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The Night Agent (2023)
Watchable, but improbable
The Night Agent (2023), a Netflix miniseries, has some very good elements. Production values are top-notch, particularly cinematography, sound, and sets. Performances are uniformly good. On the one hand, the filmmakers made a deliberate effort to make the characters multidimensional with pasts that continue impact their lives and choices. On the other hand, the filmmakers tried to serve too many masters. At times, the story seems almost maudlin, as if targeting Hallmark Channel viewers, rather than action-genre fans. Often, the film seems to prioritize political correctitude. The cast is diverse to the point of seeming to pander. The B-story love interest is an obligatory cross-cultural romance between a handsome hunk and a girl who is pretty, but not sufficiently stunning to seem a threat to the soccer moms in the audience.
Gabriel Basso does a credible job in the lead role, but I was - and this is a personal bias - dismayed to see his arm covered with a tattoo sleeve. As a father, I don't want my sons to idolize a movie character with tattoos. Contemporary movies seem to favor presidents who resemble JFK, Obama, or Hillary Clinton, if heroic; Bush if villainous. TNA has a female president who seems to be a younger, less radical Clinton clone, but is a bit wooden, so we know from the start she can't be the villain. Her chief of staff, played by Vietnamese-American actress Hong Chau, is a more complex character, that is perhaps a bit beyond the actress's range. Perhaps the best performances were provided by the henchmen, a cross-cultural boy-girl team with a nuanced multifaceted relationship.
The plot is a bit contrived with a plethora of familiar tropes. After an exemplary act of bravery and initiative, FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Basso) is not promoted, but assigned to sit in a basement room in the White House, waiting for a phone that never rings to ring. With three shifts, vacations, and sick leave, the FBI has apparently assigned four of its most capable agents to a mind-numbing job that could be more effectively handled by a answering machine or a laptop computer. But one evening, he receives a call that ultimately ties together about a dozen improbable coincidences, involving a plot to murder a few hundred thousand people to mask an assassination, and leads to a ridiculously staged shoot-out at a shipping container yard where the containers are spaced haphazardly. Small wonder China's automated ports are leaving the States in their dust.
The plot is fairly ridiculous, but imbedded in enough improbable movie tropes to keep the audience amused, if not intrigued.
Jackpot! (2024)
Watchable with a few good fight sequences
Jackpot! (2024) was produced and directed by Paul Feig, who also produced and directed The Heat (2013), Spy (2015), and Ghostbusters (2016). If memory serves, these are the only four Feig films I've watched, and they are among my least favorite and most forgettable films.
The basic winner-takes-all premise has been explored in such films as Death Race (1973), Hunger Games (2008), The Quick and the Dead (1995), The 10th Victim (1965), Battle Royale (2000), and Exam (2009). In a dystopian future, a monthly lottery winner becomes the target of anybody who can murder the winner within twenty-four hours, to seize the winning ticket and claim unimaginable wealth. In a nifty wrinkle, the lottery tickets are tracking devices with LED screens, enabling the hunters to locate their target. The film presents a potentially interesting duality, in which the lottery winner must survive being the unluckiest person around to become the most fortunate. However, the film never explores the society that gave rise to attitudes that condone and celebrate this bloodlust or drives ordinary people to become murderers. There is little competition among the hunters, or efforts to sabotage one another, except between two central characters. The hunters are not allowed to use firearms, but are apparently free to use more brutal weapons, including a little plastic pistol-like device designed to shoot a spring-loaded pin into the victim's brain, a more portable form of the abattoir bolt pistol used by Chigurh in No Country for Old Men (2007).
Production elements are adequate, with arguably the exception of casting. Feig seems to make films for childless cat ladies, so his choices are often disappointing. His protagonists tend to be dowdy, portly, clumsy, middle-aged women with no children and no realistic prospects of romance, although they fantasize about some handsome dude who is clearly out of their league for anything beyond friendship. His cast is diverse to a fault and seems chosen more for their stereotypical looks than their acting chops, with Asians, Hispanics, blacks, elderly, obese, and homosexuals, with the painfully obvious exclusion of stunningly attractive females.
Awkwafina's Katie may be somebody with whom unmarried matrons can identify; but is not a particularly interesting or sympathetic character. She seems particularly ill suited to survive her ordeal. Rather than gradually becoming more confident and capable by surviving initial trials, developing alliances, and acquiring new skills, she abruptly morphs and manages to employ a seemingly useless skill to her advantage.
If Feig were intent on casting an Asian actress whom his target audience would consider age-appropriate for a B-story romance with Noel, played by John Cena (47), he could have chosen from dozens of actresses with not only the look, but the acting chops and experience in action roles, including Karen Mok (54) and Shu Qi (50). Awkwafina's Kate never seems a likely prospect for romance. She eventually exhibits a bit of resourcefulness and tenacity, but never blossoms into what most male movie-goers consider an attractive candidate for romance.
The action sequences are the movie's strongest element, but are strangely reminiscent of the shower scene in Psycho (1960), with a lot of quick cuts, but never a coherent image of the overall scene. Beyond casting, the script is the weakest element. The actors do as well as they can, but often seem limited by an unimaginative, predictable, often derivative script. The opening scene is the strongest, with Seann William Scott displaying his parkour skills. Simu Liu breathes some life into a shallowly written character with an over-the-top performance.
Overall, the film is watchable, but not engaging. It offers a few laughs, but doesn't push the envelope. The characters are shallow caricatures, limited by a mediocre script. Too often, the filmmakers seem to prioritize extraneous messaging over storytelling. The movie is perhaps best suited to viewing in segments while multitasking.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)
Guy Ritchie at the top of his game
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) is an excellent, thoroughly enjoyable film, which inexplicably did not do well at the box office. It is a fictionalized account of Operation Postmaster, an undercover operation launched by Sir Winston Churchill, involving author Ian Fleming, who based his James Bond novels on his experiences working with British Naval Intelligence during WWII. The successful operation hugely impacted the course of the War. The film was directed by Guy Ritchie, one of my favorite directors, and stars Henry Cavill, whom many hope will be cast as the next James Bond. Production values, cinematography, performances, stuntwork, pyrotechnics, costumes, art design - everything is top notch. And, it is entirely devoid of distracting woke content - a welcome rarity in recent films. Eiza González plays a highly capable undercover operative who is as deadly as she is beautiful, but seems far more credible than many female protagonists in recent feminist fantasy-fulfillment films. Ian Fleming is played by Freddie Fox, son of Edward Fox, who played M in Never Say Never Again. Cavill and his team project a bit of swagger, tempered by British aristocratic manners.
