THE NAKED GUN : Tuesday 26th August 2025.

I saw the M Rated 'THE NAKED GUN' this week at my local independent movie theatre and this American action comedy film is Co-Written and Directed by Akiva Schaffer whose previous feature film Directorial credits include his debut in 2007 with 'Hot Rod', then 'The Watch' in 2012, 'Popstar : Never Stop Never Stopping' in 2016 and 'Chip 'n Dale : Rescue Rangers' in 2022. This film serves as a legacy sequel to 1994's 'Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult' and is the fourth instalment in 'The Naked Gun' franchise, with those first three films in the series grossing a combined US$477M at the global Box Office. This film was released Stateside on 1st August, here in Australia last week, has so far grossed US$89M off the back of a US$42M production budget and has generated positive critical acclaim. 

Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jnr. (Liam Neeson) of the LAPD Police Squad singlehandedly thwarts a bank robbery disguised as a young schoolgirl. Unknown to him at the time, this was a distraction to steal a gadget from a safe deposit box held in the banks vault called the 'P.L.O.T. Device' (Primordial Law Of Toughness).  Police Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) reassigns Drebin to traffic patrol when his over-the-top law enforcement becomes a legal liability. While paying tribute to his father Frank Drebin Sr., he prays to him to send him an owl as a sign of his approval.

Drebin, and his Captain Ed Hocken Jnr. (Paul Walter Hauser) investigate software engineer Simon Davenport's (Jason MacDonald) fatal car crash, deeming it suicide, but Drebin notices a matchbook at the scene. Simon's sister Beth (Pamela Anderson), a crime writer, argues against his claim, but Drebin dissuades her from investigating further. 

Drebin finds Richard Cane (Danny Huston), Simon's wealthy employer at Edentech, at the company's tech expo. After they both heap seemingly never ending praise on the Black Eyed Peas, Cane donates a self-driving electric car to Police Squad, which causes havoc with Drebin behind the wheel, and also recommends his personal nightclub. Drebin notices the matchbook found at Simon's crash site has the same logo as the nightclub.

Cane privately demonstrates how he will use the stolen P.L.O.T. Device to turn human against human and return them to their barbarian nature, culling the population save for his fellow billionaires, who will be insulated from harm inside his personal bunker which will be equipped with all the comforts of home, and then some. Drebin, interrogates one of the bank robbers, and learns about the deposit box, which was Simon's, connecting the two cases. At Cane's club, Beth distracts Cane with improvised, atrocious scat singing while Drebin fights many of Cane's henchmen in order to gain access to security footage, which reveals that Simon met discreetly with a journalist. Davis suspends Drebin for insubordination. Beth stays with the demoralised Drebin, and he considers finally moving on from memories of his late wife. Drebin and Beth spend a romantic weekend at an alpine lodge where they spend time frolicking in the snow, and building a life size snowman. They find a book of magical and mysterious incantations on a bookshelf and recite one, bringing their snowman to life, which at first is friendly enough but then turns murderous after they neglect it. They manage to decapitate the snowman, tossing its head into the hot tub, where is quickly melts away. 

Drebin visits the home of the journalist to find him murdered, and is easily tricked into incriminating himself. He flees in the electric car, but Cane overrides the controls and attempts to kill Drebin just as he did Simon. Drebin shoots out the windshield, but is trapped again by the car driving head-on into balloons, a swarm of bees, and a replacement windshield. Purely by accident, he activates Clippy, who helpfully unlocks the doors, allowing Drebin to jump free of the car before it drives headlong into the harbour. Meanwhile, Police Squad has been decommissioned. Beth reveals that Simon feared the misuse of the P.L.O.T. Device, but Drebin suspects that Beth is using him and angrily leaves her home.

Drebin captures Cane's henchman Gustafson (Kevin Durand) and frightens him into confessing to Cane's plan to activate the P.L.O.T. Device at the New Year's ball drop at a MMA match. Drebin heads to the match at the 'Ponzi-scheme.com Arena', equipped with an earpiece that blocks the wearer from the P.L.O.T. Device's frequency. Beth plans to kill Cane, but he sees this coming as recorded in her book. Drebin finds the P.L.O.T. Device inside the New Year's balls. As the balls drop, he snags his trouser leg on the winch at which he loses his pants as the balls drop, indecently exposing himself to the entire TV audience, and those watching live inside the arena, leading them to not respect his order to evacuate. The P.L.O.T. Device activates, and mindless violence erupts throughout the city. Drebin fights through innocents by ricocheting ejected handgun magazines, but cannot catch up with Cane and his associates who have all fled the scene on motorcycles. 

