Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman. It’s hard to imagine this franchise without him and his loss is felt throughout this sequel. Although not as good as the first Black Panther movie it’s still one of the better post Avengers: Endgame movies.

The nation of Wakanda are still in mourning over the death of King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and now face a new threat. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) must fight to protect their home against multiple threats coming their way. With other nations desperate to get their hands on some precious vibranium to a new nation making themselves known and without the Black Panther to protect Wakanda they must do whatever it takes to defend their home and people.

It’s clear everyone is still feeling the huge loss of Chadwick Boseman and this obviously created problems for the cast and crew to continue the franchise and despite everything I feel they did the best they could under the circumstances. Director Ryan Coogler made the right call not to recast T’Challa and even though his character is missed it’s paved the way for a new Black Panther to take over.

The performances from the cast are the best thing about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Letitia Wright steps up as Princess Shuri, Angela Bassett is a show stealer in every scene she’s in. Honestly the woman never gives a bad performance. We also have the return of Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke and Danai Gurira. All excellent characters, well written and with more room now to develop them. Wakanda Forever has more heart and deeper themes running throughout compared to some of the other rubbish being churned out in the superhero genre.

Every single comic book movie is only as good as their villain/antihero, you can have an amazing movie with a perfect cast but get the villain wrong and it will suffer. Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) in Black Panther was a tough act to follow and unfortunately Namor (Tenoch Huerta) didn’t quite live up to expectations. As the story progresses it eventually ends up at the big showdown. Ultimately being a giant lackluster fight scene although at least it didn’t feature a giant blue laser or some other ridiculous nonsense. The action sequences are a huge let down but everything else from the emotion, the costume designs and another exceptional score by Ludwig Göransson are the best thing about Wakanda Forever. Thankfully it’s not overloaded with endless slow-motion action sequences and messy fight scenes. It’s far more emotional than expected and you can feel the grief through it all.

A common issue that is cropping up in more and more movies, particularly superhero movies these days is the state of the CGI. The CGI in many of the Marvel and DC films seems to be getting worse with every new movie, this isn’t helped when more and more of them now rely so heavily on it. It’s difficult to single out scenes that don’t incorporate some form of special effects and sure fair enough when Black Panther has created new worlds that need to be shown with CGI fine, use it where necessary but if there’s not enough time to make it look good then more time is clearly needed to finish it. There is another film on the horizon that’s also going to feature underwater blue people and they’re going to be compared to each other, there’s no getting around that. Visual effects have improved in recent years, so when you look at a film like War For the Planet of the Apes and see where the bar is, it’s not good enough to release something beneath that level. Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Adam and now Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as I said before either pay the VFX artists better or allow more time to make it actually look decent.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever although not as good as the first Black Panther is an entertaining sequel. You’ll enjoy it in the moment despite it being overly long. And yes, there’s a mid-credits scene that is definitely worth staying for. Recommended for the Marvel fans.

★★★☆☆

Black Adam

If The Mummy and Shazam had a baby the result would be this. Black Adam is a disastrous attempt at a big budget Superhero movie and another mediocre addition to the DCEU. Sorry Dwayne The Tooth-fairy Johnson, your best movie was Fighting with My Family and nothing is ever going to beat that. Give it up man, this ain’t your gig.

So in the year 2600BC a bunch of Wizards gave the power of the gods to a young slave in order to stop the evil King Ahk-Ton from using the evil crown of Sabbac. He triumphs, making him the Champion of Kahndaq. Now nearly 5,000 years later he his accidently awakened in modern day Kahndaq. Deemed too powerful, it’s time to call in some professionals to deal with him. Cue The Justice League……no wait, that’s not right……The Suicide Squad……oh no, not them either, ah yes, The Justice Society of America……that lot. Made up of Hawkman (Aldis Hodge), Dr. Fate (Pierce Brosnan), Cyclone (Quintessa Swindell) and Atom Smasher (Noah Centineo). And no I’m not making these up. Christ the DCEU is a right mess. I wish they’d just calm down with all the team up movies, it was half-assed before and it’s the same again. For anyone who didn’t already know, yes this is a Shazam spin-off.