I've watched the film twice and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. It is so finely crafted, with conscientious attention to detail, that multiple viewings seem much like fresh experiences. The film is so thoroughly engaging that it seems less predictable on a second viewing than many films on the first.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)
Nostalgia with little heart, plot, or character development
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024) unabashedly and unapologetically serves up a heaping helping of nostalgia for fans of the 1984 original and its two sequels. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) hasn't changed much. He's still the wisecracking, irreverent, street cop with uncanny skills of observation and deduction, who is driven to follow through regardless of the risks or cost. Physically, Murphy hasn't changed much in the forty years since he first played Foley at twenty-four, beyond gaining a few pounds. However, his hair looks oddly unreal, to the point of distracting. By contrast, several of the actors reprising their roles seem quite a bit older. Perhaps it's a tribute to Murphy's healthy living and sobriety.
The car chases are much more elaborate and on par with some of the best contemporary action sequences. However, the plot is more in line with a 1970 television program - or the earlier Beverly Hills Cop movies.
The posters for the original feature Axel sitting on the hood of a red Mercedes Benz, holding an automatic pistol. The current film uses a similar image, but the pistol is held much more discretely. This time, Axel largely avoids firearms, even when one would expect a trained, experienced officer to have drawn. He flashes a weapon when he hijacks a vehicle for a car chase, but doesn't actually fire one until the final big shootout.
Perhaps the most challenging role is that of Jane Saunders, horribly miscast with Taylour Paige, who must play Axel's estranged daughter who grows to respect him, his reluctant sidekick, a high-powered criminal-defense attorney, and the former love interest of Detective Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), but is wooden and unconvincing in each role. She displays considerable anger toward Axel, but it isn't layered. She just sounds like an angry black woman railing against the establishment. There is zero chemistry between her and Abbott.
The screenplay tries to serve too many masters. As an action-comedy, it must straddle two genres, and incorporate nostalgic elements and cameos from the earlier films, bridge a forty-year gap, develop a backstory for a central character the audience hasn't seen before; develop a family drama that was never part of the franchise; maintain bromances between Axel and three characters he hasn't seen for years; and find time for social relevance, while yielding screen time to lengthy chase sequences and a gunfight. The result is a mishmash that is entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.
Sound of Freedom (2023)
Compelling and Troubling
Sound of Freedom (2023) is an effective and affecting film. It is a fictionalized account of efforts by dedicated Homeland Security enforcement officer Tim Ballard (Jim Caviezel) who risked everything to rescue fifty-four children from sex trafficking in Columbia.
Having seen interviews with Ballard and Caviezel, I already knew the story and tend to be skeptical of bio-pics which often exaggerate and glamorize, but usually have slow spots because real life doesn't conform to popular dramatic arcs. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The film is well made, suspenseful, and credible.
The climax and denouement are well crafted; however, rather than imparting a feeling of joy, it leaves a sense of relief, tempered by despair that the children were rescued, but irreparably injured, and that the fifty-four are only a small percentage of those victimized, not only by criminal organizations, but by relatives, teachers, classmates, and random strangers.
Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Unlikeable characters torment one another
Love Lies Bleeding (2024) opens with Lou (Kristin Stewart) unclogging a toilet that is nearly overflowing with a disgusting mixture of fecal matter, urine, and feminine hygiene products, only to have the toilet become clogged again a day later, which seems an appropriate allegory for a film that overflows with toxic feminism and misandry.
All the male characters are morally corrupt, vile, misogynistic, and despicable. Lou Sr (Ed Harris) is evil incarnate. The local cop is corrupt. JJ is abusive. FBI agent O'Riley, not the sharpest tool in the shed, seems oblivious to all the evidence at the scene of a recent murder.
The female characters aren't much better or more interesting. Daisy is a toxic clinging vine. Lou is battered and amoral. Katy is self-absorbed and opportunistic. Beth is abused and manipulated.
The acting is good, although none of the deeply flawed characters is particularly interesting or sympathetic. The complex intertwined backstory is credible and the plot has enough unexpected twists to have been satisfying, if anybody cared about the characters, but falls apart at the end.
A central element in the story is the lesbian love affair between Lou and Jackie, which is explored at considerable length, occupying possibly a third of the 1:44 screen time, causing the film to drag a bit. It might have been a better film if Lou had been cast as a male.
Argylle (2024)
The whole is much less than the sum of its parts
Argylle is perhaps best viewed in fifteen-minute segments, while multi-tasking and sipping an ice-cold beer to deaden the pain of watching this trainwreck.
It begins well enough, with Henry Cavill and Dwayne Johnson in an action sequence which first seems campy, but quickly turns silly and derivative of a scene from Skyfall. But Cavill is quickly shoved aside for Bryce Dallas Howard in the role of a plus-size neurotic cat-lady author of insipid cozy espionage novels. The character is tedious and uninteresting. Dua Lipa plays what seems to be her alter ego in an early sequence and would probably have been a much better protagonist.
The film quickly devolves into something reminiscent of Spy, but without Jason Stratham's hilarious performance. As a superspy and assassin, Howard's character is thoroughly unsympathetic and less credible than Melissa McCarthy's Susan. The film cribs familiar scenes and plot devices from numerous other films, including Unknown, and Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard.
The cinematography is excellent. Much of the visuals is presumably CGI, but is seamlessly integrated. A fight scene with colored smoke grenades is well-executed, but seems derivative of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and ultimately seems overly long and silly. Howard seems well cast in a role that drags the movie down. The talents of Cavill and Johnson are largely wasted.
Red Right Hand (2024)
Gritty, but not satisfying
Red Right Hand (2024) is a gritty, violent, somewhat depressing film with enough understated woke elements to distract and leave audiences wondering how much better it could have been.
The film seems almost schizophrenic in attempting realism in a genre that naturally gravitates toward right wing elements. Two graphic scenes depict brutal interrogations, but conducted by the villains. The chief villain is played by a woman with an army of male henchmen and a kinky boytoy. The one good cop on a corrupt force is a black guy. There is a lot of storm-trooper style gunplay and other violence, but much of it is off-camera. A scene involving violence toward a female is handled so obliquely as to leave the audience wondering what, if anything, happened. A young girl is taught to use a rifle and a knife, but the hero often finds himself without a gun or without bullets.
