The Bad Guys 2 - Review: Bigger and Badder

 

DreamWorks’ last adventure with the anthropomorphic bunch of criminals-turned-heroes known as The Bad Guys hit theatres in 2022 and proved to be a great time, adding another notch to the studio’s growing belt of franchises. Now director Pierre Perifel and co-writer Etan Cohen (“Tropic Thunder,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”) return, joined by co-writer Yoni Brenner (“Rio 2,” “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”), to this team of lovable furry antiheroes returns with a sequel that’s bigger, badder, and choked full of even more stylish animation, heist sequences, and celebrity voice talent.

The sequel follows the titular group reformed thieves made up of Mr. Wolf, played by Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Galaxy Quest”), Mr. Snake, played by Marc Maron (“Maron,” “GLOW”), Mr. Shark, played by Craig Robinson (“Hot Tub Time Machine,” “The Office”), Mr. Piranha, played by Anthony Ramos (“Twisters,” “In the Heights”), and Ms. Tarantula, played by Awkwafina (“Crazy Rich Asians,” “The Farewell”), as they struggle to prove their goodness to the distrusting population as well as the Governer Diane Foxington, played by Zazie Beetz (“Deadpool 2,” “Joker”), and police commissioner Misty Luggins, played by Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Family Guy”). Things are further complicated when they become entangled with a trio of criminals, Kitty Kat, played by Danielle Brooks (“Orange is the New Black,” “A Minecraft Movie”), Doom, played by Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face,” “But I’m a Cheerleader”), and Pigtail, played by Maria Bakalova (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies”), who blackmail them into performing one last heist.

Perifel, Cohen, and Brenner keep the same kind of freewheeling, charismatic comedy that helped the first film make an impact amongst DreamWorks’ other animated fare. Each moment in the film feels as though it moves with a kind of energy and attitude only comparable to the likes of the “Oceans” trilogy or other heist films of the genre. This sequel does lose some of its simplicity in the third act though, as the film feels the need to go bigger for this second adventure. It’s still a delight, and the first film also went big in its third act as well, but it robs the tale of the kind of simplicity that it had to begin with.

The vocal cast is as stellar as they were the first time around. Each performer in the titular Bad Guys are simply a ton of fun, and they have a genuine comradery and sense of banter that make their misfit family relationship immediately believable. The newcomers are also just as great: Bakalova has a big warm-hearted sense of silliness in her role, and Lyonne’s trademark raspy voice gives her character an immediate sense of coolness before she’s even done anything. Brooks, like Rockwell, has the sort of air about her that makes what could have been a paycheck role something a bit more. Like the best animated voices, even those not from career voice actors, she sinks her teeth into it and really runs away with the character.

As before, the animation is completely stellar, arguably becoming the sole reason to see the film. It feels a hair more expressive and colorful than the first film, which was already a step above in that regard. An early sequence focusing on Neon colors stands apart, and each moment is propped up by the film’s expressive use of impact bursts, speed lines, and other hand-drawn effects to accentuate the 3D animation work. It might not be as daring and experimental as the “Spider-Verse” films or even DreamWorks’ own “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” but it's still a great bit of slick, cool, sly animation thievery. Daniel Pemberton (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7”) returns for the musical score as well and, like the animation, it works with the same building blocks while elevating them slightly, going bigger and brasher than before.

“The Bad Guys 2” is more of what came before and, like its titular newly reformed group, that’s not at all a bad thing. It takes the same slick animation, now bolstered by some even more polished work, a great script and talented voice cast and delivers another adventure that slots right alongside the first film. It doesn’t seek to reinvent the formula or world established from the first, but it does plenty well and manages to run away with 100 minutes of your time, and you’ll be none the wiser. 4/5

The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Review: Welcome to the Family

 

Long before the Marvel Cinematic Universe was even a twinkle in executives’ eyes, there have been “Fantastic Four” adaptations. From Saturday morning cartoons to films made by B-movie kings just to keep the rights, Marvel’s first family remains one of the most long-standing and well-known creations in comic-book history. Even if you’ve never read a comic or seen one of their previous works, you know this foursome. Now, after various studio issues and rights changes, this iconic group is finally joining the MCU in their own special, cosmic, and gloriously dated way.

