Author: Natalie Teasdale

I want to share with other movie fans those amazing films that get under your skin and stay with you for days: the scary ones, the funny ones; the ones that get you thinking. With a background in creative writing, photography, psychology and neuroscience, I’ll be focusing on dialogue, what makes a great story, if the film has beautiful creative cinematography, the soundtrack and any movie that successfully scratches the surface of our existence. My aim is to always be searching for that ultimate movie, to share what I’ve found to be interesting (whether it be a great soundtrack, a great director or links to other information of interest) and to give an honest review without too much fluff. BAppSci in Psychology/Psychophysiology; Grad Dip Creative Arts and Post Grad Dip in Creative Writing. Founder of GoMovieReviews.

The Bad Guys

Rated: PG

Directed by: Pierre Perifel

Based on: The Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey

Produced by: Damon Ross and Rebecca Huntley

Executive Producers: Aaron Blabey, Etan Cohen and Patrick Hughes

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, Zazie Beetz, Lilly Singh and Alex Borstein.

‘We may be bad but we’re so good at it.’ Meet, The Big Bad Wolf (Sam Rockwell).

Mr. Wolf is part of The Bad Guys – a gang of villains who just love being bad and stealing stuff.

There’s Mr. Snake (Marc Maron): a master like Houdini at opening a safe… without hands…

Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), AKA Wizz: an eight-legged hacker;

Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson): a master of disguise, ‘I’m a destruction worker.’

And Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) – he’s crazy and farts when nervous.

Natural selection has handed The Bad Guys the card of being feared – everyone’s terrified of them, so why not be bad?!

When Governor Foxington (Zazie Beetz) calls the gang out on TV as being sad and needing to fill a hole in their being with money which is never going to work because they just want to be loved… Mr. Wolf sees red and decides it’s time to steal the ultimate bad guy prize: The Golden Dolphin. A trophy given to the one citizen who’s done the most good.

Meet: Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade). A guinea pig and therefore nicknamed, ‘Pig’. He’s Mr. Snakes favourite food.

The storyline is setup as a heist movie for kids. And not just because of the animation (DreamWorks excelling again with their detail in fur). But because of all the lame dad jokes.

‘You’re good at this.’

‘I’m kind of a natural. Learned mostly from YouTube.’

There are some predictable twists in the plot with underlying main message of there’s ‘a flower of goodness in everyone, just waiting to blossom’.

But the tone of the film as a caper, with split screens and jaunty soundtrack, reminiscent of an Ocean’s movie, felt twee.

I know, a kid’s movie. But the, ‘One of these days their luck is gonna run out,’ and the meteor falling to earth that Pig/Prof sees as a heart, naw, yet The Bad Guys see as a butt… Well, that actually was pretty funny.

And the, naw does get turned on its head.

It just wasn’t surprising.

The attempt of being edgy and diabolical made the film less edgy.

I liked the characters and the fact, Mr. Wolf can taste the air and hear colour. But the lines of the characters didn’t always land making, The Bad Guys an OK watch but nothing over exciting.

X

Rated: R18+

Directed by: Ti West

Produced by: Ti West, Jacob Jaffke, Harrison Kreiss, Kevin Turen

Starring: Mia Goth, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi, Jenna Ortega.

‘Just when you thought you’d escaped the slaughterhouse.’

Cicadas and flies and a rundown farmhouse are the setting of, X.

Police cars have their strobes silently rotating.

They walk into the farmhouse.

An evangelist is preaching on the TV.

The cops walk down to the basement, ‘My God.’

X is a horry (ha, ha, typo I swear), I mean gory, horror featuring the cast and crew of a porn movie in the making: The Farmer’s daughters.’

It’s 1979. Anyone can make a porn, especially a home-made movie. But cameraman, RJ (Owen Campbell) wants this porn to be different, ‘Because it’s possible to make a good dirty movie.’

He’s brought his good-girl girlfriend (Jenna Ortega) along as sound tech to prove his point.

And Maxine (Mia Goth) co-star and girlfriend of the executive producer (Martin Henderson) of said porn has the x-factor: ‘I need to be famous Wayne.’

