Movie Review - Thunderbolts*

Director: Jake Schreier
Genre: Action/ Science Fiction/ Adventure
Runtime: 127 minutes
Year: 2025
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Lewis Pullman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko
 
Description: After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes must go on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
 
Review: Yelena, Black Widow’s sister, leads and empty and useless existence filled with running errands for the current CIA director, Valentina Alegra de Fontaine. When Yelena is sent to stop a thief who wants to crack a safe containing secrets that must never see the light of day, things turn our differently than expected.

After a short opening scene, which introduce both Yelena’s fighting skills and her depression, Yelena is sent to the safe, located somewhere in the American desert. The film then takes place around that location for over an hour. To keep this interesting, no openings to other dimensions are needed, no do entire areas need to be razed to the ground. The conflict is clear and simple, and the characters are diverse enough for amusing interaction.

In addition to Yelena, we see Taskmaster and The Red Guardian (all three introduced in “Black Widow”), John Walker joins the party as second-hand Captain America, and Bucky Barnes shows up as Winter Soldier. But even if this is your first Marvel movie, it’s pretty clear that these characters have a history.

There is also a character named Bob, introduced as a clumsy, everyday man. But he becomes more important as the story goes along. And Bob is incidentally also a big part of the theme: dealing with depression. This superhero story successfully addresses that subject.

Even though the characters are diverse, we don’t get to know each of them well enough. Ava Starr aka Ghost, for example, stays a bit on the surface. Would’ve liked to get to know her a little better too.
The threat in this film is big, but its only present for a short time. I think the final conflict could have been stretched out. “Thunderbolts” would have benefited from a longer runtime.

The Thunderbolts, being renamed the New Avengers, will be back. And I’m kind of excited about it. I enjoyed “Thunderbolts” a lot more then I expected, I wasn’t really interested when it was announced.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - Extraction 2

Director: Sam Hargrave
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Runtime: 122 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Olga Kurylenko, Idris Elba
 
Description: After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Ryler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission.

Review: In this second installment on the “Extraction” series, Chris Hemsworth returns as mercenary Tyler Rake, who barely survived his last mission. Now recovered, Tyler and his team are ready for a new mission. “Extraction” was a good film film, but nothing extremely groundbreaking or memorable. “Extraction 2” still doesn’t feel like that, but it surely is a step up from this first film.

Tyler has to safe his ex-wife’s sister from her criminal husband, who has been living in a prison with their two children. What seems like a simple mission, ends up in a blood bath.

“Extraction 2” is full of genre clichés, but it by no means disappoints in the cinematographic department. The fight scenes are all very well-choreographed and especially that outbreak scene in the prison is shot masterfully. They edited in a way it looks like one continues shot and I always love it when that’s done well.

“Extraction 2” is nowhere innovative, Chris Hemsworth does his job very well and so does director Sam Hargrave. And the film keeps you on the edge of your seat at all times. With its raw character, this second installment offers a rebuttal to the streamlined action of recent blockbusters. Despite a contrived plot, it’s a shame that this movie can’t been seen on the big screen. Because the action scenes look amazing.

Better then the first, great visuals, but very predictable.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Movie Review - Black Widow

Director: Cate Shortland
Genre: Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 133 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz, Ray Winstone, Ever Anderson, William Hurt, Olga Kurylenko
 
Description: Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises.

Review: Anyone who browses the Marvel encyclopedia is unlikely to pinpoint Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow as their favorite character. While the heroine is slightly skilled in all forms of martial arts and acrobatics, despite this she still stands out a bit flimsy from her superhero colleagues such as Thor, Captain America, Ant-Man, Iron Man and the Hulk. Perhaps this is not entirely justified, as in previous Marvel films Black Widow always had to settle neatly into the supporting role, which meant that she never got the chance, attention or depth she actually deserved.
Finally the Russian heroine gets a solid backstory, where we get more insight into her thoughts and motivations. Given the events in “Avengers: Endgame”, it makes sense we’d have to go back in time for that; to be exact, the moment when Natasha Romanoff has only just violated the Sokovia Accord. Commander Ross and his armed men have opened the hunt for her, but around the same time, a very different specter from Romanoff’s past also presents itself: Task Master. The villain is somehow linked to Romanoff’s traumatic past and therefore feels just a bit more tragic than usual with the marvel universe.
On the other hand, the villain played by Ray Winstone is a one-dimensional figure with rather predictable, megalomaniacal motives. It almost seems like a joke to perform such a character.   
For me, the highlight of the film was Florence Pugh, who plays Yelena, Natasha’s sister. She is cynical, yet the connection between Yelena and Natasha is the heart of the movie. Most laughs are for Alexei/ Red Guardian, played by David Harbour.
“Black Widow” is the kick-off for Marvel’s Phase Four, the fourth phase in which Marvel will once again interconnect a series of upcoming superhero films and work towards a common endpoint.
I enjoyed “Black Widow”, but it was nothing special. It was overall very standard.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Reviews - The Death fo Stalin

Director: Armando Iannucci
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Jeffrey Tambor, Andrea Riseborogh, Olga Kurylenko, Paddy Considine, Michael Palin, Tom Brooke

Description: Follows the Soviet dictator's last days and depicts the chaos of the regime after his death.

