The latest film releases include From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, Dangerous Animals, Predator: Killer of Killers, and The Life of Chuck. Weighing in are William Bibbiani, film critic for The Wrap and co-host of The Critically Acclaimed Network podcast, and Amy Nicholson, film critic for The Los Angeles Times and host of the podcast Unspooled.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina
In the fifth installment of the John Wick franchise, Ana de Armas plays Eve, an assassin seeking revenge after her dad’s murder. The cast includes Keanu Reaves, Ian McShane, and the late Lance Reddick in his final screen appearance.
Bibbiani: “The action sequences are actually extremely clever and interesting, and [Ana de Armas] uses a whole lot of different improvised weapons, like ice skates and plates from a kitchen. And she just really makes the most of this part as an action movie hero. … Is the movie good? … If we're talking about good writing and great acting, no. If we're talking about it gave me the razzle dazzle, yeah.”
Nicholson: “It definitely felt as though I was being attacked by people just repeating over and over again these themes about duality and are you a protector or are you a violent person? … One of the favors they give to Ana de Armas is: Of all the bad dialogue in the movie, she doesn't have to say much of it. She's probably the most quiet character in the film, which I really I liked. ... She's convincing, actually, when she's whacking people around, or really, more often, getting whacked around. … You have Keanu Reeves showing up to give this benediction to the series. He's acting in a character, I was calling it her fairy god murderer, where he's going to help her out a little bit. … But this is really just getting into the same old story ideas that every John Wick has. Here's this club. Everybody's in it, and you can't leave no matter what. And we're just going to prove to you how difficult it is.”
Dangerous Animals
A serial killer holds a surfer captive on his boat, planning to feed her to the sharks below. This debuted at Cannes, and star Jai Courtney is getting buzz for what is being described as a deranged performance.
Nicholson: “The problem is the film does not have nearly enough sharks. … It does have two strong pitches going for it. The idea of a serial killer who murders people with sharks — fantastic idea. Honestly, it's just tacky enough, just Grindhouse enough for people who adore sharks, like I do, to want to go to the movie. And the second pitch … is that it's the return of Jai Courtney, this actor who was everywhere in 2013, and then he disappeared, and now he's back, and he's happy playing an unhinged character.”
Bibbiani: “This is a very efficient genre exercise. This is just, hey, what hasn't a serial killer done lately? Well, we haven't seen him feed anybody to sharks, so we'll do that. And on that level … it's incredibly well filmed. It's intensely edited. … I think Jai Courtney is really enjoying cutting loose. I think he's one of those actors who Hollywood glommed onto … like Jai Courtney is going to be our next big, generic action lead. And I think we're seeing here that maybe that was never his wheelhouse, and maybe he's just a cool, wacky character actor, and he should get more weird stuff to do. And I would be totally fine with that.”
Predator: Killer of Killers
A viking, a samurai, and a World War II pilot battle a fierce intergalactic hunter. The previous films in the Predator franchise were live action, but this one is animated.
Bibbiani: “A lot of things happen in this movie that a typical Predator movie could not afford to do, and I think they're clearly having a lot of fun with that. This is actually an anthology film. It takes place over multiple periods of history as different badass warriors encounter the predator. … It actually takes the predator out of its natural environment and turns it into a dog-fighting scenario. It's neat stuff. … If you're watching it and you're thinking the animation style is not really for you, stick with it. It actually is a pretty cool character-centric action sci-fi movie thing.”
Nicholson: “About 15 minutes into the movie, I was like, wait, this is fantastic. And the camera work is amazing on it. … The bloodshed in this movie is above and beyond. … The characters are not incredibly deep, and the first two segments have a little of sameness to them. But what you get is this sense of whether this predator is happening in 1987, whether it's happening in America at a time of the Indigenous, whether it's happening all the way back in the viking era. Humans are violent and predators are just more violent.”
The Life of Chuck
This sci-fi is based on Stephen King's book about three chapters in an ordinary man’s life. It stars Tom Hiddleston, Mia Sara, Jacob Tremblay, and Nick Offerman.
Nicholson: “This is the one film this week that's not bloody, that's not violent, but it is actually all about death. Because the setup here is that there's a guy named Chuck. He's played by Tom Hiddleston. He's dying of cancer at the age of 39. … It's three acts, I suppose, in the life of Chuck, where that starts when he's 39 on his deathbed, goes to nine months earlier, and then winds up when he's a child. … It's a great psychological mood about almost just what is it like to try to walk through the world feeling like it is the end times. … The problem with the film that I had is that the more healthy Chuck gets and the more time we spend with his actual character, the less interesting it is.”
Bibbiani: “The opening act is just so unexpected. … The more I actually turn this movie around in my head, the more I'm actually impressed by how complicated its view of life and mortality is.”