Project Wolf Hunting (Kim Hong-seon, 2021)

A group of South Korean criminals have been captured in the Philippines.

To get them back to South Korea, the authorities enlist a large cargo ship.

However, a group of hijackers have infiltrated the crew and intend to free the prisoners.

What the police and criminals do not realise is that the ship contains another cargo: a dangerous super-soldier known as Alpha (Choi Gwi-hwa), who is being kept on ice for study.

Sadly for everyone onboard, Alpha wakes up…

When I was younger I loved tracking down genre mashups - every time I found something like The Hidden or Horror Express it was like finding a gold nugget in the river.

I was reminded of that thrill when I heard the descriptor for Project Wolf Hunting - Con Air meets Universal Soldier on a boat.

Cards on the table: I watched this movie at 10:30 pm. A younger Tim might have been able to power through; contemporary me was barely hanging on when it started and a grumpy old man by the end of it.

The first half, in which hijackers take over the boat is like a more visceral version of the Con Air takeover, with more spilled claret and louder sounder design.

It is tense and exciting, but it does lead to some confusion about POV as we move between multiple sets of characters.

The best performance comes from Seo In-guk as the leader of the hijackers, Jong-doo. He gives the movie a real sense of danger and unpredictability. 

The movie’s switch into sci-fi slasher is great - the filmmakers convey the monster’s speed by avoiding shots of the character moving - to show his speed, they use editing - a character will see him; he will register them, and in the next shot, he will be in the same shot killing them.

It is a simple, jarring choice that works.

As the monster goes through the cast, the movie adopts the structure of a slasher movie as the ensemble scatters and Alpha slaughters them in unpredictable ways.

One downside is that by the time we get to the final survivors, it felt like the movie had lost the most fleshed out characters.

We get some flashbacks late in the piece to explain someone’s backstory but it feels too late.

Most interestingly, the film ties Alpha's origins back to the Japanese occupation of Korea, and there seems to be an implied critique of peoples' continued willingness to keep the project which created him going.

Project Wolf Hunting sags a bit in the second half, but overall it is worth checking out.

The movie is apparently meant to be the start of a franchise - considering how heightened this movie gets, it will be interesting to see where it goes next.

OUT NOW: The Woman King

In the Kingdom of Dahomey in 1823, the king’s all-woman regiment, the Agojie, are the most formidable element of their army.

With a new, young king Ghezo (John Boyega), the kingdom is at a crossroads.

The general of the Agojie, Nanisca (Viola Davis), wants to end the kingdom’s involvement in the slave trade.

This puts her in conflict with members of the king’s retinue and Dahomey’s powerful neighbour, the Oyo Empire, who use the kingdom as a conduit and a source for enslaved people.

At the same time, new recruit Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) struggles to find her place as an Agojie.

Little does she know, but her fate, and Nanisca’s, are more intertwined than either of them can realise…

The ‘inspired by’ is big in this movie - there has been a lot of controversy about the historical context this movie is based on, and it is understandable (I will include some links to various pieces about the movie below).

As a historical drama, The Woman King is on shaky ground. As a historical epic, as a war movie, it is great.

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, this is a straight-up war movie with a lot of familiar elements. 

We get some evocations of familiar archetypes:

VIola Davis is the flinty commander; Lashana Lynch is the veteran who serves as a fount of wisdom and humour; Thuso Mbedu is the new recruit with a rebellious spirit. 

I point these out not to reduce the characters or the performers. It is a signifier of how this movie is not afraid to use genre conventions.

This is an earnest movie, in the best possible way. Prince-Bythewood’s previous works are all about characters trying to achieve goals and figure themselves out. As a filmmaker, no one is as invested in creating romances and handling melodrama.

There are aspects of the film which could come off as cliche or silly. 

There is a subplot where two characters are revealed to be mother and daughter. It could be hokey, but this film invests real emotional stakes in this revelation.

There is no self-defeating humour or satire, no attempt to puncture or deflate any aspect of the film.

Davis is terrific as the titular woman king, but the rest of the cast arguably take centre stage. 

Thuso Mbedu is also great as the audience surrogate, Nawi - it is a potentially thankless role, but Mbedu and the script give the character a real sense of agency and inner life.

But if the movie has a scene-stealer, it is Lashana Lynch as veteran warrior and Nawi’s mentor Izogie. This movie highlights how underutilised Lynch was in No Time To Die.

Izogie may be tough as nails but Lynch gives her a swagger and humor that enlivens every scene she is in. Lynch also invests Izogie with a sense of hardwon wisdom.

While the acting is good across the board, ultimately this is a full-bore action movie.

The violence is vivid but not dwelt upon; and Bythewood’s focus on character means that death matters; but it is also a movie where our heroes take a running leap over a column of musketeers and Viola Davis blocks a sword with her arm and then stabs her opponent with the blade still impaled through her arm.

I have seen comparisons made between The Woman King and The Patriot, another movie which cleans up its history behind its central character in favour of turning him into an action hero. I have not seen that movie so I cannot get too specific but from what I gather, The Patriot makes no attempt to portray its lead as a slave owner. 

