JOJO RABBIT : Thursday 2nd January 2020.

I finally saw the M Rated 'JOJO RABBIT' earlier this week, and this American satirical black comedy that is a send up of Nazi Germany during WWII is Directed, Co-Produced, Written and starring New Zealand's very own Taika Waititi, whose last film outing was the highly acclaimed 'Thor : Ragnarok' and before that 'The Hunt for the Wilderpeople'. This film is based on Christine Leunens's 2008 novel 'Caging Skies', and had its world Premiere showing at TIFF in early September where it won the top prize, the 'Grolsch People's Choice Award' before its wider release in the US in mid-October and in New Zealand in late October. The film has divided Critics, however, most seem to be praising the performances, the humour, the screenplay and the heart-warming story. Made for US$14M the film has so far grossed US$26M. It has so far picked up nineteen award wins and a further 99 nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, with many of those nominations still awaiting final determination.

Here lonely ten year old German lad Johannes 'Jojo' Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis) is living in Nazi Germany during the late stages of WWII with his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson). His father has been missing in action somewhere on the Italian front for the last two years and his older sister Inge died more recently of influenza. Jojo has an imaginary friend that he frequently speaks with, confides in and seeks advice from - a childish version of Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi).

Jojo and his best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) attend a Hitler Youth training camp for 10-14 year old boys and girls, run by Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell). When Jojo is ordered to kill a rabbit to prove himself by more senior ranking Hitler Youth members, he tries to release it and runs off crying after the other boys taunt him with the name 'Jojo Rabbit'. Following a morale boosting pep talk from Adolf, Jojo returns to his fellow young youth recruits with a new found enthusiasm and throws a Stickgrenade without permission, which bounces off a tree and explodes at his feet, leaving him with facial scars and a slight limp.

After Jojo has sufficiently recovered and is well enough to rejoin the cause, Rosie asks Klenzendorf, demoted after the incident for negligence, to make her son feel included despite his now healed but nonetheless scarred injuries. Jojo is given menial duties such as spreading propaganda material through the town, and rounding up scrap metal for the war effort.

One day, having arrived home before his mother, to an empty house, he hears noises coming form upstairs. Venturing to investigate he discovers Elsa Korr (Thomasin McKenzie), a teenage Jewish girl and a former classmate of his sister, hiding upstairs, behind the wall of Inge's bedroom. Jojo threatens to reveal her presence to the Gestapo, but Elsa warns that she, him and his mother would be killed for harbouring her. He agrees reluctantly to keep her hidden, on the condition she reveals her 'Jew secrets' so he can write a book for Klenzendorf. Elsa plays along by making up stories about the hidden powers that all Jews possess, including growing horns when they turn 21, mind reading, sleeping upside down like bats, and their preferred foods including chocolate, cookies and bread.

Jojo continues with his interrogation of Elsa, learning she has a boyfriend called Nathan with whom she wants to reunite when the war is over and live in Paris together. Jojo forges a letter from 'Nathan' and reads it aloud to Elsa in which he states that he has found someone else and wants to split up with her. Hearing her sobbing from behind the wall, Jojo writes another letter telling her to disregard the first one. Jojo and Adolf argue, with Adolf insisting Elsa is a monster, who can't be trusted. Later, while on one of his metal collecting trips, Jojo spots his mother leaving 'free Germany' postcards around town.

Jojo is home alone one day when the Gestapo come knocking on his door, led by Captain Deertz (Stephen Merchant). Klenzendorf coincidentally arrives at the house a short time afterwards while it is being searched with his second in command, Finkel (Alfie Allen). Elsa reveals herself, making out to be Inge, and produces Inge's identification papers and confirms her birthday from memory to satisfy the Gestapo's line of questioning. They also pick up JoJo's 'Jewish Secrets' hand drawn book which Deertz thumbs through and finds it very amusing, helping to diffuse an otherwise tense situation. When they have all left Jojo is relieved, but Elsa later realises she recited Inge's wrong birth date and that Klenzendorf covered for her, but is certain the Gestapo will eventually come to realise their ruse.