Alright I don’t ever want to see slow motion used in another Superhero movie ever again, ya hear me? You ruined it. Black Adam probably could have been twenty minutes shorter if it wasn’t for the extreme overuse of slow motion. Feckin’ ridiculous. Enough is enough. This right here is the result of a bunch of mindless money hungry studio executives sitting in a room and brainstorming a way to make a Blockbuster Superhero movie that will rake in the cash. Get one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood to sign on as the lead and bam! You’ve got yourself a Superhero movie, and a rather heartless one at that.

Black Adam is a giant disappointment and I didn’t exactly have high expectations to begin with. It’s dull, stupid and uses an obnoxious amount of terrible CGI for the endless crashy fight scenes. There’s also plenty of slow motion to make sure you don’t miss anything. And look I know many of the comic-book movies rely on lots of CGI but it’s just not up to standard anymore. Either pay the VFX artists better or allow more time to make it actually look decent.

There is absolutely nothing exciting about Black Adam, it’s one of the most underwhelming Superhero movies I have ever seen. There is zero peril, no sense that the hero is ever in danger or in trouble. They’ve created the blandest character imaginable, a hero so ultimately powerful it’s boring. He’s surrounded by a bunch of underdeveloped characters showing up for more awful CGI fight scenes. Lots of explosions, lightning bolts and evil red lasers.

Black Adam isn’t the worst Superhero movie I’ve ever seen, it’s not even the worst DC movie out there but it’s close. Too close. Recommended for any DCEU fans, I’m sure there’s still a few of you out there. The mid credits scene lasted about a minute but it was better than the entire film for one obvious reason.

★☆☆☆☆

Thor: Love and Thunder

The Thor movies have certainly had their ups and downs, and at this point I’m starting to believe Thor: Ragnarok was a fluke. If some of you are starting to feel a little jaded with the endless stream of Marvel movies, you are not alone.

After the events that took place in Avengers: Endgame, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) now embarks on a journey to find inner peace. This lasts all of about five minutes before Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) shows up, with the sole purpose of destroying all the gods. In order to fight the threat to their existence, Thor seeks help from Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and Dr Jane Foster (Natalie Portman).

Thor: Love and Thunder is clearly dividing fans but for me, Thor 4 just didn’t feel as good or as funny as it should have been. I very nearly gave up on the Thor franchise after The Dark World but the positive reviews for Thor: Ragnarok eventually persuaded me to give it another chance and well I wasn’t the only one who was surprised at how funny and entertaining Ragnarok was. That right there is where the bar was set and to dip beneath it could not be allowed to happen. With Taika Waititi remaining as the director, the last thing I expected was for Love and Thunder to go hurtling towards Thor 2 levels of bad. This is tonally all over the place and normally I’d expect Waititi to get the blend between serious topics and humour right but in this case it’s a mess. The jokes were constantly being thrown at you with only a handful of them getting any laughs at all. Not only that but they also repeated the same unfunny jokes over and over again, even if you did laugh the first time by the third and fourth it all gets a bit tedious. Overall the cinema was not laughing, and I understand every experience is not like this but when the majority of the jokes are met with cricket noises you have a problem.

So what else has Thor 4 got going for it? Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie is great but she’s underused, Natalie Portman gave a better performance in this compared to Thor 1 & 2 combined. The CGI is messy, the script is messy and can someone please tell me what the hell accent Russell Crowe was trying to do? What accent was that supposed to be? Watch out Jared Leto, it seems Crowe is trying to outdo you for worst accent in a motion picture. Give him the award already, he deserves it for that horrendous portrayal of Zeus.

