Tag: science fiction

Review: ‘The Running Man’ (2025), starring Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Emilia Jones, Michael Cera, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin

November 11, 2025

by Carla Hay

Glen Powell (center) in “The Running Man” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“The Running Man” (2025)

Directed by Edgar Wright

Culture Representation: Taking place in a dystopian version of the United States, the sci-fi action film “The Running Man” (based on the Stephen King novel of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Latin people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An unemployed and financially struggling hothead, who is desperate to get medical treatment for his ailing daughter, enters a brutal reality TV show contest where the grand prize is $1 billion to the contestant who can survive for 30 consecutive days when people from all over the United States are given financial incentives to kill the show’s contestants.  

Culture Audience: “The Running Man” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the book on which the movie is based, the 1987 movie “The Running Man” and sci-fi action movies that are predictable and shallow.

Josh Brolin and Colman Domingo in “The Running Man” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures)

“The Running Man” stumbles in the last 20 minutes by cramming in too many action clichés. The movie sacrifices development of supporting characters to showcase Glen Powell’s hollow lead character. Changes made to the original story aren’t very interesting.

Directed by Edgar Wright (who co-wrote “The Running Man” screenplay with Michael Bacall), “The Running Man” is adapted from Stephen King’s 1982 novel of the same name. “The Running Man” book was also made into a 1987 movie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Michael Glaser, with an adapted screenplay by Steven E. de Souza. The stories in the book and the movies take place in a dystopian version of the United States. Both “Running Man” movies have very different endings from the book.

The 2025 version of “The Running Man” is closer to the book’s original story than the 1987 version of the movie. (The 2025 movie has a quick nod to Schwarzenegger by featuring his face on a $100 bill.) The story protagonist Ben Richards (played by Powell) is a civilian married father of an ailing daughter (just like in the book), instead of the 1987 movie version of Ben (played by Schwarzenegger), who was a military captain bachelor with no children. Ben and his family live in Co-Op City in the fictional U.S. state of Co-Op, somewhere on the East Coast. (“The Running Man” was actually filmed in the United Kingdom and in Bulgaria.)

The character of Ben in 2025’s “The Running Man” is an arrogant hothead whose only loyalties are to his family. Ben, who is 35 years old, has a history of not being able to keep jobs because he repeatedly gets fired for insubordination. His most recent job was being a vague low-level worker for a government company called Defense Net. That’s all you’ll really learn about Ben’s personal background throughout the entire movie.

Ben has been unemployed for an unspecified period of time. His wife Sheila (played by Jayme Lawson) works as a waitress in a nightclub bar called The Libertine and has to work extra shifts because she and Ben are financially struggling and need the money. It’s hinted in the movie that women who work at the Libertine engage in side hustling as sex workers who proposition Libertine customers.

In “The Running Man” book, Sheila has resorted to this sex work. But in this movie, it’s repeatedly mentioned that Sheila is not a sex worker. If anyone thinks that Sheila is a sex worker, Ben will be ready to fight that person. He loses his temper and instigates fights many times in the movie.

Ben and Sheila have a toddler daughter named Cathy (played by Alyssa Benn and Sienna Benn), who has a fever from a severe flu and needs medicine that the couple can’t afford. In the beginning of 2025’s “The Running Man,” Ben is seen going back to Defense Net to ask if he can be re-hired. He is coldly rejected by a gatekeeper named Richard Manuel (played by David Zayas), who makes a snarky remark about Ben bringing Cathy with him as a sympathy ploy.

Ben denies it (even though it’s true) and says, “I didn’t bring her here to guilt trip you.” Ben adds that he brought Cathy with him so he wouldn’t viciously assault Richard. This angry comment further alienates Richard. Ben, knowing he has reached a dead end in this discussion, leaves the building before he can be thrown out by security.

The United States in this story has several reality TV shows from the government-operated Games Network, where contestants can win prize money, but at great risk to their physical well-being. The contestants usually have to do dangerous stunts in order to get the money. The movie eventually reveals the obvious: The games are a way for the government to control and manipulate the financially desperate people who are the majority of the contestants.

The most dangerous and most lucrative of these game shows is “The Running Man,” which offers a grand prize of $1 billion to any contestant who can survive 30 consecutive days without being hunted down and murdered by Games Network assassins called Hunters. The Hunters use sphere-shaped drones called roving cams to assist in tracking down their targets. People in the general public get financial rewards if they give informant tips or can hunt down the contestants themselves. In the beginning of the movie, no one has ever won “The Running Man” game.

With no other job prospects, Ben tells Sheila that he’s going to apply for one of the contests that’s not “The Running Man.” Ben tells Sheila that he has no interest in being a “Running Man” contestant. Sheila adamantly doesn’t want Ben to apply for “The Running Man,” which is why it’s contradictory and strange when Sheila finds out that Ben is a contestant on “The Running Man,” she easily accepts this decision without getting upset, even though the chances are very high that Ben will be murdered.

Ben ends up as a contestant in “The Running Man” after he stands in line to apply for another contest, and he is seen getting into a physical fight with security officers who accost Ben for trying to help an elderly man who has vomited while waiting in line in front of Ben. “The Running Man” executive producer/showrunner Dan Killian (played by Josh Brolin) sees Ben on security camera footage and instantly decides that Ben’s rebellious nature and bad temper would be perfect for the show.

Ben takes the show’s required psychiatric evaluations, which reveal he’s the “angriest” contestant that “The Running Man” has ever had. Dan is thrilled. Dan convinces Ben to be on “The Running Man” by appealing to Ben’s ego. Dan tells Ben that he’s the first person who has a realistic chance of winning “The Running Man” because of Ben’s high level of anger. Dan tells Ben that Ben should use this anger as Ben’s “superpower.”

Dan is a stereotypical cold-blooded villain who doesn’t care how many people get murdered, as long as he can reap the benefits. In this case, Dan’s only goal is to make “The Running Man” the biggest TV show in U.S. history, no matter how many lives are lost. “The Running Man” is hosted by a flamboyant loudmouth named Bobby Thompson (played by Colman Domingo), whose only loyalties are to anyone who is most likely to make him rich and famous.

The rules of “The Running Man” are fairly straightforward: A contestant can go anywhere in the world and use disguises and fake names to hide the contestant’s true identity. Each contestant gets a 12-hour head start with $1,000, and can earn $100 per hour for staying alive and avoiding capture and an additional $100 for each law enforcement officer or Hunter who is killed by the contestant.

Each contestant is given a portable video device and is required to record a video message per day and mail the message back to Game Networks headquarters. Failure to send this video message means that the contestant will forfeit the grand prize and can still be murdered for profit and will be hunted for the rest of the contestant’s life. People in the general public can get money by giving informant tips (with proof) on where the contestant is, or can earn even more money by murdering the contestant before a Hunter can do it.

Ben finds out the hard way that the government tells lies about the contestants, in order to get the general public to hate the contestants. In Ben’s case, one of the first lies that is told about him is that he was fired from Defense Net for selling military defense secrets to America’s enemies. The government also uses deepfake artificial intelligence to manipulate and fabricate things on the video messages that the contestants send.

In 1987’s “The Running Man,” the beginning of the movie showed that Ben was sent to a prison camp for refusing to open fire on anti-government protestors. Eighteen months after his imprisonment, he escapes with fellow inmates Harold Weiss (played by Marvin J. McIntyre) and William Laughlin (played by Yaphet Kotto), who are both resistance fighters in the anti-government movement. Harold and William, who were not in “The Running Man” book, are Ben’s sidekicks when Harold and William are put in “The Running Man” contest at the same time.

In 2025’s “The Running Man,” these two supporting characters are put in “The Running Man” competition at the same time as Ben, but all three go their separate ways as soon as they start the contest. The other two “Running Man” contestants in the 2025 version of the movie are named Tim Jansky (played by Martin Herlihy) and Jenni Laughlin (played by Katy O’Brian), whose personal backgrounds are never mentioned in the movie. Tim is a socially awkward nerd, while Jenni is a hedonistic lesbian.

It’s later explained in the movie (just like it’s explained in the book) that these three contestants were chosen because they fit the ideal three personality types that Dan and other executives want for “The Running Man.” Tim is the Hopeless Dude type, who can’t help but make stupid mistakes because he craves attention. Jenni is the Negative Dude type, who hates the world and only cares about partying as much as possible. Ben is the Final Dude type, who is the most serious about winning the contestant and is expected to be the last contestant standing.

“The Running Man” doesn’t have a lack of adrenaline-pumping energy in its expected chase scenes, explosions, fist fights and gun violence. The problem is that it’s like watching a hyperactive and incoherent video game that ultimately wastes a lot of time with nonsense. Ben also gets too many lucky breaks to be believable. By the last third of the film, it’s just a pile-on of more shouting, running, and gun-toting—all of it extremely predictable and increasingly irritating because you start to care less and less about these characters.

Ben’s outlaw journey takes him to various cities (such as New York City, Boston, and Derry, Maine), as several people help him along the way. Molie Jernigan (played by William H. Macy) is a recluse who gives Ben disguises and fake identities. Bradley Throckmorton (played by Daniel Ezra) and his pre-teen brother Stacey (played by Angelo Gray) are resistance rebels, who help Ben with advice on escape routes and where to get weapons. Bradley and Stacey have a 5-year-old sister named Cassie, who has lung cancer because low-income communities, such as where the Throckmorton family lives, are being polluted with toxic chemicals from the government.

Bradley puts Ben in touch with Elton Parrakis (played by Michael Cera), a resistance rebel in Derry, who publishes an anarchist newsletter-zine and can supply Ben with more weapons. (Derry is a well-known city in the Stephen King universe, because it’s the location of King’s 1986 horror novel “It.”) Elton lives with his elderly mother Victoria Parrakis (played by Sandra Dickinson), a “Running Man” fanatic who will do whatever it takes to get some of the show’s prize money. A woman named Amelia Williams (played by Emilia Jones) is a civilian who has the same role as a hostage that she does in “The Running Man” book.

As for the movie’s Hunters, they are as generic as generic can be, with none having names except for their leader Evan McCone (played by Lee Pace), who wears a full face mask for most of his screen time, as if he thinks he’s a comic book supervillain. By the time Evan shows his face in the movie, it doesn’t help the story, because there’s nothing compelling about him or his personality, unless you consider the ability to sneer and snarl a personality trait. Karl Glusman plays a bleach-blonde Hunter who has such a blank personality, this character might as well be a robot.

“The Running Man” has some comedy that quickly grows redundant and ends up going nowhere. Throughout the movie, there are scenes of people watching a reality TV show called “The Americanos,” which is the movie’s obvious parody of “The Kardashians.” Debi Mazar has the role of Amoré Americano, the Kris Jenner-type matriarch character, who rules over her spoiled adult daughters. Although slightly amusing, “The Americanos” has no bearing on the movie’s plot.