Aside from not starring Mel Gibson, to its credit, The Woman King does include Dahomey’s involvement in the slave trade and makes it part of the film’s central conflict.

The Woman King has a similar relationship with history with another 2000 movie, Gladiator: 

at the end of the movie, our heroes defeat evil and destroy an established institution (Russell Crowe dissolves the Roman Empire and recreates the Roman Republic; the  Agojie eject the slave traders and Dahomey is rid of the slave trade). 

Neither of these endings are historically accurate, but within the context of their respective narratives, they make sense. 

In The Woman King, one of the movie’s central clashes is between Nanisca and the king’s court over slavery, and weighing human life versus the economy of the state. It means Nanisca is restrained from what she can do, and ultimately has to disobey orders so that she can do what is right.

Another movie might have been able to thread the needle another way. And I hope those movies get made!

The catalyst for making The Woman King was the success of Black Panther, whose own warrior women, the Dora Milaje, were inspired by the Agojie.

While its returns have been modest so far, hopefully The Woman King will itself inspire more movies in a similar vein. 

If The Woman King ends up being at the head of a trend of Agojie movies, its historical fidelity might be less of a subject of conversation. But for now, it is the only (Hollywood) game in town. 

As an action drama, or a war movie, The Woman King is sturdy genre cinema with a great cast.

As a look at history, its perspective is inadequate.

https://slate.com/culture/2022/09/woman-king-movie-true-story-dahomey-amazons-slave-trade.html

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/sisterhood-and-slavery-in-the-woman-king

https://www.vox.com/podcasts/23361299/the-woman-king-gina-prince-bythewood

The Novice (Lauren Hadaway, 2021)

Alex Dall (Isabelle Fuhrman) is a college freshman who is obsessed with mastering whatever discipline she puts her mind to.

This time she is intent on becoming the best novice rower in her school’s team. And nothing will stand in her way…

What a movie.

The Novice is a corrosive, frighteningly claustrophobic look at someone who cannot abide defeat (even if that means being Number Two).

It is appropriate that this review is dropping close to October because this is a horror movie.

The debut of first time writer-director Lauren Hadaway (a former rower herself), The Novice keeps the viewer locked to the central character’s point-of-view.

Positioned around a scorching performance from Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Hadaway’s film is uncomfortably intimate.

We are introduced to Alex scribbling through a test, rubbing out her answers and retaking it. 

Alex is obsessed with the need to prove the supremacy of effort over talent. She is majoring in her worst subject; she is training in a sport she has no talent in; she even shoots her shot with a member of faculty (Dilone).

The filmmakers use shallow focus and muffled sound design to reinforce her sense of focus.

We see everything from her point of view: snatches of conversation; bits of her teammates’ expressions and actions.

The effect is arresting and increasingly oppressive.

 

We never get a sense of the world around Alex - only what interests her.

Hadaway does a great job of conveying the character’s frustration, particularly with fellow novice Jamie Brill (Amy Forsyth).

Initially, it is easy to be onside with Alex.

 

Jamie is confident enough to show pride in her capabilities, and a healthy lack of deference for the institution’s traditions and hierarchies.

When presented in soundbytes and leering close-ups, she can come across as an egotistical monster.

There are so many moments early on where the camera will fixate on Jamie saying something that seems directed at Alex.

What is great about Jamie’s character is that she is never an intentional antagonist - she is constructed in this way solely from the techniques used for Alex’s perspective, colouring and recontextualising her words and actions in terms that make her seem nefarious. 

As the film progresses, that close proximity to the main character becomes increasingly claustrophobic as we watch her increasing detachment from reality.

Scenes become increasingly fragmented and distorted, with snatches of sweaty, straining faces captured in blurry fish-eye lensed frames.

The film becomes an exercise in body horror, as Alex pushes her limits and begins to self-harm.

The camera takes in her physical decline - a blister on her hand grows and becomes infected, with dark lines coursing up her arm.

The movie is pitched to maintain a sense of anxiety, capturing the character’s overriding drive.

Hadaway had to do the editing herself (she shares final credit with Nathan Nugent), and it adds to the film’s unrelenting sense of forward momentum.

Jump cuts, ellipses, every cut is hacking away waste, sanding off any chance to catch your breath.

It is almost akin to watching an action movie - if it was from the Terminator’s perspective (and not the nice one).

The Novice is a remarkable piece of work, and deserves to be seen. Hopefully it marks the beginning of a great career for Hadaway and an entree to bigger things for Fuhrman.

Everyone Will Burn (David Hebreros, 2021)

 Mourning her son a decade after his death María José (Macarena Gómez) is visited by a mysterious young girl Lucia (Sofía García) who claims to be in contact with her child.

Members of Maria’s village are suspicious of the stranger, who exhibits other supernatural abilities. They believe Lucia  fits the description of an old prophecy that spelled doom for the village.

