MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Godzilla x Kong: New Empire'

'Godzilla x Kong: New Empire' (2024)

REVIEW BELOW THE RATING!

Last year, Japanese studio Toho released “Godzilla Minus One” and created what is probably the greatest Godzilla film ever made. It was also simply one of the best films of 2023. So, you can understand why I may have had more than a few reservations for “Godzilla x Kong: New Empire”, the latest film in Legendary Pictures’ American Godzilla/Kong film series known as the MonsterVerse.

Look, you know what you’re going to get with a MonsterVerse film. It’s going to be big, it’s going to be loud, and it’s going to have human characters that you’ll forget about approximately five minutes after viewing the movie. If you can get behind that and you’ve been a MonsterVerse fan for awhile now, then you’ll want to watch this movie and if you don’t, you’ll want to skip it.

In the new movie, Kong is trying to make his home in Hollow Earth, a realm that exists within our planet. However, Kong is lonely as he is presumably the last of his kind. In the meantime, something has caused Godzilla to awaken and he is trying to prepare for something while Rebecca Hall’s Ilene Andrews and the rest of Monarch are trying to figure out what this new threat may be.

Eventually, Kong encounters other great apes, revealing that he is not alone, but they are led by the villainous Skar King. It looks like Kong is going to need some help on this one and you can imagine what that help will be.

Godzilla and Kong must join forces to face a new threat!

Okay, so the human story. Hall’s Ilene Andrews is trying to raise her adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the last member of the tribe from Skull Island. Meanwhile, Jia has some sort of psychic connection to a signal from Hollow Earth that may be the key to figuring out what has Godzilla all riled up. Ilene and Jia team up with Trapper (Dan Stevens), a Titan veterinarian… No bullshit. That’s his job… and Brian Tyree Henry’s Bernie Hayes and head to Hollow Earth to figure out the new threat.

I will say one thing about the human characters in this movie. I did enjoy Hall, Hottle, Stevens, and Henry in this movie. Their characters are given a generic storyline like the other human characters in previous films, but they appeared to have had a great time making the movie, they give great performances, and as a result, I actually kind of cared about them a little more this time out. I think it also helped that they scaled back how many main human characters there were this time.

But let’s face facts here, if you’re coming into a MonsterVerse film at this point, you want to see the monsters beat the shit out of each other. The good news is that the monster fights are top-notch and the special-effects are great for the most part. I particularly had a good time with the final battle.

Now, if I’m being honest, I did enjoy “Godzilla vs. Kong” more than this movie so if you really didn’t like that flick, you won’t like this one. That’s also because this movie is trying its damndest to do what that movie did with the big effects and the big action sequences.

I do think that the MonsterVerse has gone about as far as it’s going to go if this is the continued route. You can only take so much mindless destruction with very little story to go along with it before it starts to get tiresome. However, I was pleasantly surprised that “Godzilla Minus One” had not spoiled the MonsterVerse completely for me.

If you can manage to just accept what you’re going to get from a MonsterVerse film, then this one ticks all the boxes the previous films did. It’s big, it’s loud, and it’s action packed, even if that does come at the cost of any real emotional story.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Late Night with the Devil'

'Late Night with the Devil' (2024)

I do try and stay away from spoilers in my reviews, but I do have to talk about the film to a certain degree, so this is your SPOILER WARNING! If you want to go in fresh but you just want to check out my rating, just scroll to the bottom, take a look and get out. If you want to continue on to the review, I hope you enjoy the article!

“Late Night with the Devil” follows David Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy, the host of a successful late night talk show though it still trails behind Johnny Carson. With his show on the line and the fact that Jack wants to finally beat Carson in the ratings, Jack decides to bring on various guests that have something to do with the paranormal or the strange. It is Halloween, after all, and it’s also the height of sweeps week.

The guests include a mentalist, Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) and a skeptic magician Carmichael the Conjurer (Ian Bliss). Then there is also a parapsychologist and author Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and her seemingly troubled subject Lilly (Ingrid Torelli). Oh… and supposedly Lily is possessed by a demon due to being raised in and rescued from a cult.

Throughout the show, strange things start to occur and it could be that Lilly may actually be telling the truth after all. I really wanted to like “Late Night with the Devil”. I truly did. In fact, it was actually the film I was looking forward to the most this weekend, but I was ultimately disappointed.

