Film

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

09/05/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

When author Pierre Boulle published his science fiction novel La Planéte des Singes in 1963, he could have had no idea of the protracted cinematic legacy that awaited it. In 1968, Planet of the Apes starring Charlton Heston was a massive hit and had one of the most iconic final scenes in history. It spawned four (admittedly patchy) sequels and, in the 1970s, became a long-running television series, of which I still have fond memories.

In 2001, Tim Burton attempted a big-screen reboot, but only his staunchest fans would claim that it was in any way a success.

So when, ten years later, director Rupert Wyatt made another attempt to apply the old defibrillators, I had low expectations (which, in retrospect, may have helped). Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a cracking film which centred on a remarkable mo-cap performance by Andy Serkis as Caesar. Two more films (both directed by Matt Reeves) continued in the same vein, rounding off with War for the Planet of the Apes in 2017. Surely there was nothing more to be said on the talking simian subject?

Ahem.

Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes begins with a glimpse of Caesar on his funeral pyre and then scampers nimbly onwards for many years, introducing us to a new hero, Noa (Owen Teague). Noa is one of a tribe of chimpanzee hunter-gatherers, who specialise in training eagles, which they send out to catch fish for them. The apes are now the dominant species on the planet and the few humans that Noa encounters are savages who, thanks to a mysterious virus, have lost their ability to speak.

Noa is approaching a coming-of-age ceremony for which he needs a freshly-laid eagle’s egg but, when the one he’s been carrying around with him gets scrambled, he’s obliged to ride out in search of a replacement. He comes up against a gang of aggressive bonobos, under the despotic leadership of Proximus ‘Caesar ‘(Kevin Durand), who has realised that – much like the Romans before him – he can make the name a hereditary title and subvert everything that his illustrious progenitor ever believed in. Noa also meets a wise old orangutan called Raka (Peter Macon) and a human called Mae (Freya Allan), who, unlike most of her species, can speak eloquently. She has a secret mission to carry out in the ruins of the nearby city where Proximus reigns, so Noa and Mae travel there together. They are captured and made to swear allegiance to Proximus. Another captive human, Trevathan (William H. Macy), tells Noa that Proximus is spending much of his time trying to gain entry to a massive underground vault which may just contain a ‘book’ which could restore the power of speech to humanity….

If this is beginning to sound complicated, let me assure you that on the screen it’s even more so – and this gives the story a muddled quality, particularly in the saggy middle section of its lengthy running time. Don’t get me wrong, the film has many qualities to commend it. Like its three predecessors, the world-building here is brilliantly done and the exotic (Australian) locations are awe-inspiring to say the very least. Also, the mo-cap characters are depicted with astonishing nuance and it’s to the film’s credit that, despite a massive cast of simians, I am never confused as to who is who.

As the film thunders into its final stretches there’s a major revelation – and I remind myself that Wes Ball has made no secret of the fact that he sees KOTPOTA as the opening salvo in a trilogy. But looking around the scant audience for this afternoon’s performance, I can’t help wondering if there’s any appetite for it. Maybe this lucrative franchise is finally approaching its extinction. If that’s the case, it’s had a pretty impressive run – and, even if this instalment feels like something of a step down, it’s nonetheless a fantastic visual achievement.

Those with a taste for mo-cap marvels should swing down to their nearest multiplex, choose the biggest screen available and… go ape.

3.3 stars

Philip Caveney

In the Land of Saints and Sinners

07/04/24

Netflix

In recent years, Liam Neeson’s film output seems to have evolved into a series of geri-action brawls, so In the Land of Saints and Sinners comes as something of a breath of fresh air. Not that it doesn’t feature plenty of action – it does. But it’s also a deceptively gentle, almost pastoral, sort of film that has the good sense to show us enough about its many characters to make us care what happens to them.