Powell is in danger of being typecast in action movies as a leading character who thinks he can get by on cockiness and wisecracking quips. It’s not enough to carry an entire movie when the jokes strain to be funny and relevant and come across as reheated leftovers from the 1980s. “The Running Man” will satisfy anyone who just wants to see a lot of mindless action. But the movie is so busy rushing around, it doesn’t care enough to give the principal characters any fully developed personalities and instead just renders them as glorified video game characters. It’s hard to care about characters that you feel like you don’t really know by the end of the movie.

Paramount Pictures will release “The Running Man” in U.S. cinemas on November 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Predator: Badlands,’ starring Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi

November 4, 2025

by Carla Hay

Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in “Predator: Badlands” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios)

“Predator: Badlands”

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg

Culture Representation: Taking place in outer space, the sci-fi action film “Predator: Badlands” features a group of outer-space alien creatures and robots.

Culture Clash: After his family is destroyed by betrayal, a Yautja creature named Dek, who comes from a long line of predators, is determined to prove himself as a worthy warrior by killing a giant apex predator called the Kalisk, with help from a talkative android.  

Culture Audience: “Predator: Badlands” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Predator” franchise and sci-fi sequels that dare to do some things differently from their predecessors.

A scene from “Predator: Badlands” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios)

Up until “Predator: Badlands,” the “Predator” franchise (which began with 1987’s “Predator”) has been synonymous with sci-fi action stories that have touches of horror and have the Predator as a vicious killer from outer space who targets the heroes in the stories. With themes of found family and anti-hero empathy, “”Predator: Badlands is a departure from the usual formula of making the Predator the chief villain. This less-violent and more-comedic “Predator” movie is original in some areas and cliché in other areas.

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison, “Predator Badlands” has a simple concept that works well because the movie doesn’t get cluttered and bogged down by trying to cram too much into the plot. The Predator in each “Predator” movie comes from a mysterious species of creatures called the Yautja. “Predator: Badlands” is the first movie in the franchise to show the Yautja as beings with family bonds that are similar to what humans would have, for better or for worse.

This de-mystification of the Yautja in “Predator: Badlands” might get mixed reactions from fans. However, it’s a unique premise that should be commended for not lazily recycling the same type of story that has been other “Predator” movies. “Predator: Badlands” is also the first “Predator” movie where humans are not main characters in the story.

The fictional Yautja language is shown in subtitles in the movie. “Predator: Badlands” was filmed in Australia. Trachtenberg also directed two previous movies in the “Predator” franchise: 2022’s “Prey” and 2025’s animated “Predator: Killer of Killers.” Viewers don’t need to see any previous “Predator” movie to understand what happens in “Predator: Badlands,” which can be considered a stand-alone sequel.

In the beginning of “Predators: Badlands,” on the planet of Yautja Prime, a male Yautja creature named Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is shown fighting for respect from his older brother Kwei (played by Michael Homick, voiced by Stefan Grube), who is much taller and stronger that Dek. Kwei and Dek face off in a mock battle, where Dek is easily defeated by Kwei. They also argue over whether not either of them can fight like someone who is considered a superior warrior to both of them: their father Njohrr (played by Reuben De Jong, voiced by Schuster-Koloamatangi), the leader of the clan.

Njohrr has disdain for Dek, who is smaller than the average male Yautja and was born with an eye disability. The mark of a great warrior in the Yautja culture would be anyone who can kill a giant apex predator called the Kalisk, which resides on a “death planet” called Genna. A Yautja who can bring back the corpse of the Kalisk as a hunting trophy would make that Yautja creature the unidsputed, legendary leader of the clan.

The Kalisk is considered almost impossible to find and kill. Many hunters and warriors have tried and lost their lives in the process, which is one of the reasons why Genna (which has a lot of dense jungles) is called a “death planet.” Dek believes he can kill the Kalisk, but his brother and father are very skeptical.

Njohrr is very cruel to Dek and doesn’t think he’s worthy of being part of the clan. In the first 15 minutes of the movie, Njohrr tries to murder Dek, but Kwei sacrifices himself by pushing Dek into a locked spaceship while Njohrr attacks Kwei. Njohrr is bigger and stronger than Kwei and murders Kwei as Dek watches helplessly from the spaceship.

A devastated Dek escapes in the spaceship, which goes to Genna. Even though his father committed a heinous act of betrayal, Dek is determined to prove is is a worthy of the clan by going ahead with his goal to kill the Kalisk. Dek also wants to replace his evil father as the clan leader.

Dek is ejected in a pod in a jungle area of Genna. After some solo hiking, he encounters a human-looking robot named Thia (played by Elle Fanning), who is stuck in a vulture’s nest. Thia, who is friendly and talkative, is missing tthe lower half of her body, from the waist down. Thia explains to Dek that she was built and deployed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation (in the “Alien” franchise) for research. Her spaceship crashed, and she says she was attacked by the Kalisk, which caused her dismemberment and why she is stuck in the vulture’s nest.

Dek helps Thia out of the net and immediately can sense that Dek is hunting for the Kalisk. Thia wants to be Dek’s travel companion. Dek is gruff and abrupt with Thia and says that he hunts alone. However, after Dek gets attacked by a poisonous flying creature that resembles Pterodactylus, Thia is able to convince Dek to take her with him because she says she knows where to get an antidote to the poison.

When Thia first meets Dek, she mentions having an identical twin android named Tessa (also played by Fanning), who was with Thia during the Kalisk attack, but the Thia and Tessa got separated during this attack. Thia says she’s looking for Tessa and “I refuse to believe she’s dead.” Thia’s sibling relationship with Tessa is supposed to be a poignant juxtaposition to Dek’s grief over losing his brother.

“Predator: Badlands” is mainly about how Thia and Dek go from being unlikely travel companions to each other’s protectors during this dangerous journey. They get another companion in a female creature that Thia names Bud (played by Rohinal Nayaran), a non-talking animal who resembles a mutant monkey with webbed feet. It’s a predictable way for “Predator: Badlands” to have a “cute” creature that doesn’t frighten impressionable young children and for the creature to be designed as the movie’s popular merchandising toy.

The visual effects for “Predator: Badlands” are stunning and believable for much of the terrain and the creatures. The movie’s fight scenes have some suspense, but they get to be repetitive and monotonous in some parts of the movie. A showdown near the end of the film is resolved in a very stereotypical way.

Thia’s bubbly personality goes against type and is the opposite of the usual emotionless robots that are in most sci-fi movies. Her non-stop yapping might be irritating to some viewers, but Fanning’s performance gives Thia enough charm that goes a long way in the story. By contrast, Tessa has an aloof personality. Schuster-Koloamatang’s performance as Dek is serviceable and gets the job done in showing the vulnerable side of this Predator.

By having Thia and Tess as creations of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, “Predator: Badlands” hints that there could be a more extensive crossover of the “Alien” and “Predator” universes. Let’s hope it’s better than the “Alien vs. Predator” movies. “Predator: Badlands” is a step in the right direction in rejuvenating the “Predator” franchise with better stories that still deliver the type of thrilling action that fans want.

20th Century Studios will release “Predator: Badlands” in U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on November 5, 2025.

Review: ‘Tron: Ares,’ starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Gillian Anderson, and Jeff Bridges

September 7, 2025

by Carla Hay

Greta Lee, Jared Leto and Arturo Castro in “Tron: Ares” (Photo by Leah Gallo/Disney Enterprises Inc.)

“Tron: Ares”

Directed by Joachim Rønning

Culture Representation: Taking place in the mid-2020s, in unnamed locations in the United States and in other parts of the world, the sci-fi action film “Tron: Ares” (the third movie in the “Tron” movie series) features a racially diverse cast of characters (white, black, Asian and Latin) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An artificial intelligence (A.I.) Program, designed by am American tech company to be a human-looking “super soldier” with “master control,” is sent to find a life-extending “permanence code” and kill a rival company’s CEO, who is also looking for the same code.  

Culture Audience: “Tron: Ares” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the “Tron” series and sci-fi sequels that are inferior to their predecessors.

Gillian Anderson and Evan Peters in “Tron: Ares” (Photo by Leah Gallo/Disney Enterprises, Inc.)

“Tron: Ares” has high-quality visual effects but low-quality dialogue in a “Terminator” franchise ripoff story. The cast members are caught in the middle. Jeff Bridges shows up for five minutes in a sci-fi robe and acts like The Dude from “The Big Lebowski.”

Directed by Joachim Rønning and written by Jesse Wigutow, “Tron: Ares” is the third in the “Tron” movie series that began with 1982’s “Tron” and continued with 2010’s “Tron: Legacy.” Bridges (who has the role of Kevin Flynn, the long-lost former CEO of an American tech company named ENCOM International) is the only principal cast member who’s been in all three movies. Even though Bridges is one of headliners of “Tron: Ares,” his role in the movie is just a glorified cameo.

“Tron: Ares” follows a formula that’s familiar to anyone who knows about “The Terminator” franchise: A “super soldier” invention is programmed to find and kill a target, but then develops a mind and decision process of its own. This plot detail was already given away in trailers for “Tron: Ares,” which is low on suspense and high on cringeworthy moments.

In “Tron: Ares” (which was filmed primarily in the Canadian province of British Columbia), the story takes place in an alternate version of the mid-2020s. It’s a world where artificial intelligence super soldiers look fully human but operate like machines. Years ago, as depicted in “Tron,” Kevin invented The Grid as a virtual world for experimental research and simulations.

“Tron: Ares” begins with an exposition dump explaining that Kevin Flynn is still missing, his son Sam Flynn (introduced in “Tron: Legacy”) has left as the controlling shareholder of ENCOM International for “personal reasons,” and ENCOM’s current CEO is Eve Kim (played by Greta Lee), who is supposed to be a brilliant computer programmer and video game developer. (Garrett Hedlund, who had the role of Sam Flynn in “Tron: Legacy,” is not in “Tron: Ares.”)

Eve’s younger sister Tess (played by Selene Yun), ENCOM’s chief programming developer, is seen communicating with Eve in video phone calls. They have a very close relationship, but Tess is never actually seen physically in the same room as Eve. The movie eventually reveals why. The reason is not as surprising as “Tron: Ares” wants it to be.

ENCOM’s biggest corporate rival is Dillinger Systems, which is branching out into security and military products and services. Dillinger Systems was founded by Edward Dillinger Sr. (played by David Warner), who was a senior executive at ENCOM, was the chief villain in 1982’s “Tron,” and is now deceased. His son was Edward Dillinger Jr., a former chief of ENCOM’s software design team. (Cillian Murphy, who played Edward Dillinger Jr. in “Tron: Legacy,” is not in “Tron: Ares.”)