To give the setting of the film the right ambiance, Wayne rents an outbuilding on a farm. A farm owned by an elderly man and his wife.

And by elderly, I mean old; the old-factor pushed to become part of the horror, because, X is a horror that builds with flashes from the deteriorating old to the fresh and young x-factor porn stars.

Blond bombshell Brittany and fellow, well-endowed sometime boyfriend, Jackson (Scott Mescudi) are ready to perform for the first scene.

The flash back and forth between the old and the x with the ominous music of the soundtrack holds the tone of bad things to come.

Including bones sticking out of fingers and nails through feet.

There are jumps and moments when I was looking through my fingers.

It gets twisted too, but not to the extent it’s unwatchable.

The storyline wavers across to the ridiculous but there’s genuine tongue-in-cheek humour, like a sign reading, ‘Plowing Service,’ stuck to the side of the film crew’s van.

There’s nothing believable about the old couple, but the techniques in the directing and editing lift the quality of X, the juxtaposition of scenes timed just right, the staring of Maxine directly into the camera and co-star Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) asking, ‘What about you, Maxine? What’s your American Dream?’

Maxine doesn’t answer directly, only to herself in the mirror – to not live the life she doesn’t deserve.

There’s underlying meaning to the seemingly benign that comes full circle in the story that leaves a different kind of understanding of the film – not just sex, not just horror, but an extra layer that makes the erotic slasher also interesting.

Dog

Rated: M

Directed by: Channing Tatum & Reid Carolin

Story by: Reid Carolin, Brett Rodriguez

Produced by: Gregory Jacobs, Peter Kiernan, Brett Rodriguez

Starring: Channing Tatum, Ryder McLaughlin, Aavi Haas.

‘You’re more than just a dog.’

Opening the film to puppy pics then written assessments, Lulu, a Belgian Malinois Army K9 is no ordinary dog.

With eight military tours to her name, Lulu was part of the Ranger Battalion team.

But after injury and her master, Rodriguez dying in a high speed car crash, she’s not the same dog.

US army Ranger, Jackson Briggs (Channing Tatum) finds out the hard way, ‘You do not want to touch her ears.’

Banged up and on forced leave but desperate to get back into the action, Briggs has one more job to complete before his sergeant signs off the last document, clearing him for active duty: he has to drive from Washington to Arizona to take Lulu to her master’s funeral. Then take her on her last journey to be put down because now, she’s a killer dog that’s unmanageable.

It’s understandable to think, Oh, it’s another one of those tear-jerker dog movies…

But there’s something unique here that’s funny and kind, with man and dog damaged in a job they love, where they were, ‘kicking doors, getting our murder on.’

Dog is a movie that surprises in its depth.

It reminded me of how Hemingway writes men: stoic with a soft spot when understood – think, the character Thomas Hudson and his cat in, Islands in the Stream.

Channing Tatum is great in his role as an army brute with a scar running up the back of his neck on a road trip with a ferocious dog he can’t stop talking too.

Of course they win each other over, that’s kind of expected with this type of movie, but the military angle added another layer so it was two brutes that save each other.

There’re light-hearted moments that are so strange that it feels like real life, while also touching on sensitive subjects like PTSD, war and suicide.

So yes, it gets emotional but without any forced sentiment. Because more than anything it’s a cracker of a well-paced story about a man and a dog.

I’ve never liked Channing Tatum as much as I like him in this film.

Book of Love

Rated: M

Directed by: Analeine Cal y Mayor

Written by: David Quantick & Analeine Cal y Mayor

Produced by: Naysun Alae-Carew, Michael Knowles, Allan Niblo & Richard Alan Reid

Starring: Sam Claflin, Verónica Echegui, Fernando Becerril, Horacio Villalobos and Lucy Punch.

‘You’ve never been in love,’ Maria (Verónica Echegui) tells Henry (Sam Claflin).

She can tell by the way he writes, his novel, ‘The Sensible Heart,’ described by Henry as a book about practical love.