Later that day, Jojo stumbles across his mother who had been hanged in the town square with three others. Devastated and distraught, he returns home and stabs Elsa in the shoulder with his standard issue Hitler Youth knife barely breaking the skin, and then breaks down sobbing. Elsa comforts him.

Later on Jojo runs into Yorki, who is now a fighting soldier, who tells him Hitler has committed suicide and that the Allies are gaining ground rapidly. Jojo encounters Fraulein Rahm (Rebel Wilson), and offsider of Klenzendorf, arming and sacrificing children as the battle closes in around them, and she gives him a soldier's coat and a machine gun, before being killed herself. Confronted by both American and Soviet forces, the city's German stronghold collapses and they surrender. The Soviets have rounded up several captured Germans into a courtyard when Jojo stumbles in, having taking shelter until after the cease fire, and encounters a wounded Klenzendorf who tells the young lad that his mother was a good woman. He saves him by removing his German Hitler Youth coat, calling him a Jew, and spitting on him, leading the Soviet guards to drag him away. The soldiers thrust Jojo into the street and tell him to go home. He runs off as several shots are heard in the background.

Jojo returns home, and to stop Elsa from leaving as he has now developed feelings for her, tells her that Germany won the war. Realising her despair, he recites a new 'letter' from Nathan claiming that he and Jojo have figured out a way to smuggle her to Paris where they can live happily ever after. Upon hearing this, Elsa reveals that Nathan died the previous year. Jojo tells her he loves her, and she tells him she loves him in a 'little brother' kind of way. A beleaguered Adolf sporting a bloodied bullet hole through the head angrily confronts Jojo for siding with Elsa, and Jojo promptly kicks him out the window never to be seen again. Jojo takes Elsa outside, where she sees the Allies have won after witnessing American soldiers driving up and down the street flying the US flag. She slaps Jojo in the face for lying, and then they proceed to dance in the street to the sound of David Bowie's German Remix version from 1989 of 'Helden'.

There are some moments of real laugh out loud humour in 'Jojo Rabbit' just as much as there are some tender heartfelt emotional moments too, that keep the story grounded in all the horrors of WWII Nazi Germany. At its heart however, this is a black satirical comedy that demonstrates that despite the racial hatred, the indoctrination of an ideal from a very early age, and the brutality and horrors of war that love conquers all and a child can overcome adversity with acceptance and confidence. Roman Griffin Davis is perfectly cast in the role of Jojo and gives a revelatory performance, his best friend Archie Yates as Yorki does not a miss a beat in the delivery of his dead pan one liners and comedic turns and Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa is considered and even tempered in her delivery of raw emotion and satirical beats in her performance too. And as for the Director, Writer and star of the show as the imaginary man-child friend The Fuhrer, Waititi's performance is priceless ranging from the absurdest childlike actions of an eleven year old to the brutal and demanding rantings of the Adolf Hitler that we have all come to know and loathe. This is a quirky, whimsical film that only the off-beat humour of Taika Waititi could deliver that offers a breath of fresh air in this era of big action blockbusters that occupy so many of our cinemas screens these days, and is still a highly relevant story that resonates today as much as it did in 1944/45. It is easy to see why this film has divided audiences and Critics, but trust me, it is well worth the price of entry.

'Jojo Rabbit' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE PREDATOR : Thursday 20th September 2018.

I finally caught 'THE PREDATOR' earlier this week, two weeks after its release in Australia. It has been 31 years since the cult classic alien man hunting character 'Predator' emerged onto our cinema screens with the titular action hero of that era Arnold Schwarzenegger going head to head and toe to toe with the said Predator in some undisclosed Central American jungle territory. With a crack team of hardened military rescue types who get picked off most gruesomely and violently one by one, it's Arnie who is the last man standing to face off against the menacing alien foe and save the day. That film was Directed by John McTiernan for US$18M and it took at the Box Office US$99M. On the strength of 'Predator' three sequels have so far materialised including this one. In between time there was 1990's 'Predator 2' Directed by Stephen Hopkins and then 2010's 'Predators' as Directed by Nimrod Antal and now 'The Predator' Directed by Shane Black. A crossover with the 'Alien' franchise produced the 'Alien vs. Predator' films, which to date have seen 'Alien vs. Predator' released in 2004 and 'Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem' released in 2007. This instalment was made for US$88M and has so far grossed US$68M and has garnered mixed Reviews generally.