Jack Delroy is ready to talk to the demon in 'Late Night with the Devil'!

Don’t get me wrong, there are some good highlights. The movie is presented as a found footage film where we are told we are being shown the footage from the master tapes. Also, when they cut to commercial, they switch to black-and-white cameras that document what was happening behind-the-scenes when the show wasn’t on the air.

The format is unique, but I don’t feel that they really did anything with what is an original idea. I’ll give them credit that they did recreate the genuine feel of a late night talk show from the ‘70s, but that’s about it as far as the setup for the film is concerned.

Another highlight are the performances. Dastmalchian is a solid lead here and plays a character that you want to learn more about as the movie progresses. His supporting actors are also great, including Torelli as the demon-possessed Lilly. Even when Lilly is supposedly in her normal state, she is so troubled and socially awkward that you’re almost instantly creeped out by her.

Lilly does bring about the few moments where I actually did feel the horror. Finally, going back to the story as a whole, I also felt that the third act kind of fell apart for me. Once it was over, I just kind of felt, “Meh.”

Ultimately, the biggest problem I had with the movie is that I just didn’t find it to be all that scary. Sure, it has its moments and I can see people liking this movie. However, it didn’t really do anything new or exciting for me as a horror fan and, at the end of the day, that’s what killed it for me. I wasn’t upset that I had watched it, but I was disappointed.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Road House' (2024)

'Road House' (2024)

As usual, I do try to stay away from most spoilers, but I do have to talk about the movie to a certain degree, so take this as a SPOILER WARNING! If you just want to see my rating, just scroll on down to the bottom, check it out, then get out of here. If you want to read the article, though, I hope you enjoy!

Director Doug Liman and star Jake Gyllenhaal have brought us “Road House”, a new version of the 1989 cult film of the same name that starred Patrick Swayze and Sam Elliott. Gyllenhaal plays a new version of Dalton as a former UFC fighter who has had a troubled past. He drifts from place to place getting money on the underground fighting circuit.

One day, he is approached by Frankie (Jessica Williamson), a woman who owns a bar in the Florida Keys simply called “The Road House”. She is having trouble with a motorcycle gang and wants Dalton to come in and clean up the place as a bouncer. Once Dalton gets there, though, he realizes that there is more going on than Frankie initially let on.

This was a remake that I wasn’t really onboard with and probably would have skipped, if I’m being honest. But since it premiered on Amazon Prime, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Much to my surprise, I can now say that I actually liked the new “Road House”. This has a lot to do with the movie’s star.

Gyllenhaal is genuinely great as Dalton, bringing out his angry side when needed but being surprisingly humorous, especially when he describes what he’s going to do to those who dare to fight him. Keep in mind, though, that if the movie didn’t star Gyllenhaal, then there is a high chance that this movie would have simply fallen on its face as Gyllenhaal is definitely doing the heavy lifting throughout the movie.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Dalton in a new version of 'Road House'!

The story is pretty simple, but it is also over-the-top, but this was also true of the original film. Still, in spite of being intentionally crazy at times, there are a couple of moments where I found myself thinking, “Okay, that was a little absurd.” This is especially true during the film’s third act.

That aside, my only other problem with the movie is that it does overuse CGI at times even with the fights. The fights are pretty good on their own, but weird and unrealistic camera moves can take you out of the action for a few seconds. Neither the film’s over-the-top nature or the use of CGI is enough to totally derail the movie though.

There are characters that I liked such as Frankie and Hannah Lanier’s Charlie and the workers at the Road House. They make you want to root for Dalton when he tries to protect them and the bar. The main villain, a rich asshole named Brandt and played by Billy Magnussen, is a bit generic but let’s face it, the villain in the original was pretty much a cookie cutter villain as well and Magnussen plays the part well enough.

Conor McGregor plays Knox, the man hired to take Dalton out, and he definitely understood the assignment. He understood the humorous tone this movie takes in order for the movie’s more outrageous moments to be more easily accessible. He’s big, he’s loud, he’s obnoxious, and he does a good job being the opposite of Gyllenhaal’s more quiet Dalton.