Yawn.

That’s what anyone who’s ever read it thinks.

Until Maria translates the book into Spanish, to become the Number 1 Best Seller in Mexico.

She does more than translate, she re-writes Henry’s passionless vision of love into a sex-romp.

He wonders why Mexican fans are sending him sex-pics.

When he finds out about the changes to his book (he doesn’t speak Spanish which adds to the comedy) he’s mortified. But who cares? It’s selling.

So when his publisher (Lucy Punch) forces Henry to go to Mexico to promote the book (he didn’t write) it’s a comedy of awkward moments as this stuffy Englishman tries to politely give credit to a book he didn’t write while falling in love with the woman who re-writes him.

Book Of Love lives up to the romance of the title with the extra hint of pink font in the opening credits.

Polite and stuffy yet handsome Englishman meets passionate with unrecognised talent, Mexican single mum, Maria.

Classic romantic set-up.

It’s a comedy too (rom-com), lacy undies thrown on stage included. And there’s sheep.

It’s a light-weight viewing that rolls along on sweet moments with son and grandpa Max (Fernando Becerril) in the back of the Volkswagen beetle brought along on tour because they can’t be trusted to be alone. Then there’s the jealous ex with comments like, ‘I promise this is the last time I let you down.’

The humour appealed to my cynicism, so I wanted Maria to succeed.

There’re a few hurdles in this love story to keep it interesting, and a fresh take on the drama that unfolds between new love and letting go of the old. Or not even letting go just knowing what feels right and what is so obviously wrong. And understanding the difference between lust and love; how love is an ideal not a reality, that people are the reality of love and that people let you down. But that passion is also part of love and in the end can lead to one big hot mess but that’s OK.

It all gets a bit unrealistic, in other words a rom-com (what did you expect?!) where I chuckled a few times with the romance sweet without being over cheesy.

Cyrano

Rated: M

Directed by: Joe Wright

Screenplay by: Erica Schmidt

Based on: The stage musical adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt, from ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ by Edmond Rostand, with music by Aaron & Bryce Dessner and lyrics by Matt Berninger & Carin Besser

Music by: Bryce Dessner & Aaron Dessner

Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Guy Heeley

Executive Produced by: Erica Schmidt, Sarah-Jane Robinson, Sherraz Shah, Lucas Webb, Matt Berninger, Carin Besser, Aaron Dessner

Starring: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn.

‘My sole purpose on this earth is to love Roxanne (Haley Bennett),’ laments Cyrano (Peter Dinklage).

He at least has the decency to be a little embarrassed of the words uttered to his friend, Le Bret (Bashir Salahuddin).

It’s not the flowery words that embarrass Cyrano, but that he has admitted his love for the unreachable.

He is a midget and she a great beauty to be worshiped.

Cyrano and Roxanne are friends. Best friends. If he told her of his true feelings, he would lose her forever.

Cyrano sighs as he states, ‘I am living proof that God has a sick sense of humour.’

Pursued by the Duke De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn), Roxanne’s loved by many.

The Duke is rich, she’s poor. Her handmaiden (Monica Dolan) reminds her, ‘Children need love. Adults need money.’

Roxanne wants love more than anything. And thinks she’s found it when she sees the dashing soldier, Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) for the first time.

It’s love at first sight.

Christian is handsome but without a sharp wit. It’s up to Cyrano to write letters on Christian’s behalf, to write all the things he’s ever wanted to tell Roxanne. Only to be signed by Christian.

Cyrano is a musical romance set at a time of puppet shows, lace and ribbons, duels and corsets.

Not my favourite flavour of film.

I promised myself to keep an open mind.

Expect singing from the outset.

And also some great lines from Cyrano like, ‘Would you defend this… sausage?!’ He describes an actor wearing a red frizzy wig and well past his used-by date.

I quote the dialogue often because there is just so much to quote; the words, the lyrics roll like waves throughout the film.

The love story does cloy with Roxanne’s demand of a handsome Christian filled with handsome words – with the expectation of nothing less.