His father's spirit arrives as an owl, airlifting Drebin now in hot pursuit. Hanging on to one leg of the owl, he tells it to take a dump on Cane, which blinds Cane across his visor with bird crap, causing him to crash his motorbike. Cane and Drebin face off, with Cane doubling up in agony after just one punch to the gut. Beth nearly shoots Cane in revenge, but Drebin talks her down. Drebin and Beth use the P.L.O.T. Device to calm the crowd and embrace lovingly as Cane is arrested. In the aftermath, Davis announces to a gathered crowd of the media that Police Squad has been reinstated, although Drebin faces 'investigation' by 'Internal Affairs' – which is actually the name of a tropical resort, where he spends his time with Beth.

'The Naked Gun' for me had a small number of laugh out loud moments, and the rest of this legacy sequel just left me feeling, well 'meh'! Liam Neeson does a respectable job of following in the footsteps of Leslie Nielsen, and brings his comedic A-game to the role playing it straight-laced while delivering some humorous verbal touches and sight gags. For those of us (and I include myself here) old enough to remember the first film in the franchise which opened in 1988 this film represents a fair nod to that classic of 37 years ago now in all its slapstick, quick witted, non-sensical tongue planted firmly in cheek humour that made the original movie so appealing. But for audiences not familiar with those first three films, I can see that this style of Police procedural parody might fail to launch, especially in this era of political correctness . . . or perhaps not! This is an old-school, silly screwball spoof crime caper comedy that has its moments, but for the most part left me wondering why I paid the price of cinema entry when I could have waited a few short weeks to see at home on my chosen streaming platform - if I was so inclined.

'The Naked Gun' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLACKLIGHT : Tuesday 15th February 2022.

I saw the M Rated 'BLACKLIGHT' earlier this week, and this American action film (shot in Melbourne and Canberra, Australia), is Directed Co-Written for the screen and Co-Produced by Mark Williams in only his third film making outing following 2016's 'A Definitely Maybe' and 2020's 'Honest Thief'. The film was released Stateside and here in Australia last week, cost US$43M to produce, has thus far recouped just over US$5M and has garnered generally unfavourable Reviews.

The film opens up with Travis Block (Liam Neeson) speeding down some country road, continuously adjusting and checking his rear view mirror like he is being followed closely behind by another vehicle in hot pursuit. He pulls up at some rural trailer park where two armed Policemen and forced into a corner by an angry gun toting mob, all wanting to reach the woman inside the caravan behind them. Block sneaks around the back and gives three knocks on the window, at which point a woman appears brandishing a pistol and fearful for her life. After a brief exchange of words he explains that he's there to extract her and disappears to set up an explosive distraction for the angry mob. He does so, the place erupts in ball of flame, and Block successfully extracts the woman, who it turns out is an undercover FBI Agent. 

We then cut to a rally in Washington DC at which activist and Congressional candidate Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnson) is speaking to a sizeable gathered crowd about women's rights and racial equality. That night, after stepping out of her Uber ride home, she is run over by another vehicle, and killed instantly in an apparent hit and run. Next up we see Block talking to the Director of the FBI, and long term friend Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn) about his recent extraction exercise and how the women will come good again given time and treatment. It seems that Block's off the books work with Robinson is to extract deep-cover agents when their cover is blown or when they’ve spent too much time in the darkness to be able to find their own way out. Another such agent is Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) whom Block has a certain attachment to, but who has taken to self-medicating with pills and alcohol in an attempt to ease his guilty conscience about his former misdeeds all in the line of duty. Crane, is arrested by the Police after beating four officers up in the street, because they found drugs, alcohol and a hand gun on the passenger seat of his car. Block gets him out of the slammer no questions asked.

In a quieter moment we see Block the grandfather to young Natalie (Gabriella Sengos) and his single mum and daughter Amanda (Claire van der Boom) at his granddaughters birthday party. Looking on as Natalie opens up her presents Amanda chides her father that he must have already checked the perimeter of the building and located all the possible points of entry and exit for fear of an attack. A lesson that he has already instilled in young Natalie, much to her mothers chagrin. Block retorts that he just wants his family to be safe, at all times. Soon afterwards Block says to Robinson that he wants to spend more time with his family and be a good grandfather to Natalie, and is thinking of quitting his role as an FBI 'fixer'. Robinson in no uncertain terms says no way Jose, and basically closes the book on that discussion. 