Written by Mark Michael McNally and Terry Loane, the story takes place largely in the tranquil setting of Glencomcille, County Donegal. It’s 1976 and Finbar Murphy (Neeson) is a pillar of the community, kind, gentle and always ready to help anyone in trouble. He’s best friends with the local garda officer Vinnie (Ciarán Hinds) and enjoys a chaste but tender relationship with his neighbour, Rita (Niamh Cusack). But like many freelancers, Finbar has hidden depths.

Since the death of his wife, he’s worked for local crime kingpin, Robert McQue (Colm Meaney), helping to rid him of his enemies by taking them to a tranquil nook, despatching them with his trusty shotgun and burying them deep. He always plants a tree to commemorate each shooting and there are a lot of saplings in evidence.

But his latest victim (another contract killer)’s final words strike a chord with Finbar and make him think wistfully about abandoning this lucrative sideline and doing something less stressful. He asks McQue to pass on his cleaning-up duties to eager young hotshot, Kevin (Jack Gleeson), and McQue reluctantly agrees. But it isn’t long before the actions of nasty piece of work, Curtis June (Desmond Eastwood), recall Finbar to his former endeavours. Curtis is the brother of Doireann (Kerry Condon), a member of the provisional IRA, who, with two other members of her unit, is currently hiding out in in Glencomcille after fleeing a bombing incident in Belfast. Doireann is a force to be reckoned with and it’s clear that the tranquility of this sleepy suburb is soon to be rudely interrupted…

Though the ever-present threat of violence does inevitably build to a bloody conclusion, what really works for the film are the moments that lead up to it. Neeson is great here, as a kind, caring and avuncular character, always ready to do what has to be done when the situation demands it. He’s surrounded by the cream of Irish talent, not least Condon (a recent Oscar-winner, lest we forget, for The Banshees of Inisherin), who imbues Doireann with a fierce and unrelenting determination to destroy anyone reckless enough to stand in her way. Gleeson’s Kevin is also a revelation, a kid who’s never been treated kindly and who nurtures a hopeless ambition to go to California where, he’s been told, peace and love are currently in the air. Mind you, all the characters in this drama have the resonance of real people and that’s one of the elements that makes it work so effectively.

Director Robert Lorenz uses the majestic landscape of Donegal to the film’s advantage, counterpointing scenes of stark violence with the beauty and serenity of nature. It all makes for something far more nuanced than I’d normally expect to find in this genre – and ensures that the tragedy of its brutal conclusion is all the more affecting.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney

The Fall Guy

05/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Those of us who have lived on this planet for a substantial number of years will probably have fond memories of the 80s TV series that inspired this film. I have little doubt that director (and former stunt man) David Leitch may himself have found inspiration in it for his own subsequent career. I have vague memories of Lee Majors as Colt Seavers, the guy who ‘makes Eastwood look so good,’ but I’d struggle to remember any storylines from the show.

Leitch’s reinvention is a romp, a big, audacious and sometimes hilarious movie that never hesitates to amp up the silliness of the concept. I can’t remember when I last laughed so much at a screening and I’ve been somewhat dismayed by the dour reviews from other critics who have dismissed the film – as though it has no right whatsoever to have fun. I completely disagree.

In this version, Seavers is played by Ryan Gosling, exuding that sleepy sensuality that has made him such a bankable star. Seavers is in recovery after a disastrous on-set accident and has since turned his (broken) back on the movie business. He now makes his living valeting cars instead of crashing them. He’s also ghosted his former lover, camera woman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), and is painfully aware that this was a big mistake.

Out of the blue, Colt gets a call from big-time film producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham), who wants him in Sydney, Australia to work on her latest would-be blockbuster, Metalstorm. Colt is initially reluctant to comply until he hears that the film in question is Jody’s directorial debut and that she has personally asked for his involvement. Spotting a chance to rekindle that botched relationship, Colt jumps aboard the first available plane.

