Moon Knight (2022)

 

Steven Grant is a mild-mannered, rather ineffectual gift-shop employee at the British Museum.  Grant suffers from what appears to be chronic sleep-walking, often waking up in places he has no idea how he got to.  This persists even after he takes to chaining himself to his bed at night.

Grant's problems extend far further than an uncommonly severe case of somnambulism, however.  In fact, he has dissociative identity disorder.  Which would be serious enough all by itself, but it turns out that his other identity, Mark Spector, is the avatar for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu, who is engaged in a centuries-long battle to prevent the return of the malevolent goddess Ammit.

Grant becomes aware of his alter-ego (and his alter-ego's alter-ego), just as the struggle against Ammit enters its most critical (and lethal) stage.  With the aid of Spector's wife Layla, the two men will need to find a way to co-exist long enough to save humanity from Ammit's devastating plans.

There's quite a lot to like about Moon Knight.  For instance, Oscar Isaac is excellent in the main roles of Grant and Spector.  He convincingly portrays both identities as genuinely different people, including changes in accent, demeanour, body language and mannerisms.

Khonshu is also an interesting figure.  The moon god is a not especially friendly mentor figure to Spector; and at times, nearly an outright adversary to Grant.  He works to a different set of ethics and priorities than those generally held by modern western people, and this creates an interesting conflict within the show.

I also very much enjoyed May Calamawy as Layla.  The character is a good one and her performance is strong.

Despite all these positives, however, I felt the show was less than the sum of its parts.  I largely blame this on the writing, which I felt has a couple of weaknesses.

The first is the villains.  Ammit is quite a memorable foe, but her human minions are rather less interesting.

The second is pacing.  The show has a lot of backstory and information to unload, and things sometimes bogs down as it does so.  I didn't find myself ever truly swept up into the first couple of episodes, and when things finally seemed to get rolling, the show then took a very sharp left turn. As a comic book character, Moon Knight has had a lot of different depictions and styles and story arcs, and for my money the show tries to include too many disparate elements in its brief run of only six episodes.

She-Wolves of the Wasteland (1988)

 

It is the bleak post-apocalyptic future. The “bacteriological wars” have devastated the Earth. All human men are dead, and only small numbers of women have survived to eke out a pretty miserable existence in the wasteland the wars left behind.

The most powerful figure in this world is the Reverend Mother, who commands an army of bounty hunters that terrorise the other woman.  The Reverend Mother also allegedly commands 'dark powers' and seems to have some source of 'seed', with which she impregnates slaves dubbed 'breeders'.

She is not a nice person.

Keela is a pregnant breeder who escapes the Reverend Mother's clutches and goes on the run.  But many bounty hunters pursue her, and she is soon on the cusp of being re-captured.

Enter Phoenix, a bikini-clad warrior woman who rescues Keela and takes her to a secret valley of clothing-averse Amazons where they can be safe.  This safety lasts just long enough for Keela to have her son (a male child!  Dun dun dun!) before she and Phoenix are on the run again.

Also known as Phoenix the Warrior, this 1988 release was the last film of Persis Khambatta, who is best known for playing Lieutenant Ilia in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  Perhaps it goes without saying, but this is quite a big step down.  

Upon release, this film almost certainly banked on the promise of skimpy outfits and/or topless women in order to draw video rentals.  And to be fair, it does shamelessly deliver both of those things, as well as a lot of the big, big hair you'd expect of the genre.

Unfortunately, it fails to deliver decent acting, competent fight choreography, or a script that makes a lick of sense.

The lack of decent acting will become apparent as soon as you start the film.  Any given five minutes of the film's runtime tends to mostly consist of people not quite looking at the camera while woodenly spouting some kind of exposition to move the film along to its next set piece.

For fight choreography, while none of it is good, the hysterical stand-out of ineptitude is the bounty hunters' assault on the friendly amazons.  It mostly involves lots of women standing awkwardly in place while firing at other women a few yards away.  Despite the short ranges, the vast majority of attacks miss.  Which to be honest is probably not surprising given how uncomfortable they all look with their weapons.

Meanwhile, the film's script seems to have taken its plotting structure straight out of an old school cinema serial - just about every 15 minutes there's a miniature cliff-hanger where one or more of the good guys gets captured, only for the entire situation to be resolved about thirty seconds later so they can set up the next capture sequence.  The most egregious example of this is probably the wacky cult of deformed mutants who worship a mangled concept of TV as "the spirits of the airwaves".  These are abruptly introduced out of nowhere, capture the heroes to hand over to the big bad, then vanish completely from the film never to be mentioned again.

