Wicked: For Good

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Wicked: For Good is the sequel to Wicked (2024) and an adaptation of the final act of the Broadway musical of the same name. This feature is set years after Elphaba spirited away with the Grimmerie, and she is still fighting for the rights of the animals of Oz. Glinda has become a voice and puppet of the Wizard and Morrible's propaganda machine. There is considerable discord in Oz, and tensions are poised to boil over...

The second act of Wicked delves deeper into the themes of this take on the world of Oz. One of the big ones is how Elphaba is a force for good and justice. Within the very opening minutes of the film, we see our protagonist witch comes to the defence of some of the animals of Oz. Elphaba has been ostracised from her homeland in her efforts to do the right thing, and it's a very isolating struggle. Yet, across the film, she strives to do the right thing by Oz, making efforts to see it change for the better. At the same time, it's interesting to see this take on the Wizard and his main supporter, Madame Morrible, and how they govern Oz. It is a world where those in charge maintain control thinly, through lies and turning people against one another. Watching Glinda be placed as a puppet for this purpose is interesting, and the effect it has on the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba is quite tragic as well. Watching this strong bond from the first film be tested and strained is what I found most compelling in this sequel. The culmination in our leading protagonists eventually having to diverge from one another as they sing 'For Good' is quite a decent emotional beat.

Jon M. Chu is a director whom I often enjoy; one key reason being that the man knows how to capture a vivid colour palette. This film can pop with colour in one scene, swirl with firelight in another and dance in the shadows at other times. Chu showcases the point of musical film adaptation and takes the show to a new visual frontier with confidence. The special effects we see don't feel misused (except for that de-aged Goldblum shot). I loved the flight sequences with Elphaba, Glinda's bubble and the CGI animal creatures. While I don't think this film held songs that will stay with me afterwards, they carried strong weight for the moments they were performed. I also loved 'For Good' as I previously mentioned, but 'No Good Deed' is an easy crowd favourite.

Cynthia Erivo, who played Elphaba, is an incredible lead who plays the struggle of a land against her well; Erivo is so righteous and hurt across For Good which is a darker edge that serves well. Jeff Goldblum, who played The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, is a bit more whimsical and comedic in this one; I think you get a good chance to see how he schemes and tries to manipulate others here. Michelle Yeoh, who played Madame Morrible, might struggle with the singing, but she dominates with her performance; Yeoh is a fearsome antagonist. Jonathan Bailey, who played Fiyero, is rather conflicted and brooding here; I enjoyed seeing Bailey choose to fight for his values over his status. Bowen Yang, who played Pfannee, clearly gets to adlib in his short time a bit more; Yang being allowed to flex his comedy makes an impact this time around.

However, the best performance came from Ariana Grande, who played Glinda. I feel like watching the Wicked films is like watching a surprising transformation when it comes to Grande. Already in the first film, I found she challenged my expectations quite a bit. But in the sequel, I would say she commands the screen for most of the feature. Here, Glinda plays to the crowd; she is a bright, charismatic force used to keep the Wizard in power. I often found myself impressed with the little breaks in the facade that Grande delivered, those vulnerable moments of regret Glinda carried with her. It has to be said that Grande and Erivo together are wonderful; the dynamic they share only serves to lift this movie up at every turn. I also loved the moments of heartbreak for Glinda, Grande plays Fiyero abandoning her and parting ways with Elphaba forever in such a tragic way. I found some serious satisfaction and elation at the ending. Grande's Glinda becomes a sort of symbol for hope and change for the better. This role has been phenomenal for Ariana Grande, and I don't think I could possibly underestimate her as an actress going forward.