It’s all very pretty and irritating with the ink on the paper of the first letter making her nervous.

But wow, there are some spectacular scenes of clever camera work of sword fighting and the audience back-and-forth in the theatre; the quiet of breathing.

And then the tears started.

It wasn’t the love story that got me, but the soldiers singing the words of their letter to be sent to their loved ones back home. The lyrics here are beautiful in their lack of sentiment. That’s what got to me: the clear-sighted expression of feeling.

The words and lyrics of the film are more like poetic truth than song.

Yes, there are irritating, long-winded moments but Peter Dinklage as Cyrano has a way of balancing the sweetness of the romance with a wry wit.

And once the tears started, the rest of the film built on that emotion.

So I admit, I got into a musical romance.

Marry Me

Rated: PG

Directed by: Kat Coiro

Screenplay Written by: John Rogers & Tami Sagher, Harper Dill

Based on the Graphic Novel by: Bobby Crosby

Produced by: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, John Rogers

Executive Produced by: Alex Brown, Willie Mercer, Pamela Thur, J. B. Roberts

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley and Sarah Silverman.

Married three times and about to marry for the forth, super star Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) has written a song with her also-a-super-star fiancé, Bastian (Maluma): Marry Me.

They’re set to sing the song at their wedding recorded live to stream across all platforms to over 20 million people making them the two most famous people on the planet.

And in front of all those people, Kat’s world falls apart when Bastian is posted cheating with her assistant. She sees the post just before rising onto the stage of her wedding.

Enter, Charlie (Owen Wilson).

Divorced and dad of Lou (Chloe Coleman), math teacher with no criminal record and holding up a sign: Marry Me.

They lock eyes.

OK.

So they get married. But only for show. It’s a meltdown, an impulsive moment. It will pass. The media frenzy will die down. It’s just for show.

Until it’s not.

I didn’t think I’d get into this movie, the premise being more than a stretch… Well, not so much these days?!

And I guess that’s of the point of the film, questioning the idea of getting married. Falling in love with the idea of the person and not who the person really is but what you want them to be.

There’s some foundation to the idea of these superstar with Jennifer Lopez being a singer and dancer in real life (alongside Latin music star Maluma), so the characters had some cred.

I wasn’t one-hundred percent sold on the Charlie character but he had some good lines, ‘I was, I am a fun guy.’ Tongue in cheek. He is a likeable guy. It was more the lack of chemistry between the celebrity singer and normal guy Charlie.

This is a film about getting to know each other rather than a steamy romance.

He is a math teacher who goes to bed at 8pm to read a book.

So it’s more about the relationship and the magic of taking that leap of faith. A romance that has some chuckles but is more about friendship.

It’s a little like, Notting Hill (1999) with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant where the superstar actress falls for the normal guy. But stretch that to a massive audience and streamed live on social media.

The formula’s always the same: the unlikely match, to the relationship working, to an obstacle, to taking the leap and overcoming the doubt, to tear jerker moment to heart-warming ending.

I’m admit to some cynicism.

But I kinda got into it with the aging British Bulldog, Tank used well to provoke those warm and fuzzies that will encourage hand holding leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Go on, take that leap of faith. Or don’t.

Either way, I agree with the sentiment, ‘If you want something different you have to do something different.’

Blacklight

Rated: M

Directed by: Mark Williams

Written by: Nick May & Mark Williams

Produced by: Mark Williams, Paul Currie, Myles Nestel, Aleve Loh, Coco Ma

Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Taylor John Smith, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Andrew Shaw, Zac Lemons, Claire Van Der Boom, Gabriella Sengos, Tim Draxl, Yael Stone, Georgia Flood, Caroline Brazier, Melanie Jarnsen.

‘Have I been doing the right thing?’ wonders, off-the-books fixer, Travis Block (Liam Neeson).

He’s the one head of the FBI, Bill Robinson (Aidan Quinn) turns to when deep cover agents get lost or worse, found out.

So when fellow agent Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) is found in his car full of pills and booze, leaving in his wake four cops who try and fail to take him down… Block is called to bring him in.