Set in a retro-futuristic 1960s styled alternate universe, the film follows the titular group, made up of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), played by Pedro Pascal (“Narcos,” “The Last of Us (2023)”), Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), played by Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces of a Woman,” “The Crown”), Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), played by Joseph Quinn (“Stranger Things,” “A Quiet Place: Day One”), and Ben Grimm (The Thing), played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach ( “The Bear,” “Girls”). The quartet, assisted by their robotic companion HERBIE, must contend with a new threat from space in the form of the planet eating being Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson (“The Witch,” “The Green Knight”), and his servant Shalla-Bal, the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner (“Ozark,” “Inventing Anna”).

From the moment this film was announced, the most eye-catching aspect has been the distinct visual stylings set up in this “Jetsons”-esque vision of the Four’s alternate universe. The adventure is full of bright colors, blues, and whites, punctuated by a warped sense of technology that feels both as futuristic as “Iron Man” with the sensibilities of “Leave It to Beaver.” This isn’t just surface level either, as the entire film never lets up from that visual touch. Even when venturing beyond Earth, things still maintain an overly designed level of hyper-detail that makes everything flow together. The costumes make fantastic use of the color-palette and reotr-styling, but Galactus is the visual standout, both in costume and overall visual design. Michael Giacchino’s (“The Incredibles,” “Up”) score is just as buoyant and airy as well, with the music and even instruments used feeling plucked directly out of the 1960s itself.

Matt Shakman (“WandaVision,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) makes his feature directorial debut here after a long career of television directing, and his experience with ensemble works is used here expertly. The scenes with the central foursome are all fantastic, and their individual moments to shine are also great. Johnny particularly gets some excellent moments that far outshine his previous film appearances, and anytime the group is simply together, no matter the context, they excel. Pascal is working his expected level of charm, with a lot clearly going on in his elastic genius’s mind. Moss-Bachrach is a fantastic Ben Grimm, channeling the charm and gruff but calm enforcer attitude required of the character. Kirby is turning in some fantastic work here, making Sue not only the center of the film but the best performed role out of the main four. Most surprisingly, the standouts come from Quinn as Johnny and Garner as the Surfer.

Quinn’s performance adds far more nuance to Johnny than we’ve ever seen before and his every scene with Garner is fantastic. They have a chemistry that lights up the film and their subplot is one of the most interesting things about the film. The film’s script, written by Eric Pearson (“Thor: Ragnarok,” “Godzilla vs. Kong”), Jeff Kaplan (“The Last of the Great Romantics,” “Bert and Annie’s Guide to Friendship”), Ian Springer (“The Last of the Great Romantics,” “Bert and Annie’s Guide to Friendship”), Kat Wood, and Josh Friedman (“War of the Worlds (2005),” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes”), manages to keep a great balance between the typical superhero fare and the family dynamic that makes the Four stand out. The focus does lean more towards Sue, Johnny, and the Surfer, but each character gets plenty of great moments to shine on their own and as a part of the group. The film’s second and third acts are borderline perfectly paced and exceptionally fun, keeping the film’s drama and excitement in equal measure. The first act is far more jumbled and awkwardly paced, and the rest of the cast outside of the Four, Surfer, and Galactus suffers from having their scenes cut to ribbons.

Natasha Lyonne (“Poker Face,” “But I’m a Cheerleader...”) shows up as Rachel, a schoolteacher who is friends with Ben, and Paul Walter Hauser (“Black Bird,” “Richard Jewell”) plays the classic Fantastic Four villain Mole Man, but neither gets a ton of room to work. Their scenes have either been almost completely cut in the editing room or just never existed to begin with. Hauser gets far more to work with than Lyonne, who is on screen for no longer than one or two minutes at most. While their characters get almost cut out of the film, numerous other scenes have bizarre editing issues. It’s not continuity or logical errors, rather there are a handful of scenes that feel like they are either cut off or begin late. It’s an ironic issue given that most modern superhero films are criticized for being far too long, but here things are so much fun and the world is so wonderful, that those shortened scenes hurt because you just want to spend more time in this tale.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is the best Fantastic Four movie by a wide margin, though that isn’t saying much. What is saying a lot is that the film itself manages to be a buoyant, lighthearted, retro tinged affair drenched in a wonderful visual design and central set of characters that makes this one of the most fun Marvel features to date. Kirby is a commanding powerhouse, and the entire cast is fantastic. It’s a shame that the film seems to be almost self-consciously cutting its supporting cast and so many scenes short just to keep the runtime under two hours. When a modern superhero film can be called a movie that you wish you had more of, you know that’s when it's truly something fantastic. 4/5

