Drew Goddard reveals Sinister Six details

Marvel’s version of the Suicide Squad isn’t completely out of the question.

As it was one of the planned sequels for the acquired taste that was The Amazing Spider-Man, after Sony made the deal with Marvel, it was part of the collateral damage left behind. However, Drew Goddard (World War Z), writer of the villain led sequel, announced that whilst it’s down, it’s not quite out for the count.

This is what Goddard claimed, according to comicbook.com, “It’s a long game,” Goddard tells IGN. “It could still happen. It’s certainly not going to happen soon… but I’ve learned, look, Cabin in the Woods, we went into bankruptcy and had to stay on the shelf for a couple of years. It’s OK.”

As for the film itself, Goddard says it’s important to distinguish between “villain” and “antagonist.”

“When you’re doing just a straightforward superhero movie, you don’t need a lot of villains,” he says. “The focus is on one guy. I think with Sinister, it’s different. To me it’s less about too many villains and more about too many antagonists and there’s a distinction. You never say, like, The Dirty Dozen has too many characters. They’re all villains, or you could argue that. But they’re protagonists. The trick with Sinister, is that I was making everyone the protagonist and less about six-on-one and more about coming at it a little differently. That was the idea.”

At the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, during the credits, there was a hint not only towards the Sinister Six film, but also hinting towards the decided members of the team. The following image shows some of the images from the credits:

(Top Left) The mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus, (Top Right) the horn of Rhino, (Middle Left) the board of Green Goblin, (Middle Right) the wings of Vulture, (Bottom Left) the mask of Chameleon, (Bottom Right) the symbol of Kraven the Hunter. Whilst the original squad line up is pictured at the top of the page as Doctor Octopus, Scorpion, Sandman, Vulture, Mysterio and Electro, due to cinematic scripts and deals it can alter slightly.

The reason that it may still continue is that Sony and Marvel’s deal for Spider-Man to join the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), mean that the villains will carry across too. Also, the reason that Goddard’s version and partially planned take on the web-slingers enemies could go forward is that it was still at early pre-production when the deal was made, therefore no Sinister Six deals were made-then-cancelled.

For the time being it is shelved, most likely until Spiderman (2017) is released and they establish it’s popularity.

Goddard’s latest work The Martian is out now.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Review

As the tagline suggests, the maze was just the beginning, but to a larger concept than you may have been expecting.

Wes Ball returns to direct the sequel to the hit book-to-film adaptation for the next round of impressive stamina sprinting, and does a great job of taking a different approach to the first film.  The cinematographer Gyula Pados did an outstanding job in filming some beautiful visuals and camera angles, maximising the effect each shot can produce, optimising the films potential.

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials picks up exactly where The Maze Runner left off, with the surviving ‘children’ escaping the maze and being carried to safety via helicopter. As warned at the end of the first film, things still aren’t quite as they seem and just when they think that they’ve escaped WCKD (World Catastrophe Killzone Division), it turns out that they’ve been in their grasp the whole time.  As shown in the trailer, the group (with a new addition) breakout of the facility only to be faced with ‘The Scorch’, a desolate city under a heavy layer of sand, in desperate search the an army known as The Right Arm.

Unlike it’s predecessor which only had one objective, the Scorch Trials moves forward quite quickly with its plot (despite most of it being the same thing).  Whilst The Maze Runner only took place in one location with a single goal – escape – with this film they not only have to figure out who they can trust, escape the facility, evade the cranks, find help and locate the Right Arm.  As well as the plot, the entire film is a massive improvement on the first one, from the visual design to the use of lighting, on top of the progression of the characters other than Thomas.

What you may not have realised is that the entire plot of the series is that WCKD are using kids to steal their immunity from a virus that turns humans into ‘Cranks’, which are essentially zombies. Supposedly, pre-Maze Runner, there was a solar flare which destroyed the majority of the planet, and also left the virus responsible for turning innocent people into cranks. In a way I was almost disappointed that it is just another zombie film with more going on, however I came to realise that even though the virus is the purpose for the story, the cranks aren’t the main focus and are instead more of a secondary threat to the main characters, preventing them from being able to live peacefully in the Scorch.