The only redeeming quality I can pull from this mess is Bale’s terrifying performance as Gorr the God Butcher. A scene stealer every moment he’s on screen and the only character with any real depth. He should have been used more because he is without a doubt the best thing about Thor: Love and Thunder. Hemsworth is just cashing it in at this point and after four solo Thor movies and eight total appearances as Thor I can’t blame him for getting a little bored with the character. God knows I am. He definitely looks even bigger and better than ever before and as a casting choice for Thor he’s perfect but looks aren’t everything. As for Taika Waititi, dude you’re better than this so if you’ve also lost interest in these movies then enough already, call it a day and move on to something else. The audience doesn’t need to be subjected to cheap jokes and screaming goats.

Hemsworth said Thor: Love and Thunder is “the kind of film a seven-year-old would make” and that’s certainly true. It’s all over the place and did not manage to pull itself together and it’s not like I had high expectations. To all the people saying Love and Thunder is better than Ragnarok, I’m glad you thought so but I respectfully disagree. If Marvel’s Phase 4 is more of this then I’m going to start skipping new releases. It’s better to have quality over quantity and more effort and imagination is needed. Superhero films don’t need to be an endless stream of cash grabs. Yet like every other superhero fan I still went to see the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I stayed for the obligatory post credit scenes. I have also contributed to the 300+ million Thor: Love and Thunder has made on it’s opening weekend, which also means I’m partly the reason we probably haven’t seen the last of Thor. You can either skip this or make up your own mind, if you are going to see it, I suggest you lower your expectations. Recommended for the Thor fans or for anyone who wants to stare at Chris Hemsworth for two hours.

★★☆☆☆

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is at it again messing with the fabric of reality and the doorway to the multiverse is kicked wide open causing absolute pandemonium. The threat to reality becomes too great for Strange, Wong (Benedict Wong) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), and chaos ensues.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is probably the closest thing any Marvel movie is going to get to a horror movie. We can all go ahead and thank director Sam Raimi for that, now there’s a director who understood the assignment. The film starts crazy and only gets more chaotic as it progresses. Once you go into the multiverse narrative there’s quite literally endless possibilities. We’ve already seen the potential of exploring the multiverse with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: No Way Home and now the bar has been raised yet again with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Multiverse of Madness is a lot of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It does drift into horror movie territory for a good portion of the movie but if anything that just made me like it more. What can I say, I’m a fan of the first Doctor Strange and most of the Marvel movies and been looking forward to this for months. It’s not quite what I expected, but it’s mental and I loved it. It’s completely off the rails but with Cumberbatch and Olsen as two strong characters we’ve seen onscreen a few times it’s nice to see their characters developed further. Considering the sheer amount of comic book movies we’ve had over the last twenty years I think it’s safe to assume many people have become a little worn out by the same formula over and over again so to see Marvel hire a director like Raimi to make something a little different is great and I’d like more of this please. It’s important to have a little variety in the superhero genre and I love seeing Raimi step back into the superhero genre. Let’s be honest we all know Spider-Man 3 wasn’t his fault, studio interference continually ruins so many movies, so if he wants to make a sequel to The Multiverse of Madness then let him, I want to see more of this craziness.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness has lots of horror, lots of magic and lots of madness. Highly recommended for the Marvel fans, and for everyone else you need to be warned that without prior knowledge of the previous Marvel films you may feel a little lost. Don’t forget the two post credit scenes for all the die-hard fans.

★★★★☆

Morbius

It’s-a me Morbius

Biochemist Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) has spent his entire life searching for a cure to a rare blood disease that he and many others are dying from. When he finally believes he’s reached a breakthrough he soon realises that he has actually infected himself with a form of vampirism instead. Whoops. Now with a primal need to feed on human blood he desperately tries to cure himself before the blood cravings take over. And cue the bats.

Morbius could have been so close to greatness it’s actually frustrating to see it fail. I wanted this to be so much better. It doesn’t really feel like it knows what kind of film it wants to be, a superhero movie or a horror. And although the first act is very promising and sets the film up nicely the rest is a bit of a mess. There are scenes that feel like they’re paying homage to old school vampire movies, but there’s no chance to build tension as every scene is completely rushed. It wants to get to the CGI vampire stuff right away and it certainly does that. Though it’s not violent or atmospheric enough to be a good horror and it’s all over the place with the rest of it you don’t end up with a great origin/antihero film either. Having said that, it’s better than both Venom movies put together. I’d put that down to Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius. He’s doing his best with what he was given. The idea for Morbius is good but it wasn’t executed well at all.

