serving wenches.  As this is all going on in the park, in the laboratories and offices below, the technicians are concerned that the robots are displaying more malfunctions and errors than usual.  The problems and malfunctions mount up slowly but steadily, until everything suddenly goes haywire.   The film is certainly showing it's age now.  The special effects and futuristic technology on-screen now look very dated, which is inevitable.  It's not a great film, it moves from light-hearted almost comedy to full science-fiction  action thriller a little too late and too suddenly.  It is good though, it's funny and suspenseful and features some memorable sequences.  

The film was a hit in it's day, and was followed by a sequel, Futureworld (1976), a TV series Beyond Westworld which ran for five episodes in 1980, and the far more successful Westworld TV series which began on HBO in 2016 and has, as of January 2022, run for three seasons with a fourth on the way.

Yul Brynner in Westworld

The Living Daylights

Year of Release:  1987

Director:  John Glen

Screenplay:  Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, based on the short story "The Living Daylights" by Ian Fleming

Starring:  Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo, Joe Don Baker, Art Malik, John Rhys-Davis, Jeroen Krabbé

Running Time:  130 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure, spy

British secret agent James Bond (Dalton) successfully engineers the escape of a Soviet defector (Krabbé) to the West.  However shortly afterwards, the defector is apparently kidnapped by the KGB from a secret safe house in Britain.  Bond is assigned to find him and bring him back, however the defection and the kidnapping turn out to be more complex than at first appears, and Bond finds himself trapped in a complex web of treachery involving arms deals, diamonds and drugs, in a chase that leads from London, to Bratislava, to Vienna, to Tangiers and to the deserts of Afghanistan.

This is the fifteenth film in the James Bond series and the first of two films to star Timothy Dalton as 007.  A fan of the original Ian Fleming books, Dalton had intended to make his Bond closer to the literary source, as a sometimes ruthless, serious, damaged and more realistic character, which came as a surprise after the more lighthearted, comedic approach of his predecessor in the role, Roger Moore.  This may be why Dalton has always been poorly regarded by fans of the Bond films.  It's true that his approach was a shock after the Moore period, and he lacked the charisma of Sean Connery.  However, Dalton really wasn't bad in the role.  The problem was the films themselves.  The Living Daylights starts as a straightforward spy thriller, before becoming more and more ridiculous as it goes along, and the plot becomes ever more confusing.  The main villain, an American arms dealer played by Joe Don Baker, comes across as a petulant childish character who plays with toy soldiers and whose lair is a tricked-out army museum, although the henchman, a muscular assassin called Necros (Andreas Wisniewski), who has a talent for impersonating voices and prefers to strangle people to death with his Walkman does make an impression.  Maryam d'Abo plays Kara, a cellist who is swept up by Bond's adventure and later swept up by Bond.  She starts off as an interesting, ambivalent character whose loyalties are uncertain, but who is always sympathetic, but by the end she has become the typical "Bond girl" who doesn't really have much to do except tag along with Bond.  There are some good set pieces, with the standout being a chase with Bond and Kara in a gadget-packed Aston Martin, which ends up with them using a cello case for a sledge.  The theme song, by Norwegian pop group A-ha, isn't bad.  This is far from being the best Bond film, but it is nowhere near the worst either.  It's entertaining, and does have some really good parts.  The problem is that it doesn't hang together and feels like several different stories shoved into one.  It's too humourless to be funny, but too ridiculous to be really serious.

"Oh, James!" Timothy Dalton and Maryam d'Abo in The Living Daylights
 

Live and Let Die

Year of Release:  1973

Director:  Guy Hamilton

Screenplay:  Tom Mankiewicz, based on the novel Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Starring:  Roger Moore, Jane Seymour, Yaphet Kotto

Running Time:  121 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure, spy

British secret agent James Bond (Moore) is assigned to investigate the deaths of three agents, and finds himself embroiled in a world of gangsters and voodoo curses as he attempts to stop a powerful drug dealer's plot to flood America with free heroin.