Dylan O’Brien is the leading man, portraying the persona of Thomas, a former employee of WCKD, who was betrayed and thrown into the maze. Now, having escaped the maze with fellow Gladers Newt  (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Winston (Alexander Flores) and Frypan (Dexter Darden), and narrowly escaping the grasp of WCKD once again, they are left to fend for themselves in the Scorch, facing unimaginable objects from Cranks, to WCKD patrol forces, to the sheer heat and blistering sunlight, they are far from home-free.  Along the way they also recruit Aris (Jacob Lofland), a fellow maze escapist, and gang leaders Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito – a notable parformance) and Brenda (Rose Salazar), all brining their own unique skills to the table.

This instalment into the increasingly popular series takes a far darker approach, especially when using the Cranks in a high speed chase against the survivors.  Whilst the original gave a more claustrophobic feel mixed with major arachnophobia, this time it’s a combination of the undead and agoraphobia, ypositismosphobia, cleithropobia, hormephobia and paranoia. Whether it’s one of these factors at a time, or all at once they will have you worried for the teams lives.

My main criticism of the film is that although it moves forward with the plot at a decent pace, the film itself still drags out far too long. Around 120 of the 132 minutes is basically the team running in the complete opposite direction to the WCKD facility, and as a ‘link’ film it drags out too much.  This sense begins to kick in mainly towards the end of the film for the last 20 minutes. It also gave me the impression that Wes Ball felt the same way as there are multiple moments where there is a building of tension, dramatic, climactic music and backwards tracking camera, before continuing on with the same scene for another 5 minutes before repeating the same procedure.

The only other thing that slightly frustrated me was the direction in which the film moved. The Maze Runner was a film unlike anything I’ve seen before, especially for a film aimed at teens. However, it turns out from the sequel that it’s about zombies and the need for cure, and I just feel that it’s taken a step in the wrong direction, back towards generic themes. Whilst it’s a good take on the style, it just missed the opportunity to continue a new approach. Also, it conforms to other teen films with the concept of adults stepping on and taking advantage of the young.

Overall, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials is thoroughly enjoyable and gripping to watch, and will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It doesn’t raise any moral or ethical questions, but instead is just a fun teenage thrill-ride, and works very well because of it.

8.5/10

Taken Prequel Series

The hit-and-miss action packed thriller series Taken is soon to get its own TV series.

Just when you thought that they couldn’t milk the series any longer, it was recently announced that it would be making a transfer from the big screen to the little screen in the next year or two, exclusively on NBC. The show’s executive producer will be Luc Besson, who co-wrote the films.

*SPOILERS*  Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is a highly trained, ex-CIA operative with a particular skills. In the first outing, his daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped by French human traffickers. Despite the long line of criminals, Mills racks up a body count of 35 before retrieving his daughter. On the second holiday it’s flipped with Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) being kidnapped by the family of those that Mills removed from the equation in the first film. With Kim’s assistance and a quick car chase they escaped once more. For the final trip, Mills was framed for the murder of Lenore, and hunted by every policeman across the country, as well as those responsible for the murder. With more open action sequences and a higher-octane ride, Mills brutally eliminated those in his way to clear his name.

The first and surprisingly thrilling Taken had a budget of only $25,000,000, which is exceptionally low, especially for a fist fight, bullet frenzy action film, and grossed over $226,800,000. The film did not originally have high expectations, even by lead man Liam Neeson who expected it to bomb, but signed on to spend four months in Paris and learn karate whilst playing a role that was different from what he was used to. Ironically it was a huge hit and recreated Neeson as an onscreen action figure.

It’s sequel, unlike the first, had very high expectation and a vast audience to impress, only to receive mixed (more bad than good) reviews. Whilst still keeping the budget relatively low, it nearly doubled to $45,000,000 with an even larger return of $376,100,000. The general opinion was that Mills found it too easy and wasn’t really in any trouble, which could be presented by the fact that he only had to overcome 30 enemies this time.

