Review: John Wick: Chapter 4

Image courtesy of Lionsgate.

"John Wick: Chapter 4" is a nonstop orgy of incredibly well-choreographed mayhem that is relatively short on dialogue - well, at least from its titular lead (Keanu Reeves) - and there's no use following all the intricacies of the plot, which revolve around the High Table still attempting to seek out Wick and execute him.

There are numerous new elements added into this fourth sequel - lead villain and High Table leader Marquis de Gramont (Bill Skarsgard) becomes Wick's primary nemesis, but there's also a hotshot assassin who goes by Nobody (Shamier Anderson) who's hot on Wick's trail for a bounty as well as a blind assassin (a badass Donnie Yen) who was a former friend of Wick but has a daughter being threatened by the High Table in exchange for his cooperation.

Meanwhile, a supporting character from the other films gets bumped early in this one, leading to Winston (Ian McShane) - last seen shooting Wick and making him fall off a building, a gag that gets replayed over and over again in this new film - reaching back out to Wick to cooperate on challenging the marquis to a duel to upset the balance of power at the High Table.

The story here is a little flimsy but that's no matter as the picture is pretty much a nonstop series of jaw-dropping set pieces that get even more elaborate and outrageous as the film progresses toward its climax after two hours and 45 minutes.

The first set piece is a shootout in a neon-lit Japanese hotel, where Wick has come to meet with an old friend (Hiroyuki Sanada) about his present situation. High Table thugs, accompanied by Yen, show up and all hell breaks loose. Each action set piece is more incredible than the last.

And then we get to France, where a bounty is placed on Wick's head prior to his engagement to dueling with the marquis. In one of the film's nuttier choices, a woman DJ plays songs on the radio to taunt Wick as the assassins look for him and, I swear to God, the scene is basically lifted from Walter Hill's seminal 1979 cult classic "The Warriors."

From there, we get the two most incredible action sequences - a balletic feat of choreographed gunplay and martial arts in the middle of the road in front of Paris' Arc de Triomphe and a shootout along the steep streets of Montmartre leading up to the historic Sacre Coeur church - in the film, which rival any scene in any action movie that I can recall from the past however many years. The audience with which I saw the film frequently laughed at the audacity of these scenes, while also being transfixed by how well crafted and intense they were.

"John Wick: Chapter 4" may be simplistic in the story department - while also overly complicated in defining the parameters of this world in which Wick and company exist - but it's filled with breathtaking stunt work, choreography that often feels more like dancing than your typical bland Hollywood action fight scenes, and style to spare. In terms of big budget studio action moviemaking, this is the best example that I can recall in some time. It's also the best entry in this franchise to date.

Review: Return To Seoul

Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.

The young woman's name is Freddie (Park Ji-min) and she gives off the impression of confidence during her travels in South Korea, the place where she was born but then given away to adoptive parents in France. 

During an opening scene at a restaurant, she surprises newly-made friends Tena (Guka Han) and Dongwon (Son Seung-Beom) during a discussion about line reading music when she grabs various other people in the restaurant and gets them - all strangers - to congregate at one table. Similar to line reading, she is engaging all of these people in conversation without prior practice.

During that same scene, Dongwon explains to her that it's considered insulting in South Korea if you do not allow a friend to pour a drink for you as it's a means of showing that they're willing to take care of you. But Freddie, who is on her own in a country that is foreign to her despite her origins and whose plan - whether she'll actually admit it - is to seek out the parents who gave her up for adoption, has long been able to take care of herself and pours the drink herself. 

During a later scene, she again displays what appears to be confidence by dancing in a bar in front of everyone else, while during another sequence she makes a pass at a French arms dealer visiting Seoul by whom she'll later be employed.

But this confidence is seemingly a form of overcompensating for her discomfort with the real purpose of her trip. When finally meeting up with the father (Oh Kwang-Rok) who gave her up for adoption, she comes off as withdrawn and quiet. She becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the sorrowful messages he texts to her after he's been drinking. During a later scene in which she finally tracks down her long-lost mother - who is divorced from her father - she appears even less confident.