I’m always one to favour practical effects and makeup over CGI and Morbius definitely made a huge mistake with all the CGI because at times it looks awful. Old style vampire makeup like Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) or even Buffy would have worked far better here. It’s all red eyes and growly vampire faces in order to try and creep you out. The fight scenes are absolutely horrendous. All this shadowy flying through the air with slow motion every five seconds so you can actually see what’s happening is laughably bad. It’s boring to watch and ends up feeling like a video game. There’s also a strong sense of a disjointed story, honestly it felt like scenes were either missing or cut far too short. There may have been a lot of scenes removed or reshot and whatever the reasons for that the result is a film that doesn’t know what genre it wants to be, a severely disorganised story with dodgy CGI, messy fight scenes and an over the top Matt Smith. I normally like Matt Smith but for this he felt completely miscast, and his excessive pantomime performance just went from annoying to more annoying.

Nowhere near the standard it should have been and considering the hype they’ve been trying to whip up for Morbius for so long now it was never going to live up to that. For all you die hard Sony/Marvel fans, yes there are two post credit scenes. If you’ve made it through the film then it’s worth sticking around for the first scene but the second is probably the worst post credits scene in a superhero movie and clearly a case of setting up more feckin’ franchises and seriously can we just have some stand alone comic book films for a change. Is anyone else getting tired of these connected movies where you need to have seen 10 other films and a TV show to understand everything that’s going on. Not every single superhero film needs to be all connected, it’s getting tiring now give it a rest lads. Sony is clearly trying very hard to get some excitement going on some future franchises, and in the process of laying the foundations for future movies they forgot to make an actual good one here. Sony/Marvel would want to get their act together because if they’re planning on making more of this standard then I think I’ll pass.

Morbius could have been it’s own thing, set apart from other comic book movies. Considering the subject, it should have given the whole thing a higher age rating and gone down the horror route instead. Disappointing, and only recommended for comic book movie fans but I’d suggest you go into Morbius with very low expectations.

★★★☆☆

The Batman

“I’m vengeance”

Alright folks, it’s the moment we’ve been waiting for, well it’s definitely the moment I’ve been waiting for. A new Batman movie has appeared in cinemas again and if someone told me ten years ago that I’d be excited for a new Batman movie starring Robert Pattinson I’d never have believed them. The Batman is right up there as one of the best comic-book movies. No DC movie has been this good since The Dark Knight.

Psychotic serial killer, The Riddler (Paul Dano) sends Gotham into a panicked frenzy when he begins murdering key political figures and leaves cryptic clues for his next victims. Knowing this is just the beginning, Batman (Robert Pattinson) must investigate amongst rampant corruption to find The Riddler before more people are brutally murdered.

Robert Pattinson plays Bruce Wayne like we haven’t seen on the big screen before. Riddled with trauma he is desperate to live his life as Batman and abandon Bruce Wayne altogether. Honestly he is in such a mood for the whole film. I’m very happy with how he took on the role. Feck the haters, every time a new Batman movie is in the works the haters emerge from all over to voice their anger towards whoever gets cast in a major role, be it hero or villain. Well Pattinson has come a long way since Harry Potter and Twilight, working alongside directors such as David Cronenberg, Robert Eggers, and Christopher Nolan. The list goes on and now in 2022 he’s the Batman. Fair play to him, he completely disappeared into the role.