This film never really stops feeling quite busy, and even downright scattered at times. In all honesty, a lot of the issues in the second act of the show are blown up larger than ever here. The way this story tries to dart around The Wizard of Oz and weave it all together actually serves to make the whole thing confusing. There are whole scenes that just don't really work because of this. Time jumps around in this movie quite a bit, between the two films and across this movie too. The result is a film that just doesn't always have pacing working for it. I really struggled with some of the major romance storylines in this feature; putting Elphaba, Glinda and Fiyero into a love triangle just infantilised the quality of the story. I also think the Boq, Nessarose and Glinda thing got a bit long in the tooth and is a subplot that struggles at the best of times.

The music as a whole works, as I mentioned previously, but the songs won't stay with you for long after the film, beyond a couple of major players. What I really couldn't stand were the two new original songs developed for this film. Both come off as quite out of place and only serve to push out the film longer than it needs to be.

Ethan Slater, who played Boq, is a performer who just feels like an afterthought; I didn't much care for Slater's transition into the Tin Man at all. Marissa Bode, who played Nessarose, really lets herself down in this sequel; Bode's role had no harder edge to it, which is the one thing that really feels lacking. Colman Domingo, who voiced The Cowardly Lion, isn't really a role we needed to serve time as a character; Domingo is entirely unimpressionable as the Lion. Bronwyn James, who played Shenshen, is still stuck in the background; the need for her to play entourage has been and gone by this point. Scarlett Spears, who played Young Galinda, just doesn't quite have the range to land an emotional beat yet; Spears' younger take is a pretty shallow take on our leading role.

It might not be as strong as the first film, but it is an ending that hits most of the right notes. I would give Wicked: For Good a 7.5/10.

The Running Man

 

This review may contain spoilers!

The Running Man is an adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name, set in a world where the only way to escape the slum is to win big on a corporate TV game show. When Ben Richards' daughter falls ill, he takes a payout and joins 'The Running Man' in a desperate bid to save her and fight for his family.

The big thing this film has peppered throughout that I quite enjoyed is how media is used by corporations, and how we consume it in this day and age. The idea of watching 'The Running Man' is a thrill for the audience, but it's a bit of a cheap illusion ultimately. As we learn across the feature, the runners are picked based on their character and the outcomes are often scripted. Even the self-recorded videos the Runners make are doctored using A.I. or deepfake technology, which is a commentary that doesn't seem so entirely sci-fi nor outlandish. At the start of the film, we watch our protagonist Ben and his infant daughter watch a show where a man answers trivia while running on a hamster wheel. He either gets the answer right and wins money or he dies, which is ultimately what happens. Ben tries to distract his daughter by pointing out the cute hamster mascot. I think that scene alone says a lot about media consumption and how it can be presented. There's even a brilliant Kardashians parody in this, which draws a line around vapid consumption of media and how easy it is to be drawn into a binge cycle of consuming what is presented before you digitally.

I find Edgar Wright to be an extremely dependable director when it comes to capturing his project visually. The Running Man can get a little ham-fisted with the story at times, but the presentation rarely feels this way. Shots throughout show the disparity of this dystopian world, the hard-edged difference between the haves and the have-nots. The soundtrack for this feature is excellent, with some very fitting and fun tracks from the likes of Tom Jones and The Rolling Stones.

Glen Powell, who played Ben Richards, is a pretty decent lead for this dystopian thriller; Powell's moments where he feels most human are where his character work really shines. Lee Pace, who played Evan McCone, is a good rival for Powell across this; Pace has a hulking presence and really lashes out nicely in the final act. Colman Domingo, who played Bobby T, is a charismatic host who works every scene for all its worth; Domingo really knows how to dress up and inflate certain moments. Michael Cera, who played Elton Perrakis, was an absolute delight in this; Cera brought forward a character with a lot of conviction and a strong sense of justice.