Lots of things happen in She-Wolves of the Wasteland.  Few of them seem to mean anything or lead anywhere much, though, and the script shows little interest in examining the consequences of its own events, or even giving us closure on the fates of major characters.

Only for hardcore fans of trashy 80s post-apocalyptica.  Like me!

This Way Up, Season 2 (2021)

 

Áine (it's still pronounced more or less like "Anya") has made considerable strides in putting her life back together after suffering a nervous breakdown.  She's started a new romance - though, a little awkwardly, it's with the father of one of her students - and is slowly forming a genuine friendship with her flatmate.

This is not to say that she doesn't still stumble into a few misadventures.  The new relationship - while definitely overall a positive - certainly has a few ups and downs.  But overall, it's more Áine's sister Shona who finds herself drifting into a potentially tempestuous situation.

The second season of The Way Up picks up where the first left off.  It is overall a slightly lighter set of episodes this time around.  It is much less confronting series in terms of Áine's mental health, which seems significantly improved.  This is not to say that it doesn't still have its more serious and sombre episodes - notably the final episode deals with the suicide of a secondary character.

This final episode also foreshadows the arrival of COVID, essentially establishing that the show is set a year or so before it originally aired.  Presumably if a third season is released (none has yet been confirmed, as far as I know) it will deal witrh the impacts - or possibly after-effects - of the pandemic and how long periods of lockdown impact the primary characters and their relationships.

Those relationships and characters remain the core of the show, particularly Áine and Shona's sisterly bond.  The two women almost always have several scenes together in each episode, and their close relationship is convincing and entertaining.  Their respective romantic entanglements are perhaps a smidgen more classically sit-com-esque in their depiction, but they still make for engaging drama and comedy.

A fine show; I hope we will see a third season.

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (2021)

 

Although disgraced executive bodyguard Michael Bryce succeeded in his brief to protect the life of hitman Darius Kincaid in 2017's The Hitman's Bodyguard, that achievement didn't resurrect his career in the way he had hoped.

He's trying to clear his mind with a beachside vacation when his life is turned upside down by Darius's wife, Sonia Kincaid.  As they battle there way past a horde of gunmen, Sonia lays out the situation.  Darius has been kidnapped by vengeful mobsters, but before he was captured, he told Sonia to come to Bryce for help.

Or as it actually turns out, he told Sonia "anyone but Bryce", and she misheard him.

From here, Darius, Sonia and Bryce stumble into a slapstick, farcical caper involving international terrorists, sudden inventions of plot-relevant backstories, and "hilarity" on a par with the "not Bryce" joke up above.

The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard was a critical and commercial failure, and I certainly don't have any problems seeing why.  It is one of the most painfully unfunny action comedies I've sat through in quite some time.  It ultimately seems to have only two actual jokes in its arsenal.

The first 'joke' is that something awful happens to Michael Bryce, like he's hit by a car, but he's somehow not seriously injured by it.  The film's never identified Bryce's biological father, but based on the on-screen evidence, my money's on Gumby.

The second 'joke' is 'Sonia Kincaid really wants a baby', the leaden and unfunny execution of which makes it no surprise to me that the film's writers are all men.

Even if the gags were more varied and better executed, however, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard would still suffer from a critical flaw: every single character - with the possible exception of Bryce - is a repulsive human being with whom I would prefer to spend as little time as possible.

Hitmen, Season 2 (2021)

 

Frumpy but fatal middle-aged assassins Fran and Jamie are back for a second season of socially awkward contract killings.  The daffy but deadly duo have somehow resolved the bad blood between them and their former employer, Mr K (how is never discussed) and now work for a mysterious new employer.  They've never met "Mr V", but Fran is hugely excited by the opportunity he presents, as he is providing them with higher-profile, more notable jobs that could help them make the step up to the big leagues of international assassination.

Jamie is more ambivalent about this.  So when she bumps into old friend Kat at their high school reunion, and Kat mentioned a job opportunity to her, she begins to wonder if maybe she would be better suited to another line of work.

Which to be frank, she probably would.  But in the meantime, Fran needs her help to kill people, and nothing could ever come before their friendship, right?