Superman (2025) - Review: A New Hope

 

In all the marketing leading up to the release of writer/director James Gunn’s (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” “The Suicide Squad”) “Superman” film, the first in a new cinematic universe for DC and Warner Bros., there has been heavy use of John Williams’s theme from the 1978 “Superman” film. While some could view this as a nostalgic ploy, in reality it seems to have been something much different. While nostalgia may be an element, it's clear that the use of that music was a sign more than anything; a signal that this new version of the Kryptonian and this latest film is far closer to Christopher Reeves’s first adventure in red and blue spandex than we could have thought.

Set three decades after the destruction of Krypton and his arrival on Earth, the film follows the titular Superman, played by David Corenswet (“Pearl,” “The Politician”), as he attempts to balance his desire to help humanity with increasing efforts from Lex Luthor, played by Nicholas Hoult (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Nosferatu”), to turn public opinion against him. Meanwhile, he attempts to keep his relationships with fellow Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane, played by Rachel Brosnan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “I’m Your Woman”), photographer Jimmy Olsen, played by Skyler Gisondo (“Licorice Pizza,” “Booksmart”), and the budding Justice Gang made up of Green Lantern corps member Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific, played by Nathan Fillion (“Firefly,” “The Rookie”), Isabela Merced (“Instant Family,” “Dora and the Lost City of Gold”), and Edi Gathegi (“X-Men: First Class,” “The Harder They Fall”), respectively. Oh, and also there’s Supe’s beloved mangy superpowered dog, Krypto.

Gunn’s vision of this new universe is immediately refreshing for numerous reasons, but the best of them is the immediacy. He understands that we know who Clark, Lex, Lois, and the rest of the gang are. We don’t need to see the death of Krypton all over again, and it means that the film we get has a greater sense of momentum right away. We can just jump straight into a tale virtually while its being told, and it makes for a more interesting story as a result. We’re forced to piece together the reality of these characters and their world, allowing us to engage with the material more easily. It also means that, put simply, Gunn can use some of the more fun elements of this world and these characters that require those built out relationships from the start.

Corenswet simply fades into the role, keeping the bright, cheery persona of the son of Krypton present, but allowing a more frustrated and emotional side to shine through. He’s a delight, and there’s a physicality and expressiveness in the action sequences that feel particularly bright as well. He has an almost cartoonish ability to seem like an impenetrable wall while also maintaining a lightness that makes you believe he cares enough to prevent a stray dog from being crushed by a building. His chemistry with Brosnan is excellent as well, and a scene between the pair of them involving an impromptu interview is one of the best in the entire film. Brosnan’s charm and attitude makes her Lois a fantastic one, and she slots right into a modern-day version of the character without losing any of her 60s go-getter charm.

The Justice Gang are an excellent bunch of cohorts to play off of Superman, given their markedly different position compared to him, and the trio of actors are excellent portrayals of them. Fillion and Merced are great, so much so that it’s disappointing they aren’t used more than they are. Gathegi completely steals the show as Mr. Terrific, full of quips and brutal smarts that means he continues Gunn’s streak of turning lesser known characters into fan favorites. Like Gathegi, Hoult is an absolute scene stealer and arguably the highlight of a film full of highlights. He makes Lex a refreshingly simply villain, someone you love to hate and who hates just because he can. There’s clearly a complexity under the surface, but he relishes playing him as a cut and dry villain with glee.

Despite having plenty going on and a game cast here to do it all, the biggest weakness of Gunn’s film is just having so much going on. It isn’t that it all feels overstuffed, as the runtime and pacing are remarkably smooth for a modern blockbuster. Rather Gunn has written himself a double-edged sword: his characters are written in such a charming way that the handful that don’t get as much screen time sting more. You want to spend more time with them simply because they come off so well. It’s not hard to see a version of the film with an extra half-hour added on simply to spend more time with Gisondo, Merced, Fillion, or other characters like Pruitt Taylor Vince (“Lady in the Lake,” “Gotti”) and Neva Howell (“Ghosts of the Ozark”) as Ma and Pa Kent, respectively, Wendell Pierce (“The Wire,” “Selma”) as Daily Planet editor Perry White, or Sara Sampaio as surprise comedic standout Eve Teschmacher, the on-and-off girlfriend of Lex Luthor.