Ultimately, is this movie going to be remembered as much as the original film? Probably not, but thanks to a great starring performance by Gyllenhaal and some decent fight scenes in spite of the CGI use, I say again that I find myself surprised to be able to say the following sentence… I liked the new ‘Road House’.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire'

'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire' (2024)

Try as I might, I do try to avoid spoilers, but sometimes it can't be helped, so just in case: SPOILER WARNING! If you don't want to know ANYTHING about the movie, then simply scroll down and see my rating and then get the heck out of here! If you don't care? Well, carry on then.

I broke a cardinal rule before I went in to see and review “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”. I looked at the Rotten Tomatoes score for the movie and read some of the reviews. I normally don’t do that until after I’ve written my own review. Admittedly, when I initially saw the score the movie had on the site, I began to get a little worried.

Then, I noticed a familiar trend in the reviews. It was the same criticism that was thrown, I feel unfairly, at “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” in 2021… The trend was to say that this movie is just too darned nostalgic and referential to the films that came before it.

Well, let us go ahead and address the ghostly elephant in the room. The original “Ghostbusters” is a bonafide classic that sits at the top of the mountain for a lot of people. For me personally, it’s my favorite comedy and one of my favorite paranormal sci-fi action films. It’s one of those rare movies where every time I watch it, I almost feel like I’m watching it for the first time all over again.

“Ghostbusters II” is also a fun ride even if it is just a rehash of the original film’s plot. Then came “Afterlife” and I felt that not only did it pay tribute to what came before it, but it also expanded the world a little more and introduced me to new characters that I had a lot of fun following as they discovered their connections to the original Ghostbusters.

'Frozen Empire' deals largely with the continuing story of the Spengler family.

Yes, some felt that there was too much nostalgia, but I didn’t get that argument as it was the third film in the original series and had to reconnect you to the world that came before it. This is especially true since it also came out 32 after the release of “Ghostbusters II” and was also following the…

You know what… we won’t dwell too much on the ill-conceived 2016 reboot other than to say that it exists and has, thankfully, been largely forgotten… moving on.

The one common factor in the past films of this series is simply that there is no way in hell that they were going to live up to the original and the same can be said about “Frozen Empire”. Therefore, I only needed the movie to do two things. 1) Show me Ghostbusters bustin’ ghosts and 2) be a fun time at the movies.

Thankfully, it ultimately delivers on both those fronts. This time, the Spengler family has moved to New York City and has been serving as the city’s new Ghostbusters for the past two years. Gary (Paul Rudd) and Callie (Carrie Coon) are married and Gary is trying to come to terms that he now has stepchildren, especially Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) who he likes being friends with but doesn’t quite know how to parent or what his boundaries are as a stepfather.

We are reminded that Phoebe is a genius, but she is also still a teenager and trying to come to terms with the fact that it may be a little dangerous for a 15-year-old to be out on the streets busting ghosts. In the meantime, original Ghostbuster Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) is the one funding the new Ghostbusters and this includes funding a new research & development team that is developing new ways to bust and trap ghosts.

The original Ghostbusters are back to support the new team!

Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) is largely retired but does bring the engineering team possessed items for research. Kumail Nanjiani plays Nadeem and an orb that he brings Ray goes off the charts. That’s because it contains an ancient and extremely powerful entity known as Garraka and not only does this ghost have the power to bring about a new Ice Age, it may be able to control other ghosts in the process.

Now, it may seem that I’ve given more than a little bit away about this movie, but the truth is this movie has only one major problem for me. It is a little too bloated, both with some subplots and characters. There are characters in the movie, most of whom I didn’t mention, that could have been cut from this movie so that it could have focused more on our new Big Bad and the storyline of the older and newer Ghostbusters.

Another minor problem is that the movie is a bit slow to really get started. Granted, we do need plenty of time to set up our new story and how the action has moved back to NYC, but it just takes a little more time than it should have for the good stuff to truly kick off.

That said, this movie ultimately works due to what works. First off, Nanjiani is the film’s MVP as Nadeem and he practically steals the show at times when he’s onscreen. His character also goes in a direction that I wouldn’t have guessed but I had a fun time with it ultimately.

Nanjiani's Nadeem is the character that ultimately helps get things going with a mysterious artifact.

The other thing that works is the story of the older Ghostbusters, namely Ray and Winston. It’s cool to see that Winston is funding the current iteration of the Ghostbusters and it is also cool to see that William Atherton is back as Walter Peck, now the mayor of New York and still a major opponent of the team. Ray, on the other hand, is still trying to deal with the fact that he’s retired from the team for the most part aside from bringing in the occasional paranormal item.