Season two of Hitmen, sometimes billed as "Hitmen: Reloaded", is that rare animal: a much improved sophomore offering.  Whereas season one was mildly amusing but more or less a 'one joke' offering, this second batch of episodes provides more variety, more depth, and most importantly of all, more laughs.

The addition of a stronger season arc really helps in this regard.  Fran's ongoing resentment of (and suspicions about) Kat's renewed presence in Jamie's life provides a central core around which the individual episodes can be weaved, giving the show an extra layer.  This is definitely something that it lacked before.
 

The episode by episode scenarios are also more varied and imaginative.  This is true both in terms of the initial setup - the reliance on 'Fran and Jamie have the target, but must now wait before killing them' is gone - and in terms of the location of the kill and how the hit plays out.  The writers seem to have been allowed to get a little bit more over the top, and that works well.  The episode where the target is a movie producer is a particularly fun bit of absurdity.

I'm not sure if the series' concept has much more juice in it, at this point,.  Certainly, as far as I know, no third season has been announced.  If this is the show's send-off, though, it's a good one.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

 

In 1996, a young Cletus Kasady watches helplessly as his lover, Frances Barrison, is taken away to the Ravencroft Institute, where she is imprisoned and subjected to cruelly experiments because of her sonic scream powers.

Some twenty-five years later, Kasady is a serial killer on death row.  Though facing imminent execution, he has refused to reveal the location of his victims' bodies.  However, he does agree to provide an interview to TV reported Eddie Brock, who he seems to think will treat his story sympathetically.

Brock is secretly the reluctant host of the super-powered alien symbiote Venom.   This makes him much stronger and tougher than any normal human, as well as some shapeshifting capabilities.  On the other hand, it also drives him up the wall because Venom keeps wanting to eat people, and is generally unpleasant.

As you may well have guessed, Brock's interactions with Kasady lead to the serial killer gaining similar powers.  Kasady promptly escapes his execution, rescues Frances from Ravencroft, and goes on a super-powered rampage that only Brock/Venom can stop.  Assuming they can get along with each other long enough to do so.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a superhero action comedy that is so lightweight it is almost lacking in substance.  It introduces a few new concepts to the franchise, but then largely fails to develop any of them and instead continues to rely very heavily on the first film's successful schtick of Tom Hardy mugging at himself as he portrays the odd couple relationship between Brock and Venom.

The whole film feels a bit under-developed.  While I appreciated the relatively brief run time as a nice change of pace from the seemingly ever-longer Marvel movies, that brevity seems to come mostly from a lack of proper developments.  It feels to me like film with only two acts: first lots of set-up, and then suddenly a final battle, without much middle to speak of. Eddie and Venom's little spats aren't really enough to sustain the film until the final showdown with Kasady/Carnage.

The resolution of said final showdown also hinges on a plot development that is simultaneously both very obvious and entirely unconvincing.  Which is a pretty impressive bit of bungling.  "It was entirely obvious from about ten minutes in that this would happen, and yet you have managed to make it feel completely unjustified".

Let There Be Carnage is inoffensive but thoroughly bland, the cinematic equivalent of a single slice of plain white supermarket bread.

Vida, Season 3 (2020)

 

The third and final season of Vida continues to follow much the same pattern as the first and second; sisters Emma and Lynn struggle to save their family bar from a predatory developer, make sincere but frequently misguided efforts to rebuild their relationship with each other, and also try to untangle their often messy love-lives.  Aa always, each of these plotlines involves a considerable amount of drama, and the last involves a considerable amount of very raunchy sexual content.

None of this is intended as a criticism of the show, however.  The Vida writing team have a clear idea about the key elements of the show, and they keep things focused on them, but they are also smart enough to keep each element moving forward.  This provides thematic consistency, without the show becoming stale and repetitive.  And with only 22 episodes in total, it's not like they're stretching out these plotlines for some ridiculously long period of time.

This is a solid and satisfying conclusion to a strong show.  The cast remains excellent, as they have been throughout, and the writers clearly knew that this was the final season.  They smartly don't try to force things into place to neatly wrap up every single character's life in a tidy bow, but they do provide a clear resolution to the major conflicts that have anchored the program throughout its run.

Vida is a smart, bold, confronting TV show that celebrates many of the people and voices that mainstream shows tend to ignore or fetishize.  I would love to see more programs like it, and will definitely keep an eye out for more projects from showrunner Tanya Saracho.