Meanwhile, Crane has reached out to a Washington DC news website reporter Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampton) and will only speak with her about some earth shattering information he has to expose the truth behind a spate of secret FBI sanctioned killings of American citizens. Robinson instructs Block to intercept Crane before he is able to speak to the reporter Jones. Block also meets with Jones and tells her not to talk to Crane, and if he contacts her, she is to contact him straight away. 

Block trails Jones to a rendezvous with Crane at a Museum, where the pair meet. Crane spies Block and makes a dash for it. Block catches up with him, the pair get into a fist fight in which Crane gains the upper hand and quickly climbs a locked wrought iron fence. With both on either side of the fence now, Block asks Crane why. Crane stops, turns and just as he is about to explain his actions is gunned down and killed by two men - the same two men who were at the scene of Sofia Flores hit and run at which she was killed. 

Block asks Jones, who witnessed the whole thing, to tell him what Crane had said to her. She spoke of an 'Operation Unity' which is headed up by Robinson it seems with the two gunmen (who are also FBI agents) who killed Flores and now Crane in Robinson's pocket. Over a whisky in a bar, Block and Jones share their stories and any other details Crane imparted to the reporter. Block visits Robinson at his home, demanding to know about Operation Unity, which Robinson flatly refuses to divulge. Block quits on the spot. After this, Amanda and Natalie have mysteriously vanished, with Amanda unexpectedly quitting her job at the hospital, and Natalie being removed from her pre-school without notice. No one it seems has any idea where they have gone, or the reasons for their sudden disappearance.  

In the meantime, Jones Editor boss Drew Hawthorne (Tim Draxl) has also wound up dead after releasing a largely un-researched press article on their news website about Operation Unity, much to Jones disgust. Hawthorne's death was again at the hands of Robinson's henchmen. Block meanwhile, is beside himself with worry, and after exploring every avenue of investigation to locate Amanda and Natalie, goes to Robinson's home at night to confront him. Robinson is on the phone to his two henchmen at the time, who have just scoped out Block's apartment looking for him. He tells them to get over to his home with back-up immediately. Block takes Robinson up to his safe and orders him to open it and play the hard drive upon which are countless files on all of his agents and Operation Unity. Robinson exits his home as four agents arrive heavily armed and enter the house. A gun fight ensues in which the house is shot to pieces, but Block gains the upper hand and dispenses with the four agents using his very particular set of skills, but not before sustaining a gun shot to the leg. 

Later that evening Jones visits Block who is holed up in a motel, and nurses his injured leg. The next morning Jones Assistant Helen Davidson (Yael Stone) visits and together the three survey the hard drive. There they see a recording of Crane being interviewed by Robinson, at which point he expresses his love for Flores, and says that they had been romantically involved for about a year before her untimely death. Jones comments that Cranes love for Flores was written all over his face. The next day, Block commandeers Robinson's vehicle, and as Robinson gets in, he is surprised to see Block behind the wheel. Block pressures Robinson in coming clean about Operation Unity, to which the Director again replies with a staunch no way, but Block can be especially convincing when he needs to be. A brief shoot out follows after the vehicle comes to a halt in which Robinson sustains a non-life threatening gun shot wound. Block tells him to reveal the whereabouts of his family, and that he will come clean to the media about Operation Unity. 

In the closing scenes it is revealed that Robinson was being held in custody with a court hearing pending, that Jones was being praised from on high about her published news report exposing Robinson and Operation Unity, and Block drives up to the safe house to retrieve Amanda and Natalie.

'Blacklight' is a pedestrian; by the numbers; been there, seen that, done it too countless times before actioner that Liam Neeson has spent the last fifteen years perfecting to the point where he can quite literally phone his performance in. This film could easily be construed as 'Taken 4' as his family are 'taken' from right under his nose, and no amount of car chases, gun play, fisticuffs, or explosions can mask that fact in this wooden thriller that is short on dialogue, excitement or a plot that really adds up to very little. At approaching seventy years of age, it was reported that after 'Blacklight' Neeson was going to give up the action tough guy genre as he was done with beating up guys less than half his age, but judging by his IMDb profile, we can still expect him to be kicking butt in the upcoming 'Memory', 'Retribution' and 'Marlowe' already completed or in post-production, with two other films currently in pre-production. Well I guess if you possess a very particular set of skills, you may as well put them to good use!