But instead of bringing Dusty back to the Bureau, Block discovers Dusty was on his way to meet Mira (Emmy Raver-Lampman). A journalist. He has a story to tell. A story that will force Block to question what he’s been doing with his life.

Blacklight opens to a protest led by politician, Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnsen); her speech including emotive statements like:

Financial greed

Domestic terrorism

Equal pay for everyone

We have something say!

Cut to the background of American flags flying in the breeze.

I admit I was cringing with the dramatic build of drums and high-hat flourishes.

Then enters Block. He taps his second finger: 1-2-3. Waiting for things to explode.

Blacklight is a classic style action movie with double take camera shots to increase that feeling of adrenaline and then missing takes to show a fragmented mind.

Then there’s the drama of Block wanting out: ‘There is no out for you.’

He wants a second chance at life and to spend more time with his granddaughter.

But his hospital working daughter doesn’t think he’s up to it: ‘Natalie doesn’t need a fixer like you.’

He wants out, they won’t let him. His family don’t trust him because of his past… The formula is a familiar one. Very familiar.

Which is not always a bad thing.

But those camera double takes started to cloy after the first half hour. As did the statements like, ‘The American people need to know the truth.’

It wasn’t all bad. There is… action. And a few twists.

And Neeson brings it, as always, with his brutish sincerity.

It just feels like a movie I’ve seen a dozen times before.

Watchable, then forgettable.

Moonfall

Rated: M

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Screenplay Written by: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Spenser Cohen

Produced by: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser

Starring: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Donald Sutherland, Michael Peña.

‘We’re not prepared for this.’

Part disaster movie, part sci-fi, comedy and drama, Moonfall begins its journey in space. Where an anomaly throws a routine repair mission into a tragedy.

Jocinda (Halle Berry), AKA space wife loses her memory. And space hero Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) loses everything.

After the tragedy is chalked up to human error, back on earth, Harper is now a fallen hero.

Fast forward ten years and something’s not right.

The moon is out of orbit and the first one to realise is megastructure conspiracist, K. C. Houseman (John Bradley).

But no one will listen.

‘Make them listen,’ says his mum.

So he does.

Being a Roland Emmerich film (think, Independence Day (1996), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 2012 (2012)), I expected a big budget disaster movie, and as already introduced, Moonfall is part disaster, part everything else.

Some notes hit, like the chuckles evoked from conspiracist, I-lost-two-mops, Houseman (you’ll recognise John Bradley as Sam in, Game of Thrones). And some notes didn’t with the suspense lost in the drama of Jocinda and her ex, military man, Doug Davidson (Eme Ikwuakor) and bad-boy son, Sonny (Charlie Plummer). And what I think was supposed to be an exchange student (?) Michelle (Kelly Yu).

I got a little lost down some rabbit holes.

But there’s a good foundation with a strong performance from Patrick Wilson and the movie’s saving grace, John Bradley.

And the effects on the big screen managed to distract from the sometimes forced, ‘I work for the American people and you’re keeping them in the dark,’ sentiment that made up about an eighth of the movie.

What was lacking in the emotional subtleties was glossed over with exploding cosmic rocks like fireworks and a looming, disintegrating moon pulling the ocean up and over high rise buildings.

Entertaining on the big screen and one of the better disaster movies with some attempt to dive into some interesting concepts.

What I enjoyed the most was the comedy.

So, a bit of an all-rounder.

I didn’t love it; didn’t hate it.

I had a giggle, liked the effects, made me wonder while some of the drama made me cringe.

Scream

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Written by: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick

Characters Created by: Kevin Williamson

Produced by: Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jenna Orgtega, Melissa Barrera, Marley Shelton, Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner and Reggie Conquest.

‘What’s your favourite move?’

The phone rings and I think to myself, who has a landline?

But Scream 2022 is all about bringing back the audience to the same opening as Scream 1996, the original.

Tara (Jenna Orgtega) answers. She’s home alone and about to get stabbed.

Welcome back to Woodsboro.