Taken 3 did what some might call a ‘Hangover‘ whereby the final film is used to fix what was started in the first film. With a slightly different approach of Mills clearing his name to save both Kim and himself, the reviews were generally more mixed, potentially due to the change in theme and approach. With a similar budget of $48,000,000, but a lower gross of $325,800,000 it was quite as popular among fans, even with Neeson doing his own fight scenes.

Overall, the series was a bit of a mixed bag, however by now appealing to a newer audience via TV, it could bring new life into the franchise and hopefully change the opinions for the better.

The TV series will tell the story of how a young, family free Bryan Mills begins his journey in the CIA to acquire his iconic ‘particular se of skills’ that make him such a threat. This means that a younger actor will replace Neeson as the badass operative and take down the criminals. Although, this means that since Mills will not have anyone close to him, it will likely mean that there is no-one to be taken, and will show him on his missions with his three colleagues/friends. However if anyone does get taken, he will come for you, he will find you, and he will kill you.

Fantastic Four 2 in the works

Earlier today it was announced by Simon Kinberg that despite the failure the film was, and the excruciating reviews, he is already writing the sequel.

Every part of the film and it’s release was a disaster. I personally haven’t seen the film (though it sounds like I haven’t missed much) but couldn’t ignore the hundreds of negative reviews that Fox decided to embargo until release date, as well as the warnings to not go and watch it. Whilst many films don’t gross much at the box office, this is one of the few films to actually lose considerable amount of money the size of $60 million. The fact alone that I haven’t seen it but am still struggling to write a neutral post makes me question why they would even consider investing in a sequel, instead of making a Deadpool 2 with Cable?

The films failure has been blamed on many factors, including Josh Trank (Director), Simon Kinberg (writer/producer), the actors and Fox in general. No matter which of these factors are the actual reason, it appears for the time being that all of them will be returning for the sequel.  Immediately after the films release, instead of sticking to his guns and defending his ‘work of art’, Trank bailed and blamed the result on Fox for not letting him have his way with the film.

Now, understandably your probably already regretting reading this post as you think already know the end result, but I’m going to explain why the sequel has an opportunity to work.  Hollywood has been in this situation before and nearly succeeded, but just fell short with the infamous Batman and Robin. Much like Fantastic Four, Batman and Robin received dreadful reviews and even worse publicity.  It nearly ruined the Batman franchise as well as Clooney’s career.  However, despite things not looking good, director Joel Schumacher had a genius plan for a sequel as revealed by Simon Gallagher of What Culture.  Schumacher’s sequel was to have been titled Batman Unchained, with Scarecrow/Jonathon Crane as the main villain. He also had an actor in mind to play Crane, the marmite actor known as Nicolas cage. There is a mixed opinion of Cage, as well as an equally mixed filmography, however at the end of the day, Cage is brilliant at portraying psychotic characters (take Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider for example) and is rarely given the chance to play the villain.  However, much like Batman and Robin, Schumacher had no intention of keeping the character number s to a minimum as he also intended on bringing the Joker back as a hallucination to torment Batman (much like in Batman: Arkham Knight) and with who other than Jack Nicholson.  Whilst superhero films such as Spiderman 3 have a bad reputation for having too many villains, Unchained would’ve taken the idea into overdrive and may well have pulled it off, especially by introducing the clown’s right hand woman Harley Quinn. With all this power behind the enemy lines, Schumacher was going to take it even further and make it dark, wanting to go deeper into Batman’s psychology, with the devilish duo of Scarecrow and Harley Quinn plotting to have him imprisoned in Arkham Asylum. For those of you who have played the Arkham video game series, you may realise that this sounds like the same plot and realise that this would be the perfect Batman cinematic series. And you would be right.  Much like Trank, Schumacher claims that Warner Bros. tied his hands when it came to his creative control on the films, restricting his vision.