Director Matt Reeves certainly knew what he was doing when he gathered the cast for The Batman, honestly I was excited for this once I heard Paul Dano would be playing The Riddler, I can think of no better actor who can play that role. He’s absolutely mental. Also starring Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, she owns every scene she’s in, totally kicking ass. My favourite onscreen portrayal of Catwoman since Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns. We’ve all seen the pictures of Colin Farrell as The Penguin, completely unrecognisable is an understatement. I have to admit it was hard to imagine an adaptation of The Penguin that would fit the tone of a realistic Batman movie and not end up looking completely ridiculous but this works. Robert Pattinson and Zoë Kravitz have amazing chemistry together, they were both perfect casting. You also have Jeffrey Wright as Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred and John Turturro as the feared mob boss Carmine Falcone. This is what a superhero film should be like, get a director who knows what he’s doing, has a clear vision for the film and assemble the cast they want and you end up with thrilling experience that leaves the audience wanting more.

I love the dark and gritty city of Gotham, drenched in rain, gloomy and gothic. Wayne Manor looked like a neglected castle from a Tim Burton movie. The whole tone of the film has a similar feel to it like Nolan’s Batman trilogy but with even more violence. Pattinson is perfect for capturing the dark and brooding ‘orphan billionaire’. The score by Michael Giacchino is absolutely stunning. Perfectly complimenting the movie in every scene. What more can I say, I absolutely loved it. It’s stunning, the cinematography is perfection, the fight scenes and car chases are exhilarating. The scene where the Batmobile makes its roaring entrance was brilliant. The entire cinema loved every minute of it. I’m already dying for a sequel. I cannot wait to see what the combination of Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson will do next.

The Batman definitely feels like more of a psychological crime thriller than a superhero movie. That’s not a criticism, I loved the tone of Reeve’s Batman. It’s giving strong Se7en and The Zodiac Killer vibes. Dano’s sadistic portrayal of The Riddler is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. A thrilling reboot that all you comic-book fans need to see. Highly recommended for all the Batman fans.

★★★★★

Revisiting Batman

“Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.”

In the week ahead of the release of the new Batman movie directed by Matt Reeves I decided to revisit my favourite Batman movies. Yes that does mean you won’t see every Batman movie on this list. This isn’t a full ranking of all the Batman movies or anything like that. These are just my personal favourites which I spent the week re-watching. Firstly I didn’t have time to watch them all and secondly there’s a certain few Batman movies that I’d be perfectly happy to never see again. Yeah I’m looking at you “Batman & Robin” “Ice to see you?” No I don’t bloody think so.

It’s the year 2022 and yet another adaptation of the iconic caped crusader is about to appear on the big screen again. While some of you may be feeling tired of it all with feelings of “what, again? Another bleedin’ Batman movie?” Sure I can understand that. Especially after Nolan’s trilogy it’s hard to top that standard but if there’s one character I’ll never get sick of seeing in the cinemas it’s Batman.

I can’t say I liked the most recent movies, “Batman V Superman” and “Justice League” just didn’t do it for me, I never liked Ben Affleck as Batman at all and I did not enjoy the movies. Although some fans clearly loved them and that’s fair enough, we all have our favourites but when the news broke that Affleck’s solo Batman movie was no longer going ahead I wasn’t too upset over that. But if someone told me ten years ago that I’d be excited for yet another Batman movie starring none other than Robert Pattinson I’d never have believed them. Well I’m dying to see Reeve’s new take on “The Batman“, honestly I was sold as soon as I heard Paul Dano would be playing The Riddler. Superhero films are only as good as their villains and in some rare cases the villains are better than the film. Well I’m just as excited now as I was before I saw “The Dark Knight” for the first time.

Batman (1989)

“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight”

First up it’s Tim Burton’s “Batman” starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Many of the 80s/90s era Batman movies are very dated by today’s standards but “Batman” 1989 is definitely the best. It was one of the first comic-book adaptations to really show how good a superhero movie could be. They didn’t let the haters stop them, more than a few people were not thrilled when Michael Keaton was cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman. But it pays to give certain actors a chance at stepping out of their usual roles to try something new. The results speak for themselves.