This is the eighth film in the evergreen James Bond series, and the first of seven films to feature Roger Moore as Bond.  Unlike his beloved predecessor in the role Sean Connery, and even George Lazenby, Roger Moore never really came across as a bruiser, but he did have charm, and a nice line in laconic humour, and it was in the Moore period where the James Bond films became increasingly bizarre, and seemed to be played more and more for laughs.  Live and Let Die is one of those films which I enjoyed watching as a child on Saturday evenings or during the Christmas holidays, when for years it seemed a Bond film was as much part of the festive TV schedules as Carols from Kings or The Snowman.  However, watching it as an adult, it is hard to ignore it's flaws.  For one thing, it doesn't really feel much like a Bond movie, at times feeling like an odd parody of a "blaxploitation" film, particularly in the scenes set in Harlem.  Yaphet Kotto was a good actor but, as drug lord Katanga aka Mr. Big, he comes across more as an irritated businessman, and his sidekick Tee Hee (Julius W. Harris) with a pincer-topped artificial arm, just isn't as impressive as some of the previous outlandish villains.  However, Geoffrey Holder is striking as voodoo priest Baron Samedi, and is one of the most memorable aspects of the film, although he has too little screen time.  Jane Seymour is very good as the psychic Solitaire, who reads the tarot cards for Katanga, and whose psychic powers seem to depend on her remaining a virgin.  Needless to say, they don't last very long once Bond appears.  Moore himself is suave enough, but never really seems to be bothered by anything that happens to him or anyone around him.  His treatment of Solitaire, effectively tricking her into bed, is pretty cruel, even by Bond's standards.  There are also strange apparently supernatural elements, Solitaire seems to be largely accepted as being genuinely psychic and Baron Samedi seems to come back from the dead.  Looked at now, the film feels really dated, and probably wouldn't [ass muster with modern viewers.  Also, lest we forget, the film's low point comes with the annoying comic relief Louisiana sheriff (Clifton James).  The film does have it's moments though, the opening theme song by Paul McCartney and Wings is pretty good, and there are some great action scenes, particularly the speedboat chase which is still pretty exciting.  

James Bond (Roger Moore) and Solitaire (Jane Seymour) in Live and Let Die

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

 Year of Release:  1969

Director:  Peter R. Hunt

Screenplay:  Richard Maibaum, with additional dialogue by Simon Raven, based on the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming

Starring:  George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Bernard Lee, Gabriele Ferzetti, Ilse Steppat

Running Time:  141 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure, spy

British secret agent James Bond (Lazenby) puts his career on the line as he pursues criminal mastermind Blofeld (Savalas) who is preparing his latest diabolical plan to hold the world to ransom from his remote lair in the Swiss Alps.  Meanwhile, Bond unexpectedly falls in love with the alluring but troubled Tracy (Rigg).

This is the sixth film in the popular James Bond series, and the first without Sean Connery in the lead role, although Connery would return for the next instalment, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).  The producers seemed nervous about recasting the lead role and went to great lengths to persuade the audience that, yes, they were watching a Bond film:  At the end of the film's prologue, Lazenby looks straight at camera and quips "This never happened to the other fellow", the opening titles feature clips from previous Bond films, and in one scene Bond goes through some of his old gadgets.   However this does ring some changes with the traditional Bond formula, for one thing although there is the regular elaborate opening title sequence there is no theme song, although the Louis Armstrong song "We Have All the Time in the World" features prominently throughout the film; also, unlike most Bond films, it sticks very closely to the Ian Fleming novel, which means it has less humour and none of the usual gadgets. I think that fans disliked the recasting of James Bond, as well as the downbeat tone of the film, which culminates in a genuinely shocking ending.  However, I also think that a lot if the things that fans had disliked, have helped the film grow in stature in more recent years, with the downbeat and slightly more realistic (for a Bond film) tone helping it age better than many of the others, particularly in the more gritty Danial Craig era.

This was the one and only time that Australian model turned actor George Lazenby would play the role of James Bond, and he lacks the lethal charisma of Connery, but has a kind of boyish charm, and Lazenby's Bond has a kind of diffident and unsure quality, I don't know how much of that was Lazenby himself - after all it's his first acting role and he is taking over one of the biggest roles in film - but it gives Bond a vulnerability that makes for a more interesting character.  However, his performance is as uneven at times as his English accent, and he does sometimes come across as bland, but when he is at his best he gives a good performance, and his acting in the climax is genuinely affecting.  it's a pity that Lazenby didn't do more Bonds because, on this evidence, as his acting ability and confidence grew he could have really done some interesting things with the character.  Diana Rigg was previously best know for her iconic role as Emma Peel in the spy series The Avengers (1961-1969), which by the way has nothing to do with the Marvel Comics characters, and she makes her first appearance attempting suicide by walking into the ocean, only to be saved by Bond.  Tracy has a darkness and a strong personality that isn't often seen in the "Bond girls".  Bond initially courts her in order to use her father's wealth and resources to track down Blofeld, but he does eventually fall in love with her for real.  Diana Rigg gives a very good performance, dominating every scene that she is in.  As Blofeld, Telly Savalas is okay but he doesn't have the silkily menacing quality that Donald Pleasance had in You Only Live Twice (1967).  Joanna Lumley and future children's TV presenter Jenny Hanley are among the army of brainwashed women in Blofeld's lair.