Review: It’s a rather bizarre story, that probably a lot of people don’t even know, but it’s worth it: the death of Sovjet dictator Stalin. Under his command, hundred thousand political opponents were executed or send to the Goelag. It seems that six to nine million people lost their lives under the command of Stalin. No wonder that, when Stalin was found unconscious in his office, help didn’t come running. With this starting point, director Armando Iannucci brings us the somewhay genius “The Death of Stalin”. A tragic comedy.
After Stalin was founf, it took another three days before he was actually dead. The stories of how he was pronounced dead are legendary. But the fight for power after the dictator’s death is also very interesting. These two subjects center this story. Iannucci based his screenplay on a graphic novel by Fabien Nury. And the way this film is styled is pretty remarkable and interesting. All the dialogue is in English and all the actors speak in their own accents, British, American.
The film is also filled with beautiful observations and detail. And in a dark way, this makes the film funnier. Especially the fight for power, after Stalin’s death, were there is a lot of betrayal and stabbing each other in the back. “The Death of Stalin” is sometimes painfully funny. Because you realize that most of it actually happened. The absurd fight for power and they way some situations go.
It’s not a film everyone will see the humor of, but I think for people who enjoy learning about history, it’s a film to watch.

Rating: 4 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 118: Seven Psychopaths

Director: Martin McDonagh

Genre: Crime/ Comedy

Runtime: 110 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Pitt, Harry Dean Stanton

Description: Struggling screenwriter Marty (Colin Farrell) inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Sam Rockwell, Christopher Walken) kidnap a gangster's (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.

Review: Marty is an Irish scriptwriter who works in Hollywood. For his next script he only has a title: “Seven Psychopaths”. Trying to fight his writer’s block, he’s constantly drinking alcohol. His friends Billy and Hans have another occupation: they kidnap dogs and then return them to their owners in order to collect the reward. Everything goes wrong when Billy kidnaps the Shi’Tzu of criminal Charlie and Marty gets involved.

“Seven Psychopaths” is best described as a dark crime comedy. Filled with good actors who get away with all the horrible violence because of their funny dialogues and the bizarre scenario. Director Martin McDonagh broke through with “In Bruges”, which is a favorite of mine. Colin Farrell also had the lead role in that movie. Here, as Marty, he is more neutral and the people around him steal the show. Sam Rockwell does what he does best. He’s totally crazy, but wins over your sympathy somehow. Christopher Walken has the most emotional role, but his humor is great.

McDonagh filled “Seven Psychopaths” with fun moments. It’s sometimes on the edge of overdoing it, but thanks to the humor of the actors it’s a highly enjoyable movie. Definitely worth your time.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2014 - # 102: To the Wonder

Director: Terrence Malick

Genre: Drama/ Romance

Runtime: 112 minutes

Year: 2012

Starring: Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko, Rachel McAdams, Javier Bardem

Description: After falling in love in Paris, Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Neil (Ben Affleck) come to Oklahoma, where problems arise. Their church's Spanish-born pastor (Javier bardem) struggles with his faith, while Neil encounters a woman (Rachel McAdams) from his childhood.

Review: We know Terrence Malick from then very much talked about movie “The Tree of Life”. It won in Cannes and “To the Wonder” wouldn’t be a Malick movie if you didn’t recognize his unique style. It’s again an impressionistic piece of art. “To the Wonder” follows the American Neil and the Ukrainian Marina, who live a passionate life on a French island. Together with Marina’s daughter, they move to America. When in Oklahoma, Neil starts to doubt his love for Marina and gets into touch with his old flame Jane. In the meantime Marina has gone back to France and Neil lives a loving life with Jane. Parallel to these happening we see the life of a priest, who is starting to doubt his faith.

The viewer gets little background information about the characters. You’re actually guessing the whole time. It doesn’t bother you. What does bother me is that Neil hardly says anything entire film, while Marina gets a bit more depth though her narration. Neil stays to close to the surface. The ‘silent type’ could be interesting, but it doesn’t work here.

“To the Wonder” is a nice film. Great quality, perfect camera work and wonderful cinematography. And the music is so amazing, it gives you chills in a good way. The poetic narration just finishes this all, it all fits together like pieces in a puzzle. It shows many similarities to “The Tree of Life”, it’s almost impossible not to compare. It’s all about emotions, the complexity of people and relationships and the pain you can feel.

“To the Wonder” is beautifully made, but still has some critical notes. Not a movie for just anyone, but definitely worth your time.

Rating: 3,5/ 5