Cruella (2021) review

We’ve seen plenty of iconic Disney villains throughout the studio’s extensive filmography, and yet, there are arguably none who are more famous than the villainess of Disney Animation’s 1961 outing, One Hundred and One Dalmatians: the fashion-obsessed heiress turned sinister dognapper Cruella de Vil. Ever since the original film’s release, Cruella has been regarded as one of the most famous villains in cinematic history and this status was thoroughly maintained in 1996 when 101 Dalmatians became one of the first Disney animated films to get a live-action remake. In said film, Cruella was portrayed by the legendary Glenn Close, and while the film itself wasn’t as well-received as its animated counterpart, Close’s performance was widely regarded as its greatest highlight, promptly earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical. She then proceeded to reprise the role in the film’s 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians, and while that would basically be it for the 101 Dalmatians live-action film franchise at the time, plans were set into place for a prequel film based entirely around Cruella herself in 2013. And while this did mean that Close wasn’t going to be reprising her iconic role, she still ended up being involved with the project as an executive producer. Thus, Emma Stone took on the role for this new film, which is the latest from director Craig Gillespie who, like previous directors of the live-action 101 Dalmatians films (Stephen Herek and Kevin Lima), has done a bunch of films for Disney in the past such as 2014’s Million Dollar Arm and 2016’s The Finest Hours. And thanks to his strong direction and a top-notch lead performance from Emma Stone, Cruella is a strikingly stylish and edgy new take on the story of its titular villainess.

Growing up, Estella Miller (Emma Stone) was known for being quite the troublemaker which, in her eyes, may have made her responsible for the death of her mother Catherine (Emily Beecham) at a luxurious party hosted by ‘The Baroness’ (Emma Thompson), the owner of one of the top fashion houses in London. Now orphaned, Estella ends up taking on a life of thievery alongside her newfound friends, Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser) Badun. Eventually, her creative sensibilities manage to attract the attention of the Baroness, who promptly hires her as one of her new designers. But while Estella steadily works her way up into being one of the Baroness’ key assistants, she soon discovers that the Baroness has come into possession of a necklace that had been given to her by her mother but had been lost on the night of her death. Now realizing that the Baroness was the one responsible for her mother’s death, Estella, with the aid of Horace and Jasper, promptly embarks on a plot of revenge. Adopting an old persona of hers from childhood, she becomes the rebellious Cruella de Vil and begins to pull off a series of publicity stunts to one-up the Baroness, thus locking the two of them into an intense rivalry that only proceeds to get more complicated once Estella uncovers the Baroness’ darkest secret.

Cruella very much follows in the footsteps of 2014’s Maleficent by presenting a story where the main antagonist of one of Disney’s classic animated films is portrayed in a more sympathetic light as they enact their revenge against those who wronged them. Granted, it’s not like the film makes her a full-on protagonist or anything; in fact, I’d even argue that this one gives its title character more opportunities to be a devious renegade. But overall, the version of Cruella seen in this film doesn’t seem like she’s destined to become as villainous as she’s known for being in other films. Thus, just like Maleficent, I think it’s safe to say that this take on the character hasn’t gone over well with everybody, namely due to the attempt of trying to humanize a character who, at least in other films, wanted to kidnap puppies and kill them for their coats. However, given the context of how this story plays out, it isn’t too big of an issue in the long run because turning Cruella into a rebellious antihero fits perfectly with this story’s 1970’s London setting. And thanks to Craig Gillespie's visually-driven direction, the film excellently captures the punk rock aesthetic of the time, which is only strengthened further by other great elements such as the incredible costume design done by two-time Oscar winner Jenny Beavan and a rocking soundtrack full of classic tunes. Really, the only things that hold this film back are relatively minor at best such as it being perhaps a bit overlong at a little over two hours and some rather predictable final plot twists that reveal the true connection between Cruella and the Baroness.

As noted in the intro, Glenn Close’s performance as Cruella in the 1996 live-action 101 Dalmatians film and its 2000 sequel, 102 Dalmatians, is so iconic that she’s arguably the definitive incarnation of the character for at least one or two generations. As such, one can only imagine the pressure that Emma Stone was under to deliver a version of the character that was just as memorable by comparison… and yet, she fully succeeds in doing so thanks in large part to her indisputable on-screen charisma. She also works incredibly well with Emma Thompson, who basically serves as this film’s version of the kind of villain that Cruella is in other films as the Baroness, a role that Thompson gleefully revels in. And really, it’s simply a delight to see these two go to war with one another over the course of the film’s proceedings. The two Emmas are then backed by some terrific supporting turns from Joel Fry and Paul Walter Hauser as Cruella’s famously bumbling sidekicks, Jasper and Horace. The laid-back persona that Fry brings to Jasper makes him the most grounded member of the group and the one who keeps Cruella from going too far with her actions while Paul Walter Hauser, as is basically expected from him at this point, makes Horace one of the film’s best sources of comedic relief. And while they admittedly don’t have as much to work with by comparison, Mark Strong and Kirby Howell-Baptiste turn in solid work as well as John, the Baroness’ valet, and this film’s interpretation of the 101 Dalmatians franchise’s primary matriarch, Anita Darling.  

