John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Score: 5 / 5

Delayed, no doubt, by the pandemic, John Wick has returned to us for my favorite film in the franchise. Four years after Parabellum, we jump back in shortly after the events of that film as our title character (Keanu Reeves) prepares, along with the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne), to get revenge on the High Table for their treachery and cruelty. After Wick kills the Elder, "the one who sits above the Table," the remaining members empower the Marquis de Gramont to use any means necessary to stop him. The Marquis, played by a delicious Bill Skarsgard, makes short work of getting started, destroying the Continental and executing Charon (the late Lance Reddick) and excommunicating Winston (Ian McShane). He then enlists a retired assassin (Donnie Yen), on threat of murdering his daughter, to find and kill Wick and end it all.

It's a lot very fast, and if you're not already on board with the series, you'll be overwhelmed quickly. Thankfully, this chapter was written more like the first than the previous two, trimming the world-building and mythology of this shadowy organization of ruthless killers and focusing much more on Wick himself and the cost this lifestyle has had on his body and mind. Sadly, many of the characters we've picked up along the way are absent here -- I missed Angelica Huston and Halle Berry, but with all the globe-spanning action, you can't include everybody -- but I liked the sharper dramatic focus and impossibly lengthy action sequences. Which is saying a lot for this film, as it is almost three hours long!

The final hour (or so, I completely lost track of time) of this film is one of the most electrifying action sequences I've ever seen. Period. Urgent and alarming, beautiful and brutal -- much like the series in general -- it makes a strong case for artistic and elegant violence. It's not wholly unlike some video games, which master action in ways few films do: there are clear stakes, the focus is on one (or at most two) characters, and there is little editing to distract from choreography and martial arts. But this is true of every action sequence in these films, not just this final hour (which takes place on a lengthy stone staircase below Sacré-Cœur; did I mention that this film mostly takes place in a gorgeously shot Paris?). There's one chase-and-fight scene around the Arc de Triomphe that had my eyes popping our of my skull, and another in a bizarrely trippy nightclub surrounded by dancers who generally seem uncaring about the violence. Apart from the skill with which these sequences were designed and executed, one wonders about the intention behind them, perhaps commenting on the ways regular passers-by don't seem to notice -- or care -- about bodies piling up within eyesight.

Most people come to these movies for Reeves, and he's at his best here, injecting his vengeful, violent protagonist with a weariness and emotional exhaustion that is pitch-perfect for (SPOILER ALERT) what may well be his final film in the franchise. Like Reeves or not, you have to admire his ability to know exactly what the film around him needs his character to do, and he fulfills it in every moment. I come to these movies more for Dan Laustsen's cinematography, which reaches impossibly brilliant heights this time around. I hope this isn't the end of the series, but if it is, it's a hell of a way to go out.

Mulan (2020)

 Score: 1.5 / 5

An ungodly waste of resources, Disney's live-action remake of Mulan may make fans of people who just want an escapist action movie. Anyone else is in for a rough ride. One could argue that its classic -- and still surprisingly unique -- narrative needs little fixing up, and that any new adaptation is welcome. That may be, and I found myself occasionally caught up in Niki Caro's new vision. But it constantly flirts with our expectations through references to the 1998 animated masterpiece, and I feel fully justified in unfavorably comparing this flick when it exists as an act of comparison.

On a positive note, this movie is beautiful to watch. The actors are uniformly talented, and Yifei Liu gracefully and absorbingly carries the film as Hua Mulan, the girl who follows an imperial conscription order in her father's place to save his life. Impersonating a man to join the army, she endures the trials of training camp, allowing the film some moments of welcome levity amidst its high stakes. Ultimately, she saves her battalion and then the emperor himself from Bori Khan (Jason Scott Lee) and his Rouran invaders. All characters are dressed in gorgeous costumes that showcase the range of experiences Mulan has to go through to be recognized by men in her culture; from her colorful dress and makeup as she meets with her matchmaker to binding her chest and donning silver armor, her identity and fate are determined by how she presents herself, and this movie draws special attention to her sartorial performance.

My anger with this movie, however, is in its inability to exist apart from its own reliance on the original. While some may be grateful that this remake differs slightly from its animated source material, I'd argue it hews too closely to be imaginative while making superficial changes that challenge its own reason for being. Its filmmakers decided to do away with its musical numbers and its magical characters (such as Mushu and the family ancestors) in order to make the film more realistic and more true to the ancient Chinese legend. I'd love to see that movie. I'd also have loved to see a more or less exact remake of the earlier film. We got neither.