Hopefully from this you can draw the conclusion that even terrible films have the potential to redeem themselves, as long as the creators learn from the mistakes and are given the opportunity.  Kinberg stated, “I was most disappointed that fans didn’t like it. I care more about them than I do anyone else. But I haven’t done a full deep dive on it. Do I think it was unfairly treated? I don’t know.”  This suggests that he will hopefully listen to the fans (or what’s left) in order to make the sequel not only redeem the series, but the entire franchise too.  Kinberg has also been responsible for writing the last two instalments to the X-Men series (First Class, Days of Futures Past) that have drawn many fans back into the series. Despite the failure of Fantastic four, there may still be a chance for Kinberg to redeem himself and the franchise with the fans.

Jungle Book Trailer Review

Reboots – the bare necessities of life (apparently).

The new, live-action Jungle Book trailer dropped earlier today and did not fail to impress. Whilst audiences weren’t sure what to expect from the fresh take on the forty-nine year old animated classic, live-action remakes have been rather broad on their approaches. With the flood of fairy tale attempts a few years ago (which were met with a wide range of reviews), including the ‘comedic’ and light hearted Mirror Mirror take on Snow White in 2012, nearly two months before the slightly darker Snow White and the Huntsman. Making classic children’s stories dark appeared to be the style with other films such as Red Riding Hood, Oz the Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, etc. Apparently this tradition will be continued by Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef), but unlike its predecessors, looks extremely promising by staying true to the original text.

The trailer opens to the famous Walt Disney castle title and a sinister drone that transforms into the beautiful sight and sound of the jungle and its inhabitants. However, this does not last long as it immediately cuts to black and silenced cued by a gong. It then fades back into the drone and the image of a tranquil river. Before fading out once more, it is met with the hypnotic voice of Scarlett Johansson enquiring, “Are you alone out here?”.  Immediately forcing us to realise that she will be voicing one of the many animals that Mowgli encounters, but who? It then returns to spontaneously panning of trees and vines before we are first shown Mowgli (Neel Sethi), dead in the centre of the screen. Once more, Johansson’s voice questions, “What are you doing so deep in the jungle?” After an inter-title stating ‘next spring’, it cuts to a long shot displaying some the of population of the animal kingdom and who is presumably Shere Khan standing above the rest on top of a rock edge. This is followed by a shot of Shere Khan walking, narrated again by Johansson, “Don’t you know what you are?”, which is interrupted by Khan’s roar.  Adding on to this she says, “I know what you are. I know where you came from.” In this time we see a man running through the jungle with a torch and Mowgli meeting Bagheera for the first time, as well as an army of apes climbing a cliff face and Mowgli on Baloo’s back.  Johansson continues, “Poor sweet little cub”, as he is surrounded by elephants (Akela and his herd). In the next shot a rather fearful, beaten Mowgli is frozen before King Louie’s arm stretches out from behind him and his less than pleased face appears. “I’ll keep you close” (with the S held in the form of the hiss of a snake *wink wink nudge nudge*) precedes an almost free running, tree top Mowgli. The increasingly dramatic music halts, “Let go of your fear now…” as Shere Khan leaps from cover towards Mowgli, only to be intercepted by Bagheera. In a head to head, Khan slaps Bagheera down and as Mowgli runs, Shere Khan pursues, only to see the infant jump off of a cliff edge. For the final time, Johansson’s definitive voice over is not only self-explanatory of the character, but is accompanied by Mowgli in front of Kaa, “and trussssst in me.”  The all star animalistic line up is revealed before the perfectly loyal-to-the-original action montage is displayed, including the King Louie’s castle showdown, Shere Khan’s fight with fire, and much more before the official logo is surrendered.  The final shot returns to the previously shown tranquil river, however the camera pans down to show Mowgli sitting on top of Baloo as they float downstream with the iconic whistling of ‘The Bare Necessities’.

The trailer shows many nods to the original classic from the Bare Necessities, to the King Louie castle showdown. The reason why this should make you feel better instead of making you feel like they’ve been lazy with the script, is that it confirms that Disney are comfortable with the popularity and success of the original that they simply want to re-release it with better graphics, near-revolutionary CGI and a few twists, but with the same basic plot.

The fact that the trailer is narrated by Johansson as Kaa could have been done for two reasons. The first is that Disney may have wanted to make audiences aware that despite looking like the same plot, there are a few changes that will keep you intrigued.  The second, and slightly more ambitious, being too suggest that Kaa will have more of a role in the live-action reboot, as opposed to the comedic cameos where he is foolishly outsmarted by the young man cub.