"Return to Seoul" is a beguiling movie and one of its best qualities - aside from Park's stellar performance - is that you never quite know which direction it will go next, and the direction it chooses is always  captivating. The film jumps around in time - the first scenes are Freddie's original visit, and skips in time detail either other periods later in the future when she visits Seoul or others possibly suggesting that she's living there. It's never quite clear.

The film veers back and forth through various moods - somber during Freddie's meetings with her father and his overly eager extended family, dreamy during scenes in which she wanders through neon-lit Seoul, and stylish during nightclub and bar scenes that are punctuated with some great needle drops that I'd never heard before.

But what makes the movie so compelling is the character of Freddie, who is lonely, moody, compulsive, occasionally petty, distant, vivacious, vulnerable and, as one character tells her, "a very sad person." Her attempts to distance herself from emotion - the pleas of her birth father and dismissive comments made to boyfriends who she treats as expendable - show that she is a person who has never fully healed from a long-ago wound.

This is the first film I've seen from director Davy Chou, who has made at least one other feature, a documentary and some short films - but what I've seen so far is impressive. "Return to Seoul" creates a complex and interesting character and throws her into a story about the complexities of human relations and juggles multiple timelines (although the film is told in a linear fashion). I hadn't heard much about the picture until it popped up on a number of best-of-the-year lists in December, but I can now see why it received so much love. This is a very good movie from a director whose next project I anxiously anticipate. 

Review: Scream VI

Image courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

As far as horror movie sequels go, "Scream VI" is better than it probably has any right to be. Most franchises in this genre have long since lost steam by the time they crawl to their sixth chapter. That being said, while it has its share of intense and well-made sequences, this latest "Scream" is a middle-of-the-road entry in this series and occasionally feels like it's treading water, that is, when it's not ripping off one of the previous entries in the franchise.

Last year's "Scream" was the best entry since Wes Craven's beloved 1996 original, introducing a slate of new characters - Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), the daughter of original killer Billy Loomis; her sister, Tara (Jenna Ortega), who survives a Ghostface attack at the beginning of that film; Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), a niece of slain Randy Meeks from the original two films; and her brother, Chad (Mason Gooding) - as well as bringing back some old favorites.

This latest "Scream" is sorely missing the presence of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, who didn't return due to contractual disagreements), whose absence is explained with a throwaway line by Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox, back in fine form). Another "Scream" alum, Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere), returns, but this time as an FBI agent in one of several of the film's plot threads that ask for the audience to extend its disbelief.

Tara is in New York City for college and Sam has tagged along to watch over her. The Meeks twins are also attending school there. The film opens in typical "Scream" fashion with a person (Samara Weaving) being taunted on the phone, only to be murdered in an alleyway by a guy wearing a Ghostface mask, who then surprisingly takes the mask off (it's Tony Revolori) and heads home, where he in turn is taunted by someone else on the phone.

It's hard not to explain further who Revolori's character is and why he targeted the film's first victim, but suffice it to say that another killer (or killers since this is "Scream") have plans for Tara and Sam that came into conflict with those of the characters involved in the opening sequence. By the way, I figured out who the killer(s) were early on in the film during a conversation when a throwaway line gives away the game.

Of course, there's the obligatory scene in which the resident horror film buff - in this case, Mindy - explains the rules of franchises, when the characters realize they are now in one. This includes a higher body count, gorier murder sequences (this is the bloodiest "Scream" to date), and a mention that no characters - legacy or otherwise - are safe. There's also the obligatory needle drop of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

Despite some bumps, "Scream VI" has a number of elements to recommend it. The cast is solid across the board, the film is a little scarier than previous "Scream" entries, and the picture relies less on its long-time characters - though Gail gets a solid bout with Ghostface in her apartment - and allows the new ones to develop a little, although the Meeks twins are underserved here. The new characters are, naturally, fodder for the slaughter. Dermot Mulroney also pops up as the detective on the case and the father of one of the new characters.

There are some impressive set pieces, especially a sequence on a subway filled with New Yorkers - although the film was actually shot in Montreal - dressed in Halloween costumes, a number of which happen to be Ghostface masks and robes. It's a legitimately tense and well-shot scene, only to be upstaged by an over-the-top bloodbath during the finale.