Orlando Bloom is excellent playing a backwoodsman with a lot of conflicts. He delivers a highly credible, nuanced performance. Garret Dillahunt also delivers a very credible performance as the preacher/sidekick. Andie MacDowell plays the antagonist in an over-the-top two-dimensional comic-book mode. None of the male characters seem to have any current romantic partners, although one spends a lot of time pining over his dead wife. What passes as the B-story love angle is the platonic relationship between Cash (Bloom) and his niece, which occupies a lot of screen time without managing to be particularly interesting.
Production values are adequate. Scenery and costumes seem authentic. Overall, the movie is watchable, but not truly satisfying. It's too timid for action fans, but perhaps too gritty for drama fans. The lack of any romantic angles leaves the characters seeming incomplete.
The Equalizer 3 (2023)
Lush scenery, graphic violence, tepid romance
The Equalizer 3 (2013), directed by Antoine Fuqua, starring Denzel Washington reprising his unstoppable vigilante role in the two earlier Equalizer films, offers excellent production values, credible performances, and an enjoyable viewing experience.
The tone is a bit uneven. It begins with a sort of mysterious, suspenseful sequence, then grinds to a tedious pace somewhat reminiscent of scenes from Denzel's Man on Fire, then picks up the pace, although in a largely predictable formulaic manner.
At 68, Denzel is a little slow and a bit heavy for the role, but is benefited from a quick-cut editing style. At 29, Dakota Fanning seems to have passed her window of opportunity for her role by several years and a few kilos. The other performances, largely by unfamiliar actors, are spot-on and credible, although a bit two-dimensional.
The tepid B-story romance falls flat. The film is rated R for violence, but the love story seems better suited to a high-school stage play. Two loose ends seem distracting: the MacGuffin from the opening scene, and a potentially intriguing revenge angle involving a character who fired a .22 bullet. Overall, it could have benefitted from less attention devoted to the picturesque scenery and more effort at character development. Other than miscasting Fanning and the obligatory interracial love interest, the film thankfully avoids woke themes.
Hypnotic (2023)
Largely derivative of much better films
Hypnotic is a mishmash of elements purloined from much better films, primarily Total Recall, Memento, and Inception, but with a splash of some zombie apocalypse film, and perhaps a dash of Corman's The Raven.
Ben Affleck seems to sleepwalk through his role. Most of the characters are two-dimensional caricatures. Production values are more than adequate, but the plot has a lot of holes.
The film fails to build much empathy for any of the characters. It's seldom clear what is real and what is some sort of fantasy or implanted memory, so the relationships are not clear-cut. In Total Recall, we quickly learn that the wife, Lori (Sharon Stone, Kate Beckinsale), is not who she seems. In Hypnotic, it's not clear until the very end.
Overall, Hypnotic is kind of okay for multitasking - to play in the background while doing something else, but not a movie one would want to watch repeatedly or study closely to appreciate the nuances. The film is a little woke, with casting choices clearly influenced by diversity mandates, a soccer-mom love interest, and avoidance of nudity that borders on awkwardness; yet the overall theme seems highly critical of the far left and Biden's administration.
Tulsa King (2022)
Familiar fare elevated by Stallone but limited by script
Tulsa King is about 8% woke - enough to be periodically distracting and annoying, yet sufficiently low-key to allow the positive elements to shine through. Sylvester Stallone's performance generally rises above the caliber of the script, although he is limited by its lack of imagination and originality. The cast is self-consciously diverse, but many of the supporting actors give credible performances, including Jay Will, who brings some depth to a stereotypical role with the help of Michael Beach as his father, as well as Garret Hedlund, and Ritchie Coster.
The nine-part DTV series is a mishmash of familiar tropes, energized by Stallone's performance, but hampered by concessions to "obligatory" woke constraints. Dwight (Stallone) recruits a ragtag ensemble of diverse lowlifes who evoke memories of the Village People. The police are evil, corrupt, and incompetent. Dwight's love interests are frumpy, dumpy soccer moms. If even one young, attractive girl in a body-conscious outfit was onscreen for more than a single frame, she escaped notice.
Basically, it's a fish-out-of-water buddy film. The central characters who form Dwight's crew have good chemistry together and Stallone has tremendous presence. The various adversaries and villains are cardboard cut-outs with mannerisms in the place of characterization. The females are, almost without exception, horrendously miscast on an order of magnitude comparable to Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III. The script is serviceable, with enough positive elements to maintain interest, but also many elements that seem familiar and derivative. It's a bit like watching an updated version of a crowd favorite. There are no major surprises, but it is generally entertaining, although often disappointing due to plot holes and improbable devices. Production values are good, but don't rise above direct-to-video caliber.
Hammett (1982)
Visually impressive
Hammet (1982) feels a bit like a direct-to-video production, in part because the movie is over forty years old, but also because it tries to capture the feel of classic cinema noir films. Kudos to the design team for meticulous attention to detail.
Like more recent productions, such as See How They Run (2022) and The Raven (2012), the movie embroils a renowned author in a fictional mystery much like the stories the author wrote. The result is a bit unfocused, as the biopic elements take screen time away from the mystery. Unfortunately, Dashiell Hammett doesn't come across as particularly interesting. He's modestly successful, a capable writer, respected, knowledgeable, and knows a lot of people. He was also a heavy smoker and an alcoholic who died of lung cancer - characteristics which add screen time without contributing to the mystery.
The movie is impressively authentic visually and offers an interesting perspective on the author's personality during one stage of his life, before he became a hermit. But ultimately, it fails to engage.
Little Dixie (2023)
Weak script and awkward woke elements
Little Dixie (2023) is disappointing on several levels.
As an action movie fan, I'm generally willing to watch any film starring Frank Grillo, Michael Jai White, or Scott Adkins - three actors who are capable martial artists and credible actors, but who have generally been limited to low-budget films and minor roles in major productions. My favorite Grillo film is Boss Level.