With Andy Serkis’ Jungle Book: Origins released the following year, The Jungle Book is sure to not only attract vast audiences, but will almost certainly deliver.

Watch the trailer here.

Scarlett Johansson – Kaa,  Idris Elba – Shere Khan,  Bill Murray – Baloo,  Ben Kingsley – Bagheera,  Christopher Walken – King Louie,  Giancarlo Esposito – Akela,  Lupita nyong’o – Raksha,  Emjay Anthony – Gray, and with Neel Sethi as Mowgli, The Jungle Book is released in the UK and US on the 15th April 2016.

Legend Review

It’s all in the name.

Legend tells the true story of the infamous Kray twins, Ronnie Kray (Tom Hardy) and Reggie Kray (Tom Hardy, again), and how they owned England through the ’60s.

The films begins when the Kray’s rule has already begun and the names ‘Ronnie’ and ‘Reggie’ automatically have a face assigned to them throughout the public. This is established by the continuous narration of Reggie’s love interest Frances Shea (Emily Browning). The film portrays the further rise, and fall of the notorious gangster brothers. Writer/director Brian Helgeland doesn’t bother telling the story of their childhood or gangster origins, and even avoids reflecting on their time in jail as much as possible, allowing it to move at a decent pace, maintaining the audience’s focus.  Helgeland also appreciates that the audience may not know who the characters are as they may not be familiar with the ‘legend’ of the Krays and makes intelligent use of cinematography (Dick Pope) to establish the power and influence each character may have.

Tom Hardy puts on a truly outstanding and memorable performance beyond anything else he has ever done before by not only playing two characters in one film, but by playing two very different brothers that share many scenes with each other.  Imagine acting out an entire film as a gangster that is feared by other gangs. Now imagine doing the same film again but with a different psyche and voice, and standing 2 ft to the side. His way of distinguishing between Ronnie and Reggie goes beyond the obvious hair-do, glasses and speech, but his attitudes and personalities are completely different. You could argue the obvious point that he’s an actor and he should be able to play multiple parts, but as stated, it must be difficult to re-enact the same scene/film without instinctively doing the same thing as before.

Hardy’s portrayal of Ronnie is psychotic, menacing and slightly comical. Sometimes when Ronnie talks, you can almost hear Hardy as Bane again. Although he does not always sound like Bane and is not as physically intense as him, he never ceases to be as intimidating. Equally, he also never ceases to stop talking.  Reggie, on the other hand, is very dapper, tactful and loving. But, he’s not too be messed with and will go to any length to protect the ones he loves. He makes use of his favourite move the ‘cigarette punch’. With this, he offers the victim a cigarette, as they lean in with their mouth open he would punch them in the jaw.

Helgeland was clever enough to not to make the same mistake that most gangster films make, which was too not over use fight scenes or action sequences, but instead gives one glorious, traditionally British ‘Kingsman-style’ pub fight, filled with punches, knuckledusters, hammers, Guinness and ear biting. Knuckledusters are a traditional weapon for a gang member and are especially deadly when accompanied by a couple of hammers.

British films often have a bad reputation for being too dark, or always being about crime. Well, this film not only accepts that, but embraces it and shows the audiences why its a good thing that we aren’t afraid to make what most American film makers dread to watch. It also shows that big budgets and Michael Bay-esque explosions isn’t always necessary for a gangster hit. It is brilliantly brutal and exceptionally gritty in the way that The Sweeney failed to achieve.

Throughout the 131 minutes of running time, Legend jumps between three simultaneous plots involving the Kray’s ‘business’, Reggie and Frances relationship and the police forces pursuit of the Krays.  Whilst this may seem messy, irrational and pointless, it actually serves the artistic purpose of representing how hectic the life of the Krays actually was, and is a rather clever plot device.