However, the best performance came from Josh Brolin, who played Dan Killian. Brolin is having such a good run with his acting performances this year, even if this isn't quite as big a swing as Weapons. Here we see Brolin as a conniving producer for the Network. A man who doesn't mind trading in lives if the propaganda machine keeps on churning. Killian is an arrogant man; he sees himself and his work as untouchable by those below him. You get a sense of power from Brolin across this; he enters every scene holding the cards and expecting to play those across from him. I also liked the way Brolin portrayed the more manipulative side of his character, posing as a decent guy with a word of advice that would never actually help anyone. That final shot, where Brolin is caught up in fear but also a bit of excitement at the prospect of this being a 'good finale', is one of the more nuanced and well-portrayed character beats of the film.

I spent a lot of this movie trying to understand if it believed in the message it was trying to sell. At its core, The Running Man is about how we consume media, how media is manipulated, and most significantly, it is about corporate control and social inequality. However, the latter part of this rarely feels authentic across the film. Let's take the protagonist, for instance, Ben Richards is presented to us as a bleeding heart very early on; he's an everyday schmuck and yet the guy rarely seems like he is struggling. He almost seems like an archetype of himself most of the film, a man who is angry at the way the world works quite blindly. There's a younger character introduced in the final act who is there for Richards to shout out and point at the disparity of the class gap between them. This movie is obvious at every turn, and it loudly shouts its theme in a very dense, blunt manner. The entire film builds up to the protagonist awkwardly being worked out of a near-death situation (we don't see how) and then being propped up as a martyr without ever truly earning it. This is a film that knows what it wants to deliver, but perhaps the creative team behind it doesn't understand how to do a good poor versus the elite narrative. This is a showy action film with some decent stunts, but when it tries to make a point, you find yourself wishing it would find some substance to those ideas. The film also moves too quickly throughout; we barely learn about Ben's home life before he throws it away for the show, there are several side characters who we barely come to understand before they're shuffled on, and the final act moves extremely awkwardly in terms of pacing. This is a film with oodles of potential, but it needed to really be done at a more even pace, with a more dynamic approach to the themes and characters.

The special effects across this are mostly explosion-laden bores, but the glaringly bad one is the plane and the crash at the end of the film. It's an eyesore that pushes us into a rather shaky conclusion. The score for the film is rarely very present, and it certainly doesn't uplift the feature in any way.

Jayme Lawson, who played Sheila Richards, is a long way from Sinners here; Lawson's pining wife role doesn't offer much agency. Katy O'Brian, who played Jenni Laughlin, just feels a bit rudderless in this; beyond partying up and oogling other women, there isn't much to O'Brian's character. Martin Herlihy, who played Tim Jansky, is a weak effort at early comedic relief; Herlihy is an obvious push for a laugh, and this falls on its face pretty soon. William H. Macy, who played Molie, is a bit tired as the paranoid old ally; Macy's character barely has time to connect with Powell's, so it's no surprise there's nothing genuine there. Angelo Gray and Daniel Ezra, who played Stacey and Bradley respectively, were some of the more annoying ally roles across this film; Ezra, in particular, had this online persona that did not support the film at all. Emilia Jones, who played Amelia Williams, was in the unfortunate position of playing a character who felt like an afterthought; she and Powell really struggled to define how they wanted to play across from one another.

In a world riddled with films about corporate control and societal injustice, this adaptation of The Running Man comes off as insincere. I would give The Running Man a 4.5/10.

Now You See Me: Now You Don't

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Now You See Me: Now You Don't is the third film in the Now You See Me series, and this time sees our magical Horsemen take on the mogul of an African diamond mine. All of our classic horsemen are back, with some copycat younger recruits in tow, looking to bring justice via an illusion and a trick.

Maybe I like the camp quality of the stage magic and illusions being woven into the plot. Or perhaps I'm a sucker for a heist movie. Whatever it may be, I really enjoy the Now You See Me movies; they have an easy charm to them that I find a lot of major blockbusters struggle to attain these days. A lot of this comes from the chemistry between the cast that emerges through their characters. This cast just bounces and quips off one another so effortlessly, they look like they are having fun with the film, which makes it so easy to have fun with the film as an audience member. Character dynamics being poked and prodded here, new interactions in any given scene made this a movie I found really easy to just sit back and journey with. The heist moments are always quite fun; there's a bit more of a simple twist in the final act that I appreciated. The third Now You See Me might be stuffed with characters, but I think it also chose to go back to basics, and for the most part, that worked for it.