There are some really enjoyable action set-pieces, particularly the climatic ski chase through the Alps, which also makes for a glamorous location.  While it is not without it's flaws, it is an impressive entry in the series.

Diana Rigg and George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service

No Time to Die

 Year of Release: 2021

Director:  Cary Joji Fukunaga

Screenplay:  Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, from a story by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Cary Joji Fukunaga, based on characters created by Ian Fleming

Starring:  Daniel Craig, Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ben Wishaw, Naomie Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes, Ana de Armas

Running Time:  163 minutes

Genre:  Action, espionage

James Bond (Craig) has retired from active service for MI6, but his domestic bliss with Madeleine Swann (Seydoux) is interrupted when he suspects her of selling him out to the evil SPECTRE organisation.  Five years later, Bond finds himself drawn into a race between MI6 and the CIA to rescue a kidnapped scientist from the clutches of SPECTRE, but finds himself in a battle to save the world from a deadly weapon that has fallen into the hands of ruthless terrorist Safin (Malek).

So we have been expecting you, Mr. Bond.  And indeed we have.  Work in the film began in early 2016, and it was originally due to be released at the end of 2019, but was delayed a few months to avoid competition with Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (2019), but was delayed a couple of times more due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In fact it seems like I have seen the trailer every time I have been to the cinema in the past two years.  Was it worth the wait?  Yes, it was worth it.  The film has all the traditional elements of classic James Bond:  glamour, exotic locations, plenty of action, humour, gadgets and a megalomaniacal villain, but it updates it to appeal to a modern audience.  The female characters are no longer just "Bond girls", there to be decoration and not much more, they are more than a match for Bond, and are the most complex, ambiguous characters.  Also supporting characters such as Q (Ben Wishaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and M (Ralph Fiennes) have much bigger roles than were traditional.  This is likely to be Daniel Craig's last James Bond film, and if so, this is a perfect way to end Craig's run as 007.  The action is exciting, and, despite having a running time of almost three hours, it's well paced and the narrative keeps moving along.  Rami Malek makes a satisfactorily sinister villain.  Léa Seydoux reprises her role as the tragic Madeleine Swann from the previous Bond film Spectre (2015) and provides the film with it's heart.  Lashana Lynch is good as the new "00 agent" who acts as Bond's partner / rival and possible successor.  This mayn't be the best of the James Bond films, but it is certainly one of the best ones,  the thing is that it's hard to see where the Bond films will go from here, but it will be interesting to see what the future holds.

Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas in No Time to Die
  

The Tin Star

Year of Release:  1957

Director:  Anthony Mann

Screenplay:  Dudley Nichols, from a story by Joel Kane and Barney Slater

Starring:  Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins, Betsy Palmer

Running Time:  93 minutes

Genre:  Western

The Old West:  Bounty hunter Morg Hickman (Fonda) arrives in a small town to collect his latest bounty.  While waiting for his claim to be processed, he befriends Nona Mayfield (Palmer) a young woman who is treated with contempt by the townspeople due to her son Kip (British actor Michel Ray), whose father was Native American.  Hickman also forms a grudging almost-friendship with the town's decent, but inexperienced young sheriff Den Owens (Perkins), who Hickman helps build his confidence and improve his shooting skills.  When one of the town's most beloved citizens is shot dead, Hickman and Owens find themselves caught between a pair of ruthless bandits and a violent posse.  

