Tag: Action

M3GAN 2.0 (2025)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Following on from AI/Killer Doll horror M3GAN from 2022 comes the somewhat predictably named “M3GAN 2.0”. Written and directed once again by Gerard Johnstone (With Akela Cooper and James Wan assisting with the script), this movie takes the franchise in a radically different direction. This is a direction that put off many of the fans of the original, but may well have some justification behind it. Many horror franchises simply rinse and repeat the same movie again and again, here they decided to do something different. But did it work out? Well, not financially, but let’s look at if it does creatively.

Synopsis

Allison Williams and Violet McGraw return to their roles as mother Gemma and daughter Cady. Now a couple of years after the events of the first film Gemma has become an anti-AI activist and has pivoted her robotics research into human controlled exo-frame technology. However, unbeknownst to her an AI partially based on her prototype is still active and working for the government. The AI mysteriously goes rogue and begins hunting down anyone involved in it’s creation. It turns out the end goal of this AI is to unleash a sentient AI that evolved from a photocopier in 1984 (Yes, the year Terminator came out). That AI has been quietly evolving in isolation since the 80’s and would be unstoppable should it be released.

Gemma and Cady become caught up in this as potential targets for the governments rogue assassin AI. But they have a surprising ally on their side, the still surviving M3GAN that was able to upload her program to the internet before her destruction and has been quietly trying to protect the family. This AI claims to no longer be a threat to humanity, but Gemma naturally does not trust her. However if they are to have any chance against these new AI’s Gemma will need to build M3GAN a new body. As the factions eventually cross paths, secrets are revealed, enemies uncovered and relationships changed.

Sequel Swerve

So the first thing to note here is that this is definitely not a horror film anymore. Taking a path very similar to the Terminator franchise, the antagonist of the first film has changed sides and we move firmly into action territory. M3GAN though was a horror comedy and not just a straight horror, so this is now an action comedy. I was a fan of the original movie and as such was initially skeptical about the change. I can absolutely see why people wouldn’t like that shift, but I have to say – It does work. The movie is not what I expected, but the humour from the first movie shifts seamlessly into the sequel and while the movie no longer wants to scare us, it does entertain.

Some very successful franchises have shifted more into action with the sequel, including Alien and of course Terminator. Neither of those had a strong comedy element though. Terminator 2 did have humour to a few scenes, but it was character comedy, not comedy built into the concept. This was a big risk and it didn’t pay off financially. However, the character of M3GAN is entertaining in her own right. She doesn’t need to be murdering people to be enjoyable to watch. They also managed to find a bit of variety to the action, so it’s not just android vs android throwing each other threw walls.

A Love Letter To Skynet

This movie is also a bit of a parody of and love letter to Terminator (1984) and of course it’s sequel. It wears this proudly on it’s sleeve. Even choosing the year 1984 for the year that the apocalyptic super-AI was created. Much like with Arnold’s Terminator in T2, M3GAN has to deal with cops while not being allowed to kill any of them. Most obviously though is the relationship between the two human leads and the android. Starting out from a position of distrust and fear and ending up recognizing the humanity in the artificial being. The ending even had certain parodies to Terminator 2. No surprise though, this isn’t as good as either of those Terminator movies, but it is fun.

Fun is definitely the focus. However, the movie does ask a few questions about the dangers of AI and the morality of it’s use. These don’t exactly add depth, but they do grant an amount of verisimilitude to the universe. We have seen this basic premise before and these days killer AI movies are commonplace. I can’t say though, that there are any other movies tackling this debate with the same sense of flare or humour. It makes what on paper is not very original feel refreshingly new. So the question is, was the shift in tone a good move? I have no doubt staying with horror would have made them more money. From a creative perspective, rinse and repeat rarely leads to anything but a gradual slow decline.

Conclusion

Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. It is hard to say if everyone that liked the original will still be on board with the shift away from horror. I suspect not. A lot of the genre shift sequels of the past have gained their own fans almost separate from the fans of the original. Aliens and Terminator 2 are often regarded as superior to the original by fans that are more in to action than horror. But those were both high profile movies with a big name director and major stars. They were able to win over an audience more directly. M3GAN 2.0 however seems to have been entirely reliant on convincing it’s horror fans to accept the shift away from horror.

The movie history books will probably label this shift as a mistake. I think though, creatively at least, it was the right thing to do. Most importantly, this is a fun movie with a lot to offer. Solid action, solid acting, solid comedy, emotions, philosophy and not entirely forgetting it’s roots, a little bit of gore. The only problem it has is you do really need to have seen the first movie. So you do need to like horror, but also not mind shifting out of it. Maybe that’s asking too much, but for me this was a strong 6.5/10.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The Beekeeper (2024)

Posted on by fenrisfil

For my first major movie review of 2024 I give you David Ayer’s “The Beekeeper”, staring perennial action hero Jason Statham and with notable support from Jeremy Irons, Emmy Raver-Lampman and Josh Hutcherson. This is the only major release in January, but that isn’t entirely unusual since January is a notoriously bad month for the box office, so studios avoid it where possible. Ayer is a solid director with several good movies to his name, but with a patchier track record of late. Penning the movie is writer/director Kurt Wimmer who has a mostly bad track record but did give us “Equilibrium” back in 2002, which was a very good movie.