Those characters don’t feel as though they’ve been given less time as an excuse for future installments however. Gunn’s script keeps making sure everyone ties back around to Superman’s own arc. It all comes back to Supes, and it's a remarkably focused film in that way. However, that doesn’t mean things don’t get to be just as rollicking and fun as an episode of the titular hero’s early-2000s animated television series. The gorgeous locals pop with candy-colored glee, and nothing feels drab. It’s colorful without being garish, and the entire film is lit with almost hyper realism. It feels like a living comic book in the best possible way, shot with varying calmness and excited glee by cinematographer Henry Braham (“The Suicide Squad,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”). Even the action sequences seem to be ripped straight from the thin pages of a monthly serial, with an elasticity and buoyancy that’s fitting of the superhuman nature of its lead. All the while, John Murphy (“28 Days Later,” “The Suicide Squad”) and David Fleming’s (“The Last of Us (2023),” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)”) score rocks along with equal parts emotional strings and shredding guitars.

What’s most interesting is that, in a Hollywood film which is meant to be the launching point of a brand-new cinematic universe, with hundreds of millions of marketing dollars pumped into it, and utilizing one of the most recognizable characters in media history, Gunn has somehow gotten away with making an exceptionally politically minded film. Plain and simple, there are pertent themes and identifiers that make this a Superman film for this exact moment, and it doesn’t appear that any of this was reined in by executives. It becomes a refreshingly honest piece of media and makes those themes stick even more than they would if Gunn had decided to dance around it all. He seems to remember that, regardless of whether the viewer is a child or an adult, the audience doesn’t like being talked down to and can recognize themes like this if they’re handled correctly. The material doesn’t dampen the morals or empathy or hope that sits at the core of the film or Superman’s character either. Rather it enhances it and makes it that much stronger, like a sweet piece of candy at the end of a long and savory meal.

Those added themes and effort to make it more than just surface level heroism speak to the extra effort Gunn puts into his projects that makes them that much better. It isn’t just that Clark and Lois’s romance is present; it's that it feels romantic and real. It isn’t just that Superman has that sense of duty and hope; it’s that it feels earnest and real. It can be easy to throw these characters on screen and call it a day, for someone to say, “I put a man in red and blue spandex and made him fly, isn’t that enough?” And for a cursory glance with half attention paid on a cable channel on a Tuesday evening, maybe that is enough. But Gunn knows that to most, these characters are real. Putting that effort in, even if the film as a result might feel like it's bursting at the seams, is the right thing to do. It feels real.

There’s a phrase that’s come about recently to describe a subgenre of media that, while it’s always existed, has become more prevalent in recent years. “Hopepunk” has been used to describe works as recent as “Free Guy,” “Wall-E,” “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and “Isle of Dogs” and as timeless as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars.” The idea that, against radical violence and hate, sometimes hope is the punk rock response. James Gunn’s “Superman is, if nothing else, the perfect embodiment of this. It doesn’t wear its heart on its sleeve so much as it has armor made of it. The film’s central message of hope and empathy beats true throughout a fun and fantastic adventure that keeps things just campy enough without sacrificing any sense of self-seriousness. Corenswet is a perfect Clark and a better Superman, and Gunn’s entire ensemble is electric. The script is packed tight with nuance and timely themes that nevertheless feel right out of the golden age of Superman’s best comic book years. There’s a lot here, maybe too much, but it's clear that every character, moment, and fight are there for one reason: to further Superman’s arc and journey. You will believe a man can fly. 5/5

Jurassic World: Rebirth - Review: New Age, Same Stuff

 

It’s hard to believe but there was a period where, like other classic blockbuster franchises, we didn’t have a “Jurassic Park” movie every few years. But ever since “Jurassic World” stomped into theaters back in 2015 with a record-breaking global opening weekend of over $500 million, Universal has been dead set on making sure this series continues on no matter what. And after 2022’s lucrative dud “Jurassic World: Dominion,” they’ve returned to the well with an all-new cast and an all-too familiar premise with “Jurassic World: Rebirth.”

