Wolf Man

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★1/2 Wolf Man

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Leigh Whannell

Written by: Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck

Produced by: Jason Blum p.g.a

Starring: Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner, Sam Jaeger, Matilda Firth, Benedict Hardie, Ben Prendergast, Zac Chandler, Beatriz Romilly and Milo Cawthorne.

‘It’s my job to protect you.’

There’s a build to Leigh Whannell’s reimagined Wolf Man.

Set in rural Oregan, Blake (Christopher Abbott) is living a farm life with his father.

There’s a, ‘No Trespassing, there’s nothing here worth dying for,’ sign on the gate.

It’s 1995.

At 07:00, father and son go hunting only to find themselves stalked by a creature just out of sight.  Only a movement, a glimpse through the crosshairs of a shotgun.  A growl.

Hiding, father and son see the condensation of breath rising above a door with scratch marks left as a warning.

It’s a frightening existence, a young boy growing up with a survivalist father communicating with a neighbour via radio about the sighting of the creature seen just out of sight like an apparition.

As soon as he’s old enough, Blake leaves the land to move to the city where 30 years later he lives with his successful journalist wife Charlotte (Julia Garner) and young daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth).

Currently ‘in between’ jobs, Blake dedicates his life to looking after his daughter.

After his missing father is presumed dead, the house in Oregan is left to Blake.

To try and close the distance growing between husband and wife, Blake convinces Charlotte that going to the farm would help bring the family closer together.

Until a single scratch makes a once loving dad and husband become a monster.

Returning with another universal classic monster character after the success of his previous monster film, ‘The Invisible Man,’ Whannell states, ‘These classic monsters have endured for a reason […] Something about them is just too fascinating, creepy and mysterious to go away.’

There’s a clever device used here, to show the infection taking hold of Blake, with the light focusing on the monster he’s about to become.

He’s dying but doesn’t know it yet.

Words become jumbled but sounds are amplified so even the crawl of spider legs across a wall beat a heavy drum.

Even the perspective of a car accident is at an angle so the audience can feel the characters’ upturned world.

Working with cinematographer Stefan Duscio, the evolution of the infection is shown by adjusting the lighting using different lenses, so Blake’s night vision is seen in contrast to how his family sees the world, sees him, changing.

So the audience can see both sides of the evolution, Whannell stating, ‘One would live in the human world, and one in the animal one.’

The idea of a werewolf remake wasn’t very exciting to me, and the family drama felt heavy handed at times, but I was won over by Whannell’s focus on the evolution of infection rather than a monster baying at a full moon.

Whannell’s signature jump scares, and what I appreciated the most, the  perspective of change as the family becomes more terrified of their once loving husband and father makes, Wolf Man worth a watch.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

GoMovieReview Rating: ★★★1/2GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE

Rating: M

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Screenplay Written by: Terry Rossio, Simon Barrett, Jeremy Slater

From a Story by: Rossio & Wingard & Barrett,

Based on the Character, Godzilla owned and created by TOHO Co., Ltd.

Produced by: May Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric Mcleod, Thomas Tull and Brian Rogers

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns and Fala Chen.

‘Aggression is his love language.’

The next instalment of the Monster verse, Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire opens in a familiar green.

Fluorescent crystals rise towards the sky.  And somewhere in Hollow Earth, Kong runs.

Old timey music plays.

The world tilts.

That feeling of vertigo persists throughout the film as Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) continues working for Monarch with adopted daughter, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last of the Iwis, to monitor Kong in his new home.

The only way to stop Godzilla and Kong fighting was to keep them apart: Kong in the Hollow Earth and Godzilla on the surface, where he, ‘can fight battles we can’t.’

Monarch monitor Godzilla because he’s the alarm for any threat from a titan.

So when signals start registering that can’t be explained, and Jia starts dreaming while awake, like something’s calling her, they know when Godzilla starts charging from a nuclear reactor that something big is about to threaten the surface.

Without giving too much away, Kong and Godzilla must unite to face the threat that lurks even deeper within the earth.  Within the Subterranean Realm.  Uncharted territory closed off.  Until now.

It’s a little cheesy.