Little Dixie is my least favorite Grillo film. It's a low-budget production. There are no car chases, pyrotechnics, elaborate CGI, or large crowd scenes, but production values are adequate to its modest ambitions. There are a few gaping holes in the plot, which can be ignored if one is willing to sit back and enjoy the ride. However, the script is weak. Much of the plot is predictable. Some characters are duplicitous, but largely one-dimensional with no appreciable character arcs. Dialogue is a bit on the nose and heavy on exposition.
Grillo's Doc is not a sympathetic character. He's some sort of facilitator who works with a Mexican drug cartel and corrupt U. S. politicians, but we don't see this work. He transforms effortlessly into a ruthless, coldly efficient, unstoppable killing machine, but we never see what Blake Snyder calls a save-the-cat scene, other than a symbolic action on a pier near the end of the film. In Assassins, Stallone's Rath grants a victim's request. The assassin in Babylon allows one of his assigned targets to flee the country. In Inglourious Basterds, Waltz's Landa allows Shosanna to escape. Doc doesn't have a moment of kindness. To the contrary, he seems unaffected by the extensive collateral damage he causes.
There is no love story, only Doc's affection for his daughter Nell, but there seems to be little genuine chemistry between the actors. Nell isn't an interesting character and her only potentially interesting action is off-screen.
Chekhov wrote, "If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off." Doc purchases several firearms which he never seems to use, although he does use the item that is given special significance.
A huge distraction in many recent films has been the filmmakers' insistence on wearing their wokeness on their sleeves, usually to the detriment of the film. This is particularly incongruous in actions films which are typically far removed from woke ideology, and often feature concealed automatic weapons, enhanced interrogation techniques, extrajudicial executions, illegal wiretaps, facial recognition, muscle cars, private jets, and other politically-incorrect environmentally-hostile elements.
Little Dixie inserts several woke elements which seem so awkward and incongruous that one wonders if the filmmakers weren't deliberately or subconsciously railing against woke mandates.
Genre fans would expect Doc's ex-wife to be a matureBond girl, or perhaps a duplicitous femme fatale, like the dental hygienist in Boss Level. That the filmmakers would try to fill their diversity quota by casting a black actress is not surprising, but instead of a Thandiwe Newton or Zoe Saldana, they cast a shrewish soccer mom who doesn't look the least bit like the daughter and has no positive energy with Doc.
Rather than the typical strip-club scene, we have a scene at a gay bar featuring a singing competition among cross-dressing contestants, which devolves into a truly cringeworthy bedroom scene that ends predictably badly.
A minor character is a lesbian, while two others seem to be homosexual males for no particular reason, other than diversity. As the villains are Mexican drug dealers, there are numerous Latinos. But Asians seem conspicuously absent.
There are only a couple of brief martial arts scenes. Doc is supposedly some sort of manipulator who masterminded a huge smuggling operation. But we don't see him planning, negotiating, using the skills he supposedly has. Instead, he is a very blunt instrument. Against the backdrop of a modest production, the woke virtue signaling is especially distracting.
Glass Onion (2022)
Benches top talent to seem diverse and inclusive
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) would be exponentially better if the filmmakers had focused more on the mystery and devoted less attention to distracting efforts to seem woke and politically correct.
The biggest problem is Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), who is miscast in a poorly conceived dual role as twin sisters, but often seems to function primarily as a conduit for irrelevant and distracting woke content. One of the sisters is a brilliant visionary, while the other seems comparably brilliant, but squanders her talents teaching fourth grade rather than a graduate course in computer science at MIT or Cal Tech, much like Daniel Craig seems to be squandering his talents by spurning the role of James Bond to play a derivative Hercule Poirot, a role he can play in his sleep and sometimes seems to.
Beyond this, elementary school teachers have lost much of the stature once ascribed to their role in society. Students are graduating high school without basic skills and have fallen even further behind because teachers' unions opposed in-person learning during the pandemic. Many teachers seem primarily concerned with indoctrinating students with Marxist political views, racist critical race theory, and dubious notions of gender fluidity, while labeling parents as domestic terrorists and posting TikTok videos that raise serious doubts as to whether they should be allowed anywhere near children.
Brand maintains a supposedly detailed journal, which of course contains critical clues. But rather than using her phone and cloud storage to update an indexed and cross-referenced multimedia journal like any self-respecting computer geek, she records it in a small diary with the first thirty-odd years of her life somehow condensed into about a hundred pages. She receives an intricate puzzle box, which in a fit of rage she smashes apart with a claw hammer without any effort at solving the puzzles. For much of the movie, she upstages Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc, which is annoying, as the audience didn't come to watch the sidekick steal the show. If being a slacker with anger issues in a profession that has fallen into disrepute isn't sufficient reason to dislike the character, the chaotic climatic scene entails her committing an unspeakably heinous act that can only be applauded by radical eco-terrorists.
Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc has two scenes in which he displays his brilliant powers of deduction and eidetic recall of obscure clues; however, the reveals seem less satisfying because the audience isn't allowed to see him gathering some of the clues. Much of his screen time is instead devoted to displaying his character's idiosyncrasies and peculiarities. Near the end, he inexplicably breaks character to incite a series of heinous acts.
Dave Bautista has an amusing role at the beginning, playing a muscular millennial living in his domineering mother's basement, but is largely relegated in later scenes as a caricature of a gun nut. Other characters also seem to be shallow caricatures of celebrities.
The movie offers a satisfyingly complex plot, with red herrings, and credible suspects. The production values are top-notch. The stellar cast is led by Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, and Dave Bautista; however, the filmmakers leave their top talent on the bench for much of the duration, instead leaving much of the heavy lifting to a minor character in the role of sidekick who isn't likely to reprise her role in the next Knives Out film.
All the Old Knives (2022)
Good, but not sufficiently noir for genre fans
All the Old Knives (2022) is a credible contemporary noir film with excellent production values. The performances are a bit stoic, which kind of works for Chris Pine, who plays an experienced intelligence officer who ordinarily never allows his emotions to color his judgment, or allows his assets to fathom whether his is telling the truth; but perhaps less well for Thandiwe Newton, whose character's judgment is occasionally clouded by emotion. The overarching story arc is fairly predictable, but there are enough plot twists to keep the journey enjoyable.