Also starring alongside Keaton is the wonderful Jack Nicholson who easily put his own stamp on the Joker. The character has evolved quite a bit on screen since 1989 but for the time this particular film was made Nicholson was absolutely perfect. Psychotic, funny, and unpredictable. The film itself is still enjoyable, even with the Prince songs scattered throughout. No offence to Prince, the man was a genius but the songs in a Tim Burton Batman movie seemed a tad out of place. The Danny Elfman score on the other hand is right up there with the “Superman” theme by John Williams. Even today I still listen to Elfman’s Batman theme. It was perfect for reinventing Batman for the big screen and elevated the entire film.

“You can call me Joker”

Spider-Man: No Way Home

I made a decision not to see any more Spider-Man movies after Spider-Man: Homecoming. The adaptations were clearly not aimed at me, they felt very kiddy and I was done. Well I think we all know why I’m back now to see this particular adaptation, I finally caved and went to see the new Spider-Man. No spoilers but if you’ve made it this far without knowing any major plot points then you must be living off the grid because by now the spoilers are everywhere you look.

Picking up immediately after Spider-Man: Far From Home with Spider-Man’s identity now revealed to the entire world, Peter (Tom Holland) looks to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) for help undoing this situation. Well the spell doesn’t exactly go according to plan and soon dangerous enemies from other worlds start showing up and causing havoc. Peter must then embark upon a journey to discover what it really means to be Spider-Man, “with great power comes great responsibility” and all that. It’s not a Spider-Man movie if you don’t have the responsibility quote.

Look my main issue with the Holland Spider-Man movies was that they never actually felt like Spider-Man movies but more like an Iron Man movie featuring Spider-Man or in this case a Doctor Strange movie featuring Spider-Man. At this rate Spider-Man is getting overshadowed in his own movies. I missed the more focused Spider-Man films in the Tobey Maguire era (not you Spider-Man 3). I liked the simple costume, one main villain and enough room to develop the characters. With each new adaptation of Spider-Man they became more overblown with mediocre villains. Well there’s plenty of villains to go around this time with one in particular stealing the show. Also it’s worth mentioning that J.K. Simmons played a character so well in the Sam Raimi movies that not only did they not even try to recast him for The Amazing Spider-Man movies but for No Way Home they just got him back as the iconic J. Jonah Jameson. He is one of the few on-screen characters that looks like he was 100% lifted straight from the comic book pages and onto the big screen.

It’s very cheesy and it had some great moments that I thoroughly enjoyed but let’s not pretend that Spider-Man: No Way Home didn’t just look at the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and copy that format. One scene set in the woods particularly stands out and almost looks like a complete remake. There is a strong sense of paying fan service here and attempting to keep everyone happy. But as we all know, you can’t keep every group of fans happy but No Way Home was probably the best attempt so far. As I’ve said before, nostalgia sells and the opportunity here to get every single Spider-Man fan into the cinema to see No Way Home was too great to miss. At least it tried to fix some of the issues that the other films messed up on, I enjoyed it but nothing will ever come close to the first two Sam Raimi Spider-Man films. Recommended for all the Marvel and/or Spider-Man fans.

★★★☆☆

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Where do I start? Venom’s second movie and third onscreen appearance and they still didn’t get it right. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is attempting to reignite his failing career as a journalist. When the opportunity to interview notorious serial killer Cletus Kasady (Woody Harrelson) arises he cannot pass up the chance of the interview of a lifetime. Things don’t go according to plan for Eddie and Cletus becomes infected by the symbiote Carnage who proceeds to skip his execution and bust out of prison. Chaos then ensues.

I wasn’t exactly a fan of Venom but it made nearly a billion at the box office so lucky for us we got a sequel. I had slightly higher expectations this time around due to Andy Serkis taking over as director. No offence intended towards Tom Hardy but I never felt he was right for Venom and the role would have been better suited going to Andy Serkis instead but sure we’re here now. The scenes with Harrelson and Naomie Harris are giving strong Natural Born Killers vibes and honestly the only good thing I got from Venom: Let There Be Carnage is Woody Harrelson, he’s a show stealer in any scene he’s in. The rest of the movie feels like a buddy bromance movie between Eddie and Venom. It’s silly, ridiculous and not nearly as violent as it should be although it clearly found some sort of an audience. It didn’t make as much money at the box office compared to the first Venom but considering the state of the world right now it did quite well. The build up to the epic showdown between Venom and Carnage was just another CGI overloaded fight scene. Underwhelming and a quickly forgettable movie. I honestly don’t know why I keep putting myself through this.