Once there, Gail informs him that Jody hasn’t really asked for his presence at all – in fact she’s still pretty pissed off with him. The issue is that the film’s star, the egotistical Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), has gone missing and, without him, the project is as good as dead. Colt knows Tom well: he’s performed stunts for the actor for years. But his attempts to find him lead Colt down a perilous rabbit hole where everybody he encounters is trying to kill him…

Okay, so the plot wouldn’t win any prizes for originality, but writer Drew Pearce manages to keep the cinematic pot bubbling with inventive humour and there’s enough chemistry between Gosling and Blunt to make me care about how things turn out for the two of them. I love the scene where Jody makes Colt apologise for his past behaviour in front of the film’s massive cast – using a loud hailer. There’s also a very funny sequence where Colt is accompanied everywhere he goes by a unicorn. (Don’t ask.) Waddingham is terrific as the bombastic Gail and Taylor-Johnson (who also had a key role in Leitch’s last film, Bullet Train) manages to make Ryder more than just a cardboard cutout. Eagle-eyed viewers may spot David Collins of the Umbilical Brothers (one of our favourite acts at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe) in a small role as a camera technician. Oh and Metalstorm? I could be wrong, but I suspect that this weird looking alien/cowboy mash-up may be Leitch’s way of having a sly dig at (the admittedly po-faced) Dune.

And then, of course, there are the stunts, each one more elaborate and eye-popping than the last. The Fall Guy is, more than anything else, a celebration of the unsung stand-ins who risk life and limb every time they step in front of a movie camera. It’s no coincidence that in one conversation, Colt berates the fact that the Oscars still haven’t managed to offer a gong for the year’s most spectacular stunt, despite plenty of lobbying. That’s something that this film could just tip the balance for.

Naturally, there are obligatory walk-on roles for Lee Majors and his former sidekick, Heather Thomas, playing the least convincing Australian police officers in history. Well, it would be rude not to feature them somewhere, right? I could argue that the film might easily have lost half an hour in its running time and been a leaner, meaner beast, but – that said – I wouldn’t want to be the one to choose which bits to cut out. The Fall Guy is, quite simply, a whole ton of fun.

A series of clips over the end credits revealing how the action sequences were achieved adds yet another layer to the film. I sit there watching stunt players, doubling for actors, pretending to be stunt players. Let’s face it, that’s about as meta as you could reasonably ask for.

4.3 stars

Philip Caveney

Love Lies Bleeding

04/05/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Rose Glass’s impressive debut film, St Maud, had its UK release slap bang in the middle of lockdown and could only be viewed via streaming. As I watched, I was uncomfortably aware of how much better it would look projected onto a giant screen. Glass’s sophomore film, Love Lies Bleeding, would appear (at least on paper) to be a more straightforward beast than its predecessor, a gritty crime thriller set in New Mexico, sometime in the 1980s. But as I might have predicted, it’s anything but. Here, a genre traditionally driven by male protagonists is ingeniously hijacked to become a vehicle that is equal parts horror and queer romance.

Lou (Kristen Stewart) manages a sleazy gym owned by her dodgy and prosperous father, Lou Senior (Ed Harris). She spends much of her time unblocking toilets and fending off the amorous advances of Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov). Then a stranger visits the gym. Jackie (Katy O’ Brian) is a bodybuilder, intent on preparing herself for a big competition to be held in Las Vegas, and determined to be there at any cost. There’s an instant attraction between the two women and it isn’t long before the two of them are having frantic sex and Lou is shooting Jackie up with ampules taken from her illicit supply of steroids. (Those with an aversion to hypodermics will find themselves looking away at this point.)

Matters become more complicated when Lou finds out that Jackie has taken a job at the gun range owned by Lou Senior. Lou really doesn’t have much to do with her old man, because of something that happened to her in the past, something she’d much rather forget about. Matters come to a head when Lou’s much-loved sister, Beth (Jena Malone), is brutally assaulted by her scumbag partner, JJ (Dave Franco). Jackie, popped up on too many steroids, decides to exact bloody revenge…

The story, co-written by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, takes some sinewy twists and turns from this point and, as the complications pile on, so the suspense steadily mounts. An atmosphere of dread is aided and abetted by the inventive cinematography of Ben Fordesman, who exploits the eeriness of those desert locations to the full, while Clint Mansell’s ominous score helps to amp up the tension.

