Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X.

Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.

Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself).

If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

The Suicide Squad will be released in Australian cinemas August 5!
www.facebook.com/WarnerBrosAU

Hellboy is back, and he’s on fire.

From the pages of Mike Mignola’s seminal work, this action packed story sees the legendary half-demon superhero (David Harbour, “Stranger Things”) called to the English countryside to battle a trio of rampaging giants.

There he discovers The Blood Queen, Nimue (Milla Jovovich, Resident Evil series), a resurrected ancient sorceress thirsting to avenge a past betrayal. Suddenly caught in a clash between the supernatural and the human, Hellboy is now hell-bent on stopping Nimue without triggering the end of the world.

Hellboy is in Australian Cinemas April 11!

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Competition will be drawn 10 April 2019, winners will be notified by mail.

So with that in mind, it’s great to see Marvel relax the reins on Spider-man: Homecoming a bit and tell a story more character driven than special effects driven. The film’s lighthearted touch with an emphasis on humour makes it much more accessible than some of the recent overly serious Superhero films. It easily lives in the MU while comfortably standing alone. It even features a crazy credit at the very end of the film that sells laughs instead of product.

Peter Parker in comic book form has always been a geeky kid and the new Spidey, Tom Holland gets those nuances just right. He plays awkward as endearing. The story starts right after the Battle of New York and we get an early view of both Spider-man’s progression (further along than the radiated spider bite) and the political machinations that helped to create his new nemesis.

The thoughts of restarting the franchise again are rapidly lost as the charm and humour of this latest edition sweep you away. It gets the balance of action, storyline and character development just right and as such is a blast from beginning to end.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/SpiderManMovieAUS

Despite its incredibly successful Marvel brethren, this Fantastic Four is yet another dud, albeit a dud with a $200 million dollar budget.

The story is fantastically linear: we follow genius, Reed Richards, from childhood as he meets each of the characters who we know will become part of the Four as well as the guy we know is destined to be the villain, Victor von Doom (with a name like that, how could he not turn bad?).

Usually in an instance like this the structure of the film would be mixed up, moving the action forward and telling the preceding events in flashback but not here; we’re left to suffer the events in strict, dull, consecutive order. The result being a good hour of plodding character development before we get any glimpse at our pending heroes’ super powers. We’re then pushing an hour and a half before we get to the inevitable battle with Dr Doom – the first (and only) real action set piece. This is a long time to wait for something to happen!

The CGI is mostly on par with what we’d expect these days though Mr Fantastic’s stretchy limbs still don’t seem right somehow. The most noticeable improvement in this incarnation of the franchise is that Thing now looks and sounds like he’s made of rock rather than rubber.

That Fantastic Four was released within weeks of Ant Man suggests a throw-away attitude towards this film from Marvel. An attitude reinforced by a lack of any post credit sequence or Stan Lee cameo (that I could see anyway).

Despite high hopes for this reboot, this remains at the low rent end of the franchise.
Stuart Jamieson
www.fantasticfourmovie.com

Ginger Meggs first appeared in the Us fellers comic strip in Sydney’s Sunday Sun newspaper in 1921, and he and his gang – including girlfriend, Minnie Peters, and arch nemesis, Tiger Kelly – have kept us company ever since.

This mischievous Australian icon was created by James ‘Jimmy’ Bancks. With his instantly recognisable red hair, shorts and shoes, his larrikin charms and endless ability to get himself into and out of trouble, ‘Ginge’, as he was affectionately known, reflected the everyday lives of his readers and became part of our popular culture.

Featuring original strips by Bancks and his successors, and a diverse collection of Ginger Meggs memorabilia, this exhibition invites you to rediscover the little red-headed feller.

Ginger Meggs: Australia’s Favourite Boy
25 July 2015 – 8 November 2015, Museum of Sydney, Sydney
www.sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

Colin Firth as Kingsman agent Harry Hart is flawlessly cast as our introduction to this world of perfect gentlemanly conduct and deadly killing precision. And in stark contrast to the recent proclivity of the Bond franchise to do away with all those cool spy gadgets, this film is littered with deadly hardware that would have made the old Q more than happy.

Underlining the cool technology on display is a story based on character development, honour and paying back impossible depts. Harry becomes a mentor to Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (played with emerging star power by Taron Egerton) who is the offspring of a fellow agent and friend to Hart that had made the ultimate sacrifice. His mentorship is put to the test as they clash with billionaire baddie Valentine (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who taps into mind control and has the world on the edge of chaos.

The film misses few chances to shock the audience and often times goes into directions that have you shaking your head, Big budget action films don’t usually play with the rules this fast and loose. The end result is a defiance of the norm that will leave you with a smile on your dial and give you the opportunity to recommend this to friends without any hesitations. Few films this year will provide more entertaining escapism.

Rob Hudson

Kingsman: The Secret Service – another view

“Manners maketh man.”
 Harry Hart AKA Galahad

Kingsman kicks off guns blazing with Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing rocking on the soundtrack and a flash back to 1997. Wait. What? Money For Nothing in 1997? That’s not right! And superimposed over this driving soundtrack is a flashy opening credits sequence that would usually flag a forthcoming crap movie. But what I didn’t realise at the time was that Kingsman is directed by Matthew Vaughn. I’d seen the one-sheet for the film in the foyer and figured this was yet another entrant in the seemingly never-ending queue of comic book adaptations. If I’d known prior that Vaughn was the director, my initial doubts would have been unfounded as I would soon find out.

In 2010, Vaughn produced Kick Ass, a brilliantly violent super hero movie about social degradation, indifference and spiralling crime. Its themes were as hard edged as it’s violence and in this regard Kingsman is a worthy successor.

The story has Harry Hart AKA Galahad (Colin Firth) recruiting juvenile delinquent Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin (Taron Egerton) into the Kingsmen – a group of aristocratic crime fighters posing as tailors. Naturally there’s some internal resistance from the posh stodgies to recruiting a young chap from the other side of the tracks and this sets up the primary theme of class strictures and the boundaries they impose.

Vaughn is finding himself a master of action violence, a worthy successor perhaps to Quentin Tarantino. And Like Tarantino, Kingsman references many other films. Some explicitly so like Trading Places, La Femme Nikita and (rather comically) Pretty Woman. But others are more subtle like lisp-encumbered master villain ,Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), is reminiscent of Mr Glass from Shyamalan’s Unbreakable and his lethal double amputee sidekick, Gazelle (Sofia Boutella), plainly channels Gogo Yubari from Tarantino’s Kill Bill. And the film as a whole has Vaughn clearly referencing the James Bond franchise (and giving it in the ass). As it turns out, James Bond through the “Kick-Ass” sphere looks mighty good!

Colin Firth is absolutely brilliant playing against type as the stiif upper lip killer. He’s the opposite number to Hit Girl in every respect and just as cool. Egerton also plays well as the chav who finds himself above his station and discovers there’s power in tweed. Mark Strong is as strong as ever as Merlin and it’s nice to see him at the opposite end of the crime scale to Kick-Ass. Jackson is a hoot as always as is Michael Cain as leader of the aristocrats, Arthur (yes, all the good guys have Camelot namesakes). And Boutella is a magnificent villain in both character and design.

The only downside is that the means by which Eggsy is recruited is a bit naff and unlikely but I suppose it is, after all, just a McGuffin.

Kingsman is ultra violent, ultra cool, funny and has a poignant social message to boot. It kicks out the jams from the get go and it’s the most fun you’ll have without watching Kick-Ass.

Stuart Jamieson
www.kingsmanmovie.com

The first film worked so well at creating Iron Man’s back-story and showed how well certain rock music can lift a film’s energy just by their mere presence. The second film squandered most of that good will with a poor choice of casting and weak story. Welcome round three and in the now almost obligatory for films of this type, 3D format.

Try as the film does for some real surprise story moments and to flush out the main characters lives, it really lets the side down but as an exercise is visual film making it is pretty impressive for now. The real problem with such special effects driven films is that as the technology improves and our internal database of CGI images grows exponentially we soon loose the sense of wonder and are left with just the story to enthral us. This is not one of those films that in the future will be viewed over and over.

The hype and energy of a major release seen in its early days always sways the audience to a more favourable experience and my recommendation is to see this early when the cinemas are full and the combined crowd energy is at its peak.

Rob Hudson
www.marvel.com

Iron Man 2 is certainly bigger, with an obviously enlarged budget, the film is packed with more expensive looking special effects and even more gratuitous over the top action. The film’s final duke-out is magnified as well with the addition of a very large number of baddies and an overabundance of explosive effects. The story also gets ramped up as we meet Tony Stark’s father (in flashback home movies) and get some welcome insight into his childhood.

Some of the relationships from the first film are also developed slightly with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and the film’s director Jon Favreau as Tony’s chauffeur, Happy Hogan getting more screen time. There are also a number of new characters that are introduced including Scarlett Johansson with tight black leather and a secret identity and Mickey Rourke as the new nemesis, Ivan Vanko. The film is certainly not resting on its laurels with characterization.

The film tries its best with a back-story of military intervention, the budding romance between Stark and his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Iron Man having to face his own mortality. It’s just that with this mad rush into impressing audience members with its bigger is better attitude, it loses a lot of the charm and swarm that made the first edition so memorable.

Rob Hudson
www.ironmanmovie.marvel.com

Thor (the movie version) is played by Australian actor Chris Hemsworth and he has come a long way from his days on Home And Away. He now has the pre-requisite comic book superhero physique and has muscles on top of muscles. The rest of the cast features some surprisingly well-established A-list thespians. The list includes Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård and Anthony Hopkins. Wait a minute on that last selection; with some of Hopkins’ recent paycheck films he might be in danger of becoming slightly more B list.

The action is this film is as big as the pumped up muscles and reality is thrown out the window. This doesn’t however prevent the film from being a lot of fun; it just turns it into a more guilty pleasure. The story revolves around Thor getting booted out of his plane of existence and being sent to earth. This turns the tale into a fish out of water study and gets some good jokes in at the expense of the unknowing universe traveller.

Thor ticks all the right boxes for a great session of escapist entertainment. It’s big, loud, rather dumb and more often than not very entertaining.

Rob Hudson
www.thor.marvel.com

Compared to that other great superhero ensemble flick (no, not Fantastic Four!), Bryan Singer’s X-Men, The Avengers is the kitschy one of the two but it is no less a film. Whedon shows that he knows how to do kitsch without descending into a tired, boring, groan-inducing cliché (like Fantastic Four). Of course Whedonphiles have known this for many years and now the rest of the world will know it.

The primary difficulty in an ensemble film such as this is making sure that each character within the film has enough space to develop. The Avengers has an advantage here in that Marvel have taken the time and expense to develop most of the characters externally in their own franchises but even so, Whedon has done exceptionally well in giving each hero a respectable amount of screen time so that no one (almost) is short changed. No one character is elevated above another, they are all equals. This principle has most importantly been applied to The Hulk.

As the least glamorous member of the team (he’s big, green, angry and barely talks), Whedon has smartly elevated Hulk to the biggest, baddest ass on the team. He’s the one that nobody has successfully controlled (with the exception, perhaps, of his alter ego, Bruce Banner); no force has subdued him; no weapon has destroyed him; everyone is shit scared of him. When faced with an angry Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), the demonstrably deadly Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) stands her ground but is clearly petrified of him. The Hulk is the trickiest character to handle and Whedon does so elegantly.

Likewise performances are good from the entire cast. Iron Man naturally gets all the best lines given Robert Downey Jr’s ability to deliver them with aplomb. Black Widow is given the most character development (appropriate since she has not had a movie of her own) and Johansson does well with the subtleties of her character as she wields her personal vulnerabilities like weapons. Samuel Jackson is just Samuel and we love him for it. Hawk Eye (Jeremy Renner) is short changed a little on character development but perhaps he’ll be fleshed out further in future installments. In any case, he’s not a major player in this plot line. Chris Evans will be pleased that hardly anyone will remember his role in Fantastic Four and his performance here will erase that memory completely.

The action is suitably spectacular but that’s par for the course these days. Nothing feels slow throughout the proceedings; the action, dialogue and plot snaps along nicely and the script feels like it has spent exactly the right time in development to iron out all the wrinkles, which is refreshing.

As good as this film is, however, it does represent yet another needless application of 3D technology. This seemingly endless tirade of 3D blockbusters has become positively tiresome. Like most before it, 3D adds very little to this film; if anything it’s a distraction. 3D films present completely differently to their 2D counterparts – and not usually in a good way. The 3D effect forces you to focus on very specific parts of the scene, specifically (and literally) the focus or subject of the image, to the exclusion of everything else. It induces a kind of tunnel vision in the viewer. Watching a 2D variant, more detail is apparent in the background, as we’re not being directly distracted by whatever is hovering in front of our noses – much like a magician’s trick. That we see more detail in a 2D image is contrary to our expectations of 3D, which is meant to be a heightened experience. This needn’t be a bad thing, however. Like any other cinematic device, it could be used to good effect (it could have useful applications in horror movies, for instance) but it shouldn’t be overdone, as is the case with this currently endless slew of 3D flicks. The best 3D movie in recent times is easily Hugo. Clearly Scorsese understands the tool and is smart enough to know how to use it effectively and appropriately.

That aside, The Avengers will do well at the box office and it deserves to, and Joss Whedon will get his long overdue just desserts into the bargain.

Stuart Jamieson
www.theavengers.com.au