It’s explained in the exposition dump that Edward Dillinger Jr. is also dead. His widow Elisabeth Dillinger (played by Gillian Anderson) took over as CEO of Dillinger Systems. But more recently, Elisabeth was ousted by her ruthless son Julian Dillinger (played by Evan Peters), who manipulated the company’s board of directors to remove Elisabeth so that Julian could have the CEO position.

Near the beginning of the movie, Julian gives a presentation to investors and proclaims, “Military A.I. is the future.” To prove it, Julian shows off his crowning achievement: a “super soldier” named Ares (played by Jared Leto), whom Julian describes as “the most sophisticated security system” and “the ultimate soldier who needs no food or water.” Julian also says that if Ares and other super soldiers get struck down, Dillinger Systems can simply build identical soldiers to replace them, with the option to give the rebuilt soldiers the same memory chips they previously had. Julian also says that Ares is the “master control” leader of all the other super soldiers with similar abilities.

Julian has a secret that only he and his mother Elisabeth know about, and he’s desperate to keep this secret: Ares and the other super soldiers can only live for 26 minutes. Elisabeth warns Julian that keeping this secret is unethical, and it could ruin Dillinger Systems if anyone else finds out this secret. To correct this problem, Julian sends Ares on a mission to find a Permanence Code that Julian misplaced somewhere in the world. (Yes, the movie is that vague and stupid.) The Permanence Code will extend the life of Ares and other super soldiers. When Julian communicates with Ares, he uses an hologram avatar that looks like a giant face imitating a comic book supervillain, such as Darkseid or Thanos.

It turns out that Eve has spent months on an exploratory mission with her ENCOM sidekick Seth Flores (played by Arturo Castro) to find the same Permanence Code. Eve and Seth have been living in a Quonset hut somewhere in a snow-covered area when Eve accidentally discovers the Permanence Code. Julian finds out that Eve has the code, so now Julian commands Ares to not only get the Permanence Code but also eliminate Eve.

That’s essentially the plot of “Tron: Ares,” which takes some clumsy detours along the way. Ares has other “super soldiers” as backup warriors, but only two are given enough screen time to stand out: Athena (played by Jodie Turner-Smith) and Caius (played by Cameron Monaghan), who dutifully carry out Julian’s orders. Caius is barely in the movie, while Athena has a story arc that is utterly predictable.

The movie’s attempts at comic relief are usually in unremarkable wisecracking jokes from Seth and from ENCOM product development executive Arjun Singh (played by Hasan Minhaj), who is responsible for hosting ENCOM’s biggest product launch in years. This product launch happens to be in the middle of the battle for the Permanence Code, so it should come as no surprise what Julian does to retaliate. Arjun’s placement in the movie is awkward and only makes it obvious that this underdeveloped character is in the movie when the “heroes” need someone who can handle the computer geek duties and not the combat duties in a crucial showdown scene.

As expected, “Tron” has several chase scenes, usually on the neon motorcycles that have become the signature vehicles of the “Tron” movies. The fight scenes aren’t gory, but they aren’t particularly impressive, when it comes to the practical stunts. The movie’s biggest strength is in the visual effects, which are more style over substance. And the inevitable Grid scene is almost ruined by Ares’ idiotic comments about the Grid being very 1980s.

There are running “jokes” in the movie about how the 1980s were quaint and special. It’s the “Tron: Ares” way of pandering to fans who are old enough to remember when 1982’s “Tron” was first released and catering to fans who are young enough to view 1980s pop culture as a relic that’s worth mining to look “cool.” Ares mentions multiple times that he likes 1980s pop/rock, particularly Depeche Mode, whose 1981’s “Just Can’t Get Enough” is prominently featured in “Tron: Ares.” Ares’ taste in music is something he developed on his own, and he can’t explain it, which is an obvious indication that Ares is thinking independently from Julian.

Speaking of music, “Tron: Ares” features a compelling musical score from electronic rock band Nine Inch Nails, whose breakthrough and peak popularity were in the 1990s. Nine Inch Nails members Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross are an Oscar-winning composer duo, so they are more than capable of handling the music for “Tron: Ares.” (Daft Punk did the music for “Tron: Legacy.”) The “Tron: Ares” soundtrack’s Nine Inch Nails songs that have vocals are “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” and “Who Wants to Live Forever?” The original Nine Inch Nails music is a highlight of “Tron: Ares,” but it’s not enough to save a movie that has such a weak story.

The acting performances in “Tron: Ares” are adequate at best and unimpressive at worst. That’s because the characters with the most screen time don’t have developed personalities and are just stereotypes. Leto (who is one of the producers of “Tron: Ares”) is portraying a robot who’s not supposed to have emotions, but even when Ares does develop some “feelings” he can’t explain, Leto’s acting delivery remains flat. Peters seems like he’s doing an inferior imitation of “Superman” villain Lex Luthor.

Lee is saddled with playing a generic character whose only moment of showing real vulnerability is in scenes that are about Eve’s sister Tess. Anderson mostly stands around and acts like a scolding and worried mother. Lynch is sometimes effectively terrifying as Athena, but portraying a programmed robot has its limitations. The only thing that comes close to believable character chemistry in the movie is the rapport between Eve and Seth, but even that comes across as a little strained and forced.

Even if the characters in “Tron: Ares” had more interesting personalities, the movie has several plot holes and unanswered questions. If Eve is such a powerful CEO, why doesn’t she have security protection? There are too many scenes of Eve zipping around alone on a motorcycle, while Ares and other super soldiers try to hunt her down. And if Julian can easily track down Eve and his super soldiers on his super-advance surveillance system, why didn’t use those same methods to embed the Permanence Code with a way to track it if the code got lost in the first place?

The movie also has some nonsense by declaring that even if Eve doesn’t have the flash drive where she stored the code, and even if she doesn’t remember the code, Eve can still know the secrets of the Permanence Code just because she saw the code. It’s just the movie’s flimsy excuse for Eve to be the target of Julian’s murder plot. “Tron: Ares” was never expected to be an intelligent sci-fi movie, but that doesn’t mean this substandard film has to treat viewers like idiots.

Walt Disney Pictures will release “Tron: Ares” in U.S. cinemas on October 10, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on October 8, 2025.

Review: ‘Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy,’ starring Lee Min-ho, Ahn Hyo-seop, Chae Soo-bin, Shin Seung-ho, Nana and Jisoo

August 1, 2025

by Carla Hay

Pictured from left to right: Shin Seung-ho, Kwon Eun-seong, Ahn Hyo-seop, Chae Soo-bin and Nana in “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” (Photo courtesy of Capelight Pictures)

“Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy”

Directed by Kim Byung-woo

Korean with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed South Korean city, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” (based on the web novel “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint”) features an all-Asian cast of characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A mild-mannered office worker in his 20s, who is very knowledgeable about an obscure web adventure novel, is the only person who can predict what happens when the novel comes to life, and people are expected to complete various challenges or die.

Culture Audience: “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of fantasy movies that look like video games, but viewers might be turned off by the movie’s messy and poorly conceived plot.

Ahn Hyo-seop and Lee Min-ho in “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” (Photo courtesy of Capelight Pictures)

“Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” wants to be a clever sci-fi/fantasy film with meta references, but it’s incoherent and has drab characters. It’s about people trying to survive a terribly explained web novel that comes to life. The action is poorly staged.

Directed by Kim Byung-woo, “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” was co-written by Kim Byung-woo and Lee Jeong-min. The movie is based on Shing Shong’s 2018 web novel “Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint.” “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” was doomed to be a creative failure because it does not give viewers enough information about the web novel (“Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse”) that’s at the center of the movie’s story.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, viewers are plunged into the erratic and tedious survival story that’s supposed to be based on “Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse,” a web novel whose plot is known by movie’s protagonist. When this novel comes to life, the protagonist can predict certain things in advance, so then novel is supposed to be a “prophecy.” Certain main characters in “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” abruptly appear, disappear and re-appear, with no explanation. There’s a lot of exposition dumping in the movie’s dialogue, which still doesn’t answer a lot of questions.

The beginning of “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” (which takes place in an unnamed South Korean city) shows protagonist Kim Dokja (played by Ahn Hyo-seop), a mild-mannered loner in his 20s, who works in a boring office job in an unnamed industry. Dokja describes himself this way: “I went to a mediocre college and held mediocre jobs.” His current job is low-paying and temporary.

Dokja explains in a voiceover that he was an enthusiastic reader of the web novel “Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse” (also known as “TWSA”), which started off as a very popular novel. However, as more of the novel’s chapters were released on the web. readership rapidly decreased because fans thought the novel was becoming too unrealistic. Dokja says he eventually became the only reader of “TWSA.”

At this point in the movie, these are the only two substantial things that are mentioned about “TWSA”: (1) It’s a story about an apocalypse where a mysterious force gave people challenges to complete, or else die if they don’t complete the challenges. (2) A coldly arrogant warrior named Yu Junghyeok is always the last survivor in “TWSA.”

One day, Dokja decides to send the author of “TWSA” an Internet message with this scathing criticism: “Why did you make Yu Junghyeok the last survivor? Sir, your novel is the worst.” To the surprise of Dokja, the author of “TWSA” responds to Dokja’s message by replying: “I’ll do a special epilogue based on reader submissions. If you don’t like the ending, write the one you want.”

Dokja receives this message on a subway train when he is standing next to a co-worker named Yoo Sangah (played by Chae Soo-bin), who is also in her 20s. Sangah has recently quit her job at the office because she got a better-paying job somewhere else. That’s about all you’ll find out about Sangah in this movie because the characters’ personalities are so underdeveloped.

Suddenly, the subway train stops on a bridge. There’s an announcement over a public-address system: “Planetary system 8612’s free service has ended. This is the start of paid content.”

An entity named Bihyeong suddenly appears. Bihyeong is best described as looking like a floating Teletubbie with devil horns. Bihyeong is a bizarre and annoying character that is both giggly and menacing.

Bihyeong announces that everyone on the subway must pass the Prove Your Worth Challenge, which requires everyone to kill a living organism on the train within 10 minutes. Anyone who doesn’t do so by the deadline will die. The passengers in the subway are in disbelief.

To prove that this challenge is serious, Bihyeong use a laser to zap a passenger on the train who objects to this challenge. Chaos then ensues. Fights break out on the train. Some men start beating and kicking a defenseless elderly woman.

Somehow, Dokja gets ahold of a portable ant farm and shouts to anyone who’ll listen that people don’t have to be killed in this challenge—only living organisms have to be killed. He suggests they kill the ants instead, but there aren’t enough ants for each passenger to kill. Dokja comes up with a last-minute solution to that problem.

Several people die anyway, and only 17 people survive this challenge. How did Dokja know about these loopholes? It’s because this Prove Your Worth Challenge is from the “TWSA” novel, but Dokja seems to be the only one on the train who knew in advance what to do.