As we conclude this review, I should probably preface this final section of it by admitting that, regardless of my overall thoughts on the film, Cruella will always be in my good graces since it was the first film that I was able to see in a theatrical setting in more than a year after everything that happened due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, though, this is not just a case where I’m simply being sentimental about how I first viewed it as the film itself is a highly entertaining comedic crime adventure that prides itself on its incredibly stylish visuals and costuming and then proceeds to back it all up with a genuinely unique way of reimagining the story of one of Disney’s most iconic antagonists. Sure, it may go against the traditional ways in which Cruella de Vil has been portrayed on film before, but thanks to Emma Stone’s outstanding performance in the title role (not to mention an equally terrific supporting cast), it still works in a way that doesn’t end up betraying the source material. Simply put, the enthusiasm that the cast and crew clearly must have had for this material couldn’t be more apparent in a film that also manages to have the kind of edge to it that you normally wouldn’t get from a Disney production. With all that in mind, it’s easy to see why this has managed to be the very definition of a crowd-pleaser that was recently confirmed to be getting a sequel. And while it’s currently unclear as to what route it’ll end up taking, perhaps they can go with the suggestion that was made during an interview that the two Emmas had with Rotten Tomatoes and make it a Godfather II-style prequel/sequel that could potentially see Glenn Close returning to play an older Cruella.

Rating: 4.5/5

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Shazam (2019) review

Over the years, there have been several instances of two films that end up getting released in the same year while also sharing the same general premise (e.g. when two insect-themed films were released in 1998, Pixar’s A Bug’s Life and DreamWorks’ Antz). This year sees a situation that’s sort of like that… but only in the sense that we have two superhero films that are based on characters who’ve notably shared the same name, Captain Marvel. Now when that title comes to mind, most would probably think of Marvel’s badass heroine who recently had her excellent feature film debut last month courtesy of the MCU. And yet, some may be surprised to learn that Carol Danvers wasn’t the first to be called ‘Captain Marvel’. Instead, that honor goes to a character from, believe it or not, DC Comics known as Shazam. However, the adventures of a young Billy Batson technically didn’t start at DC. Instead, it was through a different publisher, Fawcett Comics. This Captain Marvel was created in 1939 by artist C.C. Beck and writer Bill Parker and officially made his comics debut in 1940 in issue 2 of Fawcett’s Whiz Comics series. Over the next few years, Captain Marvel would end up becoming the most popular superhero of the Golden Age of Comics to the point where he even managed to outsell the Man of Steel himself, Superman. However, because DC (then known as National Comics) believed that the character was a rip-off of their iconic hero, they ended up suing Fawcett for copyright infringement in 1941, with Fawcett being forced to discontinue their superhero titles in 1953 after more than a decade of litigation. DC would eventually purchase Captain Marvel’s character rights in 1972 and immediately began to incorporate the character into the DC universe.

However, by that point, Marvel had already established their own Captain Marvel in 1967, thus resulting in DC having to rename the character Shazam, which is an acronym combining the names of the six immortal beings that his powers are based on. This includes the Wisdom of Solomon, the Strength of Hercules, the Stamina of Atlas, the Power of Zeus, the Courage of Achilles, and the Speed of Mercury. But now we come to the character’s big feature film debut (that is if you don’t count the 1941 12-part serial Adventures of Captain Marvel) in the seventh official installment of the DC Extended Universe. It’s worth noting, though, that plans for a Shazam film have been in the works since the early 2000s with the likes of William Goldman, John August, and DC’s own Geoff Johns working on the script at various points in time. For the longest time, it was reported that Dwayne Johnson would star in the film as Shazam’s most iconic adversary, Black Adam. Ultimately, though, Johnson decided that it’d be better to have Black Adam debut in his own solo film that’s currently in development at the time of this review’s publication, although he’s still attached to this project as an executive producer via his production company Seven Bucks. Shazam officially headed into production in 2017 under the direction of David F. Sandberg, who’s had two big hits with Warner Bros. thanks to his work on 2016’s Lights Out and the 2017 Conjuring spin-off Annabelle: Creation. Zachary Levi, meanwhile, took on the title role of Shazam after notably playing a minor supporting role in the MCU as Warriors Three member Fandral in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarök. What follows is a highly entertaining superhero flick that basically serves as an antithesis of the early DC Extended Universe films (save for Wonder Woman, of course).