The soundtrack for this movie is a bit more deliberate and has a pop twist that really leans into the performance element of the movie. I think Brian Tyler always shows up to a Now You See Me score; the music in this is dazzling, brimming with adventure and full of showmanship.

Woody Harrelson, who played Merritt McKinney, is one of the funniest performances in this easily; Harrelson's interrogation room scene with Pike is a real high point of the feature. Dave Franco, who played Jack Wilder, is effortlessly charismatic; he's the more outgoing Horseman and puts himself squarely in the face of risk. Isla Fisher, who played Henley Reeves, is a joy to have back; Fisher's character really shows off and gets back to the performance aspect of the magic. Justice Smith, who played Charlie, gives a surprisingly subversive performance; Smith usually plays a more reserved character who finds his strength in a story, and this film has fun twisting that expectation here. Dominic Sessa, who played Bosco, is a new brand of cocky magician that works well for the sequel; Sessa and Eisenberg were such good foils for one another. Morgan Freeman, who played Thaddeus Bradley, really evokes a sense of wonder and mystery in a manner that is classic to him; his death scene was a nice sombre beat to the film. Mark Ruffalo, who played Dylan Rhodes, has one CGI cameo, but it's a great touch; Ruffalo's earnest nature shines through and is as much a part of the magic as anything else. Lizzy Caplan, who played Lula May, steals the show entirely upon her surprise return; her brand of comedy works so well in these films, and she's an easy favourite.

However, the best performance came from Jesse Eisenberg, who played J. Daniel Atlas. These movies and, indeed, the very character of Atlas, feel extremely well-suited to Eisenberg. Atlas is an arrogant illusionist who can live up to his own boastful claims. Eisenberg commands a scene quite naturally and clearly enjoys playing to a crowd. I like that this character is hellbent on a mission, but still struggles with playing well with others. His moments of conflict across the cast are quite fun. I especially enjoyed the back and forth between him and newcomer, Sessa. Eisenberg's reaction to Thaddeus' death is a quiet emotional beat in this that lands quite well. Overall, Eisenberg plays a magician who can feel larger than life, and that suits this series very well.

Now You See Me: Now You Don't can't really escape what it is, the third film in a franchise. At this point, there's a bit of a formula, and it's all on show for us here. Our heroes unite, they find some initial success, then the antagonist starts winning, and then we get the big trick. It's exactly like the past two films. I guess you could apply some "if it ain't broke" thinking to all this, but I feel these movies need to do something fresh to keep themselves going. The dialogue is also a little clunkier, the jokes feel simple, and there is a staggering amount of exposition in the first half of this feature. I also really felt that the new antagonist, Veronika, really didn't live up to the bar set by Caine and Radcliffe. In fact, while the heist itself was fun, the actual initial motive behind the caper isn't a strong hook.

I'm really used to the Now You See Me movies being quite showy, even through the work of the camera. This is a missing element this time around. The camera work is here to frame the characters and steadily capture the scene, but nothing is exciting through the lens. I was likewise quite disappointed with how this movie had some poor cuts and rather average special effects that constantly descended into vanishing smoke bombs.

Ariana Greenblatt, who played June, has been in a lot of major blockbusters now, and it's starting to count against her; it's becoming increasingly clear her range is not so great. Rosamund Pike, who played Veronika Vanderberg, is a surprisingly dull antagonist; it feels like Pike's main motive for being in this film was to give a South African accent a go.

The Now You See Me series has always been a delight to me; that cast has more chemistry than they know what to do with. I would give Now You See Me: Now You Don't a 7.5/10.