Shane Black who Co-Starred in the original film back in 1987, and who Directs here and also Co-Wrote the Screenplay has stated that the film would be a sequel set in the present day, following on from the events of the first two films, but set before the events of the 'Predators'. He has also indicated that he looked for plot details from the previous Predator movies that he could retrospectively link back to the new film, and that if this instalment performs well, it could be the first in a planned trilogy.

The opening scene sees a spaceship hurtling through space and bursting through a wormhole emerging the other side with planet Earth in the distance. It crash lands somewhere on the outskirts of suburbia in a woodland area. Meanwhile Army sniper Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook) has assumed the undercover sniper position with a hostage retrieval situation going on down below, with his aim squarely on one of the antagonists about to make an exchange. He is communicating with four of his other colleagues all in position somewhere in the dense undergrowth. Just then the spaceship comes into view flying low over head and coming to a crashing halt somewhere close by. McKenna is caught off guard, fires a shot killing one of the goons below and then falls down an embankment coming to rest eventually not far from the stricken ship. He ventures to explore further and finds various pieces of hardware and technology, when a colleague arrives who is quickly dispensed with by an alien creature who strings him up and then slices him in half at the waist. This gives McKenna a split second to incapacitate the alien creature and make his get away.

Will Traeger (Sterling K. Brown) is a Government Agent and Director of the 'Stargazer Project' which has been monitoring the aliens comings and goings since their arrival in 1987, then in 1997 and more frequently with each passing year. He captures McKenna and interrogates him, but not before McKenna has mailed off the retrieved items of alien hardware to somewhere safe. Traeger has also captured the alien which he has termed a 'Predator' because it seems to hunt its prey for sport, and has it heavily sedated and bound in a laboratory for observation, testing and doubtless experimentation. He recruits Dr. Casey Bracket (Olivia Munn) an evolutionary biologist to aid the research team with their studies of the alien being. But of course its not long before the captured Predator breaks free of its shackles like they are dental floss, and promptly and with bloody efficiency dispenses with everyone wearing a white lab coat, or in a security uniform brandishing a firearm.

McKenna meanwhile is escorted out of the same premises and onto a bus with a rag tag bunch of other ex-soldiers all suffering from PTSD. This bunch are made up now of McKenna, ex-Marine Gaylord 'Nebraska' Williams (Trevante Rhodes), military veterans and war buddies Coyle and Baxley (Keegan-Michael Key and Thomas Jane respectively), Blackhawk helicopter pilot Nettles (Augusto Aguilera) and former Marine Lynch (Alfie Allen). Witnessing the alien escape across the roof top of the facility they are now exiting from, the bunch now believe what McKenna was telling them about visitors from outer space and promptly take over the bus over powering the two escorting security guards and the driver.

They see that Bracket has given chase across the roof top in hot pursuit of the Predator wielding a tranquilliser gun like she's Lara Croft. Traeger's Security Guards give chase and are ordered to kill her, but she is rescued by McKenna and his team who ride off on stolen motorcycles headed for the home of his ex-wife Emily (Yvonne Strahovski) and autistic son Rory (Jacob Tremblay) whom he mailed his package to of retrieved alien tech.

Arriving there, McKenna searches Rory's room for the tech but only finds the empty box. Rory has however, as it's Halloween, gone trick or treating down to the local neighbourhood, wearing the alien helmet and gauntlet in an attempt to avoid detection form a couple of nasty school bullies who seem intent on making Rory's life a misery. McKenna and his team split up roaming the streets searching for Rory, when an explosion in the distance alerts them to there being something amiss in da hood. They arrive to find Rory in a deserted floodlit football field in a standoff with two huge Predator dogs approaching menacingly.