'Blacklight' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE MARKSMAN : Tuesday 2nd February 2021.

'THE MARKSMAN' which I saw at my local multiplex cinema this week is an M Rated American action thriller Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Robert Lorenz who has twenty-seven credits to his name as Second Unit Director or Assistant Director, seventeen as Producer and four as Director, with this film being only his second film making outing in his own right after 2012's 'Trouble with the Curve' featuring Clint Eastwood, Amy Adams and Justin Timberlake. Lorenz has worked as a Producer on all of Clint Eastwood's films since 'Blood Work' in 2002 upto 'American Sniper' in 2014. Released in the US and in Australia two weeks ago now, this film has so far grossed US$10M off the back of a US$23M production budget and has garnered mixed or average Reviews along the way.

The film opens up in Mexico with Carlos (Alfredo Quiroz) being chased through a market while telephoning his sister Rosa (Teresa Ruiz) ordering her to take her young son young Miguel (Jacob Perez) and flee the town and make it across the border because the cartel are after him, and when they catch up with him, they'll then come after them. Next up we see the cartel having caught up with Carlos and having strung him up under a bridge and beaten him bloody, he is killed. We then cut to the Arizona/Mexican border and Jim Hanson - a retired US Marine who saw two tours in Vietnam - who unofficially patrols the border from his ranch and calls in to the Border Police any sightings of IA's (Illegal Aliens) attempting to gain illegal crossings into the United States. 

We learn that Jim's wife died three years earlier of cancer and he is in arrears with his mortgage payments on his modest home. A representative from the bank drives up to the ranch one day and catches Jim off guard with the news that they will foreclose in ninety days unless he can come up with the balance of monies he owes in arrears. Later that night Jim is in bar drowning his sorrows when walks in Sarah, his daughter (Katheryn Winnick) who works for the Border Police. Sarah escorts Jim home, they talk briefly and Jim falls asleep in a drunken stupor on the sofa. 

The next day Rosa and Miguel make it to the border fence between Mexico and Arizona, when they spy a black SUV approaching. Guessing it is the cartel gang hot on their heels they make it through a hole in the fence to the other side just as Jim approaches in his pick-up truck. Jim stops abruptly and questions the mother and son, who plead with him to let them pass, just as the SUV pulls up on the other side of the fence. Out step three heavies, who initially play it very cool saying that they want the woman and child returned to them, but still Rosa pleads with Jim. 

Needless to say in no time a gunfight ensues with Jim using his very particular set of skills as a former US Marine marksman to take out one of the heavies who just happens to be the brother of the leader of the gang, Maurico (Juan Pablo Raba). Maurico gives chase on foot but is evaded by Jim who escapes in his pick-up truck with Rosa and Miguel. However, Rosa has been shot in the stomach and is bleeding out. Once clear of the remaining cartel members Jim pulls up and helping Rosa out of the vehicle, she says her final goodbye to her son and asks that Jim looks after Miguel and takes him to his family in Chicago. Jim reluctantly agrees.    

Jim contacts Sarah and explains what went down. The Border Police arrive and take Miguel into their custody before decisions are made about his future. Jim knows that if Miguel is returned to Mexico he'll be dead within a week. And so, Jim busts Miguel out of the Police Station and off they head to Chicago. But, Maurico is already hot on their heels with three of his heavies having crossed the official border checkpoint into the US. Maurico is able to track down Jim's homestead and arrives there. Having rifled through his belongings, he sets the place alight and it burns to the ground with all of Jim's worldly possessions therein.

Jim uses his credit card to refuel and secure a road map somewhere in New Mexico, and this alerts Maurico to his whereabouts, who by now are a few hours behind Jim and Miguel. Jim in the meantime has found a bag that was being carried by Rosa containing a stash of US $100 bank notes - the money that the cartel want back and which ultimately cost Carlos his life. Continuing their journey, Jim's truck radiator springs a leak and they decide to hold up en route overnight waiting for a repair job in the morning. Again, Jim uses his credit card to pay for the repair job and Maurico tracks them to Route 66 in Oklahoma. 

