Categories: Movie and Series Reviews, Movie and Series Rating 2/5

I wanted to like Kraven, I really did. Watching Aaron-Taylor Johnson punch windows is an enjoyable way to spend time. The problem is, nothing is gained here. I have no more faith in Sony to make anything solid with the Spider-Man villains than I did before. The writing is atrocious, and the visual spectacle, in a sea of visual spectacles, doesn’t really impress.

That is a large part of the problem with Kraven summed up. Everything feels like it has been done better elsewhere and with better sense. Simply being less egregious than Madame Web is not enough, nor should anyone use that metric. If you put together a capable cast like Kraven did, then you should bring a script and direction that makes something not immediately forgotten after viewing. Russell Crowe is a very capable actor, but he feels wasted here, and everything you think is going to happen is mostly what happens. It is unbearable.

I really wish there was some common sense in the writing most of all. This is Kraven, and him being a bit naughtier would have been a welcome thing. Like when Kraven asks what the magic juice—the source of his power—is, maybe wrap that around the idea that he wants more power, he is… craving it. The visuals also imply a movie that wants to be edgy but then pushes back against itself. Why go for an R rating if it is just to knock off a few goons and then contrast that with PG-13-style displays of Kraven getting tossed around? The blood and violence never feel truly integrated into the world around them, as they appear and vanish instantly. There is a helicopter scene that gets close to cool, but while doing more, it somehow feels a lot less than Captain America: Civil War and its helicopter-wrangling. That is the whole movie though, making you wish you were watching something else.

The villains are just there in Kraven, and the setup for familial conflict—both within the film and for its high-hoped sequel—is exhausting and often feels unearned.

The Day of the Jackal feels like cheap TV, but with a bigger budget. The story is not particularly great so far if you do anything other than swallow everything that is presented to you, a hard pill when a lot does not make sense. Fitting of daytime network TV, there is an army of one British intelligence officer who does it all. They come up with the ideas, know which individual in the entirety of the world is likely to have the answers they seek, do the CPR themselves in an ambulance, go on site and chase the baddies themselves, and they aren’t afraid to raise their voice to their superiors.

In a world of police procedural shows, there is nothing special here in the first two episodes and I don’t think it deserves more of my time in hopeful improvement. The edge to the show, that it deeply wants, feels heavily manufactured and hamfisted into a blah existence. This is not the spy thriller for grown-ups some would have you believe.

I think people are going to be harsh on the portrayal of Bianca by Lashana Lynch, but I think her consistency shows she is capturing what the show probably asked for. The layers of tropes were written in. Eddie Redmayne gets it a bit easier as Jackel, who is likable despite his chosen profession. The choice to go that rout, mirroring one another and who is and isn’t likable, is one of the more interesting choices of the show. However, all good will bought is then sold for nonsense events and smart characters not asking basic questions.

Whedon does not get a pass for this. I had to search for this, he commented that the movies script was mostly intact but the direction was bad. Then he commented the casting was bad later. Everything was bad except his script.

Don’t get me wrong, the direction is extra bad and there are bits where you could see the writers intent vs what we got, but its bad. A tone correction to pronouncing fork would not have fixed this mess. I don’t think this would have been a Serenity, and I don’t think jokes about Walmart show any appreciation for the setting. Whedon is not one to take blame though, clearly.

It is amazing how many recognizable faces are in this and yet how squandered it all is. Whedon complained about typcasting but I think actors who know how to play a type is a small issue in the grand scheme. Winona Ryder is the only one who seems to struggle a bit, with any other issues being down to directors interpretation of scenes. That direction will definitely be noticeable though, as at the time the director did not speak english and I believe this is why jokes are often said loudly or seriously.

There are just far too many nonsense things that happen and make no sense. Also, basketball. In general though, it feels as though Whedon didn’t really get what came before. Established things are not taken seriously, like if a face-hugger gets on you all the way then you probably aren’t getting it off.

Being brave with a series isn’t the worst. A franchise like Scream has suffered from beating the same drum over and over again in my opinion. I think the idea of injecting more humor, as the script seemed to want to do, isn’t necessarily wrong. The first movie was horror, then action, then whatever the third was (worse action?), and this could have been a blend or some such. It needs to respect the foundations though, and it struggles to find any footing.

The hand guiding this ride doesn’t really nail it. The cast all show up though. Some script alterations and tone control would have gone a long way.

The twist is how much you are tricked into listening to the young Shyamaln’s music. This is what I imagine a dark and edgy movie from early 2000’s Disney channel would look like. I’m just so surprised at the lack of polish and how many times things happen because the writer wanted them to rather than them making sense. Hartnett is the only cast given a chance to stretch his legs a bit and he does so admirably, but he is held back by the script and execution. If you are like me, you will want to leave the concert just as bad as our villain does.

It should have been a better movie but it felt like a shrug by the end rather than a dramatic turn that I suspect they were going for.

A movie that is so far removed from the sincerity of the prior two before it. Not that it doesn’t try, it really tries but its all vapor. The cast is fine but is given very little to shine with. The cinematography doesn’t really add anything either, as sense of scale never really hits hard. The fear of the creatures is also brought down a lot here throughout various scenes.

I really wanted to like this movie, a lot. I think the first two are pretty great but this is not it.

The Instigators struggles to feel cohesive and make sense at times. Not everything is satisfying because it feels like it is making and dropping ideas as it goes. Affleck’s character feels like he shortly devolves into a character of his character.

I can see a lot of merit to the flick for some people, but not me. It is a lot of act-weird-be-spooky and sometimes that often takes front stage before story which kind of goes round and round and doesn’t try to surprise. In that way, it is probably doing exactly what a lot of people want.

For myself it all felt cliche, predictable beginning to end, and it wraps the ending so quick that it baits a sequel harder than a Marvel movie at the detriment of, again, story. The cast was good and the spooky is there. Just not my cup of tea and I am on letterboxd to tick stars (or lack of) for my own preferences. I am aware a lot of people really enjoyed it and I hope they get that sequel. I think I am good though.

A movie that relies of a lot of cliche writing, mostly given to the child actors, and a whole hell of a lot of non-sense. Nobody behaves intelligently and it comes so rapid fire that it isn’t upsetting so much as exhausting.

I truly believe this falls on the writers and directors shoulders.

On the plus side, the opening scene is really promising. Maybe just watch that.