The movie follows the story of “Adam Clay” (Statham), a Beekeeper in the literal sense but also as it turns out a retired member of the most secret of secret agencies, “The Beekeepers”. When the nice old lady that rents him land for him to work his bees is scammed out of all her savings and takes her own life, he reactivates himself to bring down those responsible. As he follows the money he finds this corruption goes far deeper than anyone would have expected, but Clay takes his profession seriously and will deal with anything that threatens the health of the “Hive”, no matter how far up the corruption goes.

Maximum Statham!

First and foremost this is a fun movie. The movie is effectively split into five chapters with the odd, brief interlude. The first introducing us to the lead and setting up the story, the next four all revolving around large action scenes. One interlude is also an action scene so that is five solid action scenes spread over one hour and 45 minutes. This keeps the pace fast throughout and the time flies by. The most important thing for a movie like this is that those actions scenes are entertaining. This is not on the John Wick level of graceful action choreography, but it is solid, fast paced and clear (That least one is often overlooked in modern action films). Some suspension of disbelief is required of course because Statham’s Beekeeper character is basically an unstoppable ass kicking machine.

Statham has made a career of playing old school action heros and here this is ramped up to eleven. While he doesn’t have the superhero level indestructibility of John Wick, in some ways it is even more far fetched as he simply avoids getting injured for most of the movie and even when he does it is barely an inconvenience. A lot of the time this would be a big negative for me, but Statham is one of the few actors that can still pull off that kind of over powered character (Which is probably why he gets so much work). Clay has a Batman level of determination and morality, in many ways making the character a bit too simple but once again Statham is so comfortable in the role you just roll with it.

The Hornets Nest.

The plot itself is a pretty standard action affair built on the theme of kicking the hornets nest. When the scammers steal the money off the old lady that has befriended Clay they had no idea what they had unleashed, but when Clay sets out for revenge he has no idea just how far up the chain his hunt for vengeance and justice would take him. As a result the story constantly escalates, but it is all pretty predictable. Fortunately the movie doesn’t really rely on each revelation being a major twist. Instead the escalation is more like going up levels in a video game, each new level requiring Clay to be more resourceful and up his game.

One of the things I found most interesting (And this is a minor spoiler) is that the main villain seems to be based on Hunter Biden, which is certainly a bold choice but it actually works pretty well. In some ways this is a refreshing choice for the villain, but it’s actually just a variation on a pretty common trope. For example we basically saw a version of this with the original John Wick movie where the loose cannon son is the catalyst for Wick to go to war with his underworld boss father. Unfortunately most of the villains here are just one dimensional dirt bags, the most notable exception being Jeremy Irons who is both the smartest and most reluctant of Clay’s opponents.

Conclusion.

Overall the movie is a bit by the numbers but presents a fun, fast paced ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat. The ending for me though was a bit anticlimactic and it would be nice to feel Clay was in actually in genuine danger at some point. Ultimately though I had a lot of fun and really isn’t that the main thing we want from our action movies? This is a narrow, possibly generous 6.5/10. It’s not a cinematic masterpiece, but I think most people will get a kick out of it. This has done okay in the cinema so I expect to see a sequel at some point.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The Hidden (1987)

Posted on by fenrisfil

I’m back to the 80’s horror now and with body snatching space slug film “The Hidden” from 1987. Staring Kyle MacLachlan looking pretty much exactly as he did in Twin Peaks a few years later and acting a bit like he did in the series relaunch more recently. He plays FBI Agent “Lloyd Gallagher” who teams up with cop “Tom Beck”, played by Michael Nouri. The film is also the feature debut of Claudia Christian (Ivanova from Babylon 5). The film is directed by Jack Shoulder (Alone in the Dark, Nightmare on Elm Street 2) and written by Jim Kouf (Stakeout, National Treasure, Rush Hour).

THE HIDDEN, Kyle Maclachlan, Michael Nouri, 1987

October Review Challenge – Day 18

The film kicks off right away with a violent bank robbery and a car chase, with the robber having a whale of a time blasting out rock music while driving recklessly to evade the cops. Eventually he gets gunned down, but is taken to hospital and put in intensive care. At this point FBI agent Lloyd Gallagher turns up at police headquarters looking for the same suspect. However on discovering the suspect dead at the hospital his hunt turns to another patient that had contact with him. Both suspects are unusual because they showed no sign of criminal activity or malicious acts in the past and just seem to have flipped and gone on a rampage. Both sharing a love for sports cars and rock music.