While this is less of a horror film than St Maud, Glass still manages to throw in some startling tropes – Jackie’s performance at the much-anticipated Las Vegas show starts majestically enough but quickly descends into some truly disturbing imagery as the aforementioned steroids exert their influence. Stewart is, as ever, completely convincing in her role and O’Brian, who is also a martial arts instructor (she developed her stunning physique especially for this film), is astonishing. Veteran Ed Harris, sporting some horrific hair extensions, lends his character a palpable malevolence, inviting comparison to the giant insects Lou Senior breeds (and occasionally eats) in his leisure time.

It’s in the film’s final furlong that Glass really swings for the windmills, unleashing an astonishing development that is as surreal as it’s exhilarating. And if the final coda at first feels like a minor misstep, it makes perfect sense once I’ve had a chance to ponder it.

Best of all, this time, there’s the wonderful luxury of watching the film unfold on a screen that’s big enough to contain its super-ripped star. Don’t wait for streaming. See Love Lies Bleeding as it is meant to be viewed.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

Macbeth

02/05/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Oh, the irony!

This touring production actually came to Edinburgh, the city where we live. But, for reasons far too tedious to go into, we failed to secure tickets for it – and now a screening of the live show at Cineworld offers us an opportunity to catch it after all.

I still haven’t given up on the hope that one day, somebody out there will put on a version of the Scottish Play in which the Macbeths are in their twenties. I’ve always felt that the hubristic actions of the Macbeths would make so much more sense if the duo were little more than reckless kids – and great actors though they are, Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma hardly qualify in that department.

But a large helping of humble pie awaits me, because this sweaty, immersive interpretation of Shakespeare’s most ubiquitous play is one of the best versions I’ve seen. While it throws in some unexpected twists in the telling, they are never allowed to feel like gimmicks. Three feral-looking witches (played by Lucy Mangan, Danielle Fiamanya and Lola Shalam) appear in the background of scenes I wouldn’t usually expect to see them in, and lend a wonderfully sinister quality to the proceedings.

I won’t bang on about the story, which just about everybody in the world knows by heart (indeed, there are moments when I feel I could find work as a prompt for this play); suffice to say that both Fiennes and Varma acquit themselves admirably, Fiennes mining the seam of dark humour that underpins the mayhem and Varma absolutely nailing Lady M’s vaulting ambition. I’ve seldom seen the couple’s aspirations spelled out with such absolute clarity.

Ben Turner’s portrayal of MacDuff is riveting, particularly in the scene where he’s told by Ross (Ben Allan) of the murder of his wife and two children, the enormity of the revelation spelled out in Turner’s grief-wracked face. This is such an affecting moment that my own eyes flood with tears.

Finally, there’s the violent confrontation at the end, the warriors dressed in contemporary body armour. So often this play is let down by the sight of actors swiping half-heartedly at each other with rapiers, but the deadly looking machetes brandished in this confrontation are swung around with enough abandon to make me flinch in my seat. All in all, this is a faultless production and the mere glimpses I receive of its atmospheric setting make me wish I’d tried harder to hunt down tickets to the original performance.

If this comes to a cinema near you, I’d advise you to grab a seat at your earliest opportunity.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Challengers

21/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Challengers

I’m a huge tennis fan, but I’d be hard pushed to think of a non-documentary film that has ever come close to capturing the verve and excitement of the game. Until now. Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers manages to capture the gladiatorial nature of the sport and at the same time interweaves it with a stylish, sexy drama, which centres on three players and their complicated relationships. Guadagnino is a gifted filmmaker with both Call Me By Your Name and Bones and All as brilliant examples of the art. (I’ve just about forgiven him for his pretentious remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria.)