Thwarting the dogs and rescuing Rory, the team make off into the seemingly safe harbourage of a nearby school. The Predator chases them in and corners McKenna, Rory and Bracket. Just as McKenna is about to return the alien tech to the Predator in a seemingly vain attempt to save his life, another much larger Predator bursts through the wall and begins to fight with the first, eventually throwing it onto the roof of a car and ripping off its head and extracting its spinal column in the process. The team escape while the Predators do battle with themselves, leaving the second larger more dominant and seemingly more advanced Predator to now locate the lost technology.

Bracket somehow deduces that the Predators are attempting to rapidly evolve themselves with the superior DNA of humans and other inhabitants of planets across the galaxy. The team regroups at an old barn, but Traeger tracks them down, captures them, and shares his thoughts that the Predators foresee that climate change within the next two generations at most will end their ability to retrieve human DNA for their ongoing hybridisation, so they are scrambling to retrieve it now before time and mankind runs out. Rory sketches a map to the spaceship and so Traeger takes the boy away to that location to use his autistic skills to unlock access to the ship. The team escapes and goes after him with the help of a Predator dog suddenly turned tame and obedient, recognising that it is really mans best friend who holds the upper hand in the food chain.

And so now all the interested parties gather at the crashed Predator ship - McKenna and his team, Traeger and his crew, and the second Predator having killed Lynch who was lurking in ambush but was outsmarted by the Predator. Traeger has set up translation equipment to convert Predator speak into the Queen's English, and so the pesky Predator explains through the translation software that it intends to blow up the ship to keep it out of their hands and then give them all a head start of a full seven-and-a-half minutes before it hunts them down predator like and mercilessly dispenses with them all. Needless to say, the Predator quickly kills off most of the team with what's left of McKenna's team and what's remaining for Traeger's crew both heading off in opposite directions in a seemingly futile attempt to thwart the bloodthirsty intergalactic alien antagonist. Traeger tries to use a Predator weapon on the alien but stupidly kills himself in the process.

The Predator captures Rory, believing that his autism is an advancement in human evolution and is consequently worthy of further Predator hybridisation. The Predator takes off in his ship. As it does so McKenna, Nebraska, and Nettles jump onto the ship's exterior hoping to gain access some how, but the Predator activates a force field that slices through Nettles at the waist and his upper body tumbles off the ship. Nebraska is caught on the outside of the force field, while McKenna is underneath it. Nebraska already injured and sensing no further hope, sacrifices himself into one of the ship's turbine engines, causing it to loose power and crash land. McKenna sneaks into the ship and attacks the Predator but is overcome by the strength and power of the alien. Bracket arrives, and with Rory, the three manage to overpower and kill it.

So, there are a few nods back to the first two instalments in this franchise which for the purposes of continuity and consistency are no bad thing. The quips and deadpan humour are here too which adds a certain levity to the violence and gore, and the cast are strong enough and evenly matched, although for me the young Jacob Tremblay is the stand out here displaying all the ticks and idiosyncrasies of a brilliant yet challenged mind. As for the story - well that's pretty shallow, with the audience expected to take huge leaps of faith for example with the apparent overnight programming of alien language translation technology; the rapid deduction that the Predators are harvesting human and other superior alien DNA to enhance their own evolution; and the reason they have visited our humble little blue planet is because of climate change. And there are other plot holes and other storylines that defy explanation too, but suffice to say, Shane Black has crafted a film that is entertaining enough, there is ample blood letting and dismembered bodies, and The Predator as portrayed here by Brian A. Prince, is a convincing antagonist, but you can leave your brain at the door, sit back and enjoy the rapid fire quips & quirks, and violence aplenty, but that's all that this reboot has going for it . . . rather disappointingly.

'The Predator' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JOHN WICK - Tuesday 4th November 2014.

Saw 'JOHN WICK' earlier in the week, and it is good to see Keanu Reeves back to doing what he does best in this solid story of present day revenge and retribution. This film is pretty relentless action from start to finish, it is violent and bloody, has a strong underlying story to move it along, good casting and all the elements that set this a notch above other similar movies in the genre, and those that often go straight to DVD. In their Directorial debut this was helmed by David Leitch and Chad Stahleski and shot in New York for a budget of about US$25M. For such a modest budget, great things have been achieved with the action sequences (of which there are many) and the look and feel of the film generally, which again all help to elevate this above more mainstream fare of the same ilk.