Set over a decade after the events of “Jurassic World” and well into the time when dinosaurs have begun to re-roam the Earth again, the film follows covert ops expert Zora Bennett, played by Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story,” “Jojo Rabbit”), as she’s recruited by pharmaceutical exec Martin Krebs, played by Rupert Friend (“Pride & Prejudice (2005),” “Anatomy of a Scandal”), to lead a secret mission to Ile Saint-Hubert to extract the DNA from three living dinosaurs to synthesize into a drug to prevent heart disease. Her team consists of nerdy paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, played by Jonathan Bailey (“Bridgerton,” “Wicked (2024)”) and team leader Duncan Kincaid, played by Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight,” “Green Book”). While on the island, they also run into a shipwrecked family consisting of father Reuben, played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (“A Man Called Otto,” “The Magnificent Seven (2016)”), his daughters Teresa and Isabella, played by Luna Blaise (“Manifest,” “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe”) and Audrina Miranda respectively, and Teresa’s boyfriend Xavier, played by David Iacono (“The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “Dead Boy Detectives”).

Given his experience playing with large scales in previous works, it's no surprise that director Gareth Edwards (“The Creator,” “Rogue One”) has an excellent handle on the chaos as it unfolds in this tale. His film has a very clear-sighted vision, ditching any semblance of shaky-cam effects or muddied action. It’s a gorgeously shot film as well, that plays with camera angles in plenty of ways that would make Spielberg proud. The musical score from Alexandre Desplat (“Little Women (2019),” “Fantastic Mr. Fox”) maintains a playful tone, mixing in well-trodden themes from previous “Park” films while still mixing in new material throughout.

Davis Koepp’s (“Spider-Man (2002),” “Jurassic Park”) script, meanwhile, is a less than excellent affair. While the moment-to-moment dialogue is fine enough, with a handful of clunkers thrown in, the overall plotting is nothing the series hasn’t seen before. It’s fine enough, but it feels as though it’s a stitched together movie made from chunks of previous films. It doesn’t mean they don’t work, but there’s a pervasive feeling of deja vu throughout the whole picture. Johansson is great, but feels like a female version of Chris Pratt’s character. Ali is great, but he feels like a slightly more sane version of Bob Peck’s character from the original film. Bailey is one of the film’s largest saving graces; his charism and genuine interest in the dinos and material shine through and deliver one of the best characters in the series. But at the same time, there are clear and obvious shades of both Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler in his character that are hard to overlook.

Worse than that, the family sharing the film’s spotlight are unfortunately just plain boring. Anytime the film cuts away from the main team to them, the tension dissipates, and their scenes feel as though they have zero consequence on the overall plot. They’re performed fine enough, and Garcia-Rulfo is doing some great work with a fairly generic character, but so much of their screen time is spent wondering what the other, more interesting and complex characters are up to. 

But does any of this really matter? This is, at the end of the day, another “Jurassic World” movie. If it delivers the dinos, then the audience will come, and they’ll enjoy it. There is certainly fun to be had as the film does deliver the goods. A moment in the middle of the film involving Bailey’s character and a Titanosaur is moving and wonderful. The entire last thirty minutes inside of an abandoned company town are a lot of fun. But it's all grizzly, bloody, mean fun. The whimsy of the original film and even the first “World” film are completely gone. The fun of the parks and seeing humans interact with dinosaurs is completely absent, save for the one scene with Bailey. The dinosaurs are also borderline alien at this point, with most being bizarre hodgepodges waved off as “mutations” without their own names. It just feels disheartening to see a series that used to be about science gone wrong combined with the joy of the Jurassic age turned into a glorified kaiju film series.

This latest film opens with some text describing a world “disillusioned with dinosaurs” and it feels as though the filmmakers are as well. “Jurassic World: Rebirth” is a film that can’t be called bad, but nothing about it stands apart. Koepp’s script is a stitched together combination of various other elements from other films in the series with a boring familial subplot for good measure. The technical elements are great, and Edwards clearly has a directorial passion that equals that of Bailey’s excellent character. But for a series that started with one of the greatest blockbusters of all time, it's disheartening to see it come to this. It is still a massive step up from “Dominion,” but the film executives were so concerned with whether or not they could keep the series going, they never stopped to think if they should. 2.5/5