Weapons: Putting Naruto Running To Shame

A group of school children go missing and a concerned and blamed teacher, Julia Garner, sets out to find the answers.

I would advise you to go in blind to this, the less you know the better. This review will spoil things, I’ll keep the reveal near the bottom of the page so it is unlikely you will immediately see it, and I am letting you know so you can look away and come back later.

I think stylistically this is a strong film and in terms of originality this is one of the few films this year that does feel like something new. However, there are tonal problems, perhaps this was by design, or perhaps not. There are moments of the film where things are very clearly scary and supposed to be, and then there are other moments where things almost become a comedy and these two states of being do clash.

I enjoyed the cross over story path and how the film is subdivided into different sections based on different characters with each providing context to what you had seen before or would soon see. There was one key character that did not get a chapter even though I think she really should have, and I think this lack of backstory made the film have a few plot holes as a result.

The reveal of the witch at the end of the film and her magical powers came out of nowhere, the film does not present for the most part as a supernatural film and when it does go in that direction it works and makes sense. It also provides some good scares, however, the ending wherein she is entirely removed from being this fearsome villain and is chased through houses by a pack of feral kids is definitely not the right note to end on as it reduces her into being almost a comedy villain.

Overall, a good if imperfect film, the tonal issues and plot holes stop it from being the film of the summer.

4/5

Pros.

It is scary

It has a great sense of style

It feels original

It is inventive

Cons.

The ending breaks the tone of the film

There are too many loose ends and plot holes

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28 Years Later: Running Across Causeways

Summary

I had been looking forward to this film for a long time.

I have to say straight off the bat that I am a little disappointed, however, I will say that this is the first of a new trilogy and there is every chance that the next two films can fix some of the issues I had with this film.

Despite feeling disappointed with this film broadly, there are a lot of interesting new characters and the performances are all top notch, I don’t think there is one bad performance amongst the cast. Moreover, the world is vast and incredibly interesting to explore, from the beginning in the remote Scottish Highlands to the Holy Island community there is a lot there to work with.

I also thought the initial action sequences and the hunting section of the film landed perfectly and felt like edge of your seat fare. There is some odd cinematography and editing that feels a little more like an art film, you can see Garland’s instincts in that, but I thought this worked well and helped to give it almost a disorienting feel to it that added to the threat. However, within the hunting sequences we are introduced to the alphas and the evolution of the virus. These alpha infected can think and are harder to kill than other infected, very little is given into why they are this way I imagine that will be got to later in the trilogy, but they are kind of lame. The main reason why I say this is because they just have one move and that is to rip people’s head’s off, I would have liked more out of them than that, such as more examples of their education and ability to outwit people possibly.

In addition you also had the infected that gave birth to a none infected, which feels like we are heading into an art house direction of oh the infected are not so different to us and maybe we can find a way to co-exist, maybe at a later date an alpha might join the heroes side. This would be a terrible direction to head into. That scene in which the pregnant infected would not kill Jodie Cormer’s character despite her being right there breaks the lore and makes little sense. Just because they are both mothers does not mean she would not rip her head off.

The ending with the Jimmy Saville esque gang is a hell of a controversial way to end on.

Overall, a good film if a little disappointing.

4/5

Pros.

It has some good horror

The world feels dense and real

It sets things up nicely for the sequels

The performances

Cons.

The style at times

The art house elements

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Jurassic World Rebirth: Anti-Capitalistic Dinosaurs

Summary

Universal just can’t let any of their franchises end.

So we are back with another group of people going to an island to see Dinosaurs but guess what things get out of hand. You haven’t seen anything like that before right?

Honestly it is just a little sad now that things have gotten so bad for the Jurassic franchise that they can’t even make real dinosaurs like the T-Rex interesting anymore and have to use mutants. This started under Pratt but continues here and is arguably played up even more.

The plot idea of needing samples for a cure for heart disease which the gang then decide to sell without a patent because capitalism is bad, is not just nonsensical and dumb but it is the sort of thing in the future that scientists will look back on and go this was why the kids were so dumb. It is probably literal brain rot.

Overall, it is not just slop, it is depressing slop.

1.5/5

Pros.

It has some good kills

You cheer when the humans get eaten

Cons.

It is brain rot

It shows that people don’t love dinosaurs anymore just big kaiju esque monsters

It is depressing

Scarlett Johansson is clearly there for the money

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