Despite the incredible ability shown by Hardy to play twins that not only remain in each others company quite a lot, but that also fight in hand-to-hand combat (which I can only imagine was a nightmare to film), it sometimes feels that all of the effort went into the main image and not the surroundings. Although the surroundings aren’t always vital for the image, but it sometimes feels like the mise-en-scene isn’t always complete. On the other hand, it makes it feel more like a true story as your surroundings aren’t always going to be interesting. It is also appears (though not confirmed) to be shot entirely on location in London, further adding to the realism of an already very true story.

It’s difficult to rate this film as the negative points feel as though they have been done to enhance it.  On the other hand, the key events within the Krays reign of London are significantly portrayed within this film and feel slightly glamorized. For some audiences the violence may cause the much enjoyed popcorn to make a second appearance. Overall, Hardy’s double performance is flawless within a beautifully British crime romp with a touch of romance.

8.5/10

Spielberg spoils superhero fandom

Superhero movies are the current thriving film genre, and is still yet to show it’s full potential. However, War of the Worlds director Steven Spielberg not only isn’t convinced, but also fancied ruining the hype for fans by stating that it will die out like every other film craze.

Although this summer has not been the most successful for superhero movies – with Fantastic Four being a fantastic flop, Ant-Man drawing moderate success, and despite grossing over $1.4 billion, Avengers: Age of Ultron being a failure in the eyes of Disney – it is one of the most successful ‘film movements’ of all time.

Despite what plans comic book movie production companies may have, Hollywood luminaries have begun expressing their opinions that the end of the superhero movie genre is nigh. Spielberg made the Associated Press aware that “there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western”. Such similar views have been expressed by other movie makers and critics. However, deapite what big opinion leaders think, the many many fans still believe in them and are already hyped for next years superhero storm.

Leading on from Spielberg’s comment, he was referring to the decade long crazes from the past seventy years, proving how Hollywood goes in cycles. In the ’40s there was film noir, which ejected from the post war shock and fear of female liberation. The ’50s gave us a decade where 25 percent of films were Westerns.  In the ’80s there was a mix of slasher films and big budget, global scale action films (a potential result if Reagan’s approach to the Cold War).  More recently, the ’90s produced hipster-gangster films, led by Tarantino. Finally we’re at present day with the superhero takeover. What’s different however is that we’re now nearly fourteen years in, and despite what some say (including Spielberg) it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down any time soon. As with film noir, the superhero genre was ejected from fear, which in this case are from the events of 9/11. This is down to the fact that we felt that we could no longer be protected by mortal defence since the institutions and secretaries of defence failed to do so. Despite the fact that it was written and in production from 1999, the 2002 Spiderman film is thought to have been partially used to give people something to believe in. Spiderman had a budget of $140 million and grossed over $827.1 million, more than any superhero film before it. Due to its success, it received two more sequels, the first considered as one of the best superhero films to date. The film Hulk was released just one year later, with not such glowing reviews, however in 2005 Batman Begins was released, shortly followed by two more sequels (The Dark Knight – 2008, The Dark Knight Rises – 2012), with The Dark Knight considered one of the best superhero films ever (overtaking Spiderman 2’s popularity), and the trilogy as one of the best film trilogies ever. It was then taken to the next level in 2008 when Iron Man was released. Not only did it receive great reviews and take CGI to a whole new level, but was the first film of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). We are now eleven films later and the series is only increasing in popularity. Even if the genre is decreasing in strength, Marvel have no plans of slowing down having already announced a handful of films to be released in the next few years. There’s also the DCEU (Detective Comics Extended Universe), which is only currently one film in with Man Of Steel, which had mixed opinions among fans. Now, just getting started, they also have announced a handful of films to be released over the next few years.

In the upcoming years, anything could happen with Suicide Squad (starring Jared Leto and Margot Robbie) bringing a new breed of superhero movies where the bad guys take charge, and Batman v Superman, and Captain America: Civil War facing heroes off against eachother, these twists could just be what the genre needs to re-install everybody’s faith in the comic craze.

No Escape Review

Moving abroad can be one of the most stressful things to deal with. However, when the majority of the population is trying to kill you, then it can be a bit too much to deal with.  No Escape can only be compared to a cross between Argo and The Purge: Anarchy, with James Bond as a secondary character.