The ant farm belonged to a boy on the subway named Lee Gilyoung (played by Kwon Eun-seong), who’s about 6 or 7 years old. It’s presumed that any adults who were traveling with Gilyoung have died. But the movie makes Gilyoung more upset that his ants died.

Dokja, Sangah and Gilyoung are three of the survivors who make it out of the subway train. Yu Junghyeok (played by Lee Min-ho) shows up on the bridge and fights a little with Dokja, but then Junghyeok goes away. Junghyeok disappears for long stretches of the movie and then reappears with no explanation.

Three more characters from the “TWSA” novel also come to life: a former soldier named Lee Hyunsung (played by Shin Seung-ho); a warrior named Jung Heewon (played by Nana); and Junghyeok’s loyal ally Lee Ji-hye (played by Jisoo). Hyunsung and Heewon decide to help Dokja, Sangah and Gilyoung. People who survive a challenge are given a certain number of coins that can be spent on extending the coin possessor’s life or getting a superpower. The movie is inconsistent in the rules and rewards of these challenges.

Fights with mythical beasts (such as dragons) further muddle the already convoluted story. The visual effects in “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” are substandard. The acting performances are adequate, but they can’t save this misguided film. By the end of “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” (which hints there could a sequel), viewers will be underwhelmed by the characters and possibly still confused by the story. Whatever the imaginary “TWSA” is all about is probably better than the tedious drag that is “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy.”

Capelight Pictures released “Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy” in select U.S. cinemas on August 1, 2025.

Review: ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps,’ starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne and Paul Walter Hauser

July 22, 2025

by Carla Hay

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios)

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps”

Directed by Matt Shakman

Culture Representation: Taking place in the late 1960s, in New York City and in outer space, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Fantastic Four: First Steps” (based on Marvel Comics characters) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Four astronauts with superpowers join forces against an evil, planet-eating god that lives in outer space and has recruited a silver-armored surfer to be his warrior messenger.

Culture Audience: “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of superhero movies, Marvel Comics, and action films where the superhero team is a tight-knit family.

Julia Garner in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios)

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is a step in the right direction for relaunching Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four characters into a movie series for theatrical release. It’s an entertaining but not exceptionally outstanding improvement from 2005’s tepid “Fantastic Four,” 2007’s underwhelming “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” and 2015’s dreadful reboot “Fantastic Four,” which had completely new cast members from the previous “Fantastic Four” movies. Instead of being an origin story about how these superheroes got their powers, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” shows this quartet as an established group of beloved superheroes whose loyalties to family and the world are put to the test. Great action sequences and a unique plot outweigh the film’s mixed-bag chemistry and bland villains.

Directed by Matt Shakman, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” was written by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. The movie takes place sometime in the late 1960s in New York City (the home city of the Fantastic Four) and in outer space. The movie’s Earth is an alternate version called Earth 828. It’s revealed near the end of the film that 828 stands for August 28, the birthday of Fantastic Four creator Jack Kirby, who died in 1994 at age 76. (“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” was actually filmed in London and in Spain.)

The Fantastic Four, who all live together, are heroic astronauts who are at the forefront of the Space Race, which had the United States competing to be the world leader in outer-space travel. The Fantastic Four have the nickname the First Family of Marvel because they were Marvel Comics’ first group of superheroes to be members of the same family. Here are the members of the Fantastic Four, who all got their superpowers four years earlier, during a space mission that went awry because of a cosmic storm:

  • Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (played by Pedro Pascal) is the intellectual scientist/inventor of the group. His superpower is the ability to stretch like rubber for great lengths. Reed is the one who is most likely to obsess over scientific theories and mathematical equations to find solutions to problems. Reed also still feels guilty about the botched mission that made their lives anything but normal.
  • Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (played by Vanessa Kirby) is Reed’s level-headed wife. Her superpower is the ability to be invisible and to move large objects with her mind. Sue is the best out of the four when it comes to diplomatic relations with the public. She is also the head the Future Foundation, where she does a lot of work as a diplomat to help bring about world peace.
  • Johnny Storm/Human Torch (played by Joseph Quinn) is Sue’s impulsive, daredevil younger brother. His superpower is the ability to turn his body into a flaming torch and to shoot fireballs. Johnny is a bachelor who is considered the “heartthrob” of the group. And true to his Human Torch nickname, he’s a bit of a “hothead.”
  • Ben Grimm/The Thing (played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach), a former fighter pilot, is Reed’s best friend since their college days. His superpower is his extraordinary strength because the outer-space accident left him looking like a large man made of rocks. Ben is also a bachelor and is actually a gentle giant underneath his fearsome exterior.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” begins by showing Sue finding out the results of a home pregnancy test that she’s taken. She’s pregnant, after two years of trying to conceive a baby. Sue shows Reed the results of the test. They are both happy but also cautiously optimistic because they don’t know if their child will be biologically “normal” or not.

Reed and Sue say to each other about having this child: “I really want to do this.” Sue then tells Reed, “Nothing’s going to change.” We all know she’s wrong about that because this movie would not exist if everything stayed the same for the Fantastic Four. Reed and Sue later find out that their unborn child is a boy.

Also living in the Fantastic Four household is a robot named H.E.R.B.I.E. (Humanoid Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics), who resembles the robot title character of 2008’s “WALL-E.” H.E.R.B.I.E. (voiced by Matthew Wood) is a helpful assistant with numerous skills that come handy in the lab, the kitchen or wherever he’s needed. H.E.R.B.I.E. also has the same qualities of being like a cute pet.

One of the best things about “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is that it’s not overstuffed with characters and subplots. The story is fairly uncomplicated and easy to follow, but there are some moments that get a little mundane and predictable. And, quite frankly, there are more fascinating and more appealing superhero groups in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), such as the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.

A mysterious being called the Silver Surfer (played by Julia Garner), who is completely silver and travels through space on a surfboard, arrives on Earth, announces to the Fantastic Four that she has a message to deliver to Earth from a giant god named Galactus (played by Ralph Ineson), who lives in outer space and eats planets: “Your planet is marked for death. Your planet will be consumed by the Devourer … There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Marvel Comics and other on-screen depictions of the Silver Surfer made this character a male character. The gender swap of the Silver Surfer in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” results in a subplot of Johnny developing a physical attraction/infatuation with her. It’s later revealed that the Silver Surfer’s real name is Shalla-Bal. Flashbacks briefly show some of her personal background, but she’s still an underdeveloped character who doesn’t say much.

After the Silver Surfer delivers this gloom-and-doom message and leaves to go back to outer space, Johnny follows her to see where she came from, but she fights him off like he’s a stalker, because he basically is a stalker in this moment. Johnny is defeated and falls back down to Earth, but he’s smitten, even though the Silver Surfer barely talks to him. Maybe Johnny is attracted to the skin-tight metallic silver body suit that she seems to be wearing.

Later, Johnny describes her as a “sexy alien” and says he “had a moment” of connecting with her. It’s kind of a strange part of the movie because Johnny could have his pick of many women on Earth. But if this is the movie’s way of saying that Johnny has some kind of kink for outer-space aliens who don’t look entirely human, who are we to judge? Later, in a battle scene when Sue tells Johnny to kill the Silver Surfer, he quips like a dejected bachelor: “Just when I thought I met someone interesting.”

The Fantastic Four then travel by spaceship to track down Galactus on their own, as if no one else on Earth can go in a spaceship to find this monster. Official marketing materials for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” have already revealed that the son of Reed and Sue is born in this movie. Fans of the Marvel Comics already know that this son will be named Franklin.

However, the birth of Franklin in this movie is definitely not like it was in the comic books. The childbirth scene is like no other scene in the MCU. What also sets “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” apart from other MCU movies is how it shows superheroes becoming first-time parents because most superheroes are never shown as parents. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” makes parental love the central focus of the movie’s biggest dilemma/conflict in fighting the villains.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” has top-notch production design and very immersive visual effects. And there’s no doubt that the movie has a talented cast. Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bachrach all bring charismatic sparks to their respective characters while staying true to the characters’ original personalities from Marvel Comics. It’s just that the characters’ dialogue in this movie isn’t particularly special. Garner and Ineson are perfectly fine in their roles, considering the Silver Surfer and Galactus are very robotic in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Almost nothing in this movie is shown or told about Galactus’ origin story.

Supporting characters include Lynne Nichols (played by Sarah Niles), the Fantastic Four’s chief of staff, who doesn’t do much except stand by and act like a loyal administrative employee. She’s a member of the Fantastic Four entourage, but Lynne isn’t the type of trusted “inner circle” employee who’s privy to all of the Fantastic Four’s secrets, in the way that Alfred Pennyworth is for Batman. Most of Lynne’s screen time consists of her reacting with approval to whatever the Fantastic Four are doing or have done. Another side character is Ted Gilbert (played by Mark Gatiss), the host/star of a “Tonight Show”-styled variety show called “The Ted Gilbert Show,” who makes commentary on his show about the Fantastic Four.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” makes a half-hearted attempt to give Ben a love interest when he develops a mutual attraction to Rachel Rozman (played by Natasha Lyonne), who works for a community center. Ben meets friendly Rachel when he returns to his childhood home on Yancy Street. Some children behind a fence at the community center ask him to lift up a Volkswagen Beetle on a nearby street, he accommodates their request, and Rachel comes out of the building to talk to Ben.

The short interactions between Ben and Rachel are limited to only two scenes that are far apart from each other. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” has a few other scenes that show how lovelorn Ben feels isolated from having a “normal” life because of his physical appearance. This aspect of Ben’s personal life is really sidelined in the movie because the main focus is on Reed and Sue becoming parents.

The Fantastic Four are the MCU’s most serious-minded group of superheroes so far. Don’t expect any wisecracking comedians in this quartet. Some of their jokes fall kind of flat. The movie’s funniest character is Harvey Elder/Mole Man (played by Paul Walter Hauser), a former Fantastic Four enemy who has created a society of Moleoids, who live underground with him in a community called Subterranea. Harvey, who is depicted as an unpredictable eccentric, brings some comic relief to the movie. There’s an entire backstory about Harvey that the movie ignores because he’s not in the movie long enough to warrant a lot of information about his past.

The chemistry between the characters in this version of the Fantastic Four isn’t entirely convincing. Ben is supposed to be Reed’s best friend, but Ben spends more time hanging out with Johnny. As for any marital passion between Reed and Sue, there’s more heat generated from four lit matchsticks than any romantic love that these two spouses show on screen. In this movie, Reed and Sue seem more like very compatible co-workers than a husband and a wife who are supposed to be in love with each other.