Black Panther (2018)

 

In the heart of Africa lies the apparently poor and insignificant country of Wakanda.  In secret, however, this is the most advanced, most powerful nation in the world.  Its strength comes from two sources.  The first is the mountain of Vibranium at its heart.  This mineral is lighter than steel, but also far stronger.  With it, Wakanda has forged technology decades in advance of the rest of the world.

The second source, meanwhile, is that Wakanda is protected by Black Panther, a superhuman warrior who gains heightened strength, speed and resilience from the 'heart shaped herb', a unique plant which grows only in vibranium-enriched soil.

The current Black Panther is the new Wakandan king, T'Challa.  Barely has he assumed the mantle, however, than T'Challa faces a danger that may not only claim his throne and his life, but destroy the very fabric of Wakandan society.  This is the renegade Killmonger, a renegade of noble Wakandan blood who intends to seize both the crown and the powers of the Black Panther for himself.

Marvel movies have dominated the box office for some years now, but even by their standards, Black Panther was a monster success.  The film received rave reviews and grossed well over 1.3 billion dollars at the box office.  I fully believe it deserved this success.

Firstly, the film has an excellent cast.  Chadwick Boseman, who is sadly no longer with us, brings dignity and strength to the role of T'Challa, and were it not for cancer, was surely destined to be a huge star.  He is ably supported by the rest of the cast, particularly the redoubtable Angela Basset as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda.

Second, there is the villain.  Marvel is sometimes criticised for forgettable antagonists who are simply evil counterparts of the protagonist.  But while Killmonger is indeed T'Challa's evil twin, he is also one of their strongerst villainous offerings.  Killmonger has valid motivations for his actions, however reprehensible and misguided they are, and he forces T'Challa to re-examine his own choices and strive to become a better man and monarch as a consequence. 

On top of these qualities, the film profits from the MCU's usual strong production design and quality.  The sets and effects are excellent, and I like the care and attention paid to presenting an authentically African city and culture.

If I had to try and find a flaw with the film, it would probably be that some of the action scenes are perhaps a smidgen longer than their narrative purpose requires.  But even then, they're every bit as spectacular as we've come to expect from the MCU.  And even more importantly, they do always have a narrative purpose, not just in terms of resolving the immediate situation but also in setting up future themes and plot points.

It's a very good film.

Intergalactic (2021)

 

It is 2143.  After climate change wracked the Earth and endangered our species, a new government - the "Commonworld" - arose to govern the planet.  The resulting society has strict laws and severe economic disparity, but under its aegis, Earth does appear to be slowly recovering.

Ash Harper is the daughter of a deceased hero, and a dedicated police officer in her own right.  She is also a firm believer in the Commonworld's mission.  Her life is thrown into chaos, however, when she is framed for the theft of aurum (the Commonworld's energy source) and sentenced to life on an off-planet prison.

The other inmates on her ship have no intention of making it to the prison planet, however.  They have a plan to seize control of the vessel and escape to the secret headquarters of the resistance; and they need Ash's skills as a pilot to do it.

Still loyal to the Commonworld, Ash resolves to play along and stay alive long enough to ensure the prisoners' recapture.  But the more time she spends 'on the run', the more she begins to wonder if the Commonworld's idea of justice is fatally flawed ...

Intergalactic is an eight-episode British science fiction show that was clearly intended as the first season of a multi-year story.  It failed to find an audience, however, and was not renewed for a second series.

Honestly, I can see why.  As much as I appreciate the show's emphasis on casting a racially diverse group of women in the major roles, its decision to make the central characters such as an aggressively dysfunctional and adversarial group did make it hard for me to engage with them or care about their fates.  Most of the characters did slowly become more likeable over time, but right to the end of the season the show fails to answer the question "why are any of these people still tolerating Tula?".

Also, despite the admirable overall diversity of the casting, I'm not convinced by their choice for Ash Harper.  I never quite believed Savannah Steyn in the more action-oriented sequences, which is a problem given she's playing someone who is supposedly tough and capable.  Ash's slow burn relationship with one of the other prisoners is more effective and convincing, at least.

Slow burn is perhaps something of an over-used motif in the show, for that matter.  Even at only eight episodes, it feels slower and more meandering than it needs to be.  The plot simply isn't that complex or innovative.  Tightening the show down to six episodes would would probably have done it a considerable favour.

I wanted to like Intergalactic much more than I actually did.