SUPERMAN : Tuesday 15th July 2025.

I saw the long awaited, eagerly anticipated and much hyped M Rated 'SUPERMAN' earlier this week, and this American Superhero film is based on the much loved DC Comics character of Superman/Clark Kent, and is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by James Gunn, who in October 2022 became the new Co-CEO of DC Studios with Peter Safran. This is the second reboot of the 'Superman' film series following on from the DC Extended Universe which kicked off with 'Man of Steel' in 2013, then 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' in 2016 and 'Justice League' in 2017 with Henry Cavill playing the titular role in all three outings. This film is set to be the first film of the DCU's Chapter One : Gods and Monsters, cost US$225M to produce, was released internationally from last week, has so far grossed US$262M at the global Box Office and has generated positive critical reviews. 

The film opens telling us that three thousand years ago the first metahumans arrived on Earth. Then thirty years ago, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van sent their infant son Kal-El to Earth to escape the destruction of their home planet, Krypton. Raised as Clark Kent by adoptive human parents Jonathan (Pruitt Taylor Vince) and Martha Kent (Neva Howell) in Smallville, Kansas, the Kryptonian gains incredible powers from the Earth's yellow Sun. Inspired to heroism by Jor-El and Lara's farewell message, the latter half of which was badly damaged on the journey, Clark introduced himself as Superman (David Corenswet), the most powerful metahuman on Earth, to the world three years ago. Clark maintains his secret identity and a job as a reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper in Metropolis, where he works with Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) who is in a relationship with Clark and aware of his secret identity, and Perry White (Wendell Pierce) the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Planet.

Three weeks earlier, Superman had prevented an invasion by Boravia, an ally of the USA, of its neighbouring country, Jarhanpur. Billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) assures General Rick Flag Sr. (Frank Grillo) and others in the US government, who begin to wonder if Superman might in fact be a threat, that he can kill Superman if necessary, but the government officials stave off that threat . . . for now. Then, three minutes ago Superman loses his first fight against the mysterious 'Hammer of Boravia', who states Superman's involvement in the war as the reason for his attack. However, unbeknownst to the world, the Hammer is actually Ultraman, who is controlled by Luthor using a series of drones. 

Krypto, a superpowered dog being looked after by Superman, takes the badly injured Superman who landed with a thud badly beaten, bruised, and with a few broken bones and ruptured internal organs in the frozen depth of Antarctica. Krypto drags Superman back to his Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica, where he is healed almost back to full strength by his trusted team of robots with concentrated solar radiation. Luthor later secretly invades the fortress alongside Ultraman and the Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria), steals the farewell message from Jor-El and Lara and decodes it in its entirety, before abducting Krypto.

As Superman and the 'Justice Gang' - a team of metahuman heroes consisting Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), take on a giant fire breathing kaiju trampling through Metropolis that was created by Luthor as a diversion. At the same time Luthor broadcasts the entire decoded Kryptonian message to the world. 

To Superman's horror, in the second half of the message, his parents urge him to conquer Earth, take as many wives as needed to restore the Kryptonian race, and to stamp out those who stand in his way. Needless to say, public opinion very quickly turns on Superman. Lois Lane even begins having doubts, and so he voluntarily surrenders to the government for questioning, and because of Superman's power, Flag gives custody of the hero to Luthor. 

Luthor imprisons Superman in his artificial pocket universe where he incarcerates his enemies, including Krypto and the metahuman Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan, as a man made of four elements who could change himself, or part of himself, into any chemical compound in the universe). Using Metamorpho's baby son Joey as a hostage, Luthor forces him to create Kryptonite to render Superman powerless, which he does. Luthor's brainless blonde bimbo girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio), who is also infatuated with Jimmy, reveals that Luthor secretly backs Boravia in return for half of Jarhanpur's territory, providing photographic evidence of the plot before being imprisoned herself, also within the pocket universe.

Luthor interrogates Superman at his lowest ebb using Malik Ali (Dinesh Thyagarajan), a felafel cart vendor and one of Superman's supporters, as a hostage and playing Russian Roulette with him, before shooting his brains out on the second spin of his revolver.  This prompts a horrified Metamorpho to help Superman escape, and the two free Joey and Krypto. 