The film opens midway through an intense tennis final between Art Donaldson (Mike Faist)  and Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor), who are playing under the baleful gaze of Art’s coach – and wife – Tashi Duncan (Zendaya). Art has been a top player but his star is waning; he’s still got the sponsorship deals earning him big money but he’s lost his mojo so, in a desperate attempt to rekindle his ambition, Tasha – who’s only ever really been motivated by her own thwarted obsession with tennis – persuades him to enter an open tournament, feeling that playing a series of lower seeds will be good for his confidence. Patrick is doing rather less well financially, living hand to mouth and at one point reduced to sleeping in his car – but he is playing to win.

From this point, the film flashes effortlessly back to thirteen years earlier, when the two young men, best friends since their first day at boarding school, encounter Tashi, the player everyone’s talking about. Both of them fall head over heels in lust with her and, in a playful scene in the men’s shared hotel room, Tashi announces that she will sleep with whoever wins the match when the two of them play tennis tomorrow…

It would be a crime to reveal much more about the plot from this point, but suffice to say that it takes some pretty labyrinthine twists and turns as it moves forwards and backwards in time, taking in everything that happens along the way.

There are strong performances from the three leads – nobody else gets much of a look-in – and while the story has some strong sexual content, it’s never allowed to feel prurient. It’s clear from the outset that Tasha is the main motivator in this three-way entanglement and she’s not about to be manipulated by anybody. 

Justin Kuritzke’s script is cleverly nuanced and sometimes wickedly funny, while Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have created an atypical electronic score, one so propulsive that I find my feet tapping along to the urgent rhythms. For the most part it works brilliantly, though I do feel it’s occasionally overused. A special mention must go to the inventive cinematography of Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, particularly in the climactic stages of the final tennis match, which at one point has the camera careering madly back and forth across the court as though its been glued to a tennis ball.

Challengers is a grown up, slick and inventive feature, which is the work of a director at (ahem) the top of his game, set and match. 

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

Abigail

20/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Twelve-year-old Abigail (Alisha Weir) is kidnapped one evening after her ballet class. Sedated, blindfolded and spirited away to an abandoned mansion, she’s held hostage by a ragtag bunch of mercenaries, intent on extorting $50 million from her gangster father (Matthew Goode). But when Daddy doesn’t care enough to cough up, what’s a tweenage girl to do? Sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty…

Although it treads a well-worn path, Abigail is more than just tropes and jump-scares. The script (by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick) is witty and spare, the exposition deftly integrated. Although the characters never stand a chance – their subsequent fall is inevitable – they are three-dimensional and interesting, their shifting dynamic always plausible.

The gang are not exactly innocent victims of their story. They’re all prepared to traumatise a child for nothing more than the mighty moolah. But directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett manage to engage our sympathy for the squad, allowing us the time and space to get to know them and understand their motivations.

Medic and former-addict Joey (Melissa Barrera) is the second lead, and we’re on her side from the outset. She’s aghast to learn that the victim is a child, and forms a bond with Abigail straight away. Ex-cop Frank (Dan Stevens) is harder to like: he feels neither shame nor remorse for the work he does; he’s pragmatic and cool. Rickles (William Catlett), Peter (Kevin Durand) and Dean (the late Angus Cloud, to whom the film is dedicated) are all hapless in their various ways, while rich-kid hacker Sammy (Kathryn Newton) is just in it for the lulz.

But the tiniest mite packs the mightiest sting, and it turns out that there’s much more to Abigail than meets the eye…

Weir is clearly having a whale of a time in this 18-certificate bloodfest: she more than holds her own with the adult actors. She’s the perfect embodiment of innocence and evil, and it’s great to see her refusing to be typecast. Although it’s an undeniably violent film, the action meets the demands of the story and never feels superfluous.

This grisly thriller is a gem, but be warned: the characters’ endings are often a little bit gory.