Predator: Badlands

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Predator Badlands is the ninth film in the Predator franchise and follows the coming-of-age of the young Yautja known as Dek. After a personal betrayal, Dek ventures out to hunt the toughest kill in the universe, with some unlikely help along the way.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this film, even while watching it. Everything about Badlands is about trying a new creative direction. I found the positioning of a Yautja as our protagonist instead of antagonist to be a bold, fun move. Dek is a character who adheres to the creed of his people. He hunts with honour and has an unwavering view of the way of the Yautja. Yet, Dek is a runt who forms sincere bonds with other characters in this movie - from his brother, Kwei, to the Weyland-Yutani Syth, Thia. The character growth here is simple but effective. Dek is a Yautja who learns that the most dangerous Predator is one who can hunt with a pack of his own. This film is a revenge journey and a hunt; our character is on a singular path throughout, and it is satisfying to watch him evolve as he also gains the revenge he seeks.

The way Predator: Badlands is certainly with the visual effects in mind, but it's also about presenting the audience with highly aesthetic action shots. This film is a violently entertaining outing, with many sequences stitched together with the 'cool' factor being the main driving force. I was blown away by the attention paid to the CGI in this; it's comfortably one of the nicer special effects films of the year. From the design of the Yautja, the Kalisk, right through to Elle Fanning's severed torso, these visual effects are really characteristic and distinctive. I found the score presented to be quite adrenaline-fuelled, a little primal in places, and the guttural moments raw and almost Yautja-like themselves.

Reuben de Jong, who played Father, brings an imposing physicality to this antagonist role; there is real venom here between himself and his onscreen son. Elle Fanning, who played Thia and Tessa, did a remarkable job in her dual android characters; Fanning brought delight as Thia while entirely dominating the film as her central antagonist character. Michael Homik, who played Kwei, has a nice onscreen chemistry with Schuster-Koloamatangi; the bond between brothers is well-captured and all the more heartbreaking for it.

However, the best performance came from Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who played Dek. There is occasionally a motion capture performance that comes along that stands out from more conventional means of acting. We've seen this in movies like Lord of the Rings with Serkis, and again in Planet of the Apes with Serkis and Kebbell, and James Cameron obliterated the box office with a cast that did it in the Avatar franchise. The truth is that is exactly the playing field Schuster-Koloamatangi deserves to be in. He had the incredible physicality and guttural language of the Yautja embodied. But where this creature has been an imposing physical antagonist before, this performance breathed character into the Yautja in a way I haven't really seen before. Dek needed to be a character the audience could believe in and support for a couple of hours. Schuster-Koloamatangi achieved exactly this; I hope he gets to return and do it all again.

I think Badlands walks a weird line for the series; it's a moment of innovation that holds positives and negatives. The film as a whole skews more towards the world of Predator and Alien with a friendlier, modern blockbuster filter over it. There's not really any escape from the fact that it becomes a found family movie with an animal sidekick and a warm message about fighting together rather than apart. There is a lot of humour here, which lands far easier than Shane Black's The Predator, but still feels tonally jarring at times. Perhaps that's the main problem here: Badlands isn't like any other Predator. It loses some of its identity in trying to make the series open up to a wider audience. I also think the stakes were quite low throughout because the things that were in danger were all just special effects: aliens and robots. This made it tougher to form an emotional bond with these things as an audience.

Love it or hate it, you can't deny that Dan Trachtenberg is doing something genuinely creative with the Predator franchise right now. I would give Predator: Badlands a 7/10.

Good Fortune

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Good Fortune follows Arj, a man struggling on many fronts, who gets the opportunity to swap lives with a tech-bro billionaire. The intervening force? A guardian angel who is normally meant to watch over people who text and drive...