Continuing their journey they are pulled over by a Police Patrol car, whose corrupt officer calls it into Maurico revealing their exact location. A fist fight breaks out when Jim smells a rat and suspects that something is not quite right with the officer. He knocks out the officer and handcuffs him to the front bumper bar of his patrol car. Jim and Miguel then speed off, hide the vehicle out of sight and climb to a vantage point to view the arrival of Maurico, who ultimately shoots and kills the officer, before departing the scene.

Jim stops further along the way to purchase a rifle and a handgun from a gun shop. This time Jim pays in cash, and strikes up a conversation with the store owner about his Vietnam background, his reasons for needing the guns and the fact that the owner will need to run a background check. Jim says that he doesn't have time to wait around for the results of the check and implores the store owner to take his word that he is trustworthy and responsible. The store owner relents and says that if asked he'll just say that the guns were stolen. 

Some fifty miles outside of Chicago, Jim's truck is sighted on the freeway by some local heavies that Maurico had enlisted to keep a look out for. It's not long before Maurico's SUV is on the scene giving chase to Jim's pick-up truck on the rural backroads of the Chicago hinterland. Jim's radiator blows again, and he brings the truck to a halt across the road over the brow of a hill. Taking out his rifle, he waits for the SUV to come into view and shoots the driver clean in the head sending the SUV crashing end over end into a nearby field. Out clamber three passengers, badly shaken, bloodied and stumbling to their feet a firefight breaks out. 

Jim and Miguel run to a nearby farmhouse pursued by the three. Jim is able to take out two leaving Maurico, who by now has captured Miguel. A skirmish breaks out between Jim and Maurico in which Jim is stabbed, but he manages to gain the upper-hand on Maurico and shoots him in the stomach. Jim orders Miguel to leave the barn intending to shoot Maurico dead but instead unloads the clip from his handgun and leaves him with a single bullet in his gun with the choice to kill himself or return home to Mexico. Jim and Miguel leave the farm as a single gunshot rings out.

The pair eventually arrive at the home of Miguel's family in Chicago. Miguel knocks on the door and is greeted overwhelming by his extended family. Miguel turns around to acknowledge Jim, but he is gone. Jim boards a bus holding onto the wounds in his side which he was able to hide from the young lad, and closes his eyes to rest. 

This film is a formulaic by the numbers predictable thriller but having said that it is reasonably well crafted. If you are expecting a high body count from which Neeson takes out a whole army of bad guys single handedly, then you're likely to be disappointed, as his body count here you can notch up on one hand. Instead Neeson and Director Lorenz opt for a much more human and emotional storyline that occupies the entire second act as old man and young lad head north east from Arizona to Illinois stopping en route to sleep, eat, drink, refuel, get the truck fixed up, buy guns, bury Jim's beloved dog, and attend an impromptu funeral service for Rosa - all the while dodging them pesky no good cartel types. Neeson is solid enough in this role which he's played countless times before and could practically phone it in, and perhaps for this reason he's recently announced his retirement from making this kind of fare, which at the tender age of 68 now, by his own admission he's getting too old for and beginning to lack the credibility to be constantly beating up guys less than half his age. He's got a few more in the pipeline so chances are he'll go out with a bang, and in the meantime this simple plot that sees Neeson's everyman overcome adversity and save a young orphaned lad from those evil cartel men will be sure to please his fans and lovers of this sub-genre.

'The Marksman' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

HONEST THIEF : Tuesday 27th October 2020.

'HONEST THIEF' which I saw earlier this week, is an M Rated American action thriller Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Mark Williams in only his second film making outing following 2016's 'A Family Man', although he has twenty-nine Producer credits to his name and three as Writer. Released Stateside last week, the film has so far grossed US$13M and has garnered mixed or average Reviews so far. 

Calling him the 'In-and-Out Bandit' because meticulous career bank thief Tom Carter (Liam Neeson) has stolen US$9M from twelve small-town banks across seven States while successfully managing to keep his identity a secret, and therefore keeping the Police authorities at bay for the past nine years following his life long career in bomb disposal with the Marines where he learned and honed his very particular set of skills. 