Look the only way you’re going to enjoy Venom: Let There Be Carnage is to have your expectations as low as possible and just maybe you’ll find it a bit of fun. It knows it’s not a serious comic book movie and it doesn’t try to be either. Recommended for fans of the first Venom movie.

★☆☆☆☆

The Suicide Squad

Well everyone the Suicide Squad are back for more suicidal missions and if you thought the first one was mental you ain’t seen nothing yet. Alright, don’t shoot me but I hated The Suicide Squad, it’s bad, very bad, and not even Margot Robbie is enough to save this mess. Supervillains Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena) etc. are led by Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to take on a top secret mission on the remote island of Corto Maltese. There’s a whole bunch of new characters whose names you probably shouldn’t try to remember because you just know a lot of them are going to die in some horribly gruesome death, so no spoilers but don’t get attached to anyone.

This is not a sequel but it’s not quite a remake either, there was no way to continue on from the first Suicide Squad so they’ve essentially started again. One of the main issues I had with Suicide Squad was the unnecessary supernatural elements that I couldn’t buy into, witches, Killer Croc etc. I felt this kind of movie would have been better more grounded in reality and I hoped The Suicide Squad would rectify that. Well after the trailer it was obvious that wasn’t happening and they’ve gone even more in the ludicrous direction. I can buy into it for Guardians of the Galaxy but this…seeing King Shark (Sylvester Stallone) chomping his way through this movie like he got lost and wandered off the set of Aquaman just feels so wrong. Sure the CGI and the effects are impressive to look at but that’s not enough. The plot is absolutely bonkers and I don’t mean that as a compliment. Sorry guys, I did not enjoy this. Every single scene is so jam packed with failed jokes it’s tiresome. I’ve never seen a movie try so hard to be funny, almost every line is trying to make you laugh and so many of the jokes just fell flat. It can’t just be me, the cinema I was in wasn’t laughing either. Aside from a few sniggers it was generally quiet. I can tell you sitting there for 2 hours with so many jokes being thrown at you in a desperate attempt to cause the cinema to erupt into fits of laughter was embarrassing. Yet in an unexpected turn of events the last 10 minutes of The Suicide Squad was the most watchable thing about it. But still, that’s 2 hours you gotta get through first and no matter what I ain’t getting those 2 hours back.

I went to see the first Suicide Squad mainly because of Harley Quinn, and I went to see this for the same reason and you know what Margot fans, you’re better off with Birds of Prey and skip The Suicide Squad. If there’s one positive I can pull from the wreck of this utter mess is that director James Gunn set out to make a movie and the finished product is the movie he wanted, creatively he got what he wanted to make and just because I didn’t like it doesn’t mean others won’t. In fact there is a substantial fanbase already and a slightly suspicious amount of positive critic reviews. But whatever, it is what it is. David Ayer however did not get the same courtesy. Studio interference practically butchered the movie he set out to make and we got an absolute disaster and I don’t believe anyone was actually happy with the first Suicide Squad. I really hope we’ve now gotten to a point where if a film studio hires a specific director for a movie they’ll trust their vision, let them get on with the damn movie and stop interfering. Gunn made the movie he wanted and there’s a lot of fans who enjoyed the hell out of it, I’m not one of them but that’s ok. I’ll get over it. I won’t hold this against James Gunn, despite this experience I’m looking forward to the next Guardians of the Galaxy movie but one thing’s for sure, I never want to see another Suicide Squad movie again, they can make as many as they like but I’m done. Not recommended.

★★☆☆☆