As locals begin to die in bizarre ways, the villagers begin to form plans to get rid of the child…

This movie probably packs way more punch if you are either Catholic or Spanish.

For a story about a maybe-Antichrist, this is no simple tale of Good vs. Evil.

Instead, Everyone Will Burn complicates and blurs any separation, and delivers its horror tropes (evil children, possession, spontaneous combustion etc) with a deadpan tone.

The pawn of Satan is an outsider ostracised by the community, the members of which are riven with hypocrisy and secrets. 

There is a level of nuance to the cast of characters that makes it impossible to be fully on the side of any of the characters - instead, the film shifts between their perspectives creating a sense of tension, sadness and black comedy which is hard to nail down without replaying the movie.

Lead actress Macarena Gómez is a marvel - looking like a dead ringer for horror icon Barbara Steele. Her hooded eyes and hi-octane delivery are a major factor in maintaining the movie’s multifaceted tone.

The movie’s ending made me want to watch it all over again.

Not because it necessarily recasts the story, but because it cements the trajectory it was on.

This ending manages to include everything - the monster is slain, the bad guys are mostly punished and our protagonist is reunited with a lost loved one. It also ends on a skewed note of near-optimism as the resurrected María returns to church with her newborn as her ex-husband’s new child is being christened.

The film's willingness to avoid a pat conclusion is a big factor in why I like it so much - one can imagine a more generic version of this story where Maria turned against the forces of darkness in a more traditional climax. 

It is a rare horror movie that manages to stick the landing, and in a way that feels surprising and organic to itself.

OUT NOW: Barbarian

In Detroit for a job interview, Tess (Georgina Campbell) has booked an AirBnB on the city’s outskirts.

However, when she arrives, she discovers a stranger (Bill Skarsgård) already staying there…

I do not watch movies more than once in the theatre. It is rare. Barbarian is a movie that I want to see again. 

Written and directed by Zach Creggar, Barbarian is one of the best movies I have seen this year.

This movie is so deft in how it understands the genre and gender, and is in constant dialogue with the audience in terms of its expectations, and how they interweave within horror.

This is your classic horror structure in terms of constantly undermining your expectations.

We start out following Tessa (Campbell) as a lone woman at a Airbnb.

The first act of the movie plays on Tess (and the audience’s) suspicions of Keith (Skarsgård), a man who is already at the Airbnb.

Is he an intruder? A creep? A killer?

Skarsgård is well-cast as the socially awkward Keith, a guy who cannot figure out the right cue for any situation.

The situation plays like a slowburn thriller, as the film repeatedly teases a reveal that Keith is the film’s villain, before deflating and then reinflating our suspicions.

This game continues until Tess stumbles upon the tunnels, and Keith subsequently disappears while investigating them.

At this point, Keith is becoming more of a figure of suspicion - Tess follows his desperate cries deeper into the hidden tunnels until, in a shocking turn, he is revealed to be innocent, and our protagonist is attacked by another being.

Cut to black.

In a brilliant shift, we are then introduced to the home’s owner, TV star JD (Justin Long), driving along the California coast.

The bizarre reprieve is undermined when it is revealed that JD has been accused of sexual misconduct. In need of money for legal costs - he has returned to Detroit to sell the house.

Long’s casting as JD is key - his affable exterior works in the same way that Adam Brody’s casting in Promising Young Woman does, as the film removes that veneer to reveal JD is a more callous and selfish figure than he appears.

The film is also plugged into Long’s inherently goofy vibe. As he literally falls into danger, Long gives JD a loose-limbed cluelessness that is hilarious. 

The friend I went to the movie with pointed out that Long’s character also fits the slasher archetype of the annoying clown who usually dies early in the piece.

Barbarian flips it by introducing him midway through and setting up as a possible rescuer for Tess.

JD’s arrival at the house follows the same line as Tess’s, except he hits every trope of the ignorant slasher victim stumbling into danger. He also plays into the gender politics that were highlighted in the beginning of the movie.

 

Whereas Tess was suspicious and scared, when JD discovers the basement he sees it as an opportunity to boost his property value. He is so self-absorbed he does not seem to care about what these tunnels could be for.

I was constantly reminded of that old bit from Eddie Murphy’s comedy special Relentless, about the difference between white people and black people in horror movies. While the movie is explicit about expectations around gender, the casting of the actors is also deliberate in terms of race: Georgina Campbell is black while both Skarsgård and Long are white.

Whereas Skarsgård is stilted and Long is loose-limbed, Campbell’s performance is based on restraint and interiority - Tess is always looking out for danger, and is naturally suspicious of the stranger in her temporary home.

It is worth bringing up the audience at this point.

Barbarian is a very funny movie. It has a pitch black sense of humour.

Horror and comedy work on the same dynamic - set up and payoff.

Barbarian plays out its suspense with such skill that the movie is extremely tense but is consistently hilarious - without ever feeling like it is deflating the characters’ peril. 

My audience was gasping and laughing throughout. 

Hilarious, disturbing and tense, Barbarian is a great movie.

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