Inexplicably, this film does not hew close to reality, revealing the creators to be untrustworthy by their own rationale. Mulan's fighting is distinctly implausible, as she cartwheels and flips her way around before kicking spears dozens of yards away for killing shots. People catch arrows with their bare hands. A phoenix follows Mulan around and helps her occasionally. And the secondary villain is a witch named Xianniang (Gong Li) who turns into a falcon among other magic tricks. What about any of this, exactly, is realistic? Granted, Xianniang is a pretty interesting character, and her tragic parallel to Mulan's own fight against the imperial patriarchy provides some nice dramatic conflict. But frankly, even with Mushu, this picture would have been more realistic without the witch.

What else is there to say? The film's constant use of familiar music is annoying because it is never satisfying. Don't give us the "Reflection" theme and then never use it -- and no, Christina's revamped cover during the credits doesn't count. Don't give me an instrumental rehashing of "Make a Man" while you're showing me almost the exact same visuals from the animated movie. And while we're talking about unsatisfying, don't do away with Grandmother's lucky cricket and then add a new solider character named Cricket who thinks of himself as a lucky token. What is that?!

If a remake makes you want to watch the original to cleanse your palate, it was unsuccessful. Give me the feminist brilliance of the original without lying to me about your reasons for revamping it. I've liked most of Disney's live action remakes, except Cinderella, but Mulan was a sore disappointment.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Score: 5 / 5

It's the Star Wars we've always wanted.

Stepping away from the Skywalker saga was a risky move on the franchise's part, and one that has more than paid off. We finally get a better understanding of galactic life away from the Jedi and the famous protagonists of the other films, an experience of war unlike any we've seen in the series. Of course, those of us who love the books have entertained these stories for years, but to see them in all their glory on the big screen is quite different. I suspect this film will also speak to fans of the video games, as it features violent action in a more grounded way than a cadre of Jedi with their lightsabers.

In every conceivable way, this is an improvement over The Force Awakens. Where the latter uses recycled plots, vague foreshadowing, sentiment and nostalgia, and ultimately nothing visually new, Rogue One features a totally fresh and inspired narrative, a contained standalone premise, intrigue and uncertainty, and constant new images, places, and sensations. From its first desolate scene, this picture revs up the energy and the novelty, and from there it keeps getting better. There is some shaky editing and pacing in the first half hour or so, as we jump from place to place and various characters with breakneck pace and bewildering connection, but it mellow out by the halfway point and brings the strands together in focused precision. By the time we reached the climactic battle on an idyllic beachfront, I was so overwhelmed with awe and excitement I was shaking in my seat.

A word of forewarning: you may want to reconsider taking your kids to this one. The film is about spies and impostors, paranoia and violence, and in case you weren't sure, war. There's a lot to admire in its female hero -- who doesn't succumb to a narrative of romance -- and its ragtag team of misfits who band together to bring down the Empire, a trope I expect we'll see a lot more of in the next four years of our political climate. And yet children may not appreciate or understand that our fabulous rebels are panicking, ruthless and desperate, and that their behaviors include targeting each other out of suspicion and self-interest; there's a lot of tension when the people you're working with will kill you at the slightest provocation, and when they're targeting the people you love. Similarly, while the film features little bloodshed (these are blasters and lightsabers, after all, not guns and machetes), it is first and foremost a war film. With its extended battle sequences, be prepared for some fatigue and the deaths of loved ones.

I might add that it's not all gloom and doom. It's a rousing story, one which surpasses its somber ending by sheer virtue of its ability to find light and hope in the darkness. This is achieved through an expert script, a fabulous score, and its little nods to the rest of the franchise. Keep your eyes open for Darth Vader, who is featured in a scene that will remind you of Halloween in its horror and violence; it reminds us why he is actually a bad guy. A few surprise visits from old faces such as Bail Organa, the thugs from the Mos Eisley cantina, our favorite robots, rebel senators and pilots, and of course our princess in white keep things interesting and fun. The most shocking (and apparently hotly debated) appearance comes from a digitally recreated Peter Cushing as Grand Moff Tarkin. While some have criticized his appearance, I'd say he looks pretty good for being dead for 22 years. I don't think the filmmakers should have featured him as much as they did, considering they had an almost equivalent villain in Ben Mendelsohn's Director Krennic, but his presence was certainly enjoyable.

I might be blinded by my own enthusiasm, but this was for me one of the best pictures of the year. Timely and smart, risky and strong, it parades its spectacle out in arresting beauty and haunting import. Felicity Jones leads the adventure with intense command, and the visionary Gareth Edwards yet again shows his skills as a big-budget director with an eye not just for explosions but meaning. Make sure Rogue One is on your holiday list. You won't have a bad feeling about this.

IMDb: Rogue One