Ray loved being a Ghostbuster and, thankfully, the Gorraka threat has given him an excuse to come back. Aykroyd has the most to do of the original Ghostbusters and you can tell that he was having a lot of fun once again playing this character that he created over 40 years ago.

The biggest element of this movie that works is the continuing story of the Spengler family. Namely, Phoebe is still coming-of-age and Grace once again gives a great performance of a teenager that is maybe a little too smart for her own good. She also has great chemistry with Rudd and their budding father/daughter relationship is great to watch.

Now, to address the nostalgia haters out there. Yes, this movie has plenty of nostalgic bits in it, the biggest one of which is when Ray revisits the New York City Public Library from the first movie. If you hated the nostalgia in “Afterlife”, then maybe this film is just not for you.

Personally, when it comes to my thoughts on nostalgia, I don’t mind it so long as it’s not the only thing that the movie has going for it. Thankfully, this film has more going for it than just a trip down memory lane. This movie was a fun ride and it builds upon the world that was started 40 years ago in the original “Ghostbusters”.

The action and the effects are top-notch, the performances are great, I enjoyed the new Big Bad, and I enjoyed spending time with both the old and new Ghostbusters. At the end of the day, it was fun and that’s all I needed it to be because you know what… bustin’ makes me feel good!

The movie may be a little too bloated, but "Frozen Empire" is still a fun ride to take!

'TRON' - Then and Now: A Double-Feature Review

In 1982, “Tron” was released by Walt Disney and while it did have some revolutionary special-effects for the time, it underperformed at the box office. It wasn’t necessarily a failure having grossed $50 million against a $17 million budget, but it was by no means a blockbuster. This is why ideas for a sequel lingered for several years without gaining much traction.

However, the movie’s popularity grew even further in the home video market and the movie became a genuine cult classic. This meant that a sequel was not far out of anyone’s mind from time to time. It would be in 2010 when we would finally get a sequel called “Tron: Legacy”. The purpose of this double-feature review is to look back on both films.

Afterwards, I’m also going to discuss the few scant details we have about “Tron: Ares”, the long-gestating third film in the series that is currently in production. First, we turn back the wayback machine to ‘82 and take a look at the original classic.

'Tron' (1982)

For those who haven’t seen the movie, “Tron” follows Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer who is trying to find evidence against ENCOM, a company that stole several games from him. He often tries to hack the system in order to find original evidence that he programmed the games and not the Executive Vice President, Ed Dillinger.

With the help of his friends Alan Bradley and Lora Baines, Kevin breaks into ENCOM in order to get the evidence directly from the company’s rogue AI system, the Master Control Program (MCP). When Master Control tries to warn Kevin to stop, the AI uses a laser machine to “digitize” Kevin and send him into cyberspace itself.

Once there, Kevin uncovers a secret world of programs, most of whom resemble their real world counterparts. A lot of programs believe in the existence of their Users, but Sark, a sadistic program working for the MCP, is trying to squash these beliefs out of existence. Kevin, with the help of Alan’s program Tron and another program known as Ram, tries to defeat the MCP in addition to getting Flynn back home.

What is great about “Tron” is that it builds a genuinely fun cyberspace world. Yes, the special-effects are dated, but they still somehow work for this movie. It could be that since the games of the day are pretty basic, the basic special-effects matches the tone with elements such as the now famous Light Cycle sequence.

Another thing that still works is the story. It doesn’t break the formula of the person on a journey to try and get home, but it has a decent narrative that keeps things moving along at a brisk pace. It also features plenty of religious allegories as well. Flynn can be seen as a Jesus like figure and then there are the programs that believe in their unseen Users with a dictator trying to destroy that belief.

Yet another element that works are the performances. Jeff Bridges is always fantastic and you can tell that he had a blast making this movie. He is supported by Bruce Boxleitner as Alan/Tron and Cindy Morgan as Lora/Yori. Then there is David Warner who gives a great performance as the film’s main villains, Dillinger and Sark. He gets to play the secretly inept Dillinger who is getting more than a little afraid of how self-aware Master Control is getting and then he gets to play the more sadistic Sark that is completely loyal to the MCP.