Craven's 1996 will always be the best in the series, and 2022's requel is the runner up. I have a soft spot for 2000's underrated "Scream 3," and I think we all agree that "Scream 4" was a low point. For many fans of the series, 1997's "Scream 2" often ranks among the highest, but I've long considered it a mixed bag. This, perhaps, explains why "Scream VI" falls somewhere in the middle or slightly lower for me among the entries in this series - it rips off the setting (college) and elements of the finale from "Scream 2." 

It's as if the horror movie series that riffs on the cliches of the genre in which it belongs has actually succumbed to adopting them. "Scream VI" has its share of fun moments, a few good scares,  and some decent characters, but it recycles major plot points from the second film in the series, just as last year's "Scream" did the original, although that film did it to better effect. And yes, I still think it's a mistake to have Sam taking part in conversations with her dead father. "Scream VI" is not half bad for an entry in a horror series that has been running for 27 years - but if it continues to another chapter, I hope it reinvents itself rather than becoming a greatest hits package with new faces.

Review: Creed III

Image courtesy of MGM.

"Creed III" - which is the ninth film in the series of films that began with 1976's "Rocky" and is the directorial debut of star Michael B. Jordan - doesn't make too many moves that you can't see far in advance. But let's be honest: The boxing movie provides its own formula, and there's rarely room for surprises or invention unless, say, you're talking about "Raging Bull." 

So, while this third entry in this spinoff series may feel familiar, it's an example of a well-trod storyline handled well. In the process, it introduces a compelling new nemesis while also deepening what we know about the film's hero, Adonis Creed (Jordan), the son of Apollo Creed, who was Rocky's first foe and eventual friend.

As the film opens, young Adonis (Thaddeus J. Mixson) is inseparable from Damian Anderson (Spence Moore II), an older kid with a talent for boxing whom he idolizes. But a run-in with a man named Leon - during which Adonis attacks the man and Damian comes to his aid by pulling a gun - leads to Damian landing an 18-year prison sentence. One of the film's few flaws is a lack of adequate explanation regarding the attack itself.

In the present, Adonis has won another bout, making him the undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. He decides to throw in the towel and retire, spending more time with his musician wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson), who makes reference to continued hearing problems that are never again addressed in one of the film's rare instances of short changing a character, and young daughter.

But one day after leaving the gym where he helps young fighters train, he runs into Damian (Jonathan Majors), who has recently been released from prison. Their first encounters are awkward as it seems that Adonis is uncomfortable in the presence of his old friend - due, perhaps, to lingering guilt over the fact that Damian landed in jail following a row that Adonis started.

There's no need to detail the entire plot here, but suffice it to say that while Adonis at first helps Damian get back into the ring - where he scores a surprisingly brutal victory over a boxing champion named Felix Chavez (Jose Benavidez) - their friendship eventually goes sour and turns into a rivalry. Adonis comes out of retirement to challenge Damian to a fight.

Jordan shows here that he not only knows his way around in front of the camera, but also behind it. "Creed III" is flashy and well made, featuring some of the stylish montages you'd expect in a "Rocky" spinoff. Sylvester Stallone's presence is missed, but there's really no good place to have inserted him in this story, so the decision not to have included him makes sense.

Majors - who has been seemingly ubiquitous as of late - is a major asset to the picture. At first bubbling with a nervous energy, Damian becomes increasingly aggressive as he seethes over what he believes to be the unfairness of Adonis living the life that he was supposed to have lived had he not ended up in prison. From the start, the reunion between the two characters has the uneasy vibe of a tension that is destined to boil over.

And Damian's appearance provides a catalyst for Adonis' own history to bubble to the surface, much to the dismay of his mother (Phylicia Rashad) and wife. In the process, we get to know a little more about our lead character, which is not something that can always be counted on as franchises begin to stack up their entries. In this case, it's welcome.

Will its producers and talent find more ways to tell the story of Rocky Balboa or Adonis Creed? Most likely, especially if this latest entry makes money. Will the series be able to keep up the level of quality? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, "Creed III" is an enjoyable entry in a series that is still going after 45 years.

Review: Close

Image courtesy of A24.

Lukas Dhont's "Close" - a Cannes award winner about two Belgian boys whose friendship could be described as being "like brothers" or maybe even something more - is a well made and deeply sad story of how societal conditioning can lead to tragedy. 

