Weekly Recap 21 | Cruella, Oxygen, Ragnarok, Spider-Man: Far From Home & more

Welcome to Weekly Recap, a series where I review the films I watched during the week.

Let’s start off this episode with a bang! Cruella is Disney’s latest live action remake, prequel, reboot… thing. Set in 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella (Emma Stone) is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. But Estella’s flair for fashion catches the eye of Baroness von Hellman (Emma Thompson), whose relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the revenge-bent Cruella. You know what, Cruella does start off alright, as the first act or so is actually competently made. But as soon as she takes on the Cruella persona, it’s all downhill from there. The writing is pitiful, with painfully corny dialogue and awfully tiring ‘jokes’ chucked in for a futile attempt to hide the glaringly flawed, clichéd, dreadfully disneyfied plot. There are so many moments I struggled to hold in my laughter, because so much that happens in this film is unimaginably stupid. In fact, Cruella feels uncannily similar to Catwoman – and not in a good way. Emma Stone is also not praise worthy here, because while I understand what she’s trying to do with the character, her performance is so stilted and annoying that it just made the whole experience tremendously hard to watch without sinking into my seat – head in hand. I expect the costume designers to receive several awards though, and good for them as the costumes are most definitely the only aspect of this film worthy of any admiration. But every other element is atrocious, so I really don’t understand the high ratings for this film – nor why I decided to break my Disney boycott just to see this.

Jumping to something completely different now, I watched Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (or at least tried to). In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet mole within his former colleagues at the heart of MI6. This is a strange one, because it’s very well made, with a stellar ensemble cast all turning in excellent performances. But the film is marred by being frankly incomprehensible, slow and drab. There’s either a lot here that is hidden in the layers of a subterfuge so opaque even by the end I’m not clear who knew what or why; or else this is a lot of understated sound and fury about really very little. 

Now for a new release, Dream Horse is the inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes (Toni Collette). This is a very ‘meh’ film, giving me exactly what I expected but nothing more. I only watched this because Euros Lyn directed it, as he was one of the biggest directors for Doctor Who during the RTD era. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to spot quite a few Doctor Who actors in this, including (though probably not limited to) Queen Elizabeth I from The Day of the Doctor, the undertaker in The Unquiet Dead, the cashier in Closing Time, and, of course, the Fifth Doctor himself. Anyway, aside from those nice appearances, there’s not much reason to watch this film. It’s certainly competently made, as it does manage to achieve what it set out to accomplish, but precisely what that is simply isn’t a great deal. Toni Collette gives a good performance – especially since she isn’t actually Welsh – and, despite the overall aesthetic being rather mediocre, there are a couple of gorgeous shots that made me sit up to gaze at them before the colours disappeared back into the usual blandness. This film is honestly fine, and I can even see others feeling more positively about it; Dream Horse just didn’t do anything incredible enough for me so that I could actually like it.

Allow me to interject this recap with my weekly dose of anime – and you can expect a lot more anime in the coming weeks. SSSS.Gridman is a mecha vs kaiju anime with the obligatory inclusion for highschool drama. This one sees a young boy called Yuta being able to enter a computer and reappear as the colossal Gridman, so with help from his friends and some mysterious helpers, they seek to save the city from the terrifying kaijus. Oh, and spoilers ahead, though in short I think it’s at least worth a try, even if I don’t think it’s particularly great. Some interesting concepts are gradually revealed as the show develops from a silly mecha anime to something more profound, but as a whole each episode is rather mediocre. Almost every episode ends in a rushed fight with the OP playing incessantly in the background, and as the fights themselves are lacklustre at best, it becomes tiringly repetitive. The only thing that compelled me to binge the show were the characters, who are fantastic. The strength of this anime definitely lies in the personalities that are developed throughout, with the mysteries being uncovered directly tied to them. Akane’s my favourite character though, as there’s just something so enticing about a god who kills everyone who annoys her but is depressed because she has no friends. Unfortunately, the finale was unable to deliver a satisfying climax, because while I am a fan of having my expectations subverted, in this case the revelation that it was all essentially just a dream felt rather cheap to be perfectly honest. I thought the characters were heading in interesting directions, but all of their growth is annoyingly cut short, undermining the original premise – that I felt was flawed but intriguing – and replacing it with something much less imaginative. And while I understand the reasons for the retro style – which admittedly is rather clever – as someone who is completely ignorant of the universe this is a part of and not at all a fan of the Tokusatsu shows that Gridman homages, there’s little surprise I was unable to discover anything that I could truly call incredible.

Another series now, only this time it’s the Norwegian show Ragnarok. The general gist is that a teenage boy is surprised to learn he is the embodiment of Thor, and so he begins the fight against the giants who are destroying the planet. To be honest I’m rather disappointed with how season 2 turned out. I think this series showed a lot of promise from its first episode, but has gradually buckled under the immense weight of its potential. The characters are great, from heroes to villains to ordinary humans, as the writing goes to admirable lengths to deconstruct the black and white morality that is so prevalent in many of these stories. And while I’m no expert on Norse mythology, I do enjoy a lot that is held within them, which this series brilliantly brings to life. But the plot itself keeps going round and round in circles, with a lot of fluff chucked in to justify it being a series rather than just a film. Also, while there’s some effectively subtle use of special effects, the lighting in most scenes is straight up atrocious, as I often found myself unable to see the actors’ faces. As a whole, this show is a worthy watch, but for every great concept and character interaction, there was an equally poor handling of political issues, scene direction and overall narrative structure. 

I think it’s time I talk to you about a newly released French film by the name of Oxygen. A woman (Melanie Laurent) wakes in a cryogenic chamber with no recollection of how she got there, and must find a way out before running out of air. Let me reiterate, this film literally all takes places inside a pod, never leaving it except for the occasional prettily shot flashback. As such, I’m awestruck by just how much was achieved from inside just this single, claustrophobic location. The screenplay is incredible, beginning with a tense, torturous introduction as she discovers where she is, before unfolding into several layers of twists and revelations that sink with tremendous weight. The cinematography and editing is outstanding, getting right up into her face but still somehow managing to craft a variety of angles and camera movements to make the presentation interesting – certainly a lot more visual creativity than when Uma Thurman was stuck inside that coffin in Kill Bill 2 – before then showing what lies outside her pod, which is utterly gorgeous in a solemn kind of way. But all these great things are completely blown out of the water by Melanie Laurent’s stellar solo performance, her cries of anguish, snarky remarks, moments of sheer panic and seconds of quick thinking all totally transfixing, creating a performance that is shocking but beautiful in its haunting impact. This is a very uncomfortable experience, and I would even say the film overstays its welcome a tad, but what was achieved in such a tight manner is nothing short of incredible.

Now to end this Weekly Recap, not with Doctor Who for once, but rather a rewatch of the most recent Spider-Man movie. Far From Home sees Peter Parker and his friends go on a summer trip to Europe, but when Nick Fury hijacks his holiday, Peter has to choose between being a normal kid or saving the world. This is another superb Spider-Man film, full of enthralling action and heartfelt character moments. Each twist was mind blowing, to say the least, and that illusion sequence was one of the most incredible scenes I have ever seen. Using special effects as a weapon is just such a genius concept, especially since they’re so gorgeously realised in this film, crafting beautiful catastrophes and insane, mind-bending sequences with great finesse. The high school stuff does unfortunately detract a little from the otherwise massive fun Far From Home exudes, but any minor gripes I might have with that are instantly dispelled by Peter’s character arc being so compelling, the comedy being absolutely fantastic, and Jake Gyllenhaal being perfect as always.