Of course since this is a science fiction horror there is more to it and as I opened up by calling it a “Body snatching space slug film” you can probably guess where this is going. The real antagonist is said space slug and it transfers itself between victims and then uses them to go on it’s sociopathic crime sprees. After wearing out the bodies of the first two it takes control of a stripper, Brenda (Christian) leading to a tense chase with Gallagher and Beck. Gallagher though has a secret of his own and a personal vendetta with the alien. Things become more difficult for our heroes as their target starts to get more ambitious with it’s choice of bodies, leading to a dramatic final showdown.

A Source of Inspiration?

This is an interesting film and a pretty original take on the body snatcher idea. It reminds me a lot of the film “Fallen” (1998) with Denzel Washington, and I can’t help but wonder if they took some influence from The Hidden when writing that. Fallen is the better film, at least as a horror and did a lot more with the idea, but that’s not to say The Hidden is bad. The movie is pretty light in the horror and science fiction aspects and is really an action movie with a horror/sci-fi premise and in that regard it is pretty satisfying. There are a lot of shoot outs and the body thief can take a lot of punishment before at has to flee a body making it a little bit like a Terminator film.

Kyle MacLachlan playing a weird FBI agent before he starred in Twin Peaks is interesting too. There is almost no way this film didn’t play into his casting and long before his “Dougie Jones” days (In the recent Twin Peaks continuation) he showed his talent for playing “not quite there” characters. Thes rest of the cast do an adequate job and I always enjoy seeing Claudia Christian (As well as playing a fan favourite on Babylon 5, she just seems like a cool person. One of the few celebrities I never regretted following on social media).

Assessment

The action scenes are pretty solid and the plot pushes along at a good pace so you are never bored watching. The plot tries to keep itself simple and a lot of that requires suspension of disbelief and not thinking too hard about what the reaction from most people would be to these events (Like when people they’ve known for years suddenly turn into unstoppable killing machines and go on murder sprees for no apparent reason). There are definitely some holes there, but the fast pace stops you dwelling too long on them.

Overall this is a pretty good movie, but it trades exploration of the premise for quick action and by the standard of 80’s action movies it is not especially notable. As a body thief horror though it comes up very short against the similar Fallen (or the first two Body Snatchers films), so it isn’t in the upper reaches of good, but it is well worth checking out some time. This is a strong 6/10.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Mayhem (2017)

Posted on by fenrisfil

My movie of choice for the 3rd of October (as part of my horror per day challenge) was 2017’s “Mayhem” directed by Joe Lynch (A regularly contributor to Shudder’s “Creepshow” series and director of the fun “Knights of Badassdom” from 2013) and staring Steven Yeun (Glenn from the Walking Dead) and the always impressive Samara Weaving (Guns Akimbo, Ready or Not).

Hostile Witnesses

The film is set in a world that has suffered a huge viral outbreak…. I know, topical right? But this virus unique in that it basically reduces inhibitions and encourages violent outbreaks from those infected. Our setting for the film is the headquarters of a law firm that made it’s name in a landmark case involving this virus, where they established those infected by the virus can’t be held accountable for their actions (including murder). This provides both an amount of irony from the virus breaking out in this office and provides a key plot point since everyone involved is well aware that this legal loophole provides certain opportunities….

Our heroes were both wronged by the company, with Derek (Yeun) having just been fired for someone else’s mistake and Melanie (Weaving) having been screwed over financially. Both are about to be escorted from the building when the outbreak causes a lockdown and the pair become determined to take justice into their own hands. Initially just wanting to have their cases heard but with the virus infecting them too this progresses to seeking a far more violent confrontation. 

Passing Judgement

The rest of the film is basically our heroes working their way through the building scoring a whole load of pay back in the process. Mayhem does indeed ensue as the movie title promised. Obviously this movie is light on plot, but it’s fast paced and Steven and Samara really did a good job. Both seem to be having a blast making the movie and I have to say they both deserve to be higher profile actors than they currently are. 

The way the virus affects peoples inhibitions reminds me of things like David Cronenberg’s “Shivers” or the book “The Fog” by James Herbert, both of those though were pure horror while this is far more of an action/comedy movie that just happens to have some horror elements. The Law Firm setting provides the audience with villains that are easy to hate (Corrupt corporate lawyers) as well as making the outrageousness of their inhibitions seem entirely believable. The movie also does a good job of throwing out a number of “mini-boses” for our heroes to get past in order to progress, making the pacing a little bit like a video game. Really the simplicity of everything in this movie is what makes it work so well. This was a fun movie.

Rating: 7 out of 10.