As with many contemporary productions, the film is marred by efforts to incorporate woke elements. Inter-cultural romances have become de rigueur, as a way of advancing diversity and inclusion goals. Thandiwe Newton has always been a stunningly beautiful woman, notably in Mission: Impossible II (2000), The Truth About Charlie (2002), Rock 'n' Rolla (2008), and many other films. She has maintained her beauty and figure admirably; however, she is 49, eight years older than her character's seasoned partner, and the years, three childbirths, and smoking have taken a toll. In the flashback scenes, she plays an intelligence analyst on her second posting, probably in her late twenties. While the make-up artists seem to have done their best to make Chris appear older and Thandiwe younger, the results are not consistent or convincing.
The plot involves an assassination attempt that depends on a signal to proceed, but there is difficulty in transmitting and verifying the signal. The film could have been much more dramatically satisfying if an additional level of subterfuge, deception, and betrayal were introduced that justified the assassination and it had been handled differently.
The villain in the piece is unmasked and dispatched with extreme prejudice but little effort at justification. The audience is left with the impression that the villain's treatment was necessary to satisfy the audience's expectations, not the demands of the characters in the movie.
It's an engaging movie, but it could have been much more impactful.
The Adam Project (2022)
Flawed but enjoyable
The Adam Project (2022) is a sort of odd-couple bromance set against a half-baked sci-fi time-travel adventure story. The character-driven relationship between adult Adam (Ryan Reynolds) and his younger self (thirteen-year-old Walker Scobell) is cinematic gold. The script provides a complex multi-tiered relationship with a lot of conflict, self-doubt, and guilt for the actors to explore. Both are talented and there is a lot of positive chemistry between them, as well as tension and conflict.
The sci-fi/adventure plot is a hopelessly muddle of implausible contrivances to dismiss familiar temporal paradoxes. Catherine Keener plays a Pelosi-esque villainess who used insider information to become rich and powerful, then sold her soul to preserve her position. She hops through time with a phalanx of humanoid robots that fight like martial-arts masters and disintegrate when dispatched, allowing for large-scale fight scenes and Clockwork Orange ultraviolence without soaking the ground with blood or littering it with severed limbs.
Fortunately, the movie largely avoids much of the woke content that makes so many recent films nearly unwatchable. None of the characters carries or uses a handgun and no police are anywhere in sight to trigger any radical leftist snowflakes in the audience, even when two bullies beat up a weak asthmatic schoolmate in broad daylight at a shopping center. To promote ethnic diversity, intercultural romances have become de rigueur. Adam's romantic interest is played by Hispanic Zoe Saldaña. The young Zoe, who played Cataleya in Colombiana, would have been a brilliant choice, if time travel were possible. She's still a strikingly beautiful woman, but eleven years and three babies later, she looks more like a soccer mom than a college freshman.
Despite the contrived plot, the story is engaging, leaving the audience to wonder how the characters will extract themselves from this quagmire without creating some temporal paradox. Instead, all the characters seem to teleport themselves into some other movie playing at the cinema next door which kind of looks like the first movie, but takes place in a different cosmos of reality or some parallel universe.
The ending isn't satisfying, but getting there is still fun.
The King's Man (2021)
Visually stunning film marred by woke ideology
The King's Man (2021) offers production values and performances to rival many classic films, which seems an overachievement for what is essentially a prequel to an adolescent-fantasy-fulfillment franchise, yet squanders this impressive visual tapestry with incongruous efforts to go woke, which distract the audience and undercut the dramatic structure.
Scarcely three minutes into the film, a character states the theme:
"Do you remember why King Arthur and his knights had a round table? Because it meant that all men were equal. It's important that people born into privilege lead by example. That's why your father and I are patrons of the Red Cross. Helping others . . . Not hiding behind our status. Never forget that."
The upper class is born into privileges they do not deserve and have a responsibility to serve the downtrodden. The heavy lifting is actually performed by a network of ubiquitous servants who have access to the halls of power and all the secrets therein, but are unseen, unnoticed, and generally unappreciated. (Anybody who doubts the efficacy of an unelected shadow government need only consider the many accomplishments of the Biden administration.)
But these maids and footmen are not the run-of-the-mill proletarians one now sees on YouTube videos who can't name the three branches of government for twenty dollars. No! These shadow warriors apparently read Sun Tsu and von Clausewitz at night and call out chess moves from memory while chopping vegetables in the scullery, when they aren't practicing martial arts. Naturally, their ranks are diverse and inclusive; and they have little use for handguns, which invariably fail at the most inopportune moment.
The gentleman detective has long been a popular genre, with such heroes as Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Lord Peter Wimsey, Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, and Amos Burke. The genre morphed into gentleman spy stories as in The Good Shepherd, and characters such as James Bond and John Steed.
But the current Go-Broke-Going-Woke Hollywood culture is loath to lionize or idolize the wealthy, so undermines the essential elements that have made the genre popular for over a century. The result is visually stunning, but emotionally unsatisfying.
Last Looks (2021)
An intriguing contemporary noir mystery only slightly marred by woeness
Last Looks (2021) is an intriguing contemporary noir mystery, but is marred somewhat by clumsy efforts to insert incongruous woke elements. Performances by the male characters are stellar, particularly by Mel Gibson (Alastair Pinch), Rupert Friend (Wilson Sikorsky), and Charlie Hunnam (Charlie Waldo); however, the female characters seem substantially less developed. Production values are good, although there are no memorable scenes of fight choreography, car chases, pyrotechnics, or firefights.
Waldo is a devoted tree-hugger, who eschews materialism in favor of living in harmony with nature and limiting himself to one hundred possessions, which seems more impractical and weird than noble. One wonders if each bullet is considered a separate possession or part of a fully-loaded firearm. Unfortunately, much of this eco-centricity is front-loaded, making for a slow start that doesn't mesh with the tone of the rest of the film. Toward the end, Waldo redeems himself by embracing a bit of conspicuous consumption.
There are other flourishes of wokeness. There is no on-screen gunfire. A couple of female characters are presented as financially successful. A gangster of vague ethnicity has a sensitive side. Efforts to make the cast inclusive are apparent. One suspects that Waldo's concern over ecology weighed in the decision to green-light the project. Efforts to cater to the woke crowd have impaired many recent productions, notably Captain Marvel and No Time to Die; and are a distraction in Last Looks, but not enough to derail the movie, largely due to several talented actors playing eccentric characters.
Being the Ricardos (2021)
Wears its hypocrisy on its sleeve
Being the Ricardos seems frightfully hypocritical.