Lois convinces Mister Terrific to help find Superman, and they enter the pocket universe, ultimately rescuing the heroes and taking Superman to the Kent farm in rural Kansas to recover. Furious at Superman's escape, Luthor has his team increase the pocket universe reactor's power to coax Superman out, creating a rift that begins to tear across the city, destroying everything in its path and dividing the city in two.

Meanwhile Green Lantern, Metamorpho, and Hawkgirl arrive at the Boravian and Jarhanpur border and prevent a second invasion from happening by taking out a seemingly far superior and heavily armed Boravian army. Superman and Mister Terrific battle the Engineer and Ultraman as the growing rift rapidly approaches Metropolis. Hawkgirl fatally drops Vasil Ghurkos (Zlatko Buric), the President of Boravia who is in cahoots with Luthor, from a great height, killing him outright. After defeating the Engineer, Superman unmasks Ultraman (David Corenswet), revealing him to be a clone of himself. Luthor is so intent on defeating Superman that he refuses to close the rift, which further splits the city in half. Superman and Ultraman engage in a long standoff within the depths of the rift, with Superman overcoming Ultraman (aided by Krypto who takes out all of the drones that allows Luthor to control him) by trapping him inside a bus being pulled into a black hole below the rift. Superman and Mister Terrific go to the LuthorCorp headquarters to shut down the reactor, so closing the rift. The Justice Gang is celebrated as heroes alongside their newest member Metamorpho. In the meantime Lois and Jimmy type up an exclusive editorial piece with White's blessing, revealing Luthor's real intentions to the global media, so clearing Superman's name.

Luthor and his cohorts are all arrested, but not before Krypto has had a very long overdue go at Luthor leaving him bashed, bruised and with a few scrapes, and everyone trapped in his pocket universe are freed, including Eve, who runs and jumps into Jimmy's arms. Later, as Superman recovers from his injuries at the Fortress of Solitude, his cousin Kara Zor-El aka 'Supergirl' (Milly Alcock) drunkenly returns to pick up Krypto. To relax during the healing process, he watches footage of his childhood memories in Smallville growing up with Jonathan and Martha as his parents on their farm in Kansas. 

Remain in your seat for the very unconvincing mid-credits sequence single shot of Superman and Krypto sat side by side on the Moon looking back at Earth, which looks as though they are sat on a soccer ball (such that you can see the complete curvature of the Moon), with the Earth only about 5,000 miles away! And there's also an end credits scene, which the die hard fans may want to hold out for. 

Since James Gunn took the helm of the DC Studios with Co-CEO Peter Safran, expectations have been very high for this first instalment in the new DC Universe, and it must be said that Writer and Director Gunn does not disappoint. Here he has crafted a very engaging and entertaining film that at once has something to say about the political climate of today, has an emotional heartbeat at its core, is a welcome nod back to the comic books upon which this character is based, does not take itself too seriously, has some real moments of levity and humour, and is greater than the sum of its parts. The action set pieces which come thick and fast are well rendered, albeit do tend to drag on just a tad too long. The performances from David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult are top notch, with the former harking back to the days when Christopher Reeve first burst onto our screens way back in 1978, and the latter portraying the megalomaniacal domineering and relentless scientific genius who has designs on ruling over a country taken by force for his own political gain (sound familiar in 2025 anyone?), with such conviction to make him relatable and believable. If 'Superman' as the first film in the new DCU sets the standard by which all future DCU films follow, then the folks at the MCU had better think seriously about lifting their game.

'Superman' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE AMATEUR : Tuesday 15th April 2025

I saw the M Rated 'THE AMATEUR' earlier this week at my local independent movie theatre, and this American vigilante action spy thriller film is Directed by James Hawes and is based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Robert Littell, which was previously adapted into a Canadian film that same year with John Savage, Christopher Plummer and Marthe Keller. James Hawes previous feature film making effort was 'One Life' in 2023, although he has Directed numerous TV series since the early 2000's, including multiple episodes of 'Doctor Who', 'Merlin', 'Penny Dreadful', 'Black Mirror', 'Snowpiercer' and 'Slow Horses'. The film was released in the US last week too, has so far grossed US$35M from a production budget of US$60M and has garnered mixed or average reviews. 