For much of his life, orphan Billy Batson (Asher Angel) has run away from the various foster homes that he’s been sent to after being separated from his mother at a young age. After another failed attempt at trying to find his mom, he ends up being sent to a foster home run by Victor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa (Marta Milans) Vazquez in Philadelphia. There, he becomes the roommate of Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer), a paraplegic who’s also a huge fan of superheroes. And after saving Freddy from some bullies at school, Billy finds himself transported to another realm while on the run from the bullies. There, he comes across an ancient wizard named Shazam (Djimon Hounsou, in what is notably his second role in a DCEU film after playing the Fishermen King in Aquaman… not to mention the fact that he also appeared in this year’s other Captain Marvel film) who chooses him to be his new champion. Thus, whenever he utters the name ‘Shazam’, Billy is instantly transformed into an adult superhero (Zachary Levi) blessed with the wizard’s powers… the only problem, however, is that he’s totally clueless about how to be a superhero. As a result, he turns to his new foster brother Freddy, who helps him conduct various experiments to test out the powers that he now possesses. In the process, however, Billy ends up getting confronted by a dangerous adversary in the form of physicist Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong), who had a run-in with the ancient wizard Shazam himself when he was a kid. After being rejected by the wizard for being easily corrupted by the demonic creatures that Shazam has been watching over, the Seven Deadly Sins, Sivana unleashes the Sins from their imprisonment so that they can wreak havoc upon the world.

It can very well be argued that Shazam is the most light-hearted installment to date of the DC Extended Universe. Instead of focusing on a dark and intense superhero-related struggle a la Batman v Superman, this film is basically the superhero equivalent of the 1988 classic Big right down to it making a direct reference to that film. However, there are also some incredibly dark moments in this film that are practically straight out of a horror film, and while this is probably not that surprising considering director David F. Sandberg’s previous films, it’s still kind of jarring, nevertheless, given the film’s generally light-hearted premise. Thankfully, though, this isn’t the case for the entire film, even when taking the main antagonist’s demonic henchmen into account, as it gets the darkest moments out of the way in the first half-hour. Once it properly gets into the main plot of Billy and Freddy testing out the former’s newfound powers as the mighty Shazam, that’s where the film really shines. The humor is on point throughout and everything’s tied together by a strong emotional hook that does an excellent job of showcasing the arc that Billy Batson goes through as the DCEU’s newest hero. After he starts out by doing things that any kid his age would do if they were given superpowers, he slowly but surely begins to learn what it truly means to be a hero while also learning the truth about why he got separated from his mom which, simply put, paves the way for the film’s most gut-wrenching emotional moment.

As noted in the intro, Shazam sees Zachary Levi transition from his minor supporting role in the MCU to a starring role in the DCEU. And because the role of Shazam is a perfect fit for his comedic sensibilities, Levi kills it in the role. Asher Angel, meanwhile, does a very nice job handling the character’s emotional arc whenever Billy’s just his normal self. And to close out this film’s excellent lead trio, Jack Dylan Grazer has wonderful camaraderie with both Angel and Levi while also contributing to plenty of the film’s best humorous moments as superhero fanboy Freddy Freeman (“You have bullet immunity!”). But the three of them are then backed by a solid supporting cast which is highlighted by Billy and Freddy’s foster siblings, consisting of college-bound Mary (Grace Fulton), tech-savvy Eugene (Ian Chen), introvert Pedro (Jovan Armand), and the adorable Darla (Faithe Herman, who’s easily the standout of the bunch). While the film obviously doesn’t focus on them as much as Billy and Freddy, they do contribute nicely to the plot and it all leads to a very satisfying payoff at the end. And finally, this film boasts one of the DCEU’s best villains to date in Mark Strong’s Dr. Sivana. While I’m aware that some people feel that Strong is perhaps a bit miscast as a character who’s meant to be a lot more diminutive in stature, he still does a fantastic job with Sivana’s backstory, which establishes him as someone who’s always been tormented by others (even his loved ones) for being a weakling. It’s also nice to see Strong finally get the chance to play a properly-developed supervillain role after his turn as Sinestro in the disastrous adaptation of Green Lantern ultimately didn’t go anywhere.     