Despite these shortcomings, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” isn’t boring. It’s certainly engaging in many ways, and it can be enjoyed as a stand-alone film—unlike other MCU films that make people feel like they need to watch several previous MCU films and TV series to understand what’s happening. In “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” the mid-credits scene takes place four years after the events in the movie and is a preview of 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” The movie’s end-credits scene is a non-essential animated 1960s-styled homage to the Fantastic Four. Ultimately, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” isn’t top-tier MCU, but it’s better than the average superhero movie.

20th Century Studios will release “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” in U.S. cinemas on July 25, 2025.

Review: ‘Superman’ (2025), starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult

July 8, 2025

by Carla Hay

Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet in “Superman” (Photo by Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Superman” (2025)

Directed by James Gunn

Culture Representation: Taking place on Earth and in outer space, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Superman” (based on DC Comics characters) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Superman, who has an alter ego as journalist Clark Kent, battles against evil billionaire Lex Luthor.

Culture Audience: “Superman” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of superhero movies, DC Comics and action films that appealing interpretations on familiar characters.

Nicholas Hoult in “Superman” (Photo by Jessica Miglio/Warner Bros. Pictures)

The Superman franchise has a new lease on life with this engaging reboot. This superhero movie (which has Kyrpto as a scene-stealing dog) can get overstuffed with subplots, but it’s got plenty of thrills and comedic moments. The 2025 version of “Superman” is a promising step in the right direction for a new era in movies based on DC Comics.

Written and directed by James Gunn (who became DC Studios’ co-chairman/CEO in 2022), “Superman” is not yet an origin story. The movie takes place during a time when Superman (played by David Corenswet) is already a known superhero in Metropolis, the large U.S. city where he lives and works. (“Superman” was actually filmed in Georgia, Ohio, and Norway.) In the movie, caped crusader Superman is vilified through media manipulation from ruthless billionaire Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult), who wants his weapon-making company LutherCorp to profit from a European country’s invasion of a Middle Eastern country.

The movie shows through flashbacks and conversations the necessary details of Superman’s backstory: He was born with the name Kal-El on the planet Krypton, and then sent to Earth by his parents when he was baby before his parents died when Krypton exploded. He landed in a field in Smallville, Kansas, where he was found and raised by two working-class farmers—Jonathan “Pa” Kent and Martha “Ma” Kent—who gave him the name Clark Kent. Superman has X-ray vision, the ability to fly, and superpowers in strength and speed. His biggest weakness is an element on is planet called Kryptonite, which has poison effects on Superman if he is exposed to Kryptonite.

Thirty years after baby Clark arrived as a baby on Earth, Clark (also played by Corenswet) is now a somewhat socially awkward journalist at the Daily Planet newspaper. It should come as no surprise that Clark has been the only journalist to be able to get exclusive interviews with the mysterious and elusive Superman. Only a few people on Earth know Clark’s true identity as Superman. One of them is his journalist co-worker Lois Lane (played by by Rachel Brosnahan), who is dating Clark, but the couple decided to keep this romance a secret.

The beginning of “Superman” shows a bloodied and wounded Superman collapsed in the icy snow somewhere in Antarctica. His loyal “superdog” Krypto (a medium-sized male white mixed-breed dog with some Labrador retriever genes) enthusiastically jumps on Superman. A caption in the beginning of the movie mentions that Superman is wounded because three hours ago, he lost his first battle. It’s later revealed what that battle was.

Suddenly, giant stalagmites rise up from the ground, revealing a secret hiding place called the Fortress of Solitude that can emerge and submerge from its underground station. Robots and drones work in this fortress, where Superman is rescued by robots that take him to get medical treatment on an operating table. After an evaluation, Superman is told he only has 83% of his strength, but he is determined to leave and finish the fight, which ends up causing $22 million in property damage and 20 people needing hospital treatment.

During this medical emergency, Superman’s biological parents—Jor-El (played by Bradley Cooper) and Lara (played by Angela Sarafayan)—are seen in hologram form and talking in their native Krypton language. (In this movie, it sounds a lot like Latin.) This hologram recording will play a significant role later in the story.

Someone who has tracked Superman to Antarctica is The Engineer, also known as Angela Spica (played by María Gabriela de Faría), Lex Luthor’s robot that has been manufactured to be a mercenary with superpowers. The Engineer has been given the task of finding and destroying Superman. But by the time she gets to Antarctica, Superman has already left. However, Angela does see signs of the underground fortress.

“Superman” has several different storylines that don’t always mesh well together in the movie. There’s the storyline about Superman wanting to stop the European country of Boravia from invading a more economically vulnerable Middle-Eastern country named Jarhanpur. Boravia’s president Vasil Glarkos (played by Zlatko Burić) is a disheveled brute who is a stereotypical dictator.

There’s also a storyline Superman’s testy and volatile relationship with the Justice Gang: a trio of superheroes sponsored by the corporation LordTech. The members of the Justice Gang are arrogant Green Lantern (played by Nathan Fillion), impulsive Hawkgirl (played by Isabella Merced) and uptight Mr. Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi), who all think that they are better superheroes than Superman. The Justice Gang members are among Superman’s critics who believe that Superman causes too much destruction of property during his heroic deeds.

There’s a storyline of about LuthorCorp inventing a superpowered robot called Ultraman that Lex touts as being stronger than Superman. Ultraman is operated by a team of tech engineers in a control room with video monitors. The engineers all work under the direction of Lex. Ultraman wears a metallic-looking mask. And as soon as you see Ultraman, you don’t have to know DC Comics lore t know there’s going to be a big fight between Ultraman and Superman.

And there’s a storyline about Clark’s relationship with Lois, which has hit a rough patch because Lois has doubts that she and Clark/Superman are a good match for each other. Lois (who describes herself as a former emo rebel) has struggles with the ethics of pursuing stories about Superman while knowing the secrets that she and Clark know. One of the best scenes in the movie between Clark and Lois is when she challenges him to let her interview him as Superman.

The other Daily Planet co-workers who get speaking lines are somewhat underdeveloped in the movie. Jimmy Olsen (played by Skyler Gisondo), a nerdy photojournalist, gets the most screen out of all of these Daily Planet side characters. Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White (played by Wendell Pierce) is somewhat generic. Gossip columnist Cat Grant (played by Mikaela Hoover) doesn’t do anything significant and will be remembered more for her cleavage-baring wardrobe than any lines of dialogue that she has in the movie.

Lex’s girlfriend is a giggly social media influencer named Eve Teschmacher (played by Sara Sampaio), who constantly films herself and takes selfies when she tags along as part of Lex’s globe-trotting entourage. Eve might seem like a shallow gold digger at first, but the movie eventually shows that she’s not as dimwitted as she first appears to be. There’s also a dark side of her relationship to Lex that’s briefly shown when he physically assaults her.

“Superman” has some sly jokes that poke fun at the DC Comics franchise. There’s a snide comment made about people not being able to figure out that Superman looks exactly like Clark without glasses. The Green Lantern character is more buffoonish than how he’s usually depicted on screen, with the intention that audiences are supposed to laugh at Green Lantern than laugh with him. Mr. Terrific has a few memorable deadpan jokes.

A character who appeared in 2021’s “The Suicide Squad” (also written and directed by Gunn) and a character from 2026’s “Supergirl” movie make a brief and hilarious cameos. And the Krypto character (who is also from the planet Krypton) is not as trained as the Krypto depicted in DC Comics or animation based on the comics. In this “Superman” movie, Krypto (who does not talk, as he does in other versions of Krypto) is a lovable but very unruly companion, which can be a help or a hindrance.

There’s a fairly good balance of the comedic and serious moments. One of the tearjerking scenes involves Superman’s visit to his adoptive parents Pa Kent (played by Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Ma Kent (played by Neva Howell) when Superman has an identity crisis. Some viewers might think that the Justice Gang makes the movie too crowded with superheroes, while other viewers might think it’s important to show that not all of Superman’s opponents are villains.

Corenswet capably handles the movie’s lead duel role. Brosnahan also does a good job in portraying Lois as independent and a free thinker. But as far romantic sizzle goes, the Superman/Clark and Lois in this movie don’t generate a lot of heat. Hoult’s depiction of chief villain Lex is effective, but there are billionaire moguls in real life who are a lot more menacing. The truth is that the villains in “Superman” comics and movies just aren’t as interesting as the villains in “Batman” comics and movies.

“Superman” is not an overtly political film. However, the movie has pointed observations on how immigrants can be perceived and mistreated by those who are “natives.” Cultural supremacy is also inflicted by the story’s war villains. The cast members mostly have believable chemistry, whether they are allies or foes.

The movie’s visual effects live up to expectations. The movie’s mid-credits scene and end-credits scene do not tease what could happen in a sequel but are instead very short comedic scenes that aren’t crucial to the story. The 2025 version of “Superman” might not rank in the Top 5 as one of the all-time best superhero movies, but it’s certainly one of the best “Superman” movies that should please most fans.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Superman” in U.S. cinemas on July 11, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on July 8, 2025.

Review: ‘The Old Guard 2,’ starring Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari, Luca Marinelli, Veronica Ngô, Henry Golding, Uma Thurman and Chiwetel Ejiofor

July 2, 2025

by Carla Hay

Henry Golding, Luca Marinelli, Marwan Kenzari, Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne “The Old Guard 2” (Photo by Joshua Ade/Netflix)

“The Old Guard 2”

Directed by Victoria Mahoney

Culture Representation: Taking place in Italy, France, South Korea, and Indonesia, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “The Old Guard 2” (a sequel to 2020’s “The Old Guard,” based on the graphic novel series of the same name) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A team of immortal superheroes do battle against another immortal, who has nefarious plans and a team of thugs to help her.

Culture Audience: “The Old Guard 2” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, “The Old Guard” movie and graphic novel series, and action movies that are made to look like big-budget versions of poorly constructed video games.

Uma Thurman in “The Old Guard 2” (Photo courtesy of Netflix)

Fans of Netflix’s 2020 blockbuster hit “The Old Guard” will be disappointed by how “The Old Guard 2” badly fumbles the continuation of the story. The entertaining banter from “The Old Guard” superhero movie has devolved into simplistic and stilted dialogue in “The Old Guard 2.” It’s a soulless sequel whose action scenes, visual effects and story are downgrades from “The Old Guard.”

Directed by Victoria Mahoney and written by Greg Rucka and Sarah L. Walker, “The Old Guard 2” is based on graphic novels of the same name written by Rucka. “The Old Guard” movie was written by Rucka and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. It’s obvious more care was put into making “The Old Guard,” compared to the generic dullness of “The Old Guard 2.”

“The Old Guard 2” does a terrible job of re-introducing the main characters because it does what no good movie sequel would do: It assumes that everyone watching this sequel has seen the first movie in the series. Without seeing “The Old Guard” or at least knowing what happened in “The Old Guard,” viewers of “The Old Guard 2” will be constantly lost and confused by what’s going on and who these main characters really are.