Here then, Charles 'Charlie' Heller (Rami Malek, who also Co-Produces here), is a brilliant yet deeply introverted CIA cryptographer, who as the film opens up is seen carefully unwrapping parts to restore an old Cessna single prop plane that was gifted to him by his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan). Later that same day Sarah departs for London where she is attending a four day conference. She asks him to join her, but as usual he declines saying that he has too much important work to do at Langley. At the CIA's Decryption and Analysis division, Charlie has befriended a field agent nicknamed 'the Bear' (Jon Bernthal), and an anonymous source codenamed 'Inquiline'. 

Inquiline sends Charlie highly classified and heavily encrypted files that reveal Special Activities Centre Director and Charlie's boss Alex Moore (Holt McCallany) altered politically-motivated drone strikes as suicide bombings. Later that evening Charlie tries calling Sarah but he only goes through to her voicemail. The next morning Charlie subsequently is brought to CIA Director Samantha O'Brien (Julianne Nicholson), who informs him that Sarah has been killed in a terrorist attack in London. Charlie is disbelieving until he sees raw footage displayed on a TV screen in her office downloaded from a security camera in close proximity to the hotel where Sarah was shot execution style.

A grieving Charlie soon afterwards presents his own findings to Moore and his CIA Deputy Caleb Horowitz (Danny Sapani). After an arms deal gone wrong, four assailants took Sarah and others hostage, killing her before escaping. Charlie identifies the suspects, Belarusian criminal Mishka Blazhic (Marc Rissmann), South African ex-special forces operative Ellish (Joseph Millson), former Armenian intelligence officer Gretchen Frank (Barbara Probst), and elusive mastermind Horst Schiller (Michael Stuhlbarg), Sarah's killer. However, Moore and Horowitz insist they are working to take down Schiller's entire network, and as such tell Charlie to keep out. Determined to avenge Sarah, Charlie confronts Moore and Horowitz with his incriminating orders, which caused hundreds of civilian and allied casualties. Initially Moore brushes off the evidence laid before him, but Charlie then threatens to leak the information to the CIA Director and then the news channels. Charlie demands the available CIA resources to personally hunt down the four terrorists.

And so Charlie is sent off to train with Col. Robert Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) at Camp Peary. The gun-shy Charlie excels at bomb-making, but Henderson lays it out clearly on the line that he is simply not capable of killing anyone. Meanwhile, Moore and Horowitz mobilise a team of CIA operatives to search Charlie's home, office and anywhere he may have visited recently. They discover a CD he hid in a bar's jukebox, but realise he was bluffing when the CD is examined. Henderson is ordered to eliminate Charlie, who bugged the files he left in Moore's office, but he had already vacated his room and was on his way out of the country on a flight bound for London and then a train to Paris, using the fake ID documents he had been given by the CIA.

Charlie tracks down Gretchen Frank in Paris, following an on-line lock-picking tutorial to break into her apartment. He discovers Gretchen's appointment at an asthma and allergy clinic and takes a gun, but cannot bring himself to shoot her when she returns to her home. The next day he buys up all the lilies at a street florist shop, and he traps Gretchen at the clinic in a hypobaric chamber that he fills with the pollen extracted from the lilies. Charlie demands to know Schiller's location, but is unwilling to let Gretchen die and releases her. The pair fight, but she escapes to the street, followed in hot pursuit by Charlie, and is fatally struck by a passing van. Taking Gretchen's phone, Charlie catches a bus to Marseille where Henderson corners him in a bar, but he sets off an explosion in the mens rest room and escapes. 

He requests Inquiline's help and is smuggled to Istanbul, where Inquiline (Caitriona Balfe) reveals herself as the Russian widow of a murdered ex-KGB officer, having taken his place as Charlie's source some six years prior. They trace Blazhic to a luxury hotel in Madrid, while O'Brien learns Moore has sent Henderson after Charlie, and sends her own operative.