  

A lot has been said about the DC Extended Universe’s struggles to match the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it comes to quality outings. Whereas Marvel took its time to properly set up its characters before bringing them all together in one film, DC rushed into the situation with films that were seemingly more intent on having their characters do cool stuff rather than being given any sort of legitimate character development. Thankfully, though, it seems like DC is starting to realize that these films work a lot better the other way around. Wonder Woman kept the franchise from going under, Aquaman did the same to the point where it shocked everyone by becoming the highest-grossing DC film to date, and now the DC Extended Universe has been granted its finest installment yet, Shazam. Sure, it’s not the most visually-stunning installment of the franchise, but it more than makes up for it with a strong narrative, layered characters, great humor, and fun action sequences. In other words, one could say that Shazam is the closest that the DCEU has ever gotten to making an MCU film. And while I know that this will piss off some of the hardcore parts of the DCEU fandom who are still lamenting the downfall of Zack Snyder’s ambitious plans for the franchise, it just goes to show why the franchise has been doing a lot better without him. Both Wonder Woman and Aquaman could be described as cases of ‘course correction’ because they took characters who were underdeveloped in Snyder’s films and properly fleshed them out. And as for Shazam, it’s basically the exact opposite of a Snyder-directed DCEU film by being a character-driven film first instead of a visually driven one. Simply put, this is what DC and Warner Bros. should’ve been doing all along with the DCEU.

Rating: 5/5!

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) - Quick Review

I apologize, folks, for both the lateness and brevity of this post, but due to unexpected technical difficulties that have prevented me from accessing the review that I was working on for this film, I decided to just do a short review for it instead so that I could get it out at a reasonable time. With that said, let’s delve into Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the highly-anticipated follow-up to director Matthew Vaughn’s 2015 effort, Kingsman: The Secret Service. In a year that saw the release of several spy-themed films, including the latest installments of the Mission: Impossible and James Bond franchises, this adaptation of comic book writer Mark Millar’s 2012 comic series of the same name managed to stand out amongst its peers thanks to its thrilling action sequences and a great origin story for its likable main protagonist, Eggsy. The same strengths apply to this new film as well, which does up the ante in terms of the ludicrous but still all-around entertaining action sequences. As was the case with the first film, though, the extreme brutality of some of these sequences may prove to be a bit much for some. However, also like its predecessor, the film manages to temper this thanks to some great character development for Eggsy, who’s once again played excellently by Taron Egerton, and his two main allies, Harry Hart and Merlin. Yes, as seen in the trailers, Colin Firth returns as Harry after his presumed death in the previous film, and for what it’s worth, the way in which this film explains his return does make sense in the context of this universe. Plus, Harry’s ‘road to recovery’ is handled greatly thanks to both the writing and Firth’s performance. Closing out the main trio is Kingsman tech guru Merlin, played by Matthew Vaughn regular Mark Strong, who also gets some great character moments as well.

Now, with all that said, that doesn’t necessarily mean that this film is ‘perfect’. Despite the addition of the Kingsman’s American cousins, the Statesman, most of the new characters in this film don’t exactly get much to work with (e.g. even though he appears prominently in the trailers, Channing Tatum’s Agent Tequila is basically just a ‘cameo’ role). The film also boasts a longer runtime than its predecessor, meaning that some scenes do drag a bit. And it could even be argued that this film’s plot doesn’t do much different compared to the first film, as there are some noticeable similarities between the two. Still, what’s not to love about a film that opens with a car chase set to Prince’s ‘Let’s Go Crazy’, concludes with an epic shoot-out set to Elton John’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’, and features the Rocket Man himself in one of the most epic cameos in recent memory. In short, this film reminds me a lot of another sequel that came out this year, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Both films were entertaining follow-ups to their excellent predecessors but were also deemed by most critics as being ‘inferior’ to them. And yet, like Guardians 2, I find that I kind of like this film more than the first Kingsman. Obviously, I’m going to have to see this film again to see if this truly ends up being the case but, suffice it to say, after the crap that I had to put up with last week thanks to a film that shall not be named, Kingsman: The Golden Circle was exactly the ‘pick-me-up’ that I needed.

Rating: 5/5!

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) review

I’m a big fan of the James Bond franchise and in 2006, the 21^st entry of that prestigious film series, ‘Casino Royale’ was released in theaters. But this one was much different than the Bond films that came before it and there was a fairly good reason for this as the producers decided to reboot the series after the previous film, 2002’s ‘Die Another Day’, was criticized for being way too campy. So as a result, they decided to go the route of the recent ‘Bourne’ films and go for a much grittier take on the character and it’s worked out pretty well for the most part. But if you’re one of those people who misses all of those old-school spy movies then I think you’re really going to enjoy ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’, which is based off of the comic book series of the same name (minus the Kingsman part) by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons. This also happens to be the second major film from director Matthew Vaughn to be based on a Millar comic, the other being ‘Kick-Ass’. In the end, ‘Kingsman’ is just as zany and ridiculous as those aforementioned old-school Bond films… and also so damn fun thanks to Vaughn’s excellent direction, a stylish look, and a top notch ensemble cast.