The first movie is dated and if you can’t stand dated effects, then you may have a hard time getting into this movie. For me, though, it is a genuine cult classic that has earned its place in film history as one of the better science-fiction adventure movies out there.

Still the genuine cult classic!

'Tron: Legacy' (2010)

“Tron: Legacy” takes place 21 years after Kevin Flynn mysteriously disappeared in 1989. ENCOM has been taken over by greedy board members and is a corporate entity releasing the same software over-and-over again instead of being the innovative company Kevin desired it to be. Kevin’s son, Sam, acts like he doesn’t care about his father or his legacy, yet his actions of trying to sabotage ENCOM’s greedy ambitions suggest that he cares more than he lets on.

Eventually, his surrogate father Alan Bradley gets a message that seems to come from Kevin. Sam heads to the old arcade and finds a laser and computer in a hidden room. Guess what? Sam is sucked into a digital world and must find out why he’s there and what happened to his father.

Eventually, Sam discovers that his father created a new Grid alongside CLU, a program in his likeness, and Tron, the security program from the original film. Eventually, CLU betrayed Kevin and Tron, supposedly killing Tron and trapping Kevin in the Grid. CLU did this when they discovered Isomorphic Algorithms, or ISOs, programs that manifested on their own in the Grid.

While Kevin saw them as a miracle, CLU saw the ISOs as imperfect beings to the “perfect” system he was supposedly programmed to build. The portal between worlds closed on Kevin due to a lack of power from within and could only be reopened from the real world. CLU lured Sam into the Grid so that he could reopen the portal and so that CLU could leave the Grid and bring his idea (and army) of a perfect world to the real world.

The story is a little convoluted, to be sure, but it is still a fun adventure. The movie, like the original, has gone on to gain a cult following and for good reason. It contains innovative special-effects that still look pretty good 14 years later.

Like the original, some things have aged, namely the de-aging technology used to make CLU and Kevin look like a younger Jeff Bridges. Being 14 years out, it still looks pretty good, but the technology has definitely gotten better over time as it has been utilized in other projects such as later “Star Wars” projects and in several of the Marvel Studio films.

There are also notable action sequences. The biggest is perhaps the Games where Sam takes part in Disc Wars and an upgraded Lightcycle battle. There is also a thrilling action sequence at the End of Line club where we meet Zuse, played by Michael Sheen.

Speaking of Sheen, the performances are another highlight of the movie. Sheen is great as the over-the-top Zuse while Olivia Wilde is also great as Quorra, a program that has been an apprentice to Kevin. She, of course, has a deeper meaning to both Kevin and the Grid.

Then there is Garrett Hedlund as Sam. I admittedly thought that while his character was fine when I first watched the movie, it wasn’t anything to run home and talk about. However, in rewatching the movie this time, I realized that Hedlund actually gives a pretty solid performance as the everyman hero who also acts as the audience’s avatar. He gets to ask all the questions that we have about Kevin and the new Grid that Flynn created.

Ultimately, I can’t say that “Legacy” is better than the original, but I can say that I have grown to like the movie quite a bit. The effects are still pretty solid, the story is pretty fun and exciting, and the performances are solid for the most part. It also expands upon the world by suggesting that while humans can be brought into the digital world, it may be possible for programs to escape into our own world.

There was supposed to be a more direct sequel to this movie, but alas, it never came to be as Disney stalled on a sequel. Yet, there will be a third film. Speaking of which…

Not as fresh as the original, but still a fun ride, man!

The first image from 'Tron: Ares', due out in theaters in 2025.

WILL ‘TRON: ARES’ BE A HIT THAT DISNEY NEEDS?

Next year, Disney plans to finally release a third film in the series. Why did it take so long for this sequel to materialize? Well, like many things, there were multiple reasons but at the end of the day, it’s all about the mighty dollar.

The reason there was such a large delay between the original film and “Legacy” was due to the fact that the first film underperformed. Also, while “Legacy” did make $400 million worldwide at the box office, it still underperformed for Disney due to the hefty $170 million production budget. Therefore, the studio wasn’t exactly going to make the “Tron” series a high priority, especially after they made high profile purchases of other franchises when they bought out companies such as Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, and 20th Century Fox.

