MOVIE REVIEW: BOY KILLS WORLD

 

Boy is a mayhem machine who's been training to assassinate the bloodthirsty Hilda Van Der Koy and avenge his family's murder. Guided by his sister's mischievous spirit, Boy uncovers one stunning revelation after another as he barrels toward Hilda.

Director: Moritz Mohr

Cast: Bill Skarsgard, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Famke Janssen, Sharlto Copley, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji

Release Date: April 26, 2024

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore throughout, language, some drug use and sexual references

Runtime: 1h 51m

Review:

Moritz Mohr's manic Boy Kills World is heavy on blood splatter style but equally light on story that makes for an uneven experience overall.  Mohr has the scaffolding of a story set up and his film does a quick bit of world building in its opening act before quickly moving to what he's more interested in, a series of fun but increasingly gory action sequences.  To his credit, the majority of those sequences work with a kinetic energy that seeps through the screen by way of aggressively choreographed fights, one involving a cheese grater is sure to make a lot of people winch more than a few times.  There's plenty of style on display throughout but the script is so haphazardly slapped together it hard to get too engaged in any of the characters or the storyline since it all feels like an afterthought.  A few twist and turns in the final act would have worked far better if there'd been just a bit more energy spent on fleshing out the characters and dystopian world presented. The cast makes the most of it, managing to bring a tangible sense of energy to the screen in spite of the thinly written characters.  Bill Skarsgard gets as much traction as humanly possible from his mute character by bringing an impressive physicality to role while managing to play the film's dark humor especially when he's reacting to his internal monologue provided by H. Jon Benjamin.  Skarsgard has some solid chemistry with Quinn Copeland and Andrew Koji throughout the film but neither is taken full advantage of with each coming on and off the screening far too quickly.  Sharlto Copley and Brett Gelman are both having a ball hamming it up every time they're onscreen with Copley being criminally underutilized.  Michelle Dockery and Famke Janssen do their best with underwritten characters who barely have a chance to register even though one of them is supposed to be the big bad of the whole story.  Jessica Rothe's character suffers a similar fate as there's far more time spent on the character's look than anything else.  It’s a credit to Rothe that she's able to get as much mileage as she does out of her helmeted character but you just wish she'd had a better chance to shine.  Boy Kills World manages the rare feat of being simultaneously undercooked and overly long which saps the film of the over the top zaniness energy it starts with leaving it a missed opportunity at making something truly memorable.    

C

MOVIE REVIEW: THE GENTLEMEN

Mickey Pearson is an American expatriate who became rich by building a marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business, it soon triggers an array of plots and schemes from those who want his fortune.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant

Release Date: January 24, 2019

Genres: Action, Crime

Rated R for violence, language throughout, sexual references and drug content

Runtime: 1h 55min

Review:

The Gentlemen is a fun return to the genre that made Guy Ritchie a name back in the early 2000s.  It’s easy to forget how fun his older films like Lock Stock and Smoking Barrel and Snatch were because his subsequence films have fallen into a general blandness that’s made unmemorable.  That’s not to say that certain films like his Sherlock Holmes movies or his underrated The Man from U.N.C.L.E. aren’t fun but they felt way too polished and glossy.  The Gentlemen is a film that’s far better than it deserves to be.  The plot isn’t quite as clever as it thinks it is but the cast of characters and actors make the film so incredibly fun and watchable that you can overlook some of those failings.  Each of the cast delivers performances that make it clear that they are having the time of their lives in this film.  McConaughey gives us a solid mix of charm and underling menace with Charlie Hunnam delivering one of best film work thus far.  The supporting cast shines throughout with Hugh Grant, playing against type with great gusto, and Colin Farrell leaving the biggest impressions.  The story drags here and there but when the cast is clicking it’s the kind of throwback that makes you remember why people noticed Guy Ritchie’s type of filmmaking in the first place instead of something like Aladdin.

B

Cindy Prascik's Review of The Gentleman

Yesterday it was off to the pictures for back-to-back screenings of Guy Ritchie's the Gentlemen.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

The kingpin of Britain's largest marijuana enterprise attempts to ease into retirement and finds there's nothing easy about it.

Dear reader(s), it's important for me to note that I saw the Gentlemen twice yesterday. While I often see movies more than once (hey there, Jack Sparrow!), seldom do I see them more than once before I write about them. In this case, it made a difference of a half to a full point improvement on the film's final Weasley score, so that's material enough to warrant a mention.

The Gentlemen is a rollicking tale that's as clever as it is crass. A wordy script is liberally seasoned with swearing and slurs, weaving its way from twist to unexpected turn. The movie gets off to a bit of a slow start (which I found much less noticeable the second time around), but once it gets rolling, it is ROLLING, through a tense, violent, funny, and often surprising tale. The Gentlemen is blessed with a cast that is perfect in every way. Matthew McConaughey is crafty, dashing, and just the right amount of menacing as the mogul with an eye on retirement. Hugh Grant is hilarious as a sleazy PI looking out for number-one, while Henry Golding impresses as an up-and-comer with his eye on the prize. Downton Abbey's Michelle Dockery holds her own with the guys, no refined Lady Mary, this one, but, per usual, it's Colin Farrell who steals the show with a smart, funny turn. Annnnnnnd...to my Charlie People (and all you future Charlie People): this is a GREAT role for Charlie Hunnam. He gets just about the most screen time of anyone in the terrific ensemble, and he absolutely nails it. One of the reasons I'm proud to call myself a Charlie Person (and why I continue to evangelize new Charlie People) is because, despite his obscenely good looks, Charlie Hunnam has never traded on that commodity. He takes interesting roles in interesting projects, almost always aiming higher than he really has to. As McConaughey's smart, stoic, sweatered wing man, Hunnam is given a great opportunity to shine in the Gentlemen, and shine he does. One of my favorite performances from him to date.

The Gentlemen clocks in at 113 minutes and is rated R for "violence, language throughout, sexual references, and drug content." (I really, really feel like the "drug content" should be first there, but oh well.)

The Gentlemen is a humorous, exciting, well-crafted, and perfectly-cast film that takes viewers on a wild ride and effectively corrals an almost impossible number of moving pieces.

Of a possible nine Weasleys, the Gentlemen gets eight. Until next time...