Here’s a summary of what people need to know before watching “The Old Guard 2”: A group of immortal warriors—led by Andromache of Scythia, nicknamed Andy (played by Charlize Theron, one of producers of the movie)—travel around the world as underground hired mercenaries. All of these immortals can lose their immortality for any reason at any time. They will not know in advance when they can lose their immortality.

Andy (who has a tough and occasionally tender personality) and the other longtime colleagues on her team have been alive for centuries: Gay couple Joe (played Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (played by Luca Marinelli) are a Middle Eastern man and an Italian man who became immortal while they were fighting on opposite sides of the Crusades. Joe is more of an impulsive rulebreaker than steadfast rule follower Nicky. Nile (played by KiKi Layne), a former lieutenant in the U.S. Marines, joined Andy’s team in “The Old Guard.” Nile, who is sensitive about being the team’s rookie, has psychic visions in her dreams.

Here are spoiler alerts from “The Old Guard” that people should know if watching “The Old Guard 2”: Someone who used to be Andy’s right-hand man is Booker (played by Matthias Schoenaerts), an adventurous French soldier who became an immortal during the War of 1812. In “The Old Guard,” Booker betrayed Andy’s team and was exiled to Paris by the end of the movie. By the end of “The Old Guard,” former CIA agent James Copley (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) went from being an enemy to an ally of Andy’s group of immortals. Andy also lost her immortality.

Andy’s biggest heartache and regret is how she couldn’t save her best friend Quynh (played by Veronica Ngô, also known as Van Veronica Ngô) from being put in an iron maiden cage and buried in the ocean about 500 years ago, when Andy and Quynh were captured and persecuted for being witches. In the beginning of “The Old Guard 2” (which takes place six months after the events of “The Old Guard”), Quynh is able to escape from the iron maiden when two men on a ship are seen opening up the iron maiden with Quynh inside. :ater in the movie, it’s shown that Quynh blames Andy for Quynh’s long and torturous imprisonment, so an enraged Quynh goes looking for Andy.

The first big action scene in “The Old Guard 2” cuts to Andy, Copley, Nile, Joe and Nicky doing a stakeout of a heavily guarded villa in Lake Como, Italy. It turns into the most impressive action sequence in the movie. Joe and Nicky distract the security guards by stealing two luxury cars that are parked outside the mansion. The chase scene is thrilling because it takes place on winding cliffside road.

Nile does combat on a nearby lake, while Andy and Copley get involved in a shootout inside the mansion. However, inside the mansion (which has a lot of tacky décor), there are some designs in bright blue that look like unnatural, as if computer-generated-imagery (CGI) was jused for everything. After all the fighting ends, the movie still doesn’t make it clear what this immortals’ mission was in this battle.

It should come as no surprise that the immortals win this battle. They go back to their headquarters to party. Andy says to the group: “The worst part of being mortal? The hangovers.” Nile looks at Andy with concern and asks, “I know you talk a lot, but how are you doing?” Andy replies, “Really happy. Peaceful.” This conversation takes on a different context of meaning if people know that Andy is now coping with losing her immortality less than a year earlier.

“The Old Guard 2” doesn’t explain a lot of things from “The Old Guard” that are necessary to fully understand “The Old Guard 2.” It’s a failure that comes down to lazy screenwriting. There are a few fleeting flashbacks to show why Quynh has a grudge against Andy, but these explanations arrive much later in the movie than they should. In the meantime, Quynh spends about half of her screen time scowling and talking out loud about how she wants to get revenge on Andy and her team.

Somehow, Quynh finds Booker in Paris, where he’s been living aimlessly with guilt and spending many days and nights getting drunk. The movie shows the outcome of this encounter and what Booker decides to do when he’s given the choice to get revenge on his former friends or reunite with them.

Nile has been dreaming about seeing mystery woman in a secret library but doesn’t know at first who this woman is and what’s the significance of this library. And that’s where another immortal named Tuah (played by Henry Golding) comes into the story. Tuah has a lot of answers, but his personality is so generic, the most memorable things about Tuah are his name, his physical attractiveness, and the fact he’s the immortal who discovers the book that gives a possible way that an immortal-turned-mortal can regain immortality.

The mystery woman in Nile’s dreams is another person targeting Andy’s team of immortals. Her name is Discord (played by Uma Thurman), who’s supposed to be the very first immortal—and that’s just about all the information that “The Old Guard 2” says about Discord’s backstory. She wants to kill all the other immortals and has a group of thugs (usually masked and wearing all black) as her team of assassins. Discord is a stereotypical snarling villain who might as well be a robot because this villain’s personality is very empty and flat.

All this means is that “The Old Guard 2” will have an inevitable showdown between Discord and Andy. And although it sounds very cool in theory to have action movie veterans Thurman and Theron battling it out in a combat scene, the fight between Discord and Andy is not as impressive as it could be and is marred by very corny dialogue. There are missed opportunities for Andy and her team to build on their camaraderie as a group because the movie has various individual members of the team going off in different directions, as they globetrot in cities such as Paris, Rome, Seoul and Jakarta.

“The Old Guard 2” is so caught up in going from fight scene to fight scene, it doesn’t take enough time to give viewers a clear sense of the characters’ backstories and personal histories with each other, which were told very well in “The Old Guard.” The acting performances in “The Old Guard 2” are serviceable, but they can’t disguise the lackluster conversations that drag down the movie. The ending of “The Old Guard 2” (where a character has a drastic, not-very-believable change in attitude) just feels like it was rushed in to set up a sequel that less people will want to see now that “The Old Guard 2” has made a boring mess of this movie series that could’ve been great.

Netflix premiered “The Old Guard 2” on July 2, 2025.

Review: ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ starring Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda

June 30, 2025

by Carla Hay

David Iacono, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and Jonathan Bailey in “Jurassic World Rebirth” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

“Jurassic World Rebirth”

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Culture Representation: Taking place near South America, the sci-fi/action film “Jurassic World Rebirth” (the seventh feature film in the “Jurassic” series) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latin people and a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A rogue group of explorers and an unsuspecting family get trapped on an island where dinosaurs live and attack.

Culture Audience: “Jurassic World Rebirth” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the “Jurassic” movie series and the movie’s headliners, but the movie rehashes many of the same themes and storylines.

A Spinosaurus in “Jurassic World Rebirth” (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)

“Jurassic World Rebirth” should be called “Jurassic World Rehash.” It delivers plenty of action, but it borrows heavily from the plot of “Jurassic World III,” with no real innovation or surprises regarding who lives, who dies, and what the dinosaurs do. “Jurassic World Rebirth” has a lot of awkward acting and unconvincing scenes. And the product placement in the movie is just obnoxiously ridiculous. You can immediately spot many of the product placements by how certain brands of candy, breath mints and potato chips are pushed into the forefront of a scene so that they’re impossible to ignore.

Directed by Gareth Edwards and written by David Koepp, “Jurassic World Rebirth” is the seventh feature film in the “Jurassic” movie series that began with 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” which is still the best movie in the series. “Jurassic Park” and 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” were based on, respectively, Michael Crichton’s novels “Jurassic Park” (first published in 1990) and “The Lost World” (first published in 1995). The “Jurassic World” movies are sequels to the first three “Jurassic Park” movies.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” takes place in five years after the events of 2022’s “Jurassic World Dominion.” Do you have to see any of the other “Jurassic Park” movies to understand “Jurassic World Rebirth”? No, because “Jurassic World Rebirth” has an entire cast of characters who were not in the previous “Jurassic” movies and “Jurassic World Rebirth” is essentially about people trying not to be killed by dinosaurs.

According to the “Jurassic World Rebirth” production notes, here is what Earth is like in the story: “The planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind. And so, in ‘Rebirth,’ dinosaurs are in danger of extinction once more. The only places they continue to thrive are the tropical climes along the equator.”

“Jurassic World” begins by showing a catastrophe that happened 17 years ago on Ile Saint-Hubert, located 227 miles off the northeastern coast of South America. (“Jurassic World Rebirth” was actually filmed in the United Kingdom and in Malta.) The island had a secret research and development facility operated by InGen, the company known for cloning dinosaurs in the previous “Jurassic” movies. The movie’s opening scene shows that a worker in the facility unknowingly left a discarded candy bar wrapper on the floor.

This candy bar wrapper got stuck in an air vent and caused a giant glass-enclosed research lab to reboot the system and then explode, killing most of the people inside. The research lab housed dinosaurs that were being used for illegal experiments. After the explosion, the facility was shut down permanently, but the dinosaurs and their offspring remained on this secret island.

In the present day (2025), certain people have discovered that each of the largest types of dinosaurs left behind on Ile Saint-Hubert have genetic DNA that can cure heart disease in humans. The three types of dinosaurs are Quetzalcoatlus (avian), Mosasaurus (aquatic), and Titanosaurus (terrestrial). With this confidential knowledge, it’s only a matter of time before a greedy corporate type wants to get this dinosaur DNA and profit from it.

Martin Krebs (played by Rupert Friend) is the corrupt leader of a major American pharmaceutical company that wants to obtain this DNA, which would be illegal. Martin doesn’t care, and he’s got the wealth to buy their services of a team that will go to Ile Saint-Hubert and get the DNA. Martin wants to personally go on this mission too because he doesn’t trust anyone else to handle the DNA once it’s extracted.

Leading this extraction mission is no-nonsense Zora Bennett (played Scarlett Johansson), a longtime mercernary/special operations agent, who agrees to for this job for Martin for $10 million. Martin and Zora then convince Dr. Henry Loomis (played by Jonathan Bailey)—a museum-based paleontologist whose specialty is colossal dinosaurs—to join the this covert team.

Zora then visits a longtime friend and former colleague named Duncan Kincaid (played by Mahershala Ali), the captain of a camouflaged military patrol craft named The Essex. Duncan is very skeptical but Zora persuades Duncan to join this mission with select members of Duncan’s crew. The three members of Duncan’s crew who are part of this mission are adventurous co-pilot/deckhand Nina (played by Philippine Velge), reliable co-pilot/deckhand LeClerc (played by Bechir Sylvain) and daredevil security chief Bobby Atwater (played by Ed Skrein). All of them are enticed by the money they will be paid.

Why such a small crew for a big mission? Martin explains the less people who know about this mission, the better. The team has giant hypodermic needles to collect the samples when the needles are shot from arsenal into the dinosaurs. Once a needle filled, the needle self-ejects and triggers an attached parachute that will presumably float into hands of the person who wants the needle. This needle parachuting has some of the most ridiculous “too good to be true” moments in the movie.

Not long after The Essex sets sail for Ile Saint-Hubert, a group on a very different boat excursion will cross paths with the people on The Essex. Divorced father Reuben Delgado (played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is contuinuing their annual tradition of taking his two daughters on a sailing trip. Teresa Delgado (played by Luna Blaise), who is 18, is going to be a first-year student at New York University and feels she has outgrown these father-daughter excursions. Isabella Delgado (played by Audrina Miranda), who is 11, very much wants to be on this trip with her family.