The film is very well made and acted - especially by its two young leads Eden Dambrine (who portrays Leo) and Gustav De Waele (who plays Remi) - and often gorgeously shot, even if it doesn't know exactly where to go next after a tragic scene occurs about midway through the picture.

As the film opens, Leo and Remi are about as close as friends can be. When we first meet them, they are playing some sort of game and then running through a field - an action repeated in the picture along with the numerous and impressive up-close shots of them riding bicycles - back to Remi's house, where Leo is considered an extra member of the family. The boys sleep together in the same bed and an overhead shot almost portrays them as if they are spooning in their sleep.

What exactly is their relationship? Leo and Remi are at that age where sexuality doesn't quite come into play when examining a close friendship. There's nothing overt in the film to suggest that the boys have sexual feelings or attractions for one another, and yet there's nothing dispelling this notion either. The relationship is kept intentionally vague.

It's not until some boys - probably conditioned by reactionary parents - and even a few girls begin to question whether the boys are a "couple" that things start to go wrong. During a later sleepover, Leo seems more hesitant to share a bed with his friend, and on one particular morning Leo rides his bike to school alone without waiting for Remi. When questioned about it on the playground, Leo's attempts at shrugging it off lead to a scuffle between the two boys.

Shortly thereafter, something tragic occurs - and frankly, it's difficult to discuss the rest of the movie by tiptoeing around it because it informs everything that comes afterward. Suffice it to say that Leo continues to try to move further away from the life he once led, becoming more interested in beefing up his skills on the hockey team, of which he is at this point a member. His teammates - and new friends - are among those who previously questioned his sexuality. 

His relationship with a member of Leo's family becomes a focal point during the final half of the movie. While this relationship yields the most genuinely emotional scenes in the movie, it's also one in which the filmmakers struggle slightly in terms of conveying how the audience is meant to feel about it. After a powerful - and long awaited - confession during a car ride, the other person in the car reacts in a manner that you'd expect in a movie, but this is then followed by a reconciliation. I'm not sure the entire exchange would be handled so simplistically.

But despite this, "Close" is a powerful, sad, and often lovely film to behold. It's filled with gorgeous camerawork - especially, as noted before, the scenes of the boys running through the field or riding their bikes to school together - solid performances, and a warmth that is, of course, later replaced by the melancholic events that follow. 

The film has been embraced by Cannes jurists and critics alike, and it's not hard to see why. This is a moving film that likely speaks to the lived experiences of many people who have been heartbroken or had their lives altered by the forces of social pressure. Even if its final scenes of reconciliation in the face of a tragedy feel a little forced, this is a picture that will likely affect those who experience it.

Review: Marlowe

Image courtesy of Open Road Films.

Some reviews have categorized Neil Jordan's "Marlowe" as old school, while others have complained that this visually stylish throwback doesn't bring much new to the detective story, relying instead on old tropes and cliched story beats. This is all true - and yet, the film is an example of one that takes familiar material and does a good job of presenting it.

If you've seen a dozen other neo noir dramas set in the past - this one takes place in 1939 in Los Angeles - then, yes, you're probably going to guess where "Marlowe" is going and not find too many surprises in its occasionally labyrinthine plotting (the film seems to often be taking its cues from "Chinatown," from a creepy father figure-daughter relationship to the appearance of Danny Huston, who portrays a creepy exclusive club owner and whose director father played a large role in Roman Polanski's 1974 film).

It's also curious that Liam Neeson, who is 70 years old, was chosen for the title role, as Raymond Chandler's private investigator, Philip Marlowe, has previously been portrayed by men who were - at the time - in their 40s or, at latest, 50s. That list includes, of course, Humphrey Bogart, Elliot Gould, Dick Powell, and James Garner.

But regardless of all this, "Marlowe" mostly works. Naturally, it all starts with a married femme fatale, Clare Cavendish (Diane Kruger), coming to him with a job - in this case, it's locating a lothario lover who has gone missing and been reported dead, although Clare claims to have seen him alive and well in Mexico following the reports of his death.

The plot flies off in too many directions to describe, but suffice it to say that Marlowe's investigating leads him to the aforementioned club run by a creepy Huston as well as Clare's mother, a former Hollywood star named Dorothy Quincannon (Jessica Lange, having fun with the role), and a shady underworld figure portrayed by Alan Cumming and his driver (Adewale Akkinuoye-Agbaje).