When one of his fellow agents dies during a mission, Kingsman secret agent Harry Hart (Colin Firth) personally visits the agent’s widow and their son, Gary ‘Eggsy’ Unwin. He gives them a medal with a phone number on the back and tells them that, if they ever needed any help, all they had to do was just dial the number on the medal and to use a special message. 17 years later, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is now a juvenile delinquent living with his mom and his abusive stepfather and is constantly getting into trouble with the law. After one arrest, he calls the number on the medal and Hart ends up bailing him out of prison. Eggsy ultimately learns all about the Kingsman and is chosen by Hart as a potential candidate for an open position after another agent is killed during a rescue mission. Eggsy is then enrolled into the training program, which puts him and the other candidates through a series of rigorous tests. While this is going on, technology tycoon Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is developing a series of special SIM cards that, when activated via a special program, sends out a signal that causes all humans to turn violent. Valentine plans to use these cards to wipeout most of the human population in order to keep it from further destroying the Earth, resulting in the Kingsmen having to stop Valentine before his plan can succeed.

I’ll admit that when the first trailer for this film came out, I wasn’t really sure what to think of it. It looked fine enough but at the time nothing about it really stood out to me that much. But then I saw the red-band trailer and that was the one that really clued me in as to what kind of a film this was and that’s why this film is so damn awesome. As I noted in the intro, it can pretty much be described as a love letter to the old-school spy films (e.g. the pre-2006 Bond films) with its over-the-top tone and action sequences of pure insanity. And even with that in mind, the film actually does manage to stay fairly fresh in terms of its writing, spinning some of the old spy film clichés on its head. Sure, the film’s violence can be just a tad bit overly brutal at times but the film maintains a badass and stylish look, similar to Vaughn’s previous film, ‘X-Men: First Class’, which also felt like an old-school Bond film in regards to its tone and atmosphere. The action sequences are excellent and the film is just entertaining from beginning to end, though I must say the film really shines in the finale. Admittedly some of Vaughn’s films have suffered from weak endings; heck, even ‘First Class’s climax, while not bad, wasn’t that memorable either. But this is where the movie really takes off in terms of its over-the-top action, including one of the most memorable explosion sequences of all time.

One of the best parts of this film comes in the form of its stellar ensemble cast, led by Colin Firth in what I’m pretty sure is his first major role in an action film. And I must say that he handles that transition pretty darn well. He more than holds his own in the action sequences while also maintaining a great sense of charm and wit. Arguably even more impressive in this is newcomer Taron Egerton, who also does a great job at conveying a lot of charm and wit. The fact that he manages to hold his own alongside bigger name actors like Michael Caine (who plays the role of the head of the Kingsmen agents, Arthur) and Mark Strong (who plays Merlin, a senior Kingsmen agent) shows that he has a very promising career ahead of him. And then we have Samuel L. Jackson as the main villain Valentine. Admittedly, like how the first trailer didn’t really ‘wow’ me that much, going in I felt that Jackson might actually be the weak link as it looked like he was just acting way too over the top for this role. But of course, knowing what kind of movie this is, it does work and the end result is an incredibly charismatic villain that also has that badass vibe that one can always expect from Mr. Jackson.

‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ is quite frankly one of the coolest action films of the past decade or so. Like with his previous film ‘First Class’, director Matthew Vaughn, who if you ask me at this point can do no wrong given his directorial track record, brings such a stylish look to the film while also giving a nice big old dose of craziness in terms of its story, action sequences, and overall tone and atmosphere. It’s not a spy film in the veins of recent entries of the genre like ‘Bourne’ and the ‘Casino Royale’ era Bond films but in this case that’s a good thing as instead it harkens back to the spy films of old while also managing to keep things fresh for a modern era. Yes, it’s over-the-top and ridiculous compared to the spy films of today but it’s just straight up fun. In short, the end result is easily the first major ‘stand-out’ film of 2015. I know that this weekend a lot of people are going to go see ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ and that it’ll probably be the Number 1 film of the weekend. For the record, I’m not one of those people who complains whenever audiences make a film like that successful because that’s just mean. But in all seriousness folks, believe me when I say that you’re definitely going to be much better off with this movie.

Rating: 4.5/5