The storyline is fairly simple but is delivered well. John Wick (Keanu Reeves) has been happily married to Helen (Bridget Moynahan) for five or so years - no children, but a beautiful home with clearly all the trappings of success. We only ever see Helen in flashback or on John's smart phone screen when he plays back a video clip of her. Helen has recently died of some long term illness that they have both seen coming for some time. The opening five minutes see her passing in the hospital with John by her side, and then at the funeral as she is buried with other guests gathered round - one of which is Marcus (Willem Dafoe) standing in the distance looking on waiting for the proceedings to finish before approaching John - they shake hands and clearly there is a connection here from the past.

As the days progress John is schmooching around his home, coming to terms with the still raw emotions of his recent loss. A knock on the door, and a puppy is delivered with a note from Helen - a posthumous gift to ease the pain he is feeling and to give him some renewed focus. The next day John takes the puppy out in his vintage 1969 Mustang, and needs to refuel. In doing so another car rocks up to the petrol station and out jump three guys conversing and joking in Russian. Instantly one of these - Iosef Tarasov (Alfie Allen) takes a liking to the Mustang and offers to buy it from John on the spot. Some dialogue ensues, John says thanks but no thanks and sits back behind the wheel ready to leave. Iosef leans in and mutters some derogatory remark in Russian - to which John responds - in Russian! Iosef is not amused and looks on in anger as John exits the forecourt.

This sets the scene for the film as later that night Iosef and his two other henchmen break in to John's house, beat him up, kill the puppy and make off with the Mustang. Nursing his wounds John buries the dog in the back garden under a tree. Now he is pissed off for a whole bunch of reasons. John does some initial investigations and we soon learn that in his former life John Wick was an assassin for the mob - he is a weapons expert, handles a car well, can hold his own in a fist fight, and is respected beyond question by just about everybody he knows. This includes the Mob; former colleagues including Marcus; the Police who come knocking on his door one night after he has dispensed with12 henchmen who tried to take him out, and upon seeing dead bodies strewn on John's floor, simply ask if everything is OK, turn around and walk away; and the 'Cleaners' who arrive after a single phone call to clean up John's house in this aftermath. This sets the tone of the film and now we have the mark of the man. He has been retired for five years having turned his back on his former life for a better one with Helen - but now everything has been taken away from him!

Learning that Iosef is the son of local Russian Kingpin Viggo Tarasov (Michael Nyqvist) John is now hell bent on revenge and will take down anything that stands in the way of him and Iosef. What follows before Iosef finally buys the farm is several action set pieces in which a determined John relentlessly and mercilessly takes on the might of the local Russian mob headed up by Viggo. John is a weapons expert and he takes out his foes clinically and cleanly with usually two efficiently delivered bullets to the head. And the bullets fly, and the body count in the film is massive before the final pay off comes. In particular, is one very impressively delivered action set piece in an exclusive nightclub that sees countless henchmen buying it as party goers all around try to make their escape. John is also pretty handy behind the wheel of a car too, and we see his talents utilised well towards the end especially.

The storyline is also peppered with other sub-plots involving a bounty on John's head to take him out, the secret cadre of hit-men and women who live by their own set of rules within almost an exclusive assassins community (enter Ian McShane as Winston), the money making illegal business activities of Viggo that spread far & wide throughout the city and the history that binds John and all the other players together.

Needless to say it doesn't end well for the Ruskies, and in John we see too that he is but human and can get shot, stabbed and beaten up like the next man . . . and he does. But, he retains his humour and keeps getting up, because that's what's he's been doing for years. What sets this apart from others in the genre is that it is brisk, relentless, well played, well crafted, well written, and in John Wick we have a trusted, respected yet fractured character doing what he does best that you can almost believe in!



-Steve, at Odeon Online-