Scream the return, doesn’t shy away from its slasher genre. The film gets very stabby, Ghostface relentless as the knife penetrates cheeks and stomachs, people straddled with two handed plunges. It gets bloody. As expected with the Scream franchise.

The difference with this instalment is the invitation to the audience to be part of ‘the game’.

Watching the characters walking around the house just waiting for Ghostface to suddenly appear behind a door. It’s a tease and light-hearted (if a slasher can be light-hearted) because the audience knows what’s going to happen. We’ve seen it all before and know:

Don’t go off on your own.

If you know the why of the killing, you’ll know who’s the next target.

The killer is always part of the tight-knit group of friends being targeted, here your somewhat typical high school buddies, hyper vigilant Wes (Dylan Minnette), twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), girlfriend of Chad, Liv (Sonia Ammar) and best buddy of Tara, Amber (Mikey Madison).

The film uses the assumption the audience knows what’s coming and the characters know what’s coming next because they’ve all seen the slasher franchise, ‘Stab’. Which is basically the Scream franchise so the characters analyse their situation based on the Stab movies. While being in a Scream movie. Scream the return, or ‘requel’ as described by Mindy is not just a slasher, but also self-reflecting that makes for some funny, tongue-in-cheek humour.

Another rule in making a sequel (requel) is bringing back some legends, enter the return of Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette), Gale Riley (Courteney Cox) and of course, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).

So there’s the current storyline of Tara and her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) with boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid) coming back to Woodsboro to help solve this new phase of Ghostface killings.

And there’s the legends brought back to help figure out who Ghostface is because they’ve been in the same situation many times before.

All the while inviting the audience to see the characters reflect on their story while comparing the killings to the Stab movies while we the audience watch them.

Is it better than the original? No. The first one was shocking and unforgettable. But it’s just as good in other ways because it’s something different and challenging.

This instalment is not your typical slasher and the risky re-visit to the original idea of, Scream, is surprisingly successful. It’s like a re-make in a re-make that leads to all sorts of layers and humour while still having the scary moments.

Recommend going back and watching at least the first Scream movie to get some of those aside jokes.

The 355

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.2/5)

Rated: M

Directed by: Simon Kinberg

Written by: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg

Produced by: Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Simon Kinberg

Executive Producer: Richard Hewitt

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Sebastian Stan, Edgar Ramírez.

‘They get this? They start WWIII,’ says ex MI6 agent Khadija (Lupita Nyong’o).

And by ‘this’, she means the bad people out there getting hold of an intricate set of algorithms designed to unlock any system, in other words: a totally untraceable Master Key.

The CIA wants it, the BND (German intelligence service) wants it. And roped into the desperate search for this potential world changing weapon are former MI6 agent, Khadija (Lupita Nyong’o) and Colombian psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz).

The chase crosses the globe from Paris to Morocco to Shanghai as the agents fight against each other to then be forced to work together because as Khadija says, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

The 355 is more action than espionage as each side fights for the prize.

There’re some jumps and very near misses that ramp up the tension with visceral moments like hearing that small crack as a rib gets broken.

The storyline dabbles in the drama of these strong female leads: CIA agent, Mason Brown (Jessica Chastain) AKA Mace a loner, Graciela the out-of-her-depth psychologist wanting to get back to her family, Khadija making a go of a normal life, Chinese agent Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan) and German agent Marie (Diane Kruger) the ultimate badass and designated by the team as the one that’s the most messed up.

Director and writer Simon Kinberg (along with fellow writer Theresa Rebeck) skirts the line of working with the all-female cast without getting too girly.

Mace likens herself to James Bond but is reminded he always ends up alone. So, the characters are given some depth in between all the hand-to-hand combat.

But there’re no real surprises here.

Yes, there’s some twists in the plot but the suspense fizzed when all the characters came into play, so the focus was more about the interaction than the tension of the story.

And I didn’t quite believe in this Master Key.

There’s still plenty of knife fights and shoot-ups and bombs exploding but the mystery fell away. The rawness that had me in the beginning faded making The 355 an average action flick worth a watch without getting too excited about it.

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