The odds seemed stacked against Solo from the very beginning. When it was first announced, it was labeled 'pointless' by many. Admittedly, even myself. Then there was trouble caused when Phil Lord and Chris Miller left the project due to 'creative differences'. Next, stories emerged from within Disney that they were preparing for Solo to bomb at the box office and even it's creators had no faith in the project. Given all that, it's miraculous that Solo: A Star Wars Story is as good as it is. It's certainly nothing groundbreaking, but it's a perfectly entertaining and fun movie.
Much of the slickness and brevity of this film must be credited to charisma of it's leading man. Alden Ehrenreich faced the near impossible task of taking on a role that Harrison Ford perfected back in the original trilogy, but he breathes new life into the character. He has pluck and charm by the bucket load and it's fascinating to see a more wide-eyed and hopeful Han. Ehrenreich deserves some serious kudos for sticking to his guns and never once falling into the trap of just trying to impersonate Ford, he gives the role his own spin and is extremely successful in doing so. So much so that I'd quite like to see him don the jacket again. Alden's performance is elevated even further by his interactions with his furry friend Chewbacca. Witnessing the humble beginnings of their friendship is one of the most joyous elements of the film and gave me numerous goofy smiles.
This movie jumps around different locations and events a lot, keeping the audience constantly on their toes. As in Rogue One, we get to see the more grim and gritty corners of the Star Wars universe, that the episodic films tend to omit. We get an industrial wasteland on Corellia, a WWI esque war zone and the mountainous snow planet is home to arguably the best set piece in the film - the train heist. The action throughout is well-scaled and given a real sense of purpose and excitement. Disney also deserve some credit for being willing to zoom out and tell a 'fun little one'. Without the presence of a mega-weapon or the fate of the world being at stake, you're able to just kick back and have buckle up for the ride.
However, the constant switching between time and place means that eventually different ideas and plot threads begin to tangle and seem to become stuck by the third act. Along the way, some of the supporting cast get lost amongst the frantic pace of the story. Characters such a Thandie Newton's demolitions expert Val and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's (of Fleabag fame) social justice droid L3-37 dip in and out too quickly to really be enjoyed and the case could even be made that even Lando, who's played superbly by Donald Glover to nobody's surprise, feels just a little under utilised. Yet, on the whole the cast are all solid, with Harrelson and Bettany being the real standouts.
After the controversy of The Last Jedi you can hardly blame Disney for returning to a more formulaic and safe narrative. But despite the familiarity of the story, there is still plenty of fun to be had. This is a brisk and lively adventure, which is propelled by the performance of Ehrenreich at it's core.
3/5 Stars
Sunday 27 May 2018
Friday 18 May 2018
'Deadpool 2' Spoiler Free Review
Making a good sequel is an extremely difficult task. As Wade is eager to remind you, Deadpool was such a runaway success that it became one of the highest grossing R rated movies of all time. How exactly are you supposed follow that up? Well, Deadpool 2's answer is to go bigger, bolder and ballsier. All too often when a sequel attempts to up the ante, it ends up losing sight of what made it's predecessor so great. Thankfully, this is not the case here. Deadpool 2 is a full-on and hilarious romp.
After tragedy befalls Wade Wilson (Reynolds), Mr Pool must enlist the help of some familiar faces and his newly assembled X-Force to help protect a teenage mutant (the always entertaining Julian Dennison) from Cable (Brolin), a fellow mercenary from the future.
The most noticeable difference between this movie and the first is the scale that the significantly larger budget allows for. Everything is bigger: the action, the gag reel, Deadpool's appetite for cocaine - everything has been dialled to eleven and impressively so. Gone are the days of leaving the ammo bag in the taxi 'by mistake' and in it's place we get some frantic, full-throttle set pieces. As you might expect from the man that brought you John Wick and that kickass hallway fight in Atomic Blonde, David Leitch crafts some delightfully brutal fight scenes that show off both the physicality of Cable (seriously, how is Brolin in such great shape at ... he's 50?! God damn!) and the invincibility of Deadpool. There are numerous fun and engaging action beats throughout - one chase sequence in particular is truly enthralling. You could argue that showcasing set pieces of this scale detracts from some of the simplistic charm of Deadpool, which may at times be true, but when the action is this good it's hard to care.