Someone else has joined the Delgado family for this boat trip: Teresa’s eccentric boyfriend Xavier Dobbs (played by David Iacono), who comes across as a weirdo stoner. Reuben doesn’t know what to think about Xavier, who doesn’t talk much and seems to be the opposite of intelligent and goal-oriented Teresa. But in a movie where people of different backgrounds find themselves fighting for their lives against dinosaurs, you already know that certain characters who were at first uncomfortable with each other will be forced to work together and see each other in a different way.

Terror comes quickly to the Delgado group when a Spinosaurus in the ocean attacks and capsizes the group’s boat. After a harrowing sequence (one of the better parts of an otherwise formulaic movie), the Delgado group is rescued by the people on The Essex. None of this is spoiler information because the trailers for “Jurassic World Dominion” lready show the Delgado group and The Essex group in peril together.

The Delgado group just wants to go home. However, some people from The Essex group want to continue to push forward to Ile Saint-Hubert and drop off the Delgado group to safety after the dinosaur DNA samples are obtained. After much debate, it’s decided that the Delgado group will have to wait until people in The Essex group get what they set out to get. The people in the Essex group are secretive about why they want this dinosaur DNA, but they can’t hide the fact that they’re acting suspiciously.

With the Delgado group forced to tag along on this mission, you know what that means: More people for the dinosaurs to attack. “Jurassic World Rebirth” just has a series of attack scenarious that look very familiar to the “Jurassic” movie franchise, but with different-looking dinosaurs. It should come as no surprise that the dinosaurs that were used in experiements look very different. (Can you say “mutant”?)

The personal stories of the human characters are basic, scant and unremarkable. Zora is a loner who’s still dealing with the trauma of a combat colleague dying in a car bombing. It’s also mentioned that Zora did not attend her mother’s recent funeral. Duncan, who is a divorced father of an underage son, is experiencing heartbreak because of his failed marriage.

Self-professed “dinosaur nerd” Henry doesn’t seem to have a personal life at all because he’s so consumed with his work. Martin is the movie’s obvious heartless villian, so the movie doesn’t even mention who his loved ones are. And the people in Duncan’s crew are generic characters whose fate in the movie can be easily be predicted.

And so that leaves the Delgado group to give “Jurassic World Rebirth” viewers an immediate and visible sense that they are the people with the most at stake in staying alive for their loved ones. The movie sometimes struggles between giving attention to The Essex group versus the Delgado group, who are each separated from each other at different points in the movie. In between all the dinosaur action, there’s some tedious drama about whether or not Xavier will be fully accepted by Reuben.

“Jurassic Park III” also has a plot about dinosaurs needed for research to improve human lives, with people hiring a rogue group to take them on a secret private visit to the “forbidden” island populated by dinosaurs. “Jurassic Park III” also has a family with siblings who are trapped on the island, but the siblings are brothers in “Jurassic Park III.” And just like in “Jurassic Park III,” there’s a Spinosaurus and there are Velociraptors in major attack scenes.

“Jurassic World Rebirth” does introduce new dinosaurs that weren’t in previous “Jurassic” films. Not all of them will be described here, but one is a baby Aquilops, who follows the Delgado group like a stray puppy and has a mischievous-but-cute personality. Isabella grows attached to this female Aquilops, names her Dolores, and wants to keep Dolores as a pet. It’s all very “Lilo & Stitch.”

The visual effects in “Jurassic World Rebirth” do not disappoint, but the action scenarios and chase scenes are just retreads of other movies. Similarly, there’s nothing terrible about the acting performances in “Jurassic World Rebirth,” but the dialogue is often just witless drivel. No one is expecting a “Jurassic” movie to be intellectual, but at least these movies should make the dialogue sound like realistic conversations, not something that could have been generated by cheap artificial intelligence. “Jurassic World Rebirth” is a movie that is ultimately stuck in the birth canal of creativity and shows no interest in evolving past its predecessors.

Universal Pictures will release “Jurassic World Rebirth” in U.S. cinemas on July 2, 2025.

Review: ‘Thunderbolts*,’ starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

April 29, 2025

by Carla Hay

Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan in “Thunderbolts*” (Photo by Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios)

“Thunderbolts*”

Directed by Jake Schreier

Culture Representation: Taking place in the Washington, D.C., area and in New York City (and briefly in Malaysia), the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Thunderbolts*” (based on Marvel Comics characters) features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Asians and multiracial people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A ragtag group of superheroes battle against a corrupt CIA director and a mysterious supervillain, as some of the superheroes cope with mental health issues.

Culture Audience: “Thunderbolts*” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and superhero movies that offer a more psychological perspective of the effects of superhero activity.

Pictured in center: Geraldine Viswanathan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Thunderbolts*” (Photo by Steve Swisher/Marvel Studios)

“Thunderbolts*” could be subtitled “Therapy for Superheroes” because the overarching theme is how superheroes cope with depression, guilt and anxiety. Thrilling action scenes and wisecracking jokes are mixed with trauma bonding, to mostly effective results. It works well-enough in this superhero movie because of the talented cast and because the movie’s tone and direction handle these issues with enough realistic compassion instead of wallowing in mawkishness.

Directed by Jake Schreier, “Thunderbolts*” was written by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo. The screenwriting duo of Pearson and Calo is an inspired pairing because Pearson is mostly known for writing action films (including the 2021 Marvel superhero movie “Black Widow”), while Calo is known as an Emmy-winning co-showrunner for the FX on Hulu series “The Bear,” a show that mixes comedy with drama. “The Bear” tackles a lot of issues about how people are affected by families and childhood experiences. Many of these issues are in “Thunderbolts*” without the movie losing its superhero focus.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has become a complex web of stories that usually require seeing at least one previous Marvel movie to fully understand the plot and characters’ motives. In order for “Thunderbolts*” to resonate the most with viewers, it’s helpful for viewers to have at least seen “Black Widow” and the 2021 Disney+ limited series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” The 2018 movie “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and the 2019 movie “Avengers Endgame” are also suggested viewings, but they’re not essential to understanding the “Thunderbolts*” plot.

“Thunderbolts*” (the asterisk in the title is explained in the movie) begins by showing trained mercenary Yelena Belova (played by Florence Pugh), a native of Russia, standing on the top of the Merdeka 118 skyscraper building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In a voiceover, she’s heard saying in a morose tone: “There’s something wrong with me—an emptiness. I thought it started when my sister died, but it’s something bigger—a void. Or maybe I’m just bored.” Yelena then jumps off of the skyscraper.

Is Yelena suicidal? Maybe. But she isn’t attempting suicide in this scene. She’s testing her aerial limits before doing what she has vowed will be her last mercenary job for the U.S. government. As already seen in the prequel movie “Black Widow,” Yelena is the younger adoptive sister of Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson), who were both underwent brutal assassin/spy training as children in Russia. They trained in a notorious facility called the Red Room. Natasha/Black Widow died at the end of “Avengers Endgame.”

Yelena is currently living in the United States (in or near Washington, D.C.) and works as a mercenary for hire dong covert missions. In the beginning of the movie, she reports to CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who made a brief appearance at the end of “Black Widow” and had a prominent role in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” Valentina is corrupt and devious but hides her true nature by pretending with perky mannerisms and by saying that her life mission is to protect the people of the United States.

After this confessional monologue where Yelena says she’s feeling depressed, Yelena is seen invading a scientific lab and getting into fights to complete a mission to defeat people (scientists and armed guards) in the lab. One of the scientists who’s captured asks her why she’s there. “I’m in the cleanup business,” Yelena says in a deadpan voice. During this battle, one of the scientists says to Yelena: “Tell Valentina she’s making a mistake.”

What is this lab? And why does Valentina want it shut down? Those questions are answered in the movie. In the meantime, Yelena eventually tells Valentina that Yelena wants to quit the mercenary work because of job burnout. Yelena says that she would rather do more positive “public-facing” work where she gets to interact with people in more heroic and feel-good situations.

Also living in or near Washington, D.C., is boisterously loud Alexei Shostakov, also known as Red Guardian (played by David Harbour), who is Yelena’s adoptive father. Yelena goes to visit Alexei to tell him that she’s quitting her line of work. She hasn’t seen Alexei in years because of the events that happened in “Black Widow.”

Alexei is also going through his own depression issues for the opposite reasons: He misses being a “superhero” who works for a government, which is the status that he had in Russia about 30 years ago. Alexei and his former partner Melina Vostokoff (played by Rachel Weisz) raised Natasha and Yelena as a dysfunctional yet loving family of spies. Melina’s fate is shown in “Black Widow.”

Yelena sees that Alexei (a bachelor who lives alone) is living in a messy house, drinking a lot of alcohol, and operating a small business called Red Guardian Limo service, where he is the only employee and he has only one ramshackle old limo. The limo has the company slogan on the side of the car: “Protecting You From Boring Evening.” This slogan becomes a little bit of a running joke in the movie.

Alexei tries to hide his depression by pretending to Yelena that he’s doing well. She doesn’t believe him because she sees how unkempt Alexei and his home are. When Yelena tells Alexei that she wants to quit her job, Alexei is alarmed and disappointed. He tells her that he “would kill” to have the type of job that Yelena is about to quit.

Valentina is going through her own career problems. She is in the midst of impeachment hearings, where she denies all the accusations of corruption against her. In one of these hearings, she makes a statement what she has fully divested herself from any ownership in O.X.E., a company involved in secretive scientific research, but she still is a consulting member of O.X.E.’s board of directors.

Valentina’s main enemy in this impeachment proceeding is Congressman Gary (played by Wendell Pierce), who is leading the interrogations during the hearings. Congressman Gary only has a few scenes in the movie, but he’s made it clear that he doesn’t trust Valentina and he thinks she should be impeached. Anyone familiar with the Valentina character will already know that she’s the chief mastermind villain in “Thunderbolts*,” although she gets help from some other people whom she manipulates.

Bucky Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier (played by Sebastian Stan), is also in Washington, D.C.—this time as a first-term U.S. congressman. In Marvel Comics and in the MCU, Bucky is a “frenemy” of Captain America and has been a mostly a hero but sometimes a villain. In the MCU, Bucky was born in 1925, but his Winter Soldier superpowers have extended his life and allowed him to keep his physical appearance as an adult under the age of 50.

Valentina wants Bucky to be her ally, so Valentina sends her loyal assistant Mel (played by Geraldine Viswanathan) to reach out to Bucky and see if he can be helpful to Valentina. Mel is a mostly wide-eyed sidekick. The more that Mel finds out about Valentina’s real agenda, the more that Mel starts to question if she should stay loyal to Valentina.

