MOVIE REVIEW: PASSENGER

 

A few weeks into their van life adventure, a young couple witnesses an accident that leaves the driver dead. Soon, they're being pursued by a demonic stalker who's impossible to outrun and follows them wherever they go.

Director: André Øvredal

Cast: Jacob Scipio, Lou Llobell, Melissa Leo, Joseph Lopez, Miles Fowler, Alan Trong

Release Date: May 22, 2026

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for strong violent content, some gore, and language.

Runtime: 1h 34m

Review:

Passenger is the kind of generic horror film that offers little more than a handful of generic jump scares and recycled plot points that won’t linger in your memory much after the film comes to a close.  It’s strange to see André Øvredal deliver such a blasé film since he’s delivered a handful of solid films in his career like 2010’s Trollhunter and 2016’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe.  The opening sequence offers up an interesting set up along with a nice use of panoramic camera to deliver a solid jump scare, unfortunately that sequence has been used ad nauseam as the film’s trailer.  It doesn’t help that nothing after that point really provides any semblance of originality or inventiveness as the jump scares are telegraphed from a mile away.  It doesn’t help that the plot is a nonsensical blend of Nomadland and demonic haunting horror.  The rules for the highwayman from hell are also so incredibly generic that nobody would ever survive a road trip which makes most of what happens a tad difficult to take seriously.  It would all be a bit easier to watch if the main characters were somewhat interesting instead of being the blandest flavor of vanilla.  Jacob Scipio and Lou Llobell play the central couple who decide to live out their van life dream and get engaged along the way.  They do what they can with the script but they lack any real chemistry together which makes it difficult to believe they’d just pick up and leave their, apparent affluent, lives to live on the on road.  Small smatters of details are drop about their relationships but nothing that makes them all the interesting or engaging especially as the clichés start to mount up.  Academy Award winner, Melissa Leo, pops up in what amounts to a glorified cameo that ultimately adds nothing to overall script outside of getting our cursed couple to the final location.  There’s been a recent string of well-made horror film, unfortunately Passenger feels too much like a throwback to the kind of cookie cutter horror slop that has pervaded the genre for far too long.

D

MOVIE REVIEW: BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE

 

When their late police captain gets linked to drug cartels, wisecracking Miami cops Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett embark on a dangerous mission to clear his name.

Director: Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah

Cast:  Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Jacob Scipio, Eric Dane, Joe Pantoliano,

Release Date: June 5, 2024

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for strong violence, language throughout and some sexual references

Runtime: 1h 55m

Review:

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence fourth go around in the Bad Boys franchise brings all the buddy cop banter and kinetic action sequences you've come to expect albeit with a noticeable sense of diminishing returns.  Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah return after reviving the franchise with 2020's Bad Boys For Life with them continuing to do their best Michael Bay impressions throughout the film.  The film's action sequences are hyperkinetically edited which manages to make for some strong moments highlighted by a helicopter crash and the finale set in an abandoned alligator theme park. The film hits its energetic peaks during these moments even as those sequences play loose with logic and physics that'll require some disengagement from common sense.  The action is fun on its own, but the main draw of this series has always been Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's chemistry together that has carried the previous films even during some of the weaker points.  They still work off each fairly well, but the script doesn't give them enough solid material to work with leaving most of it feel a bit forced until they find their stride in the final act.  There's more natural comedic energy in that final act which is sorely missing from the earlier acts.  At the very least there's a tangible effort to give these two characters an arch by giving Lawrence's Marcus Burnett a near death revelation and Smith's Mike Lowrey a battle with panic attacks.  Lawrence's Burnett is written and played much more cartoonish this go around, almost to a distracting level, leaving Smith to try and balance it all out as the straight man.  The supporting cast is made up of familiar faces from the franchise and new comers with nobody asked to do much more than look cool, confused, menacingly or nefarious.  Rhea Seehorn and Eric Dane in particular are given thankless one note roles as a Tommy Lee John's light US Marshall and villainous mastermind.  Jacob Scipio fares slightly better due to his natural on screen charisma as Lowrey's son from the previous film even though the accidental reconciliation angle is hardly original.  It’s one of the many aspects of the film that would have worked better if a bit more care had been given to the script, as is Bad Boys: Ride or Die is an enjoyable but easily forgettable entry in the franchise.  

 

C