During the Red Scare, I Love Lucy, possibly the most popular show in the history of television, is in danger of cancellation because one of the principals is accused of being a communist. The movie could have taken the moral high ground and drawn parallels with the current cancel culture and the shunning of talented actors like James Woods and John Voight over their political conservatism. Instead, it condemns actions against communists in the film industry, while taking a gratuitous stab at Republicans. A character goes so far as to comment that, before McCarthy, being a communist was considered no worse than being a Republican. That Desi Arnaz was an ardent lifelong Republican is never mentioned, even though his political connections enable him to resolve the situation.
Lucille Ball gets her big break in show business by seducing Desi Arnaz, which the film treats as acceptable behavior on both their parts and common practice among background dancers eager to employ their charms to advance their career, even though the current film industry castigates Hollywood power players such as Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Matt Lauer for taking liberties with aspiring talent.
The movie also seems at odds in its treatment of Lucille Ball, whom it tries to lionize as strong, decisive, and creative, despite playing a ditzy character and having many character flaws.
Production values are excellent. Javier Bardem seems an odd choice to play Desi Arnaz. Not only is he Spanish, rather than Cuban, but he doesn't have Arnaz's boyish good looks. However, his performance is brilliant. Nicole Kidman is also excellent at capturing Lucille Ball's onscreen antics.
Paradoxically, in today's political environment, with the prevalent cancel culture in Hollywood, I Love Lucy would likely be cancelled due to the conservative, anti-socialist views of Desi Arnaz and William Frawley, who played the neighbor, Fred Mertz.
Being the Ricardos could have been a powerful film, if the filmmakers had had the courage and integrity to draw parallels between the McCarthy hearings and efforts to cancel actors, politicians, and others over political views and minor indiscretions ages past which weren't considered reprehensible at the time. They had the perfect vehicle with the narrations by older versions of the principals. Instead, they chose to wear their hypocrisy on their sleeves.
Free Guy (2021)
All the dramatic impact of a potato chip hurled in anger by a petulant toddler
Free Guy (2021) begins as a fluffy bit of cinematic nonsense for video-game-addicted adolescents, but around the midpoint decides to get serious and deliver a profound statement, so goes woke and wears its wokeness like an albatross around its neck, weighing it down and distracting from the whimsical nonsense in a painfully obvious manner.
To be certain, there are elements of wokeness from the very beginning. The cast is nearly as diverse as the United Nations General Assembly, to an extent that seems unrealistic, causing cracks in the viewer's willful suspension of disbelief, already stressed by balancing two worlds, one fantastic and the other realistic.
The most obvious concession to wokeness seems to be in casting the female lead, who seems to have been chosen more for what she isn't than for what she is. One can almost imagine the woke casting debate: "She can't be too sexy or too attractive, as we don't want to objectify women. She has a lot of action scenes, but can't be too fit, as she might alienate our female viewers, as two out of three American females are overweight or obese. She's playing opposite Ryan Reynolds, who is forty-four, so has to be age-appropriate." The result is a pleasantly plump auntie, who looks as if she should be selling apple pies in a small-town bakery, rather than battling heavily-armed mercenaries; who dresses frumpy in her character's real life, but chooses a video-game avatar that wears tight leather pants emphasizing an ample booty and a metal breastplate under her shirt to hide any jiggling when she runs. The character is supposed to be an extraordinarily talented programmer, but seems a little slow on the uptake, constantly relying on her male sidekick to bring her up to speed. She doesn't have anything interesting to say, and her only outside interests are ice cream and playground swings. Yet, we're supposed to believe that two handsome guys fall hopelessly in love with her from a distance.
The early scenes offer a cornucopia of state-of-the-art special effects to distract from the nonsensical plot. Impressively, the background is often filled with diverse CGI effects occurring simultaneously. But it quickly grows repetitive, as the filmmakers dig themselves inextricably into a plot hole. They could have explored various themes, such as the meaning of life, or separating fantasies from reality. Instead they throw in a mishmash of half-baked woke talking points. Corporations are evil. Adolescents are really 1960s flower children corrupted by violent video games. Ordinary people have untapped potential, but are dehumanized by corporate employers. Handguns should be outlawed. Sexual orientation is fluid. Men are empowered by the women in their lives.
Perhaps the most promising message is that we should put video games aside and live our lives, but it comes across with all the impact of a potato chip hurled in anger by a petulant toddler.
Despite all the wokeness and ever more spectacular CGI effects, the movie remains mired in a plot hole. To extricate, one character simply abandons the MacGuffin that has driven much of the plot in exchange for something that is later also abandoned. Another character abandons a driving motivation. Everybody in the world abruptly and fundamentally changes preferences for no coherent reason. The villain is smacked down with a deus ex machina plot resolution. The fantasy world seems to devolve from a socialist utopia to a dystopian nightmare with a lot of pretty trees. Along the way, the film patches gaps in the plot by creating unexpected causes and effects in both the real and the fantasy worlds.
Overall, it is a fun movie until it starts to take itself seriously; perhaps best suited to viewing at home while multitasking. Kudos for production values and impressive digital effects. The script fails to take full advantage of a promising premise and the actors seem hamstrung by a script that seems a few re-writes short of completion. Like many recent movies, it kowtows to wokeness at the expense of entertainment value and dramatic impact. Much of the dialogue is probably relevant to adolescent videogame addicts, but meaningless to those who haven't played since Pac-Man was the rage. Like a theme park ride, it's fun for the duration, but doesn't impart any profound insights about life, love, or video gaming.
Vacation Friends (2021)
Some good moments, but not as good as I Love You, Man
Vacation Friends (2021) delivers a fair number of laughs and a few touching moments. It is similar to I Love You, Man (2009) starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel bonding as mismatched Groom-to-be and best man, which is a much better and funnier film, and would be a better choice for those who haven't seen it. Despite some hilarious scenes and good performances, Vacation Friends isn't nearly as satisfying as I Love You, Man.
Lil Rel Howery does as well as one might expect with the material he's given, but seems horribly miscast as Marcus, an anal-retentive, insecure, self-made businessman and owner of a successful construction firm. Why construction? Probably because the male lead in chick flicks typically has a socially responsible career, often involving physical labor outdoors - which is also the likely reason that John Cena's Ron is a park ranger. Working in construction, Marcus is viewed as blue-collar to fiancée Emily's (Yvonne Orji) blue-blooded family, and it means his employees are too rough around the edges to mix well with her family; however, it never becomes a part of the plot, as does Ron's knowledge of nature. Marcus dresses for work like a college professor, rather than somebody who spends much of his working day traipsing through the mud. He's portly and physically inept, as if he's never in his life swung a sledge hammer or even a claw hammer. He seems to know nothing about construction, other than the importance of using spreadsheets. He never seems authentic in his career, unlike Ron, who seems very credible as a park ranger with a loose screw or two.