Valentina isn’t ready to let Yelena go when Yelena tells her that Yelena no longer wants to be an undercover mercenary. Valentina orders Yelena to do one last mission: Go to a secret facility that has O.X.E.’s most secretive assets, find out who’s been stealing the assets, and kill whoever is responsible for the thefts. Yelena reluctantly does what she has told but finds out it’s a trap set by Valentina, who lured some other people in the trap.

At this facility, Yelena battles with arrogant John Walker, also known as U.S. Agent (played by Wyatt Russell); tough-minded Ava Starr, also known as Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen), who has the ability to make herself invisible for a few minutes at a time; and mute Antonia Dreykov, also known as Taskmaster (played by Olga Kurylenko), who have all been villains at one time or another in the MCU. Taskmaster is not in the “Thunderbolts*” as much as these other characters. She remains the most mysterious character in the group.

For reasons shown in “Thunderbolts*,” Taskmaster eventually goes away in this battle. Yelena, John and Ghost find out that they are stuck in the facility with a confused and mild-mannered man named Robert “Bob” Reynolds (played by Lewis Pullman), who suddenly appears during the ruckus. Bob is wearing the type of outfit that hospital patients wear. It’s later revealed that Bob has a troubled past as a meth addict, and he is a survivor of childhood abuse from his father.

As already revealed in the marketing for “Thunderbolts*,” the people in this ragtag group of superheroes and anti-heroes are Yelena, Bucky, John, Red Dragon and Ghost. Bob (who doesn’t remember certain things) has sides to himself that are eventually revealed in the movie. Valentina has plans to introduce a “supersoldier” named Sentry who will do her bidding. The movie’s visual effects are adequately convincing but not outstanding.

Another running joke in the movie is how the group got the name Thunderbolts, which is a name that most of the members do not want for the group. There’s a scene where Yelena and Alexei reminisce about something embarrassing from her childhood that she doesn’t want a lot of people to know about her: When she was a girl, Yelena was part of a junior soccer team called the Thunderbolts, which never won a game. Compared to the highly admired Avengers, the superhero/anti-hero Thunderbolts are misfit underdogs, which is why Alexei thinks that Thunderbolts is a perfect name for them.

“Thunderbolts*” doesn’t have a lot of big surprises because the movie is very transparent about Valentina being the chief mastermind villain. There’s a big reveal at the end of the movie, while an end-credits scene shows the aftermath of this reveal 14 months after the reveal happened. What might surprise viewers the most is how deep the movie goes in intended tearjerker flashback scenes that show children being murdered or abused. (The violence against children is not seen on screen but is implied.)

There’s a flashback scene with childhood Bob (played by Clayton Cooper) and his unnamed parents (played by Joshua Mikel and Molly Carden) that is harrowing to watch. Valentina has her own disturbing flashback showing how she was trained from an early age to betray those who are close to her. (Chiara Stella has the role of childhood Valentina.) And Yelena, the movie’s “trauma queen,” has her own painful childhood memory depicted in a flashback scene. (Violet McGraw reprises her “Black Widow” role as childhood Yelena.)

The MCU has shown superheroes experiencing mental health issues before, but these issues were treated in a more superficial manner and were sometimes used as comedy. This tone of putting serious health issues in a joke-filled MCU superhero movie was most evident in 2022’s “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which got very divisive reactions from audiences. People who dislike “Thor: Love and Thunder” (written and directed by Taika Waititi) had a lot of criticism for how the movie infused comedy in areas that some MCU fans think should’ve had a more serious tone.

For example, Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth), the Norse God of Thunder, is shown being depressed in the beginning of “Thor: Love and Thunder.” That movie starts out with Thor abusing alcohol, overeating, losing his zest for life, and gaining enough weight to have a pot belly, because he feels lost and useless after the end of the epic war depicted in “Avengers Endgame.” Thor eventually is able to shed his fat and climb out of his depression, but this recovery is treated in a flippant manner where a narrator says that Thor goes from having a “dad bod to a god bod.”

“Thunderbolts*” takes time to meaningfully explore the psychological repercussions experienced by superheroes who have shady pasts where they were villains who murdered people. Yelena is struggling with massive amounts of guilt about what she did when she was a Red Room-trained assassin for the Russian government. Unlike the transformation of Thor in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” Yelena’s mental health struggles in “Thunderbolts*” don’t go away just because she starts doing good deeds as a superhero.

Bucky is supposed to be the unofficial leader of the Thunderbolts because he’s the oldest and most experienced member of the group. However, Yelena is the heart and soul of the “Thunderbolts*” movie. In many ways, she’s the leader of the group’s collective conscience—as tattered and conflicted as that conscience can be at times.

In “Thunderbolts*,” Pugh (who continues to excel in her acting performances) brings a soulful energy to her role as Yelena, who was more of a hardened warrior in “Black Widow.” Yelena is coping with depression but she isn’t entirely depressing because she still manages to say some comedic zingers to lighten the mood. She looks out for Bob (who is often in a fragile mental state of mind) and has some very effectively emphathetic scenes with him.

The other scene stealer in “Thunderbolts*,” is Louis-Dreyfus, who doesn’t play Valentina as an over-the-top villain but as a skilled con artist who is always working an angle that will be to her advantage. Even when things start to fall apart for Valentina, she remains relatively calm and projects an upbeat image. Valentina is masterful at putting a positive spin on something negative that she caused. This characteristic is most evident in the movie’s final scene, when Valentina makes a bold move.

The other principal cast members in “Thunderbolts*” stick close to their established personalities and handle their performances accordingly. Alexei continues to be the buffoonish comic relief. Bucky is mostly stoic and sidesteps the childhood trauma trajectory of the movie by saying he didn’t have any chldhood trauma. Even less is shown or told about the personal history of Ghost in “Thunderbolts*,” which makes Ghost a very underdeveloped character.

John is grappling with insecurities and loneliness because his wife Olivia Walker (played by Gabrielle Byndloss) has left him and has taken their underage son with her. A flashback scene shows that the marital problems had a lot to do with John being too self-absorbed in a personal scandal to be an attentive parent to his son. John wants to be the “alpha male” in any group that he’s in, so this personality trait will be problematic in many situations.

Pullman’s Bob Reynolds character makes his first appearance in the MCU. He leaves a memorable impression, although it’s very easy to figure out Bob’s purpose from the moment you see him in a hospital patient outfit in a secretive O.X.E. facility. If Bob had been seen first in regular clothes, then it wouldn’t be so easy to predict what eventually happens to Bob in the movie.

“Thunderbolts*” took somewhat of a risk by putting a lot of psychotherapy elements in what some people think should be a lightweight superhero movie. Without seeing the movie, some people might assume that these superheroes have become a bunch of wimpy whiners. Far from being about self-pity, “Thunderbolts*” takes a very mature look at what recovery from mental illness can look like for people who are expected to be strong for others but aren’t necessarily getting the psychiatric help that they need for themselves.

Walt Disney Pictures/Marvel Studios will release “Thunderbolts*” in U.S. cinemas on February 14, 2025.

Review: ‘Ash’ (2025), starring Eiza González, Aaron Paul, Iko Uwais, Kate Elliott, Beulah Koale and Flying Lotus

April 7, 2025

by Carla Hay

Aaron Paul and Eiza González in “Ash” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films)

 

“Ash” (2025)

Directed by Flying Lotus

Culture Representation: Taking place in outer space, the sci-fi horror film “Ash” features a racially diverse group of people (white, African American, Latin and Asian) portraying astronauts.

Culture Clash: Two astronauts from the same spaceship crew try to find out what happened when one of the astronauts wakes up to find out that most of the crew members have been murdered.

Culture Audience: “Ash” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and sci-fi horror movies that take place in outer space.

Kate Elliott and Beulah Koale in “Ash” (Photo courtesy of RLJE Films)

“Ash” is obviously influenced by the “Alien” movie franchise. This sci-fi horror flick (about two astronauts trying to solve the mystery of a massacre on their spaceship) has some pacing that’s too slow, but this low-budget film is watchable overall. The acting is sufficient, and the movie makes up for its dull parts in the last third of the film, which has the most action.

Directed by Flying Lotus and written by Jonni Remmler, “Ash” has its world premiere at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival. Flying Lotus also composed the impressive music score fo the movie. “Ash” begins by showing an astronaut named Riya (played by Eiza González) waking up on a spaceship in outer space and finding out that everyone she knew on the spaceship has been butally murdered, except for an astronaut named Catherine Clarke (played by Kate Elliott), who is missing.

Riya walks around by herself in a daze, inside and outside the ship. She is soon joined by another astronaut namd Brion Carlisle (played by Aaron Paul), who suddenly appears on the ship and tells her that he was part of the spaceship crew too. Riyah doesn’t remember Brion and wonders if he’s lying. He insists that he’s telling the truth.

Together, Riyah and Brion try to find out who or what killed these other astronauts, whose names are Adhi (played by Iko Uwais), Kevin (played by Beulah Koale) and Shawn Davis (played by Flying Lotus), who was captain of the spaceship. Several flashback scenes show what happened leading to up the murders. These astronauts, who had good camaraderie with each other, have been living on an isolated planet with many craters and where breathable air has become scarce. Brion and Riyah speculate that maybe Clarke breathed toxic air and possibly had psychotic break from reality.

The astronauts were on a mission to find a way to get more breathable air. Riyah and Brion are both very strong-willed and opinionated. It leads to inevitable conflicts when they have different ideas on how to solve immediate problems. The acting performances in “Ash” aren’t anything special, but they aren’t completely terrible either.

The spaceship has a non-verbal robot with artificial intelligence called the Mobile Diagnostic Surgery (M.D.S.) Bot, which can quickly diagnosis a medical problem and do surgery if necessary. Riyah constantly uses a medical patch on her neck to treat a fever that she says she has. The M.D.S. Bot performs a diagnosis on Riyah and determines that she has swelling in the brain. Her feverish memory could be the result of this brain swelling or could be the result of something else.

Much of “Ash” consists of Riyah and Brion clashing because they have a hard time trusting each other. At times, Riyah and Brion suspect each other of being the spaceship’s mass murderer. Riyah mainly thinks Clarke is the prime suspect and believes the best plan is to try to find Clarke to get answers on why this massacre happened. Brion disagrees and says it’s better to get off the planet because they’re running out of breathable air.

Because “Ash” has a limited number of locations in the story, some viewers might grow tired of seeing the same places over and over in the movie. However, the movie’s intention is to show how the ship and this desolate planet are very confining to the inhabitants. The mystery of who caused the massacre is fairly easy to solve after a while, and the buildup requires patience. However, there are some striking visuals in “Ash,” which ends in a predictable but satisfying way.

RLJE Entertainment released “Ash” in U.S. cinemas on March 21, 2025.

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