NoWo's Reviews
Could have been excellent
Hoult and Cage are brilliant - for once, Cage is not the only main character. Hoult is shaping up to be consistently good.
The movie itself is tongue-in-cheek, colourful and irreverencious.
Sadly, it's marred by girlboss syndrome - which could make sense in context - but males are uniformly bubbling incompetents. It's played for comedy, but, white blokes exclusively.
Awkeye final - Aqua fina - the female lead - seems close to developing an acting ability. Also, comedic timing. Same character, same act as in Shang-Chi.
It's wonderful that her career began before she was ready. I mean, for her, not for us. Must be her physique. Or not. I hear she's a rapper too. Hopefully, it's all I hear.
I really liked the photography. It is, as previously stated, colourful. And expressive. Far from the usual Hollywood orange and teal.
Good movie, sadly trying to trend toward the 'modern audience', which I am not part of.
Could have been excellent with a less sexist/racist script, and a better actress.
Created: 07-03-2025
Lost its spirit
Cage is fat and tired, Elba is off his pace (French? Seriously?), rest of the cast is mediocre, character parameters have radically changed, the camera work is jittery and chaotic, the colours are weird in a bad way, and everything feels cheap.
The excavator scene even feels cheap with money. Nouveau riche.
The movie trudges through the motions. Even Lambert fails to behead anybody. Head fails to guide anyone.
I was doing something else during the second half.
Created: 07-03-2025
Grindhouse Ghost Rider
Cage's weird as a blonde. Well, weirder. And he finally stole that black Mustang.
Fichtner is an absolute blast. He seriously deserves better. Heard is hot as it gets (it's an old movie), and an absolute bitch. She plays one too.
A bit heavy-handed. Milton. seriously? Low budget too, but it's part of the charm. Well, hopefully the budget was low.
And the cinematography does not compensate for it.
Well, they do get 8 shots from a six-shooter. Fanning the hammer's its own kind of magic.
All in all, not so bad.
Created: 06-30-2025
This has no right to be this good.
Well, it's mostly due to Malkovich, who steals the movie despite the paper-thin character he's been given. Buscemi does a smashing job with his own caricature of a character, though. Add Cusack's solid performance, and Cage is out of his depth in this.
Bonus short role by Chappelle.
It's an action movie. It's stupid but enthusiastic, and a pleasant watch.
Created: 06-30-2025
under-used Phillip K. Dick
Cage acts predictably weird, Biel is fascinatingly gorgeous and yet mostly devoid of presence, Moore's stiff as a board (guess she needed the money).
The script is simplified yet satisfyingly creative. I just enjoyed this one.
Created: 06-30-2025
Better than Fast & Furious
and that's sayin' somethin'.
The movie does go full Dukes of Hazzard near the end. Jumps the shark and all.
Also, what with the colour grading? Everything's some tint of orange. You know when you've been tangoed, I guess.
Apart from that, a vehicular action heist movie, with a solid ensemble cast that's almost never on screen (Cage is).
Fast-paced, predictable, rather uninspired.
If possible, I would rate it 50%, it being the most aggressively middle-of-the-road (pun intended) movie I've seen for some time.
Created: 06-30-2025
Falling Down, down under
Or Leaving Las Vegas for Australia.
One could argue this movie finds inspiration in Camus' The Stranger too. The book, not the Visconti movie.
Cage descends into madness in over-saturated hues. So, most of his career, with new colours.
Photography is excellent, Cage does what he does best, but the movie is a bit of a drag. That, or the themes treatment was too subtle for me. Or too heavy-handed, really.
This movie will probably be polarizing. I'm not sold.
Created: 06-23-2025
Sadly, the last of its still-born franchise
The plot twists are all completely predictable, which makes the over-experienced, over-competent main character look like an utter fool for not seeing coming. Because, seriously, it never occured to you?
The world-building is somewhat inconsistent, mostly because everything revolves around only one character, but it is definitely interesting, both visually and creatively.
Diesel with hair does look quite a bit like a chubby Hanks from the 90s, methinks. As an actor, he always gives me an over-compensating short man general feeling. He postures a lot. He's not bad, though. Better than mediocre, not all the way to brilliant.
Wood is excellent as expected, and Caine, is, well, deservedly a legend of British acting.
Leslie is cute as a button but this movie is a 1-seater, a Diesel-only vehicle, with two older, more experienced actors already making space for themselves.
This one really needed a sequel; it's the prototypical awkward first movie in a franchise that could find its stride.
Also, no bullshit.
Created: 06-23-2025
Lots of streets, lack of fire
Basically, the director of The Warriors trying to make lightning strike twice.
The script is fit for a 90s videogame. The 2D, side-scrolling, beat-em-all kind. Although the violence is more of the Hill/Spencer, A-Team slapstick kind. Bozo Duo rather than Double Dragon. Except for the end.
Setting is full-on 50s, with a sprinkle of Western long coats and lever actions. Also, suspenders. Lots of suspenders.
Visuals are mostly music video fare (before music videos really were a thing), but possibly a bit too dark, or not enough. Absolute Beginners and Highlander simply did it better as lighter and darker, with far superior scores. So did the Blues Brothers.
Not saying the music isn't good here, though, boasting the likes of Ry Cooder, Tom Petty or Stevie Nicks.
And this movie probably was pretty innovating in '84. It aged faster, though.
The cast is less stellar. Paré never happened, I never was a fan of Lane, and Dafoe plays his usual character; Dafoe, not Dafriend. Well, he was young then, so maybe before it became his only role.
It doesn't help that the characters are one-dimensional, and rather badly written. They simply lack charisma, which is a cardinal sin for this type of movie.
Nice to see Moranis in an unexpected role, though.
No overt wokeness that I saw, but I had lost interest by the two-third mark.
Could have been a nice movie with better acting, I guess.
Created: 06-23-2025