One day Carter walks into a rental self storage unit business looking to rent a unit, when he is greeted by Annie Sumpter (Kate Walsh) on the other side of the counter. She is a psychology graduate student divorced a couple of years ago, and there is instant chemistry between the pair. We then fast forward one year and Carter is showing Annie around a empty house that he has his eye on to buy, at the same time asking her if she will move in with him. It has now been a year and he says that he can think of no one with whom he would rather spend the rest of his life with. She agrees. Carter also says that there is something else he needs to tell her, but Annie has had enough surprises for one day, and it will have to wait she replies. He in turn replies it can wait. 

Carter is ready to come clean about the string of his robberies and the US$9M he has stashed away, never having spent a single dime of the money he has stolen. He picks up the phone from a hotel room where he is staying and dials the FBI and is ultimately put through to Agent Sam Baker (Robert Patrick). Initially, Baker is disbelieving of Carter's story saying that they often receive crank calls from people claiming to be the 'In-and-Out Bandit', so why should they have any faith in his story. Carter says that he wants to strike a deal for coming clean and handing himself over to the authorities with the US$9M stolen returned in full. He wants a reduced sentence down to two years, within a facility less than two hours drive from Boston, and full visiting rights. When Baker asks why - Carter simply says for love - he has met a woman with whom he wants to spend the rest of his life peacefully without his criminal past hanging over his head. 

And so Baker, still skeptical, sends a couple of his Agents to conduct an initial interview with Carter to determine is he is for real. There is Agent John Nivens (Jai Courtney) and Agent Ramon Hall (Anthony Ramos), who come knocking on the hotel room door later the next day. Asking if Carter can prove his story he recounts how he single handedly conducted his robberies, the banks he chose, the methods he used, and that his stolen cash is to be found in a secure self storage unit facility. Carter willingly hands over the key, gives the Agents the address and patiently awaits their return once they have located the stash of cash. At the storage unit facility, the Agents sure enough find the cash, but rather than take it in as evidence they elect to hold onto it for themselves to fund their retirements. 

They return to the hotel to meet with Carter and say they located the cash, with the intention that they will shoot him dead making it looks as though the Agents acted in self defence. Carter says that those boxes contained US$3M and there is still another US$6M stashed elsewhere (just as an added security measure). But, their plan is foiled when Agent Baker comes knocking on the door looking to question Carter for himself. When suspicions are raised, Nivens shoots Baker dead. In the ensuing scuffle, Carter and Nivens crash out the window two storeys up, landing on top of each other on the ground with Annie who has just arrived on the scene to surprise Carter with her visit. 

Carter and Annie drive off at speed with Nivens and Ramos giving chase. Meanwhile, Agent Tom Meyers (Jeffrey Donovan) arrives on the scene to survey the corpse of his partner Baker. Meyers now gets involved in the hunt for Carter, vowing to bring Baker's murderer to justice. What follows is a cat and mouse chase across the streets of Boston involving shoots outs, fist fights, car chases and car smashes as Carter seeks to clear his name and gain some sort of confession out of Nivens and Hall. Nivens is intent on killing off Annie who is a material witness to the pair of Agents loading boxes (of cash) from the storage facility into the back of their car, which she also has on a memory stick from the on site camera recordings. Nivens confronts Annie at the storage facility and a fight breaks out with Nivens getting stabbed in the leg with a pair of scissors and Annie getting knocked out cold, and almost a bullet to the head were it not for Hall intervening at the crucial moment. 

Carter arrives after the fact and rushes an unconscious Annie to the hospital for emergency treatment. Later Carter ambushes Hall at his home. Hall confesses that he is the reluctant partner in all of this, and gives up the memory stick which he secured from Annie while he frisked her when she was unconscious - a fact unknown to Nivens. Hall also states that Nivens is going to kill Annie at the hospital and that Carter should get her out of there immediately. Hall also gives over the details of the safe house where the money is stashed. When Nivens rocks up to the hospital with Hall, he orders Hall to commit the kill, but he refuses. So Nivens goes in and sees that Meyers is sat by her bedside, waiting for her to come round for questioning. Upon seeing Meyers he leaves. 

Annie by now has recovered in the comfort of a hotel room and refuses to leave saying that she wants to be in on the act to see Carter clear his name. She is present in the car when Carter blows up Nivens home yet deliberately sparing him his life. He then follows Nivens to the safe house knowing full well that he intends to make a run with the money. Carter enters with Hall, holding them both a gun point. Hall comes clean to Nivens about the memory stick, at which Nivens turns on Hall with Nivens ultimately plugging Hall with bullets killing him outright. A gunfight erupts between Carter and Nivens, with Carter sustaining a non life threatening bullet wound to his right side. Nivens escapes in his car with his stash of US$3M. 