Inspired by writer/director John Dowdle’s trip to Thailand in 2006, No Escape is the fifth collaboration between John and his brother Drew (Quarantine, As above, so below). In John’s trip there was a peaceful military coup, fortunately his holiday managed to continue without disruption or danger. However, from this he and Drew managed to conjure up a cinematic action thrill-ride so tense from start to finish that your heart will either race, or stop altogether.

Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Marley & Me) plays Jack Dwyer, executive of a Texan water company who’s forced to move overseas, taking his wife, Annie (Lake Bell – In A World…), and two daughters, Lucy and Beeze, with him. On the plane they meet British expat Hammond (Pierce Brosnan), a suspiciously dark and dangerous looking character who then offers to accompany them to the hotel, which he is conveniently staying at too. What they’re all unaware of is that they have arrived in the middle of a violent government coup that is a result of a deal made with the company that John is representing.  The next morning whilst John is roaming the city, a war between the police and revolutionaries begins in front of him. As he returns to the hotel the mob wade their way inside, methodically killing anyone not wearing a bandana. A brutal chase begins with danger and fear at every corner, pushing each character to their limits and seeing how far John will go to protect his family.

Being that Wilson generally plays more comedic and light-hearted roles, you would be forgiven for being concerned about the choice of casting. However, slightly incorporating a bit of humour here and there, Wilson’s performance is outstanding as the typical dad with bad jokes, but doesn’t hesitate to make the life saving decisions no matter how risky they may be. The connection made between John and the audience causes you to feel genuinely scared when he and his family are put in danger.

Pierce Brosnan’s character will raise many questions during the film, from his Passenger 47 entrance to his Kenny Rogers enthusiast of a friend/sidekick. His representation changes constantly, from being a dangerous and creepy stranger to a caring and instantly friendly acquaintance, and vice-versa.  The intelligence behind this however is that it defies the stereotypical character rule as it doesn’t surrender his moral compass from the very beginning.

Unlike most thrillers and action films, once the setting and plot is established No Escape wastes no time instilling fear from start to finish and with virtually no breaks to recover it manages to make it feel real, causing the constant threat and panic to also feel all the more real.

The stereotyping and xenophobic themes can be interpreted as either a cinematic technique, or slightly racist (depending on the audience – proceed with caution). It will have you engaged the moment the action begins to the moment it ends. If you will take anything away from this film, it will be the self-doubt next time you book a holiday abroad.

7.5/10

Big Changes for Marvel and Disney

Big changes are underway at Disney. In 2009 Disney bought Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion and has become a Limited Liability Company (LLC) since.

Over the course of multiple decades, Marvel Entertainment has entered partnerships with multiple negotiations and partnerships with a variety of companies and businesses; including film licensing agreements with Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox, as well as a theme park licensing agreement with Universal Parks and Resorts extant, before Disney took over (and are soon to create their own Marvel theme park).

Marvel Entertainment has many subsidiaries, one of which being Marvel Studios, the most popular and grossing department in charge of the hit ongoing franchise. To sum the hierarchy up, Disney controls everything that happens, and anything that Marvel Entertainment does has to be run past Disney first for their approval. However, this also means that when you move further down the hierarchy to Marvel Studios, it’s an even longer process. Anything that they would like to do or create must first be proposed to, and approved by Marvel Entertainment, and then before Marvel Studios can proceed with their plans, Marvel Entertainment must run said plans past Disney and wait for their approval. This can not only take a long time to be completed, but can also be very frustrating for Marvel Studios and it’s president Kevin Feige.  Kevin Feige is responsible for making the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) what it is today.

However, this is soon to change as it is reported that Marvel Studios are no longer going to have to report to Marvel CEO, but instead straight to Bob Iger, the chairman and CEO of Disney.  Effectively, Marvel Entertainment have been rendered useless in the relationship between Marvel Studios and Disney. This basically means that things can get better in every way possible as decisions can now be made faster and with better chance of ideas following through.

This information was originally presented on YouTube by The Comic Book Cast.