This is a solid old-school Western.  It moves along at a good pace, empty of inessentials and, while the outcome is never really in doubt, it's final half hour or so is extremely suspenseful.  Henry Fonda, with his weathered face and sad eyes, plays the grizzled bounty hunter with a past whose hard shell of weary cynicism hides his innate decency.  Anthony Perkins, who will forever be known as Norman Bates in Psycho (1960), plays the idealistic and courageous, but naive and inexperienced sheriff with the blend of nervy energy and boyish charm that he would bring to his most famous role.  Anthony Perkins was a good actor, with a strong screen presence, but never really became a major star because he became so associated with Norman Bates, although, to be fair, it is an iconic performance.  Betsy Palmer, who, like Perkins, became something of a horror icon for her role as Pamela Voorhees (Jason's mum) in Friday the 13th (1980), and does well as the winsome single mother who wins Henry Fonda's heart, and keeps the home fires burning while the guys are away playing cowboys.  Anthony Mann had a reputation for more psychologically complex Westerns, many of which starred James Stewart, who was the original choice to play the Henry Fonda role.  Here, the characters have flaws, they do have complexity and are more than the cliches that you often find in these films.  There is also a message about the evils of racism and mob justice, although it is still a product of its time.  The script by Dudley Nichols (who wrote the Western classic Stagecoach (1939)) from a story by Joel Kane and Barney Slater was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay (if your interested it lost out to George Wells for Designing Woman, a film which I had never heard of).  The film is well made, and the action is exciting, and the film's California locations are impressive.  Western veteran Lee Van Cleef has a supporting role as a bandit.           

Anthony Perkins and Henry Fonda in The Tin Star

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

 Year of Release: 2021

Director:  Destin Daniel Cretton

Screenplay: Dave Callaham, Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham, from a story by Dave Callaham and Destin Daniel Cretton,  based on the Marvel Comics character created by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin

Starring:  Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Meng'er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, Tony Leung,

Running Time:  132 minutes

Genre: Fantasy, action,

Shaun (Simu Liu) lives in San Francisco and works as a valet parker with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina).  One day Shaun receives a message apparently from his estranged sister, Xu Xialing (Meng'er Zhang), and he and Katy are attacked on the bus by a highly trained team of fighters intent on stealing the pendant that Shaun wears, which was given to him by his deceased mother.  Believing his sister to be in danger, Shaun and Katy track her down to an underground "fight club" in Macau.  Shaun soon finds himself having to embrace his true identity as Shang-Chi, son of Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung) leader of the shadowy Ten Rings organisation, who has existed for thousands of years with his mystical ten rings which give the owner godlike powers and immortality.

This is the 25th film in the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) base don characters and situations from the Marvel comic-books.   This has the advantage in being an essentially stand alone story, although there are connections to previous instalments, notably Benedict Wong in brief appearance reprising his role from Doctor Strange  (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Ben Kingsley reprising his role as clownish actor Tony Slattery from Iron Man Three (2013), and Mark Ruffalo and Brie Larson appear uncredited as Bruce Banner and Carol Danvers respectively in a brief mid-credits scene.  This is a fun martial arts fantasy film.  It suffers from an uneven tone, but the action scenes are very well staged, and there is plenty of spectacular special effects.  Tony Leung makes for a complex and almost sympathetic antagonist, who is more than just a one-note villain.  Simu Liu, Awkwafina and Meng'er Zhang make for likeable heroes, and it will be interesting to see where they go from here.  The film doesn't entirely break free from the Marvel origin story formula, but there is enough here to please longstanding fans and newcomers alike.  

Stick around until the very end of the credits because, as is usual for Marvel films, there are two bonus scenes during the closing credits, one comes about half way through, and the second at the very end of the credits.        

Meng'er Zhang, Simu Liu and Awkwafina in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Aliens

Year of Release:  1986

Director:  James Cameron

Screenplay:  James Cameron, from a story by James Cameron, David Giler and Walter Hill

Starring:  Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein

Running Time:  137 minutes (theatrical cut); 157 minutes (director's cut)

Genre:  Science-fiction, action, horror

Following the events of Alien (1979), Ripley (Weaver) is found in suspended animation in an escape pod.  Recuperating on a space station orbiting Earth, she learns that she has been drifting through space in stasis for 57 years.   Traumatised by her experiences, her situation is only made worse by the fact that no-one believes her story.  It turns out that the planet where the Alien was found, Planet LV-426, has been home to a human colony for the past twenty years.  That is until Earth loses contact with the LV-426 colony, and Ripley is persuaded to join a platoon of Colonial Marines on a mission to investigate.  