Carter calls Nivens on his mobile phone while also tracking his journey. He warns Nivens that there is a hastily assembled improvised explosive device located directly under this car seat, and because it was so hastily assembled it is likely to be unstable. If he leaves his seat it will explode, even if he sneezes it could explode - any sudden movement, and potentially boom, they'll be scraping off bits of Agent Nivens from the road for weeks. The bomb squad arrive, the street is cordoned off, and the device is disarmed although with no detonator installed it would have been impossible for the bomb to explode. Nivens is escorted from the car and immediately placed under arrest by Meyers and two other Agents standing by. 

Following this, later that night back at FBI HQ, Meyers receives a voice recorder (dropped into his office by Annie) which recorded the conversation between Nivens and Hall before the gunfight at the safe house, proving Carter's innocence in the death of Agent Baker. Carter turns himself in, with Annie looking on, as Meyers promises to try to get a lighter sentence for him.

This film hardly ranks as one of Neeson's best, but it is a serviceable, passable yet almost instantly forgettable offering that sees the sixty-eight year old action star doing what he does best with his particular set of skills. The plot is a little lame verging on the romantic action crime genre that is saved by the convincing performances from Neeson, Walsh, Courtney and Donovan, but other than this the dialogue is questionable, the action set pieces you have seen done a hundred times before and the story moves along at such a pace that there is hardly any time to build up the suspense factor. A low on thrills, no frills by the numbers film that has a few saving graces that would elevate this to a middle of the road offering that has been the trademark of Neeson's career of the last fifteen years or so. 

'Honest Thief' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard out of a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MEN IN BLACK : INTERNATIONAL - Tuesday 18th June 2019.

'MEN IN BLACK : INTERNATIONAL' which I saw earlier in the week is the fourth film in the ever popular science fiction action comedy franchise and is Directed by F. Gary Gray whose previous Directorial outings take in the likes of 'The Negotiator', 'The Italian Job', 'Be Cool', 'Law Abiding Citizen', 'Straight Outta Compton' and 'The Fate of the Furious'. The first three films in the series were Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, in 1997, 2002 and 2012, grossed collectively approaching US$1.7B on the back of combined production budgets of US$495M and starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones as our alien crime fighting duo Agent J and Agent K respectively. This instalment is a sort of sequel, sort of spin-off that cost around about US$100M, was released Stateside last week too, has so far recovered US$113M in Box Office receipts and has garnered generally lacklustre critical Reviews so far.

Back in the mid-'90's and young Molly Wright sees her parents being neuralysed by a couple of Men in Black Agents who are on the hunt for a pesky up to no good alien, that Molly helps escape. Molly herself escapes being neuralysed by averting her eyes from her bedroom window up above the street where her parents are talking to the Agents. Fast forward some twenty years and Molly (Tessa Thompson) is unsuccessful in her attempts to join the FBI and the CIA on the basis of her wild conclusions that alien life forms live among us, and she really wants to help combat them having made it her life goal to do so.

Molly is able to track down a crashed alien space craft and follows the MiB vehicles with captured alien in custody, back to their secret headquarters. She successfully manages to infiltrate the HQ but is captured by the hi-tech security scanning devices and is subsequently questioned by Agent O (Emma Thompson) upon whom Molly makes a sufficient enough impression to be granted probationary agent status as Agent M, and is instantly assigned to the London branch of the MiB. Once there she is quickly introduced to High T (Liam Neeson) who heads up the UK Division.

There Agent M is assigned to Agent H (Chris Hemsworth) the most highly regarded Agent working out of the London Office who saved the world back in 2016 with High T atop the Eiffel Tower when they prevented 'The Hive' from gaining access through a wormhole there with potentially catastrophic consequences for our planet.

Later that evening both Agents meet up with Vungus the Ugly (Kayvan Novak) in night club. Vungus is a member of an alien Royal Family who is a long term good friend of H. Upon leaving, Vungus' car is attacked by alien twins ('Les Twins' aka Larry and Laurent Bourgeois) who are able to harness the power of pure energy making them almost indestructible. Vungus is seriously wounded, but on this occasion the twins are thwarted (but only temporarily) by the might of the high tech weaponry readily available to our pair of protagonists from their vehicle.