Marcus's romance with Emily doesn't seem authentic either. Emily is kind of just there. She's not stunningly beautiful, intoxicatingly sexy, wickedly clever, or engagingly amusing. There's no magic spark between them that transfers to the silver screen, and little reason for the audience to like her or to root for their romance.
By contrast, John Cena is brilliant as Ron, a complex, passionate, mercurial, three-dimensional character with conflicts, a credible background, and an eccentric philosophy of life. There is a lot of energy between him and Kyla (Meredith Hagner), a sort of anachronistic 1970s flower child. Kudos also to Robert Wisdom as Harold, Emily's father, who delivers a brilliant multi-faceted performance.
In contrast, Emily's extended family are familiar two-dimensional stereotypes. One's first impression might be that they are playing caricatures to make some sort of statement that upper-crusty blacks are as vacuous and self-absorbed as upper-crusty whites. However, Chris Pratt and Anna Faris were originally slated to play Marcus and Emily. Apparently, all these minor roles were originally envisioned as white characters and were never altered when the role of Marcus was re-cast as Ice Cube, and later Lil Rel Howery. The result is a large cast of supporting characters who don't quite seem authentic.
This incongruity comes front and center in the second act, when it develops that Emily's entire family are enthusiasts in fox hunting and golf, two sports that are not considered popular in the black community. This is not to suggest that blacks cannot or should not hunt foxes, even if they appreciate the difference between a hunt and a chase, and know how many buttons to wear on their bespoke velvet coats. But it can be confusing to the audience. Is this supposed to be funny, like casting a black as the world's greatest hockey player in The Love Guru (2008)? Or is it intended as some sort of deadly serious woke political statement that any actor can play any role, as with casting a black Mrs Santa Clause in Fatman (2020)?
Beckett (2021)
Sub-par direct-to-video fare
Beckett (2021) starts at a painfully tedious pace, chronicling a romance between Beckett (John David Washington) and April (Alicia Vikander), two Americans vacationing in Greece, neither of whom seems particularly interesting. The inciting incident doesn't occur until thirteen minutes in, but it seems more like half an hour. A calamitous event occurs, resulting in Beckett seeing a seemingly inconsequential something he wasn't supposed to see, making him the target of some bad people who spend the rest of the film trying to kill him.
The romance adds nothing of consequence to the film and could easily have been cut and replaced with a few lines of dialogue. In fact, Vikander's character could have been cut from the film. The relationship between Beckett and an activist is much more nuanced. Beckett is not an interesting character with no special skills, other than perseverance. He works in business systems integration, but seems a little slow on the uptake and never uses his professional skills. He seems to be the only black person in this area of Greece, making him an easier target for the villains.
Alternatively, Beckett's character could have been eliminated and replaced by April, and would probably have made a more interesting film.
The film ends abruptly with uncertain consequences and never fully explaining the plot, or whether several characters are alive or dead. Production values are typical for direct-to-video - adequate, but not exemplary. The best performance is by Boyd Holbrook as an embassy employee with his own agenda.
Reminiscence (2021)
Squanders excellent elements on wokeness
Reminiscence (2021) has the necessary elements for an outstanding neo-noir film: a cynical hard-bitten amateur sleuth, an enigmatic femme fatale with a checkered past, corruption, betrayal, artifice, moral ambiguity, a tangled plot, and intriguing characters with closets filled with skeletons. Performances are excellent, particularly by Hugh Jackman (Nick), Rebecca Ferguson (Mae), Cliff Curtis (Booth) and Daniel Wu (Saint Joe). The plot is satisfyingly convoluted. Production values are outstanding. Yet, the film can't seem to maintain focus.
As has become endemic recently, woke filmmakers seem unable to resist the temptation to put their audiences asleep with sophomoric political commentary and allusions. The film is set in a dystopian near future recoiling from "the Border Wars" and flooding caused by climate change. As the current villains du jour are the Chinese, the chief villain is played by Daniel Wu, better known as a Hong Kong megastar. The cast is an international potpourri of talented performers, including Australian Hugh Jackman, Swedish Rebecca Ferguson, British Thandiwe Newton, New Zealander Cliff Curtis, and Mexican Marina de Tavira. All police are corrupt and the only honest employee in the criminal justice system is a female prosecutor. The wealthy are irredeemably corrupt, having used their ill-gotten gains to move to gated communities on high ground. The audience is constantly assailed with political commentary, ranging from subtle to in-your-face, which distracts from the plot.
Water is everywhere. The film has more water images than Hannibal (2001). Water can symbolize many things: cleansing, baptism, life. Babies gestate in an amnionic sac of fetal urine. Reminiscence clients are partially immersed in a sort of sensory-deprivation chamber half filled with water, while their memories are projected into a sort of three-dimensional stage filled with gossamer strands resembling falling rain. When Nick (Hugh Jackman) visits Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), she asks if he wants a glass of water, which she pours from a high-tech filtration device. As they embrace, the glass shatters (possibly an allusion to a Jewish wedding ritual) and filtered water overflows onto the floor. Nick's brush with death occurs when he saves a villain from drowning and must choose between the welcoming embrace of the sea and the searing light from above. The film begins with a dolly shot of the ocean's waters engulfing the lower stories of skyscrapers, and ends with Nick easing into one of the Reminiscence chambers. It's never clear what all these water images are meant to symbolize, if anything. They're impressive and look frightfully expensive. The water is eventually shown to be connected to the villain's plot, but seems more of a distraction than anything else.