I give Good Fortune a lot of credit for actually managing to stick the subversion of the body swap/life swap film. This is a film that doesn't sit there with an obvious means to provide a greater message; Arj and Jeff swap lives, and we learn that Arj's life would be better if he had money. Good Fortune is often pretty sobering like this, making us reflect that we've become a society so built around financial gain and status that these things have become synonymous with easier access to joy. The only reason our protagonist switches back is because he vaguely realises it's 'the right thing to do', which is also interesting. The divine force that creates the swap in this movie doesn't teach the lesson; the characters genuinely arrive at it themselves. I also really liked watching Gabriel navigate life as a human being, the almost infant-like angel, realising some humans have to work three jobs to afford rent and fuel, is a nice subplot to the greater piece.

The soundtrack for the film is an absolute jam of 80s and 90s dance and rock tracks that serve the more retro-shaded elements of the film. The final frame of Good Fortune is such a slam dunk when you pair it with Real Life's 'Send Me An Angel'.

Seth Rogen, who played Jeff, is easy-going and bright in this film; I loved how strongly he played the outrage his character experienced at having his life taken away from him. Keke Palmer, who played Elena, was quite a passionate and earnest individual; Palmer really became someone you could see every day fighting a small but worthy fight. Sandra Oh, who played Martha, is one of the more balanced and serene characters; there's a bit of mysterious knowledge of fate here that keeps her role intriguing. Felipe Garcia Martinez, who played Felipe, is one of those rare gems where someone who feels fresh to acting brings charm to the film; Martinez and Reeves develop a light friendship that left me smiling.

However, the best performance came from Keanu Reeves, who played Gabriel. This film feels built for Reeves to lead the comedic direction, a surprising and innovative choice. Gabriel doesn't feel human; he is somewhat elevated and fantastical in presentation. Yet, we can feel akin to Gabriel; Reeves plays him as someone who is lost and seeking greater purpose. There's some sincerity in how much he loves humanity and wants to make a difference. Gabriel is an optimistic figure; he believes in the good of humanity. It makes the disappointment Reeves portrays all the greater, the fact that humanity can't live up to his standards. I really felt like it was a pleasure to see Reeves be both tremendously kind and provide the funniest performance of the film. Felt like the good ol' Bill and Ted days.

Good Fortune simply can't escape the fact that Arj is the protagonist the viewer has to watch. Arj is a character living a bad life, and therefore, I guess we're supposed to pity him a bit. But there's just no getting past the fact that Arj is a thoroughly dislikeable character. He talks about life poorly, he is quick to insult himself and others, he rarely cares, and yet he takes so much for granted. Perhaps this is the point? But it becomes difficult to feel like Arj is the everyday underdog when he's also a bit of a jerk. When the movie makes the billionaire tech bro Jeff more charismatic than someone living a life more approximate to the average movie-goer, something is very wrong. Arj and Jeff spend a long time in this just living their lives, so we wallow in the misery or lazy luxury of it all for far too long in the first act. The film seems almost hesitant to include Gabriel and the angels, which makes the fantastical elements feel a bit fringe and out of place. The film does something similar as it journeys towards the conclusion, having our characters sit in one another's lives for a bit too long and losing the point. It becomes very easy for Jeff to have a complete personality flip and say "all billionaires are bad", but no one really needed him to get up on the soapbox to do so. As a whole, the message for Good Fortune rings a little hollow. Arj is quite an insincere navigator, and the film just wallops you over the head with its views on the class divide in the last twenty minutes.

I really feel like the comedy genre is a good place to go to see average camerawork. Good Fortune looks washed out, and the frame is vastly empty most of the time, with other scenes struggling to capture the performers interestingly. The editing contributes to a sluggish pace, with scenes chopped up in a menial manner. The score for the film tries for a melodic thing to amp up the fantasy elements, but it's basic and a bit of a cheap sound.

Aziz Ansari, who played Arj, lets his own film down massively as the leading protagonist; Ansari is a tough person to like in this, and I never really got past that. Shoukath Ansari, who played Saleem, just feels like a talentless performer awkwardly inserted by Aziz into the film; this move might have worked back in Master of None, but it doesn't really fly here. Wil Sylvince, who played Leonard, is ridiculously unfunny in this; he feels like a rather average stand-up comic that Ansari dragged into the production. 