Moments before dying Vungus passes a multi-dimensional purple coloured crystal on to M, claiming that he cannot trust H with it as he has changed since they last met some years ago. In a debrief meeting in High T's office Agent C (Rafe Spall) openly shows his contempt for H's actions. M however, has concluded that only a handful of people knew Vungus' location when he was attacked, which leads her to believe that Vungus' location was betrayed by one of their own agents. Reeling at the impact of a traitor within the MiB ranks, High T assigns C and M to conduct an investigation while H is assigned to driving his desk. Further investigations seem to determine that the twins may have had DNA traces of the Hive, a parasitic race who invade other planets by merging with the DNA of the conquered species. M learns that H and High T were responsible for driving off a Hive invasion in Paris in 2016, but since then H's attitude has gone downhill, showing a slack approach to his work and seemingly only holding on to his job because of his relationship with High T and his past track record.

H convinces M to join him in chasing up a lead in Marrakesh, where they come across 'Pawny' (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani), the sole survivor of a small group of aliens who were attacked by the Twins. Pawny pledges his loyalty to M, as his new Queen, but they are then attacked by MiB agents coordinated by C, who has recovered CCTV footage of Vungus handing the crystal to M, and as a result now believes that she is the traitor in their midst.

Helped by one of his alien contacts, H is able to acquire a rocket-powered hover bike and escape with M and Pawny. Successfully evading their marauding colleagues, they crash land on the dunes out in the desert, where they learn that the crystal Vungus gave M actually conceals an all powerful weapon generated by a compressed blue giant. As they repair the damaged bike, H's alien contact who had stowed away in a drink bottle, manages to steal the crystal and take it to Riza Stravos (Rebecca Fergusson), an alien arms merchant with whom H had a relationship in the past.

Having repaired the jet propelled hover bike, the gang of three travel by speed boat to Riza's island fortress where they attempt to infiltrate the base and recover the weapon, but are caught by Riza and her bodyguard. M gets caught in a fight with Riza while H gets beaten up in no uncertain terms by the alien bodyguard, but always somehow miraculously manages to get back up (just like Thor!) However, this bodyguard turns out to be the very same alien that M rescued as a child, and recognising each other, he returns the favour by allowing them to leave while he keeps Riza apprehended. While attempting to get off the island the three are attacked by the Twins once again, but they are killed by High T and a group of Agents freshly arrived on the scene.

And so case closed, or is it? Back at London MiB HQ at a celebratory party, both H and M have a moment of clarity and realise that the Twins' passing comments could mean that they wanted the weapon to use against the Hive rather than to use it for them. This resonated especially when the only evidence of Hive DNA was provided by High T. Agent C concedes that the evidence points to the notion of a deception by High T, and so permits H and M to follow High T to the Eiffel Tower. En route to the wormhole, M questions H's memory of his defeat of the Hive revealing that he was probably neuralysed, which is confirmed when they confront High T atop the Eiffel Tower. The Hive transformed High T into one of their own and neuralysed H so that he could be seen as the 'hero' and to mask their true intentions. The High T/Hive 'hybrid' manifests itself and is able to launch a wormhole that will draw the Hive to Earth. As H and the hybrid fight it out, H is able to draw out High T's true personality just long enough for M to use the weapon to destroy High T and the encroaching Hive infestation.

With the case now well and truly closed, Agent O joins H and M in Paris, where she grants M full agent status and appoints H as probationary Head of MiB's London branch until such time as a new head is found.

Aside from the fairly obvious chemistry that Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson share together on screen, and Hemsworth flexing his emerging comedic chops once again, there is little else going for this effects laden albeit pedestrian, play it safe, by the numbers fourth instalment in this flagging franchise. I honestly had expected more from 'Men in Black : International' but emerged from the theatre feeling totally underwhelmed by a film that relies all to heavily on its CGI set pieces, which have by now all become far to commonplace to create any point of difference here, at the expense of any real storyline, and what thinly veiled storyline there is you can see coming from ten miles away. This is predictable fluff that does nothing for the franchise other than seal its fate like the final nail in the coffin, and its disappointing to see fine acting talent like Hemsworth, Thompson, Thompson, Neeson and Spall succumb to the dredging that this film has so far garnered, despite the best intentions no doubt of F. Gary Gray. All style over substance.

'Men in Black : International' merits two claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-