Aliens is one of the great sequels in film history.  While Alien is a horror film in space, Aliens takes a completely different approach and is a war film in space, in fact writer/director James Cameron described it as being a Vietnam film in space, with it's depiction of a technologically superior invading force being repelled by an enemy which they have completely underestimated.  The film takes it's time building up the characters and suspense, but when the Aliens do appear in all their slimy, toothy, insectoid glory the film immediately kicks into high gear and doesn't let up until the end credits roll.  The Aliens are a largely unseen enemy, usually attacking en masse or hidden in shadow, or moving so fast that you can barely get a good look at them, this was partly practical because the production couldn't get many Alien costumes.  The action scenes are well staged and exciting, and the special effects still hold up today, with the Alien Nest, where their luckless victims are gruesomely cocooned to be impregnated by the facehuggers, memorable and disturbing.  The lengthy set up means that we get to spend time with the characters, they are not just there to be eaten by the monsters.  There is a theme of motherhood in the movie, Ripley is a mother, and there is a scene which is in the extended director's cut, but not in the theatrical cut,  where she is informed that he daughter had died during her absence.  The sole survivor of the colony is a young girl called Newt (played by Carrie Henn) and she becomes a surrogate daughter to Ripley.  In the film's climax however, Ripley has to battle the vast Alien Queen, which lays the Alien eggs.  It's the battle between two mothers: one seeking to protect her daughter, the other seeking vengeance for her slaughtered children.  The heart of the film really belongs to Newt and Ripley, the scenes between them have real emotional heft, and the male characters with a couple of notable exceptions, by and large take a back seat.  Sigourney Weaver gives one of her best performances as Ripley, who is one of the great characters in action movies, tough, compassionate and ruthlessly practical where necessary

The film continues and expands the anti-corporate theme of the original, with the treacherous weasel Carter Burke (played by Paul Reiser), an oily space yuppie and Eighties Guy par excellance who unfortunately feels all too contemporary, whose actions lead Ripley to contemplate whether the humans are any better than the Aliens.  Also in the supporting cast is Michael Biehn as likeable Marine Hicks, and provides the closest thing that the film has to a love interest for Ripley; Lance Henriksen as the soft spoken but slightly sinister android (although "artificial person" is the preferred term) Bishop; and Bill Paxton as Hudson, the most arrogant of the Marines, but the one who quickly falls apart.  

The 1980s were the era of flamboyant, excessive action spectacles, where living action figures routinely blasted enough firepower to wipe out a small country, as well as throwing up endless sequels to anything even slightly popular (which, to be fair, is something that for better or worse shows no sign of ever going away).  Aliens is a high point, expanding and developing the story of it's predecessor, as well as taking it in a completely new direction, igniting the screen with spectacular carnage, and nightmarish visions, but with added intelligence and heart, putting it ahead of it's contemporaries.  The best of the Alien franchise, and one of the highpoint of action cinema.

Sigourney Weaver hunts Aliens

      

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

 Year of Release: 2021

Director:  Patrick Hughes

Screenplay:  Tom O'Connor, Brandon Murphy, Philip Murphy

Starring:  Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Frank Grillo, Morgan Freeman, Richard E. Grant

Running Time:  100 minutes

Genre:  Action, comedy

Former bodyguard Michael Bryce (Reynolds), whose license has been suspended, takes a sabbatical on advice of his therapist.  However, his rest is soon ruined when he is contacted by Sonia Kincaid (Hayek), the wife of hitman Darius Kincaid (Jackson).  The three soon find themselves caught up in a plot to destroy the power grid and infrastructure of the whole of Europe.

I have not seen The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), so I can't say how good a sequel this is.  It is basically a blend of James Bond-style spy thriller, action and comedy and it really doesn't always hold together.  It's often funny, and the three leads have real chemistry together, and are all talented comedy performers, but there really is nothing novel or original here.  Despite not being a long film, it still feels stretched, jokes are repeated, and the frequent action setpieces, while well-staged, were old hat back in the 1980s.  There is also a problem with tone, where it does touch on the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Greece, and the very real problems going on there, but it doesn't fit with the goofy tone of the rest of there film.  Also the frequent violence is surprisingly sadistic.  Given the comedic nature of the film it is really quite graphic.  Antonio Banderas has some good moments as the villain of the piece, despite a ridiculous hairpiece, Frank Grillo plays an obnoxious American Interpol agent who really doesn't do much except yell at people and insult his Scottish translator (Alice McMillan), but Morgan Freeman is very funny, and there are appearances from British TV comedy star Rebecca Front as Bryce's therapist, and Richard E. Grant and Gary Oldman appear in small roles.  If you are a fan, or really seen any of this type of film, then you will have seen this all before, but is is enjoyable enough, and there are some laughs to be had.  It will find it's rightful place in a few months time on late night TV.

Ryan Reynolds, Salma Hayek and Samuel L. Jackson in Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard