Escape from New York (1981)

 

Escape from New York (1981)

 

5/10

Starring

Kurt Russell

Lee Van Cleef

Ernest Borgnine

Donald Pleasence

Isaac Hayes

 

Directed by John Carpenter

 

I have to be honest, the only thing I knew about this movie before watching it is that the lead character, Snake Plissken, played by Kurt Russell, was the inspiration behind the video game character Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid franchise.

The movie has one of the most boring starts there is. It gives you the setup: the President of the U.S. has been captured, so they need Snake to rescue him. All this takes about 25 minutes to be passed across to you, the viewer. During this wait, you get to see the most boring stand-offs, wasted time in staring and looking mean, all trying to pass the “bad guy will not follow simple orders” macho vibe — which did not matter at all.

The movie is written, directed, and scored by John Carpenter. Based on a modest budget, Carpenter did his best to pass across a futuristic environment using as many cinematic effects and tricks as he could to try and lure you in.

The movie takes place in 1997, where in this future as the movie was shot in 1981, the world has changed. Crime is at an all-time high, and the whole of Manhattan Island is now a maximum-security prison, walled off from the rest of the world. The president’s plane gets hijacked and crashes into the island, but he escapes in a pod. The criminals in the city capture him, and when Commissioner Bob tries to investigate the crash, he is approached by one of the minions of the top guy in the prison, Duke. Bob is told that they have the president and will kill him if any rescue attempt is made. Bob asks what their demands are, but none are given, so he has to find another way to get the president out, and he has to do this in 24 hours.

So he calls convicted former Special Forces soldier Snake Plissken, who is about to be imprisoned in Manhattan, as he's the nearest person with the right skills they can get their hands on at short notice. Snake has to get into Manhattan, find the president, and bring him to safety.

The catch is, Snake has to do this in 22 hours. He has a watch with a timer, and capsules in his neck that will kill him if he doesn’t return to Bob in time.

As much as I didn’t like all the bravado at the start, Russell did a great job with his macho-man performance. The movie has a way of sucking you in once you get over the slow start. That bad pacing almost made me stop watching, and the whole B-movie feel was also a turn-off.

But the suspense kept me. At first, I was like, was it that easy to find the president? Then I’d meet a character I thought would last, and suddenly they’re gone. Things like that kept my attention just to see how it would all end.

One thing I have to warn you about is the dialogue, it’s very flimsy. Also, the movie’s progression doesn’t add up, make sense, or follow any real logic. If you see the movie, you’ll get what I mean. From the moment Snake lands in Manhattan, his movements, conversations, progress toward finding the president, and how he gets people to help him — all that just isn’t well written.

Would I recommend this movie, well, No. I think this is one of those movie’s that if you saw back when it was released, you may like it, but not now.

Heads of State (2025)

Heads of State (2025)

7/10

Starring           

Idris Elba

John Cena

Priyanka Chopra

Carla Gugino

Jack Quaid

 

Directed by Ilya Naishuller

The movie does start in a very interesting way, with a combined operative work that went south in Spain. People are dead from both sides (U.S. and U.K), and the two leaders have to stand in front of a press conference and see how they can manage the situation.

The movie is about two leaders, the President of the U.S. and the Prime Minister of Britain, played by John Cena and Idris Elba respectively. Cena’s character, Will Derringer, is a former action movie star who finds his way into politics and is kind of learning the gig as time goes along. Sam Clarke, on the other hand (Elba), is a career politician who has served before and does not like Will but still has to deal with him.

The chemistry between these two actors, I was surprised, was amazing. The way they played off each other in their dialogue and how they managed to take some serious conversations and turn it into a silly argument is actually fun to see and enjoyable.

The movie does take some liberty in the way Air Force One was taken down. Even I was like, one man? Not only was that not possible, it actually looked ridiculous. It just felt like they needed to take the plane down and did not care if we, the viewers, believed it or not. The other actors in this movie too are cool, and the bad guy seems to be off the hinges and did some unpredictable things that had me like, hmm.

Here is the plot: The two leaders do not actually like each other and after the failed joint mission, which was actually a success on the side of the bad guy, an arms dealer. The two leaders decide to travel on Air Force One together, to show a form of united front.

Turns out, Air Force One was infiltrated, and it crashed in Belarus. Everyone thinks the two leaders are dead, but they survived and have to find their way to Poland, to a safe house, and await being saved. But the bad guy has infiltrated the American surveillance system and now has access to many of the secret files of the U.S. and other NATO countries, which were released to the public to cause chaos among the nations. To make it worse, the safe house is not safe, as the infiltrated system gave up their location. Now the two leaders must escape and find another way to get back to their countries.

One of other things I liked about the movie is the cheesy lines do not actually make me cringe, because when they are delivered by Cena, the look on Idris’ face makes you laugh. I applaud the action sequences in this movie and loved how much John Cena could not cope with being a real badass action guy in real life. What I can say is, some of the silliness gets overboard in this movie, making you wish they toned it down a bit. Some of the cinematography, from my point of view, could have been better, and the movie plot is very ridiculous, so you will need to suspend a lot of your reasoning capabilities to enjoy it. Other than that, I recommend you see it. It was a fun idea that I liked very much.

28 Years Later (2025)

 

28 Years Later (2025)

 

5/10

Starring

Jodie Comer

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Jack O’Connell

Alfie Williams

 

Directed by Danny Boyle

 

The main issue I have with this movie is how it struggles to balance the sadness written into it, which drives the character Spike, with the gore and horror you’d expect in movies like this. Since this is meant to be the first part of a two-parter, I guess it was a way to end the sad part of the series before shifting focus to other aspects.

I also don't like the introduction of another kind of zombie called Alpha. It seems there are many of them, and they lead packs of zombies. My issue with this is the idea of adding some kind of organization and family dynamics to creatures that are supposed to be on a mindless rampage, eating everything in sight.

That said, everything else in the movie like the acting and the story itself, is not that bad. The production brings together Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, who worked on the first movie, which was released back in 2002. I remember watching that with my sister. There, we had Cillian Murphy waking up from a coma to discover that the world had changed. A highly contagious, aggression-inducing virus had ravaged almost everyone. The first thought that crossed my mind was, is he the only human left?

This new movie continues the story from the first and second films in the series. It starts with the virus being contained to areas like the British Isles. There's a community of people who stay away from the infected on the Mainland. During the coming-of-age rituals for young boys, they're taken to the Mainland to hunt the infected, get their first kill, and be prepared for whatever's coming.

The boy going on his first kill is a young boy named Spike, whose mother is terminally ill. After they return, Spike discovers that his father knows of a doctor on the Mainland but refuses to go see him. Spike, fearing for his mother’s failing health, creates a diversion and escapes to the Mainland to find this doctor.

This is where the movie also loses me. Spike barely made it back from the first trip to the Mainland. In fact, his actions on that visit should have made him think twice about going again. But I’m supposed to believe the feeling of his father’s betrayal was strong enough for him to risk the journey again and drag his ill mother along to a place he’s only been once, that’s crawling with infected zombies and Alphas.

Anyway, the movie is very watchable if you're into this kind of horror. I still find the whole Alpha concept, with its organized, family-style dynamic — annoying and off-putting. But if you can overlook that, you can enjoy the film.

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

Jurassic World Rebirth (2025)

6/10

 

Starring

Scarlett Johansson

Mahershala Ali

Jonathan Bailey

Rupert Friend

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo

Ed Skrein

 

Directed by Gareth Edwards

 

The vibe you get from this movie is that back-to-basics feel of the first Jurassic Park, but the movie itself isn’t doing much for the franchise. Yes, it has that whole "we’re in their terrain" feel, which I have to say I loved. It also has the bait and switch, the chase, and those Spielberg-like touches from the first Jurassic Park, which I also loved. But story-wise, it just feels like it’s time they stopped making these movies, it is time for this franchise to go extinct.

The movie starts with one of the creatures getting loose at a lab. The problem with this incident is what led to it happening, someone dropped a Snickers wrapper. I saw it drop, saw the camera focus on it and was like, “what kind of predictable, highly unlikely nonsense is this?”

Well, things happened just as you would expect because of the wrapper, and it wasn’t like the movie even tried to pretend that something else should be expected.

At this point, my level of enthusiasm for the movie died. I’ve been worried that this franchise has had its run, but they just seem to keep making more of these movies. The one thing I am happy about in this movie is the idea of how it’s being told. The way the story is being said is very different from the other movies. It’s similar to the first because it’s written by David Koepp, who worked on the screenplay of the first movie with Michael Crichton. This one does away with the cast of the last trilogy and introduces new cast members who, I can say with confidence, gave magnificent performances. I really enjoyed Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali in this movie.

The plot tells us that things have changed, and the climate of the Earth is no longer sustainable for the de-extinct dinosaurs that previously spread around the world. What’s left of these dinosaurs live on islands located around the equator and are now deemed no-travel zones.

Now, you and I know how movies go, someone always finds a reason to visit these zones. This time, it’s a pharmaceutical company. We’ve got two groups. First, there’s a family sailing nearby who get their boat flipped by one of the creatures and end up radioing for help. The second group is led by Scarlett Johansson, playing Zora, an ex-military covert operative. Her team rescues the family. They’ve been sent by the pharmaceutical company to the island to retrieve blood samples from the three largest remaining prehistoric dinosaur specimens, as those samples are believed to hold the key to a new heart disease treatment.

The movie is about these two groups, stranded on the island and trying to make it back to safety.

In the end, the movie was predictable. It was fun, but, as expected, the rich company guy turns out to be shady and is keeping some key information from the rest. You can also see the love interest chemistry building from a mile away. These predictable elements didn’t ruin the movie, but they also didn’t make it a must-watch. It’s one of those movies where, if you like the franchise and dinosaurs, you’ll probably enjoy it. But if you’re after a good story with the same magic as the first movie, maybe not.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

 

6/10

Starring

Pedro Pascal

Vanessa Kirby

Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Joseph Quinn

Directed by Matt Shakman

 

Let me start by saying, the retro feel of the movie is amazing, along with the retro effects and musical score, reminding me so much of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Jetsons. The whole setup design is cool, you will love it. I also like the idea of it happening on another Earth, where everyone already knows the Fantastic Four.

We get a brief intro into how we got to this point in the movie, in the first like ten minutes. We see them save people and the world they are living in before the real story of the movie starts. So, I need to let you know, there is no time wasted in giving us the origin story of how they got their powers or learned to work together.

Acting wise, this movie boasts A+ performances from everyone involved. That said, I just could not get into Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm. I felt the roles did not fit their personalities.

Then the movie starts slow, in a way that I did not appreciate, which made me appreciate the way James Gunn started Superman (2025) more. This whole intro and "baby is coming" part lasted almost 20 minutes before we saw Silver Surfer, who came to tell the Earth that Galactus is coming to consume the whole planet.

Now the movie centres around Franklin, the omega-level mutant who is the son of Sue and Reed Richards. At this time, Sue is still pregnant and has not given birth yet when Galactus shows up. I have to be honest, even after this “Galactus is coming” warning by the Surfer, the movie still stays in like a video game story mode, and it feels like you are waiting for things to get said so you can finally get to the real thing, which starts around the 40-minute mark. That’s when the team travel to Galactus, and he promises to spare Earth if they give him Franklin.

He causes Sue to go into labor, but the team, with the help of Johnny causing some fire chaos, are able to escape back to Earth. Then they come off their spacecraft, not four people, but five, with Franklin in Sue’s arms.

Now, they tell everyone what was said in their meeting with Galactus, and the world is now faced with this terrible choice: turn on the team and give Galactus Franklin or let the team face Galactus and see if they can save the Earth from being consumed.

In the end, the final battle between the team and Galactus was more like a tug-of-war, but I did enjoy the final parts of the movie more than I did the first.

It is worth seeing, that I can say, but note the first half of the movie does not actually give a fantastic cinematic experience like the second half.

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

 

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

 

4/10

Starring

Benicio del Toro

Mia Threapleton

Michael Cera

 

Directed by Wes Anderson

 

One thing this movie has that I appreciate, and you will too, is the production. The production style is very magnificent, and you will see how Wes Anderson (Director, Producer and Writer) was able to cut cost, but in a way that shows style instead of lack. Another thing is the cast and their acting, there is nothing so great as when actors go all out in the work they do and give performances that are hard to criticize. The movie boasts actors from around the globe, delivering at all cost and making sure each leaves a mark in the very scene they are in.

With all that said, this movie is not funny, it is not fun, and at times it was a bore. I do give the suspense and espionage aspect of the movie a good clap, but the story and supposed black comedy that is meant to join this mystery together to give a compelling story was lacking.

The plot is about an arms dealer and industrialist Anatole "Zsa-Zsa" Korda. He has many children, some adopted, and he is also known as 5%, because a lot of his schemes have him claiming 5% of the revenue.

The movie starts with an assassination attempt on his life, which he survives, and we come to see that this has not been a one-off thing. His survival puts him at a junction in his life where he has to think about what will happen to his empire and fortune if he dies. So he calls his daughter, an aspiring nun, and gets her to sign a contract, making her the sole heir of his fortune. Together they travel the globe, she learning from him how he runs things, and he getting to know her in his own off-putting way.

Their travels take them through another assassination attempt, Zsa-Zsa getting shot, and other weird incidents around his life. Along on these trips is Bjørn (Michael Cera), who is a teacher and also works as Zsa-Zsa’s administrative assistant.

As much as I liked this movie, there is lack of good character motive for their actions, which were either meant to be secret but you could guess a mile away, or too off to make sense. You will watch this movie, and you will know from the start that this person is probably a spy, and when the reveal happens you just nod along.

In the end, you get this: I have seen an amazing movie production feel, but not that I have seen an amazing movie feel. It is forgettable, and I do not recommend a watch, except if you are one that likes to see good production and fantastic cinematography.

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

 

4/10

Starring

Adam Sandler

Julie Bowen

Christopher McDonald

Benny Safdie

 

Directed by Kyle Newacheck

 

Now I went to see this movie because of the raving reviews it was getting online and I was like, good, something for me to see and enjoy, so I saved it for this Sunday and sat down, ready to at least snicker.
Well, that did not happen. It was like I was missing something, so I asked a friend, did you see this movie?
He was like, such a nonsense film, and I agree. Adam Sandler's style of comedy is no longer funny. The movie is too long, predictable, and some of the cameos were actually for no reason at all. For example, the Eminem cameo, what was that?

Then the story, it continues from where the first one stops. So, Happy lost his wife and went into financial debt, and he is a single father of five children. He is not actually any good at raising these kids because all four boys were jackasses, it was only the girl that was normal. Anyways, he got a job working at a grocery store and he was an alcoholic. Well, the time came for the daughter, who is good in ballet, to go to a ballet school which would cost Happy over 300,000. So Happy decided to go back to golf to see how he could make this money.

Now, there is this new organization called Maxi that is trying to change the game of golf to make it more interesting. The owner approached Happy, but Happy turned him down. So Happy went back to the game, and as you can guess how these stories go, he became very good again. So good that he would represent the real golf along with some popular players like Rory McIlroy, to go against the Maxi golf players to see whose golf is the best, and to save the game of golf.

Well, you can guess the rest of the plot from there. Also, as you can expect, the new corporation is cheating, why not, how can you hate them if they play fair?

Now, the movie had a lot of the old actors from the 90s back, and I would say to me that was the best part. Seeing all these people, that nostalgia feeling, was one of the things that made it possible for me to sit through this movie. Other than that, the acting from Happy’s children was dreadful. I like that Adam Sandler is including his family in his movies, they are not that good at acting like he is, but I guess this is the only way they can get better.

So Happy Gilmore 2 is on Netflix, and it is not worth seeing, trust me.

Superman (2025)

Superman (2025)

 

8/10

Starring

David Corenswet

Rachel Brosnahan

Nicholas Hoult

Edi Gathegi

 

Directed by James Gunn

 

I have to be honest, I expected this movie to be average at most, but it seems like James Gunn was like, Tosin, hold my beer. This movie has one of the best Superman starts there is. There's no point going through the whole rigmarole of who he is, where he's from, or how his hatred with Lex Luthor started. All of that is irrelevant as we’ve all seen and know the Superman story in and out, so there’s no need to go through it again. It starts with a fight, which I have to tell you is such a very, will I say, dangerous thing to do, to start a movie on a high. But Gunn knew what he was doing and knew if you let him run untethered, he can make it work, and he did. That doesn't mean there were no notable tone shifts, as there were times when the tone felt too low compared to what had occurred earlier.

Another thing I liked is the acting. Everyone seems to be in for the gold in this movie, giving masterclass left, right and centre. And the Clark Kent persona is not just removing the glasses, the hair and mannerism are very different, which is something you won't see in other Superman movies. The visual effects actually flowed well, and you will love the way Krypto (Superman’s super dog) plays into the entire plot.

The movie has a serious political undertone, which for me was not a problem. But the way it was constantly being placed in the forefront of almost everything at the start of the movie was very tiring.

The movie does not start from the beginning of who is Superman, how he got here and how his beef with Lex Luther started. In this movie, Clark Kent/Superman (David Corenswet) is already an established hero, and we are three years into his journey in Metropolis. The main point of issue in this movie is Superman intervening in an international conflict between two fictional nations. Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) uses this action to manipulate the world's opinion about Superman. Then he uses a clone called Ultraman to fight him, a fight which Superman lost and had to retreat from, heading to the Fortress of Solitude to recover with the help of his loyal dog, Krypto.

Superman later forms an alliance with the Justice Gang, a team of heroes composed of Mister Terrific, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern Guy Gardner, to face the world’s dangers and stop these clone villains.

What I must warn you is, the whole Superman origin in this movie gets some rework.

The movie was fun to watch and, as I said, took me by surprise as to how much I liked it. But the end felt like a whole CGI-fest, which made it look so out of place compared to the way the entire movie felt. I highly recommend you see this movie, and I will be doing a rewatch of it later on.

 

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

How to Train Your Dragon (2025)

5/10

Starring

Mason Thames

Nico Parker

Gabriel Howell

Julian Dennison

Bronwyn James

 

Directed by Dean DeBlois

 

I do feel this movie was a waste of time, as it did not add anything new. I preferred the build-up from the animation to this live-action version, even though it played out almost the same.

The animation build-up to the final fight with the big dragon was fun to watch. Here, it was a boring wait. It felt like the makers had focused all their production, writing, and development on the final boss fight and just bored us stiff until we finally got there. When we did, it was amazing. The battle was fun to see, how Hiccup and Toothless took on the huge dragon and won.

When it came to the acting of the cast, I would say I was charmed by it. It is one of the highs of the movie, as the actors made their roles look very believable as Vikings.

Hiccup is a Viking, and his father is the chief of their hometown, Berk. The village is regularly attacked by dragons that raid livestock and destroy buildings. The people of Berk are dragon hunters, but Hiccup isn’t allowed to join the hunt because, compared to the other men, he’s considered too small and weak.

Hiccup works as a blacksmith’s apprentice and uses this opportunity to create a machine to catch a dragon. One day, he manages to shoot down a Night Fury with his machine. He decides to go look for it and finds the creature trapped. Instead of killing the dragon, Hiccup sets it free because he can’t bring himself to take its life.

The next time Hiccup returns to the spot where he freed the Night Fury, he finds the dragon still there. He notices the torn tail fin, which makes it hard for the dragon to fly. Hiccup designs a prosthetic fin that works only with his control, allowing him to mount the dragon. He continues to visit Toothless and learns a lot about dragons, which helps him subdue them. He plans to show the others that dragons are not actually bad.

How this played out and what led to the final boss fight is something you have to watch the movie to see, or if you’ve seen the animation, you already know.

In the end, I can see this movie becoming a big box office hit, which will probably make the makers want to go ahead and do the other movies in the franchise as live-actions. I feel if they do that, they should at least try to add something new and spicy to make the whole delivery not look as mechanical as this one.

I do not recommend this movie. I would say if you want to relive the story, watch the animation instead. It had more humor.

Elio (2025)

 

Elio (2025)

6/10

Starring the voices of

Yonas Kibreab

Zoe Saldaña

Remy Edgerly

Brandon Moon

Brad Garrett

Jameela Jamil

 

Directed by Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina

 

Elio is the next animation from Disney/Pixar after Inside Out 2, which was a great success. The challenge this movie is facing at the box office is sparking debate about how new ideas no longer pull in numbers the way recycled IP does.

But back to the movie itself. I have to say, the whole concept was new to me. The way things unfolded caught me off guard a lot of the time. That made the movie very engaging because you had no idea where it was going. I was locked in to see how it would all end.

The movie is very family-friendly. Disney/Pixar sticks to the routine of lacking a parent, or in this case, lacking parents, as our lead, Elio, grows up with his aunt on a military base. As you’d expect, the effects are amazing and the voice acting is well done enough to get you lost in the viewing.

But the story wasn’t as humor-based as I would’ve liked. I worry that children may not get as engaged in the story as adults would. The plot leans more into the thrill of the quest than the comedy in it. Adults will appreciate the themes. There’s the disconnect between real issues and overconfidence that many of us face, the challenge of trying to fit in, and the idea that maybe the place to find “your people” isn’t where you think it is.

The movie coasted a lot. It picked up toward the end but never got high enough to make me say this is one of the best animations out there.

Elio is about a young boy named Elio who becomes obsessed with aliens and life on other planets. This obsession makes him beg to be abducted, and one day, it actually happens. He’s taken by the Communiverse, a collection of leaders from other planets. Elio, a child, lies that he’s the leader of Earth.

While they’re showing him around, another leader, Lord Grigon, gets rejected from becoming a member of the Communiverse. Infuriated, he decides to take over the Communiverse by force. Elio, not wanting to be returned to Earth, volunteers to negotiate with Lord Grigon to avoid an invasion.

The failed negotiation leads to Elio meeting Glordon, Lord Grigon’s son. They come up with a plan to save the Communiverse. The success of the plan depends on Grigon not being deceived and not recognizing his own son.

Would I recommend this animation? Sure. But it’s miles away from the best things I’ve seen from the mouse factory.

Ballerina (2025)

Ballerina (2025)

 

5/10

Starring

Ana de Armas

Anjelica Huston

Gabriel Byrne

Lance Reddick

 

Directed by Len Wiseman

This movie takes place between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (2019) and Chapter 4 (2023), and it is the fifth installment in the John Wick franchise.

I agree with a friend who described this movie as meh! This is just another revenge flick we've seen before. The story and plot aren't masterful, nor do they jump at you. It's a movie you can watch, but if you happen to miss it, you're fine, it's not that great.

I have to be honest, the movie starts strong, with the level of action you'd expect from the John Wick franchise. The way it delves into a different aspect of the franchise is fine, and you'll like the idea of John (Keanu Reeves) actually being a supporting character in this one. The movie plays around with his story arc from the first John Wick to the third. But after the initial twelve-minute start, it hits a point of boredom. There are many aspects that, if removed, wouldn’t have mattered at all in the end.

There’s a whole ten-minute segment of her getting trained and shaped into the badass she becomes, I felt that could’ve been summarized. The old '90s flicks managed to pass that on in less than 2 minutes and we have a fully fleshed ninja or lead-actor ready to take down a whole army.

Then comes the acting of the lead (Ana de Armas). Everyone else seemed fitted to their roles, but I felt she didn’t quite hit the mark, even though a lot of reviews loved her performance, I didn’t.

The movie plot is about Eve Macarro, the daughter of a Ruska Roma hitman and a cultist. When her father is killed by the cult, she’s rescued by Winston, who hands her over to the Ruska Roma. She’s turned into an assassin — the ballerina. While on an assignment, she discovers the same cultists are planning to kidnap another girl. Still bent on revenge, she tries to foil their plan. Her mission takes her to Prague and the Austrian Alps, where she uncovers family ties and it is during all this, she encounters John Wick, who tries to step in and stop her only after she disobeys the rules.

If you're into this movie for the action and the John Wick-style fights, visuals, and effects — this movie has you covered. But it lacks a good story, in my view, to make it all worth it. In the end, I wouldn’t watch this again as it just wasn’t worth it, I feel the franchise has had it’s time in the sun and should just relax for now.

The Old Guard 2 (2025)

 

The Old Guard 2 (2025)

2/10

Starring

Charlize Theron

KiKi Layne

Matthias Schoenaerts

Marwan Kenzari

Luca Marinelli

Veronica Ngô

 

Directed by Victoria Mahoney

 

Now the only good thing about this movie is that it has filled a longing I’ve had to see a part 2 of this franchise. I liked the first part, which was released in 2020, so when my friend sent me a message today that a second part was out, I decided not to watch it at home but with a friend so we could enjoy it together.

The first thing that jumped at me was the visual effects. They felt very poor, and my memory of the first Old Guard didn’t showcase such bad effects. Then I noticed the awful cinematography. When there were zooming back shots, the fighting felt like I was watching too close to the action, annoying the hell out of me. All this happened in the first 10 minutes of the movie. I was not ready for the hour of absolute nonsensical boredom that was waiting for me. Nothing seemed to happen.

Then we have Quỳnh back, Andy’s first ride or die, until she was sunk underwater. And there’s a new villain, Discord, whom we don’t know much about—just her intention, and that was it. She wasn’t shown much, and there was no connection to her character at all.

The movie is about another immortal who is older than Andy herself. This immortal seems to know more about how the whole immortal thing works than anybody, and she has her own intention of going after Andy and her crew.

If you recall from the first movie, Andy is now mortal, and we have to watch as Nile tries her hardest to protect her. This new immortal named Discord rescued Quỳnh, and now Quỳnh, who has been imprisoned underwater for more than 500 years, is angry with Andy for not finding her. So what does this new immortal want to gain by saving Quỳnh, and what does she want with Nile? This is what the movie is about.

I felt Netflix played a joke on me with this bad dialogue, and the acting from the characters felt like a wash, because even though they tried to carry the movie, the terrible story and dialogue let each scene down.

In the end, Andy and Quỳnh made up, which just happened because the last time they parted ways they fought. Then they saw each other again, with Quỳnh holding a bomb, and suddenly they were friends again, with me thinking I must have missed the reunion. Then the end, when Discord and Andy had to face each other, was horribly choreographed, like some of the other fights, and it ended in an anticlimax. For a boring, drawn-out movie, in the last 15 minutes it picked up, then just ended, creating a need for a part 3—which I do not think anyone should see.

If you saw the first part, then you are safe. You don’t need to see this one. It is horrible, and I do not recommend it.