4 stars

Susan Singfield

Back to Black

18/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Advance reviews for Back to Black have been mostly underwhelming, writers mostly castigating the film for not finding anything that hasn’t already been covered in Asif Kapadia’s (admittedly brilliant) 2015 documentary, Amy. (https://bouquetsbrickbatsreviews.com/2015/07/04/amy/)

Those in the know have also muttered darkly that certain players in the story have been let off a little too lightly for comfort. While it’s certainly true that Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic resolutely refuses to apportion any blame for what happened to Amy Winehouse, it doesn’t detract from the fact that this film is both eminently watchable and genuinely, heart-breakingly tragic.

We first encounter Amy (Marisa Abela) as a teenager in Camden, already a talented performer, inspired by her beloved Nan, Cynthia (Lesley Manville), a jazz singer back in the day. She’s also encouraged by her taxi-driver dad, Mitch (Eddie Marsan), who isn’t shy of indulging in a bit of crooning himself. If Matt Greenhalgh’s screenplay features an overload of exposition in the opening scenes, it soon settles down enough to allow viewers to enjoy the ride.

A&R man Nick (Sam Buchanan) hears Amy’s demo tape and is keen to sign her up to the Simon Fuller agency, but she’s quick to point out to him that her idea of ‘girl power’ is Sarah Vaughan and that she ‘ain’t no fuckin’ Spice Girl.’ Success, it seems, must come on her terms or not at all. But of course, she rises like a meteor and, almost before you can say ‘Go Amy!,’ she has an album out, a residency at a local pub and a rapidly-growing legion of fans.

But Amy’s world is turned upside down when she encounters Blake (Jack O’ Connell), a Camden Jack-the-Lad with a nice line in deadpan patter and a coke habit that’s already getting him into trouble. Despite the fact that Amy hates drugs and Blake doesn’t care for booze, the two of them become lovers. What can possibly go wrong?

Of course, what happens after that is a steadily mounting disaster played out under the baleful glare of the paparazzi (who, I suspect, are the ones who should really shoulder some of the blame for what happened) and the result is much like watching a slow-motion car crash. I cannot look away. Abela is astonishing in the lead role, playing Amy with absolute conviction, alternately hard as nails and fragile as cut glass. She also supplies her own vocals. I’m no Winehouse aficionado, but to me it sounds spot on. O’Connell, an undervalued performer, is also terrific, encompassing Blake’s strengths and failings perfectly. The scene where Amy and Blake first meet is beautifully handled and it’s clear from the outset why they become so besotted with each other, so utterly incapable of extricating themselves from the ensuing carnage.

In the finest biopic tradition, there are recreations of famous performances, which once again capture the look and feel of the period, and it would be a hard-hearted soul indeed who doesn’t shed a tear in the scene where Amy performs a heartfelt rendition of Love is a Losing Game, after hearing that Blake has, once again, turned his back on her.

Of course, it’s always difficult to depict something so familiar and find new horizons within it, but I can’t help feeling that Taylor-Johnson has been unfairly maligned on this one. Back to Black offers us a compelling insight into Amy’s character, and it never flags. Abela is a revelation and, provided she can successfully avoid the spectre of typecasting, she really should have a bright future ahead of her.

4 stars

Philip Caveney

Civil War

14/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

With the situation in the Middle East rapidly approaching flashpoint, it seems a particularly propitious time for Alex Garland’s Civil War to open at UK cinemas. If it was devised as a kind of warning for the near future, then it now seems doubly unnerving. Set in an unspecified year, the film opens with the president of the United States (a suitably Trumpian Nick Offerman) rehearsing a speech telling his followers that all is well and that the seditionary forces opposing him will soon be vanquished. But in reality, the civil war which that has been raging for some time is now approaching its inevitable conclusion as the aforementioned insurrectionists converge on Washington DC. And they haven’t come to shake the president’s hand.