As with many films written and directed by females, Reminiscence has significant issues with nudity and sexuality. When sultry femme fatale Mae comes to his office, Nick says, "If you'd liked to get undressed,
we provide modesty suits, so I can slip out while you . . ." To which Mae replies, "You're gonna see it all anyway, aren't you?" The exchange establishes that clients need to be naked when they enter the Reminiscence chamber, but also creates a sort of Chekhov's gun, with the audience expecting to see Mae naked. But what follows is a series of awkward Hayes-Code-esque shots contrived to preserve the actress's modesty. The character professes nonchalance about nudity and is played by an actress from Sweden, a nation at the forefront of the 1970s sexual revolution, yet acts like a coy Disney contract player. Later, two other characters are shown in the chamber wearing garments and another is shown with medical breathing apparatus. Earlier, a wheelchair-bound character expresses an interest in revisiting memories of Angie, creating expectations of a steamy romantic interlude. But Angie turns out to be a dog. Nudity can represent innocence, or vulnerability, but the filmmakers equate it with adolescent titillation with no more insight than their handling of water imagery.
The film has a massive cosmos of reality issue in that the memories are presented as if in a hyper-realistic three-dimensional landscape seen from the perspective of a fly on the wall or a three-dimensional animation creator who can view the action from any angle, including events not witnessed by the client.
An extended gunfight is brilliantly choreographed and executed, but seems out of place in a noir film. Later the film seems to devolve into a chick flick before discarding all genre conventions to deliver a sophomoric statement promoting socialism.
Reminiscence is evocative of Blade Runner, Seven, 8mm, Inception, Chinatown, and various noir classics. It has all the necessary elements for a cinema classic, but squanders much of its potential with self-indulgent ennui-inducing wokeness.
Black Widow (2021)
Too much family drama, not enough action, implausible plot
Black Widow (2021), for much of its 113 minute running time, feels like what one might expect from a Lifetime direct-to-video movie: a dysfunctional family struggling to overcome personal and interpersonal issues to embrace traditional middle-class family values. Movie-goers who have eagerly awaited a Star Wars prequel featuring Ma and Pa Vader and baby Darth will probably enjoy Black Widow, while fans of the franchise will likely be disappointed. The characters talk about the Avengers, Tony Stark, and Captain America, but not even a brief cameo or an Avengers logo is shown.
With many in Hollywood apparently still clinging to discredited allegations of Russian collusion, the villains are Russians . . . More or less. The main Russians are played by British performers Ray Winstone, Rachel Weisz, and Florence Pugh, and Americans David Harbour and Scarlett Johansson. To avoid any allegations of cultural appropriation, none of the performers, with the notable exception of Harbor, seems to act very Russian, even while drinking vodka and speaking Russian.
Part of the reason the actors don't seem authentically Russian may be attributed to the self-conscious diversity among the throngs of evil minions. Russia is generally considered somewhat less racially tolerant and inclusive than the Antebellum South, but the throngs of elite female assassins in their leather bondage outfits are ethnically diverse, as they prepare to turn tables on men who treat women as subservient. Unlike most movies, they wear no hoods or masks, to fully display that they are female and diverse. But the notion of Russians tolerating racial diversity among an elite corps of commando assassins seems improbable, leaving the impression of pandering to progressives - which also seems incongruous in a film featuring extrajudicial executions, assassinations, unauthorized wiretaps, enhanced interrogations, et cetera.
The movie seems to be about 40% family drama, 30% feminist female empowerment, 20% action, and 10% gratuitous CGI effects, with a generous measure of misandry throughout.
The plot is an absurd contrivance based on radical feminist talking points exaggerated to comic proportions. The villain's actions make little sense, unless one ignores logic and assumes he is an insane misogynistic megalomaniac. It also makes little dramatic sense, as the action is reduced to manipulating images on a huge computer display. In a fashion worthy of Dr Evil, the villain made sure his years of preparation could be undone with a few keystrokes and built his secret fortress so the slightest damage would trigger a sequence of cataclysmic explosions.
As is common among many recent Hollywood productions, there is no typical B-story romance, offering instead a tale of sisterly love between two girls who aren't really sisters and aren't particularly lovable.
There are several well-choreographed action scenes, including several fights among female martial artists. Harbour's performance is noteworthy, until he is sucked into the maudlin family drama. The movie is a disappointment on several levels. The family drama is so bogged down in the mundane that the fantastic aspects of the superhero story seem less credible, particularly due to numerous gaps in the plot. Beyond that, the film seems a harbinger of future disappointing efforts by a film industry that increasingly seems more concerned with virtue signaling, posturing and proselytizing about political correctitude than entertaining audiences.
The Ice Road (2021)
Wokeful pandering shatters willful suspension of disbelief
The Ice Road (2021) has some excellent elements, including Liam Neeson's performance, but squanders much of its potential with a series of tediously obvious efforts to appease the woke crowd, which shatter the audience's willful suspension of disbelief to remind them of the current socio-political debates they go to the movies to escape.
The cast is diverse to a fault. Laurence Fishburne is the token black, channeling Morpheus as a sort of mentor character. Marcus Thomas represents the disabled community as a character with a sort of nebulous disorder that seems to morph to fit the exigencies of the script. At times he's developmentally impaired, autistic, a savant, or suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder; while at other times, he seems unimpaired. As there is no conventional B-story with a love interest, the buddy relationship between protagonist Mike (Neeson) and brother Gurty (Thomas) substitutes. The lone female in a key role is played by Amber Midthunder representing the BIPOC community as a Native American. As this film is first a tribute to wokefulness and second an action-adventure, she can't be a babe, like Raquel Welch in Fantastic Voyage. Instead, she is tough and independent, with a generous sprinkling of misandry, and fiercely committed to fighting for social justice.
The villains are corporate executives who have retained a cadre of homicidal psychopaths. The villains are white, male, middle-aged, and clearly non-inclusive, as corporations would never engage in skullduggery if their boards of directors were more diverse. Considerable attention is devoted to a situation in which democracy fails and survival depends upon reliance on Pelosi-style autocracy.
The movie could not be more obvious in its efforts to pander to proponents of wokeful ideology if it filled the screen with stock images of melting celluloid and cut to an image of velvet stage curtains parting as the director walks onto stage to announce that the movie is being interrupted so the filmmakers can present their homework assignment from an online community college course in social justice taught by professor emeritus Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's as if the filmmakers feel compelled to compromise their script and casting decisions to conform to an woke version of the Hays Code.
Despite the tedious and distracting proselytizing, the film has its moments. It explores the lives of an obscure and relatively unknown group of truckers with credible detail. The special effects are excellent. There is a lot more action than one might expect.
But the audience is left to wonder how much better the film might have been if it had focused on entertainment, rather than indoctrination.