Yet, amongst the explosions, the humour that made everyone fall in love with this character shines through. I might even dare to say it's funnier than the first. There is something for everyone to laugh at. Extremely graphic slapstick? Check. Unapologetically crass testicle humour? By the barrel load. The jabs at the expense of movie studios and the superhero genre are back in full force. The movie also deserves credit for leaning fully into the bizarreness of the source material and including some of the more ridiculous characters in the X-Men roster. There are so many jokes and they are pretty much all funny. Personal highlights included the end credit scenes (which are oh so worth sticking around for) and an extended gag in the middle of the film that provoked the biggest laugh I've heard in a cinema in a very long time.
Perhaps the most surprising element of this movie is the inclusion of some surprisingly emotional moments. Between the curse words and dick jokes we get some really moving moments between the characters and the creators show some real restraint to avoid undercutting the tenderness of these moments with a joke, which gives this sequel a sense of stakes that the first may have lacked at times. In fact, all the character work is really strong. Josh Brolin gives a sinister and menacing performance, whilst putting in the effort to distinguish Cable from a certain other big baddie that he played recently. Zazie Beetz really shines as Domino and her personality elevates her character to one of the stars of the film. Of the retuning members, TJ Miller and Stefan Kapicic's Colossus are the standouts. Despite the strength of the supporting cast though, this is still very much Ryan Reynold's show, as he continues to demonstrate why he was born to play the merc' with a mouth.
Deadpool 2 is an extremely entertaining movie, without even a whiff of 'bigger-and-better-itus'. It takes everything that you loved about the first outing and quadruples it, adding some fresh and exciting elements along the way. It may even be better than the first.
4/5 Stars
After tragedy befalls Wade Wilson (Reynolds), Mr Pool must enlist the help of some familiar faces and his newly assembled X-Force to help protect a teenage mutant (the always entertaining Julian Dennison) from Cable (Brolin), a fellow mercenary from the future.
The most noticeable difference between this movie and the first is the scale that the significantly larger budget allows for. Everything is bigger: the action, the gag reel, Deadpool's appetite for cocaine - everything has been dialled to eleven and impressively so. Gone are the days of leaving the ammo bag in the taxi 'by mistake' and in it's place we get some frantic, full-throttle set pieces. As you might expect from the man that brought you John Wick and that kickass hallway fight in Atomic Blonde, David Leitch crafts some delightfully brutal fight scenes that show off both the physicality of Cable (seriously, how is Brolin in such great shape at ... he's 50?! God damn!) and the invincibility of Deadpool. There are numerous fun and engaging action beats throughout - one chase sequence in particular is truly enthralling. You could argue that showcasing set pieces of this scale detracts from some of the simplistic charm of Deadpool, which may at times be true, but when the action is this good it's hard to care.
Yet, amongst the explosions, the humour that made everyone fall in love with this character shines through. I might even dare to say it's funnier than the first. There is something for everyone to laugh at. Extremely graphic slapstick? Check. Unapologetically crass testicle humour? By the barrel load. The jabs at the expense of movie studios and the superhero genre are back in full force. The movie also deserves credit for leaning fully into the bizarreness of the source material and including some of the more ridiculous characters in the X-Men roster. There are so many jokes and they are pretty much all funny. Personal highlights included the end credit scenes (which are oh so worth sticking around for) and an extended gag in the middle of the film that provoked the biggest laugh I've heard in a cinema in a very long time.
Perhaps the most surprising element of this movie is the inclusion of some surprisingly emotional moments. Between the curse words and dick jokes we get some really moving moments between the characters and the creators show some real restraint to avoid undercutting the tenderness of these moments with a joke, which gives this sequel a sense of stakes that the first may have lacked at times. In fact, all the character work is really strong. Josh Brolin gives a sinister and menacing performance, whilst putting in the effort to distinguish Cable from a certain other big baddie that he played recently. Zazie Beetz really shines as Domino and her personality elevates her character to one of the stars of the film. Of the retuning members, TJ Miller and Stefan Kapicic's Colossus are the standouts. Despite the strength of the supporting cast though, this is still very much Ryan Reynold's show, as he continues to demonstrate why he was born to play the merc' with a mouth.
Deadpool 2 is an extremely entertaining movie, without even a whiff of 'bigger-and-better-itus'. It takes everything that you loved about the first outing and quadruples it, adding some fresh and exciting elements along the way. It may even be better than the first.
4/5 Stars
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)