Renowned photojournalist Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague Joel (Wagner Moura) are both determined to be at the capital in time to witness what happens, and – more importantly – to capture it on film. But getting there will involve a long and hazardous trip across the war-torn country. The night before they leave they pick up a couple of fellow travellers: veteran newshound Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), more cautious than the other two, but still determined to be in at the kill – and young novice Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who actually idolises Lee and wants to – quite literally – follow in her footsteps…

Civil War has been criticised by some for failing to pin down exactly who is attacking whom in the various conflicts the foursome encounter – but I think that’s entirely the point. Garland (who also wrote the screenplay) wants to show the confusion of warfare, the fact that all kinds of people are pitching into this carnage with manifestos of their own. Against this chaotic background, Garland is much more interested in the photojournalists themselves, the callousness they must possess in order to observe atrocities without ever pitching in to help, the utter determination that propels them to risk their own lives in order to get that one all-important image and document history as it unfolds.

The background in which these scenarios play out is convincingly portrayed. This is production company A24’s most expensive project yet and it shows, the final conflict in the capital rendered with absolute veracity. There’s a powerful sense of unease that builds steadily throughout the film and I’ve rarely seen urban warfare depicted with such unflinching realism and attention to detail. Watch out for a powerful cameo from Jesse Plemons as a merciless soldier in a particularly dread-charged sequence and marvel too at the clever device that repeatedly halts cinematographer Rob Hardy’s adrenaline-charged action sequences to pick out one black and white image.

I’ve occasionally had issues with some of Garland’s endings (Men in particular, where he seemed to be pounding home his final message with a sledgehammer) but this keeps me gripped right to the final frame. Civil War’s conclusion may be too cynical for some, but I feel it’s absolutely spot on. Furthermore, I’d go so far as to suggest that this might be Alex Garland’s most fully-realised film so far.

But be warned. You’ll most likely leave the cinema feeling pretty grim about the future.

4.6 stars

Philip Caveney

Seize Them!

10/04/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Britain in the Dark Ages is a perilous place for a ruler, as Queen Dagan (Aimee Lou Wood) finds to her cost. A petulant, privileged brat who has never encountered hardship, she’s currently presiding over a realm that’s in imminent danger of collapse, due to the presence of too many revolting peasants. They are currently being stirred into insurrection by the duplicitous Humble Joan (Nicola Coughlan), supposedly down with the common people, but always with one eye on the throne, even when she’s preaching equality.

Dagan’s approach is to carry on regardless, relying on her acolyte Leofwine (Jessica Hynes) for guidance. But she’s the kind of assistant who will switch sides at the drop of a crown, which she promptly does – and Dagan has no option but to flee for her life, accompanied only by faithful servant, Shulmay (Lolly Adefope). Trekking across a remote landscape, they encounter humble shit-spader, Bobik (Nick Frost), a likeable fellow who is clearly as thick as the product he works with, but the three of them team up in a bid to help Dagan to reach some potential allies in the Northlands…

Seize Them! is written by Andy Riley, who has contributed to the Horrible Histories series, and his heritage shows in a string of silly gags in which poos, farts and slapstick figure prominently. But as the story unfolds, I can’t help wondering who this film is actually for. The presence of ‘adult’ swear words and some unexpectedly grisly injury details have earned it a 15 certificate, but no self-respecting fifteen-year-old is going to be content with the childish fare on offer here and I have to confess I’m with them.

While there’s a whole battalion of comic talent doing their best with the poor material they’ve been given, they have precious little to work with. After the disappointment of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, it’s once again a shame to see James Acaster fobbed off with generic lines that offer him no room to show what he can actually do – and it’s almost painful to witness Jessica Hynes delivering lines that she could doubtless improve on in her sleep.

Director Curtis Vowell is hampered by a shoestring budget and the result is lacklustre to say the very least. The only scene that does manage to make me laugh – Bobik amiably listing the different kinds of shit he’s worked with – is hardly comedy gold.

This may manage to scare up an audience when it goes to streaming but, as a cinematic experience, it leaves much to be desired.

2.8 stars

Philip Caveney