However, now a third film is in production. So, how do I think it’ll perform? To be honest, I don’t know. I’ve seen some murmurings online that the movie may be dead on arrival. They’re siting things such as the fact that it’s taken so long to get the movie going, general interest isn’t there, and the lead of the movie is Jared Leto who has not had the most stellar career with notable flops such as his take on the Joker in “Suicide Squad” and the infamous “Morbius” movie for Sony’s ill-advised Spider-Verse.

Now, Leto’s casting aside, it does look like the film is going to be a standalone sequel meaning that it’s probably going to be a soft reboot. It’ll be set in the same universe, but you don’t necessarily have to see the first two films to enjoy this one. That can be a double-edged sword.

On one hand, you have audience members that don’t have to know the history of the franchise and that could attract audience members that maybe gave “Legacy” a pass because they thought they needed to understand the first movie. Then again, you have those that have been fans for a long time and they may hate the idea of a film that doesn’t touch base with the original characters such as Kevin Flynn or even the titular character, Tron.

The truth is that at this point, I need to see more before I either get excited for a third “Tron” movie or before I decide that I’m not really all that interested. Under the right direction and if the script is strong, it could be a fun adventure set inside a fantastical digital world that lives just under the circuit boards and within the mainframes of our imaginations.

MIDDLE-AGED MATINEE! #7 - 'Footloose'

'Footloose' (1984)

Welcome back to "Middle-Aged Matinee!", the review article where I'm taking a look back at films from the year of my birth, 1984! Today, I take a look at a film that wants to be a teen drama, a teen dance film, a straight drama, and an MTV-inspired music video. Let's get to it and, as always, I hope you enjoy the article!

“He’s a big-city kid in a small town. They said he’d never win. He knew he had to.”

This extremely cheesy ‘80s tagline could be found on the posters for “Footloose” and it perfectly foreshadows how cheesy the whole affair is. I do remember watching this movie when I was a kid and I actually remember enjoying it. However, unlike other ‘80s films (some of which are even cheesier than this film, admittedly), I couldn’t really enjoy “Footloose” this time around.

Now, the movie is not the worst thing out there by any means. There are some great dance sequences and I was also intrigued by John Lithgow’s character, Reverend Shaw Moore. His character is the reason why there is a ban on dancing… Oh, yeah, the story! I almost forgot to mention it.

'Footloose' was a star-making movie for actor Kevin Bacon.

In “Footloose”, Kevin Bacon’s Ren McCormack has just moved to Bomont from Chicago. Ren quickly learns that the small town has a ban on rock ‘n roll music and public dancing. He learns that the main person behind this is Shaw. He also learns that the girl he’s infatuated with, Ariel (Lori Singer), is Shaw’s rebellious daughter.

Eventually, Ren decides to challenge the ban on dancing in order to get a high school dance put together. He has a lot of opposition from the town including being abused by two cops for playing music in his car and there is also Chuck (Jim Youngs), a terrible human being that doesn’t have much to offer the film except being a generic villain for Ren to face in the third act.

So, back to Lithgow’s character. There is an actual character here and Lithgow’s performance is pretty much top-notch. Shaw is not just an antagonist for the sake of being an antagonist. His character has genuine concerns for the spiritual side of his congregation. He also has a deeper, more personal reason for why he has gotten the town to ban dancing.

Of course, the movie is remembered for the dance bits and the soundtrack. Kenny Loggins was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and the movie was a massive hit in ‘84, grossing over $80 million. Despite the film’s highlights, though, I think I understand why it didn’t quite work for me overall.

The movie wants to be multiple things and while it does well with some of them, there are other elements that just don’t work. On one hand, it wants to be a hip, MTV-inspired teen movie. Then, in the next scene, it wants to be a schmaltzy romantic teen film and after that, it wants to try and be a genuine drama.

At the end of the day, it’s a mess of a film. If it had stayed with one of the many genres that it tries to be a part of, it may have been a better film… even with the ‘80s cheese that exists within the movie’s very DNA.

'Footloose' has too much of an identity crisis for me to be able to recommend it in spite of some good performances and some decent dance numbers.

MOVIE REVIEW! - 'Dune: Part Two' (2024)

'Dune: Part II' (2024)

In 2021, Warner Bros. released a new adaptation of “Dune” and whether or not this sequel would even get made was a question at the time due to the pandemic. 2021 was the year when Warner Bros. released their entire slate of films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max, putting their box office earnings at risk. Thankfully, though, the movie did extremely well on the streaming site and it still managed to earn over $438 million during an extreme time of uncertainty.

