Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2
118 min 

Cast Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner, Catherine Keener, Bob Odenkirk, Samuel L Jackson

Director Brad Bird

We rejoin the Parr family immediately where we left off 14 years ago, in the middle of a battle with The Underminer. Things don’t go according to plan though and our heroes are left outlawed and, in the case of Violet (Vowell) potentially unmasked. To rectify this the rich Deavor siblings Winston (Odenkirk) and Evelyn (Keener) come up with a plan to turn the tide of public opinion back in favour of ‘supers’ by using Elastigirl (Hunter) as the face of their campaign.

As the family move into their new home, supplied by the Deavors, Mr Incredible (Nelson) is left home to take care of Violet, Dash (Milner) and baby Jack-Jack. As Elastigirl thrives in her new role Mr Incredible struggles to cope with the day to day struggles of parenthood as well as the surprising developments of Jack-Jacks powers.

Once Elastigirl encounters new villain The Screenslaver (yes, really) the story moves on at a great pace, old favourites Edna Mode (Bird) and Frozone (Jackson) are back to help and the last 45 minutes fly by delightfully. The near two hour runtime may put off parents of some younger children but they will find Dash and Jack-Jack hilarious enough to keep them more than happy. It is also refreshing to see the story focused on female characters with Violets storyline arguably taking second billing behind her mothers.

The major gripe to be had with the story is the overly long introduction of the villain, who has motives that may confuse younger viewers. From the opening scene though, until the last, the overwhelming message of the film is one of family, it’s impossible not to feel a bond between these characters that will warm your heart as you leave the cinema.


★★★★☆

The secret of Marrowbone

The secret of Marrowbone 
110 mins 

Cast George MacKay, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Heaton, Kyle Soller, Mia Goth,

Director Sergio G Sanchez

In late 1960s America a mother returns to her family home from England with her four children to start a new life, the move itself however has left her weak and soon she passes away. Upon her death, the eldest of the newly re-named Marrowbone siblings, Jack (MacKay) insists his brothers and sister keep this news within the family until he turns 21 and can legally take care of them, though it soon becomes clear that not everything has been left behind in England.

While it is hard to go into much more detail without spoiling the plot it is safe to say there are a couple of genuine jump scares in this film with plenty of tension built up in between and a great use of a Beach Boys classic. MacKay is given the bulk of the work and shoulders it well, showing the strain of trying to keep his family safe while also dealing with his relationship with neighbour Ellie (Taylor-Joy) and snooping lawyer Potter (an excellent Soller)

The rest of the cast aren’t given a great deal to do, Heaton and Taylor-Joy felt particularly underused and at points (pet raccoon, morse code messages) it felt a little like M Night Shyamalan adapting a Famous Five book. For a directorial debut though this was an intriguing film and I look forward to seeing what is to come next.

★★★☆☆

Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom

Jurassic World : Fallen Kingdom

128 mins 

Cast  Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rafe Spall, James Cromwell, Jeff Goldblum

Director J A Bayona

“She is the second most intelligent creature on the planet” says a scientist about returning raptor Blue, judging by how quickly our heroes agree to return to Isla Nubar, it’s safe to say that humans aren’t the first. Three years have passed since the events of Jurassic World and, after a fantastic cold opening scene, we find that the island is facing an imminent volcanic explosion. 

Claire Dearing (Howard) the operations manager from Jurassic World, is now a dinosaur rights activist desperately trying to gather support to evacuate the animals before said explosion renders them extinct once again. While governments around the world are reluctant to help, Benjamin Lockwood (Cromwell), a hither-to unmentioned business partner of John Hammond approaches Claire, through his business partner Eli Mills (Spall) with a proposition to smuggle the dinosaurs to safety. In order for this plan to work Claire needs the specialist abilities of Owen Grady (Pratt) so heads out to recruit him, it doesn’t take too much convincing.

The island based section of the film is exhilarating, almost non-stop action. The threat of the volcano escalating throughout keeps the adrenaline levels almost unbearably high, there a few callbacks to previous instalments (a car wing mirror being my own personal favourite) and a scene that brought me as close to tears for a CG animal than anything since War for the planet of the apes. 

Once the action returns to the mainland the tone switches from action to tension, as we discover a newly created Indoraptor which is handily colour coded so as not to confuse the audience (blue = good, yellow = evil) is now among us and the isolated, storm-lashed mansion is used to good effect. 

While the CG is largely excellent the main strength of the film for me was the two leads, Howard and Pratt must be two of the three most likeable stars in the world right now (Emma Stone in case you were wondering) and their chemistry shines throughout, even the usual ‘Dino- fodder’ support team are actually quite enjoyable. The villains of the piece can be a little overly villainous and the film does suffer from Annoying Kid Syndrome but those are only slight gripes during an immensely enjoyable two hours that leaves you wanting more and sets up the next intriguing chapter in the Jurassic story very nicely. 

 ★★★★☆