But there’s tongue-in-cheek humour sprinkled throughout, note the return of Trapper (Dan Stevens) now vet / dentist to the titans, and Podcaster Burnie (Brian Tyree Henry) who comments to Trapper, ‘I think there’s something seriously wrong with you.’

Sometimes the humour hit, sometimes it didn’t.

There’s a lot of gooey green stuff, including Kong tearing a death jackal apart over his head to cover himself in its gizzards.

And there’s a lot of blasting action trapezing across the globe, scenes shot in Hawaii, Brazil, Marocco and Iceland, the scenery spectacular to watch on the big screen.

This instalment is directed by Adam Wingard who also directed Kong Vs Godzilla (2021), so there’s a similar feeling to the action, yet there’s a refresh to the cast with Jia taking a lead role who’s enchanting in her silence.

I just didn’t warm to the story to really get behind the drama.

Kong’s facial expressions were more nuisance and there’s a lot of communication conveyed through sign and expression.

A highlight when Burnie is confronted by a tribesman, where it’s polite to make real close eye contact, the expression of the eyes the communication.  Burnie did not like the forced eye contact.  I’m still giggling at the memory of it.

I re-read my review of Godzilla Vs Kong to recall a comparison and found I was using the same language to describe Godzilla x Kong: rollercoaster, cheesy, worth seeing on the big screen.

So if you liked Adam Wingard’s previous Kong / Godzilla movie, you’ll like this one.

 

Godzilla Vs Kong

Rated: MGodzilla Vs Kong

Directed by: Adam Wingard

Produced by: Thomas Tull, Jon Jasni, Brian Rogers, Mary Parent, Alex Garcia, Eric McLeod

Screenplay by: Eric Pearson, Max Borenstein

Story by: Terry Rossio, Michael Dougherty, Zach Shields

Based on: Godzilla by Toho King Kong by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza González, Julian Dennison, Kyle Chandler, Demián Bichir and Kaylee Hottie.

Kong bows to no-one.

But it’s a fight until one submits when it comes to the Alpha Titans.

A sequel to, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Kong: Skull Island, here the ancient enemies, Godzilla and Kong are kept apart – Kong detained back at Skull Island and Godzilla keeping his peace with humanity. Until he attacks Apex Cybernetics seemingly unprovoked.

But there’s more to Apex lurking beneath the surface, Godzilla instinctively sniffing out any challenge…

There’s always an expectation with the mega monster movies of some cheesy moments, Godzilla Vs Kong the fourth film in Legendary’s MonsterVerse – and there’s some borderline dialogue with cliché comments like Dr. Nathan Lind’s (Alexander Skarsgård), ‘I might have an idea, but it’s crazy.’

And, ‘No one keeps the reigns on Kong,’ from Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall).

But combined with Kong waking up, scratching his hairy butt before taking a morning wash under a waterfall, it all kinda blends into a light-hearted banter that keeps the film rolling in between explosive monster fighting action.

Godzilla Vs Kong is loud, colourful and at times I felt like I was on a roller coaster.

Going back into the history of the two ancient titans, with redacted documents flashing at the beginning of the film, I thought there’d be more to the story. But the backbone of the film is the fight to be the alpha titan: the fight not so much the why.

What was surprising was the effects as ships sped up to 600km through blue lights and exploding through a crack in the centre of the earth to break into the upside-down Hollow World that tilts back onto itself, filled with sparkling blue rocks and lush forests and bat-like vultures reaching out with strong legs to rip you apart.

I highly recommend viewing this film on the big screen.

Made for a younger audience with asides from returning character, Madison Russell (Millie Bobby Brown), along with, I’m-afraid-of-guns, Josh Valentine (Julian Dennison); there’s also the conspiracy theorist, Bernie Hayes (Brian Tyree Henry), and, ‘That podcast is filling your head with rubbish,’ from Madison’s dad – I was still able to have a giggle at the antics of the characters, while silently cheering for both Kong and Godzilla. Hard not to be a fan of both.

And while there’s nothing new here with the story (or didn’t feel like it,anyway), I enjoyed the spectacle.

For me, better than, Godzilla: King of Monsters but not as good as, Kong: Skull Island (John C. Reilly as Marlow: pure gold).

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