This meant that Warner Bros. was more than willing to green light the sequel and director Denis Villeneuve began work immediately. Now, “Dune: Part Two” is finally here and we finally get to see if he stuck the landing or if he crashed and burned right into a sandworm’s mouth.

Thankfully, with both parts now out in the world, I can say that we have a true and proper adaptation of Herbert’s classic novel. Once again, Villeneuve brings us a visual feast and even though it clocks in at about ten minutes longer than the first part, it feels as though this part also moves at a brisker pace. Of course, part of that could be that the first movie did the legwork of setting up this fantastical world and now the second part gets to have more fun without all the setup.

After the events of the first movie, Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is now trying to get the Fremen behind his cause to take down the Harkonnens. This is easy with some of the older Fremen such as Stilgar (Javier Bardem) because they believe in the prophecies that Paul seems to be fulfilling. However, other Fremen such as Chani (Zendaya) believe that the prophecies are a lie and used to control people.

Of course, these younger Fremen are not entirely wrong. We know that the Sisters of the Bene Gesserit have implanted myths and prophecies across the Universe for thousands of years. In addition to that, they have genetically controlled certain bloodlines so that one day their super being, the Kwisatz Haderach, would be born.

Paul Atreides faces all new threats in 'Dune: Part Two'.

Meanwhile, Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh) and the Bene Gesserit are trying to decide how best to handle Paul as his emergence as the possible Kwisatz Haderach was not foreseen. The problem is that Paul cannot be controlled as he heads down his own path. One of the Sisterhood’s plans is to try and see if another product of their genetic manipulations, Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen (Austin Butler), is capable of stopping Paul and becoming their fabled yet controlled leader.

A big theme of the first movie was the political machinations that went on in order to pit House Harkonnen and House Atreides against one another. This movie focuses on the detrimental influence of religion and whatever control it may have over events. On one side, you have a religious organization that is actively trying to manipulate events while on the other, you have well-meaning followers who simply think that what they’ve believed over thousands of years is true and that they want to support their supposed messiah no matter what.

Like the first part, Villeneuve and fellow co-writer Jon Spaihts have captured the tone and themes of Herbert’s novel unlike any other adaptation. Not only is the story on point, Villeneuve directs a movie that has a strong visual style that is not only beautiful but catches the harshness yet also beautiful nature of Arrakis. I didn’t see any special-effects that were just half-assed done and this will be the film to beat for Best Visual Effects next year.

The action in the movie is also solid all around. Whether it’s a massive attack by the Fremen on Harkonnen forces or more personal fights, they are all handled with care and choreographed perfectly. Like I said before, this movie actually feels like it moves at a brisker pace than the first movie and the stellar action scenes are a big reason for why it feels that way.

On top of effects and successfully adapting Herbert’s novel, though, the movie would completely fall apart if the performances weren’t there. Chalamet is perfect as Paul, giving us a character that is genuinely reluctant to take on any power while also giving us glimpses of Paul’s imperfections that could genuinely lead to bad things down the line. He also has great chemistry with Zendaya as Chani and she gives a great performance as a woman who knows what true freedom is and doesn’t understand how those around her don’t see the folly in blindly following a prophecy.

In addition to our two main leads, there are also great supporting roles. Rebecca Ferguson once again shows off her talents as Paul’s mother Jessica who has to take on another role in an attempt to protect her son. Jessica is good at heart, but there is a darker side that she’s not afraid to tap into as well in order to protect her family and in order to defy the Bene Gesserit.

Bardem also deserves praise for his role as Stilgar, the strong Fremen leader who is also probably Paul’s biggest supporter. He has moments where he can also be considered the film’s comedic relief when the movie maybe needs a break from its mostly serious tone. Yet, when the time comes, Bardem can also bring out Stilgar’s strength and more serious nature.

Ultimately, along with the first exciting movie, “Dune: Part Two” gives fans the ultimate adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic novel. I do hope that Villeneuve does get to at least adapt “Dune: Messiah” and complete his trilogy, but for now I’m just happy that he did what many others had failed to do and brought one of the greatest science fiction novels ever to the big screen!

'Dune: Part Two' completes Villeneuve's sci-fi adaptation in superb style!