Director Neil Jordan has never made an outright noir, but he has long dabbled in filmmaking that skirts around the edges of the genre - the criminal figures in "Mona Lisa," the noirish period romance "The End of the Affair," and the classic thriller "The Crying Game." While "Marlowe" doesn't represent Jordan at the top of his game, it's a fun detective movie that has great cinematography and some snappy dialogue that Neeson and others toss off with relish. 

It is beholden to other films of its type from the past five decades - "Chinatown," "L.A. Confidential" and any other number of modern noir thrillers - and doesn't feel particularly original. But any time a film incorporates a figure as iconic as Philip Marlowe, you're probably going to get what you expect story wise. After all, the character has been around for more than 80 years, although this film isn't based on an actual Chandler novel. But not every film has to be wholly original and, in this case, the picture is an example of familiar territory for the most part being handled expertly. 

Review: Saint Omer

Image courtesy of Super LTD.

Filmmaker Alice Diop has made the leap from documentaries to feature films with the disquieting "Saint Omer," a story based upon a court case to which the director was privy in 2016.  The case was tried in the titular French town, where Diop listened to the testimony of Fabienne Kabou - in the film, the character is named Laurence Coly and is portrayed by Guslagie Malanda in a mesmerizing performance composed completely of courtroom testimony - who drowned her infant daughter on the Berck-sur-Mer beach.

However, Diop was mystified by the vague and unsatisfactory answers provided by the woman on trial - in the film, Rama (Kayije Kagame), an author in search of material for her new novel, which is meant to be a modern meditation on the story of Medea, who murdered her own sons, is a stand-in for Diop. When asked why she drowned her baby, Laurence replies that she hopes to find the answer to that question during the course of her trial.

As the film opens, Rama is lecturing to a class on Marguerite Duras - an author and filmmaker whose style is somewhat mimicked in "Saint Omer," from its placing women at the center of the story to the long pauses and silences throughout the picture. We recognize that Rama is a successful author and seemingly has a happy home life.

It's only about halfway into the film that we learn Rama is pregnant, and her ambivalence about it sheds some light as to why she seems so moved by Laurence's trial. The question is whether she's moved more by the infant's death or the plight of the mother, who is referred to as an "unseen woman." Laurence is educated - a teacher who testifies against her smirks as she notes that her pupil wanted to write a thesis on Wittgenstein, but she insensitively suggested that she instead focus on someone closer to her own culture (Laurence is Senegalese; so is Rama).

Laurence lived with a much older, white Frenchman, who testifies that he cared for the baby and was shocked by Laurence's behavior. However, Laurence testifies that he refused to acknowledge to his ex-wife or anyone else that he was involved with her, and he wouldn't claim the baby as his own. Interestingly, Rama is also involved with a white man who has impregnated her, although their relationship seems to be much more stable.

As the trial wears on, Rama comes into contact with Laurence's mother, who appears concerned that Laurence is coming off as arrogant and unfriendly during one particular morning of testimony. Laurence had earlier testified that she'd fled her home country because of her difficulty getting along with her parents. Her mother insisted on Laurence speaking French as a girl and wanted her to assimilate, and Laurence has clearly done so - but what little good it has done her.

"Saint Omer" is a film about the act of listening. Much of the film is set within the confines of the court chambers and a significant amount of the dialogue is testimony. Diop has noted that she wanted to make a film in which we listen to a woman's story - and that's exactly what "Saint Omer" does. It poses questions, but provides few answers. The film's judge appears to want to get to the bottom of what happened - and even shows some sympathy toward Laurence - but she, like audience members, most likely will be baffled by her answers.

While Laurence's case may be incomprehensible - at least, in terms of what happened and why - Rama's presence as a listener is a filter for the audience through which the strange and tragic tale is conveyed. We may have no better sense of why Laurence did what she did by the film's end, but some helpful musical accompaniment by Nina Simone, and a final scene in which Rama seems to find peace in what appears to be a fraught relationship with her mother might provide clues as to what Diop is getting at. "Saint Omer" requires some patience, but it's repaid.