Despite some fun, subversive elements, you can't escape that Aziz Ansari is one of the worst possible choices you could have leading a film. I would give Good Fortune a 4.5/10.

Hedda

 

This review may contain spoilers!

Hedda is an adaptation of the play, 'Hedda Gabler' by Henrik Ibsen, recontextualised for the 1950s and a queer retelling. The story follows Hedda, a wealthy and chaotic socialite, who is drawn to her old flame, Eileen Lovborg, on the evening of a great party.

This film is brimming with tension; you constantly feel like something is about to happen that is tantalising in nature. Hedda is rife with lovers being ripped apart, people plotting against one another, the precarious illusion of social class and sexual tensions aplenty. Hedda Gabler being at the epicentre of all of this makes her a force to be reckoned with.

The editing for Hedda is one of my absolute favourite things about it. Whoever was sitting in that post-production suite was orchestrating this film with tremendous care. The way scenes were cut lingered or abruptly ended just so and with tremendous purpose. Hildur Guðnadóttir's score is whispering, a flowing breath that makes you feel like something or someone is poised to strike at any given time.

Nina Hoss, who played Eileen Lovborg, is a very refined and fiercely independent figure when we first meet her; Hoss does a stupendous job at showing the negative effects Hedda has upon her character.

However, the best performance came from Tessa Thompson, who played Hedda Gabler. This character being such a focal point of the film certainly elevates Thompson's performance over others; she is a force to be reckoned with here. Hedda is a woman who is entirely chaotic and bent to her own whims. We see her dramatically move to suicide at the start and the end of the film, but in both instances, this act rings as more out of a need for drama and attention than hopelessness. Thompson's socialite commands her house and the party, yet she seems more comfortable on the fringes, plotting her next move. This is a character who desires and wants. Hedda is reaching for further efforts to attain status and wealth throughout, though this seems secondary to her twisting Hoss' Lovborg around her finger. The cat-and-mouse performance put on by Thompson and Hoss is a sharp piece of chemistry and lust.

Hedda is a movie that feels desolate and trite at the best of times. It feels like someone saw the idea of the play and remarked that they liked the idea of it. This interpretation of Hedda Gabler feels like director Nia DaCosta is trying to find the Baz Luhrmann interpretation. The film is very showy, and the efforts to show the hollowness of voracious wealth are all done in quite the obvious manner. The supporting characters are barely worth considering; they struggle to make themselves known. In a lot of ways, this film feels like it should be Hedda and Eva circling one another for the entire feature, but there's no consideration given to doing that. In fact, these two aren't pushed into one another's paths enough. The luxurious period drama adaptation comes off as garish wallpaper covering up an imagined concept that hasn't been developed enough. For that matter, the move to a 1950s period piece seems a bit strange; it's hard to really pin down the time of the setting, and for a period piece, it often fails to ground the viewer.

This film has a stunning set, a decent ensemble for the party and an admittedly intimate story to tell with the core cast of characters. It is, therefore, a shame that the film looks so confused about how to capture this. The cinematography feels scattered, and sometimes the vision seems to be big and flashy and at others more close and lingering, but there's never a definitive visual language to Hedda in the way it is filmed.

Imogen Poots, who played Thea Clifton, gives quite a blunt performance; Poots is often seen in a scene drawing up a tear, but there's no depth behind that performance. Nicholas Pinnock, who played Judge Roland Brack, is a very prominent character but never really gives a clear image of themselves; Pinnock feels like a misplaced piece in this ensemble. Tom Bateman, who played George Tesman, is an ineffectual performer across the piece; Bateman is positively dull as George and lacks chemistry with Thompson massively.

A laborious period adaptation that fizzles more than it sizzles. I would give Hedda a 3.5/10.