In Madrid, Charlie confronts Blazhic as he swims alone in the hotel's rooftop infinity pool perched sixteen storey's up between two towers. He has rigged scuba equipment to decompress the air between the pool's sheets of glass. When Blazhic refuses to answer any questions, Charlie at the press of a button shatters the glass and sends him plummeting to his death. He is nearly apprehended once again by Henderson, who is attacked by O'Brien's operative. In the ensuing struggle, Henderson is shot but kills the operative, allowing Charlie to escape once more. Horowitz realises that Charlie is communicating with someone by spotting an earpiece he is wearing in CCTV footage from the hotel. He tracks down Inquiline and sends a strike team from the CIA Field Office in Istanbul, and Inquiline is killed in a hail of rapid gun fire as she flees with Charlie in a car.

Charlie tracks down Ellish in Romania under the pretence of selling him missiles and traps him with an improvised explosive device that has a remotely activated motion sensor, forcing him to reveal that Schiller operates from a ship on the Baltic Sea. He takes Ellish's phone and leaves him to die in the explosion. Charlie arrives in Primorsk to spy on Schiller's operation. Bear confronts him in a dock side cafe, but Charlie refuses to end his personal vendetta, and so he leaves Charlie pondering his fate.

Charlie is captured and is taken aboard Schiller's ship, coming face-to-face with Sarah's killer. Schiller offers him a loaded gun and the chance to take his revenge. Standing over Schiller with the pistol pointed squarely at Schiller's head and within point blank range, he drops the gun and takes a seat. Charlie reveals that he just had to keep talking long enough as he hacked the ships control systems, steering it to the Gulf of Finland where Schiller and his crew are taken into custody by Finnish Police and Interpol. O'Brien goes public with her revelations about Moore and Horowitz who are later arrested for their unsanctioned operations. After being visited by a recovered Henderson, Charlie is seen taking his restored Cessna plane for its first flight.

With 'The Amateur' Director James Hawes has here delivered a fairly predictable by the numbers spy action thriller that is straight out of the Bourne, or Bond or M:I playbook, with locations spread far and wide, well choreographed action set pieces, but a plot that leaves a lot to be desired. That said it is still entertaining enough and Malek does his best at his portrayal of the CIA computer nerd thrust into a world that he is ill equipped to handle but nonetheless his very particular set of skills at the keyboard enable him to win the day over those bad terrorist types. It has a strong supporting cast with Holt McCallany and Laurence Fishburne as dependable as ever, but Jon Bernthal is wasted with about as much as three minutes in total of screen time out of a total run time of just a nudge over two hours. You can either choose to watch it at your local big screen Odeon or wait to catch it via streaming - either way you could do worse!

'The Amateur' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE COURIER : Tuesday 13th April 2021.

I saw 'THE COURIER' last week, which is an M Rated UK and US Co-Produced historical drama film Directed by Dominic Cooke, whose prior film making outings take in two 'National Theatre Live' performances for 'The Comedy of Errors' in 2012 and 'Follies' in 2017, with 'On Chesil Beach' in 2017 and three episodes of the TV mini-series 'The Hollow Crown' in 2016. This film saw its World Premier screening at the Sundance Film Festival way back in January 2020, was released Stateside in the US on 19th March, in the UK not until 17th May and here in Australia earlier this month having generated US$8.5M at the Box Office so far and generally favourable critical Reviews. 

Based on a true story that played out in the early '60's between the United States and the Soviet Union as both countries threatened one another with the might of their nuclear arsenals. In Moscow, CIA agents are a rare commodity, and the US has become hungry for more and more intelligence on Russia's next move. Russian military intelligence officer, Colonel Oleg Penkovsky (aka Alex, codenamed Ironbark, and played by Merab Ninidze) makes the very risky choice to defy his country in an attempt to halt all out nuclear war. Penkovsky is able to smuggle a message into the US Embassy in Moscow which lands on the desk of CIA Agent Emily Donovan (Rachel Brosnahan) who then travels to London and meets with her counterpart in MI6, Dickie Francis (Angus Wright). Together they hatch a plan to enlist the services of someone who can hide in plain sight and be completely inconspicuous in helping to courier Penkovsky's leaked intel out of Moscow and into the waiting hands of the CIA and MI6. Their cunning plan rests at the feet of businessman Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), who has absolutely zero experience in the intelligence community and as such is unlikely to draw attention to himself as he goes about his work of drumming up new business avenues in Moscow. Over lunch, the three discuss their plan, and Wynne accepts the offer without truly appreciating what he has committed himself to. 

Wynne travels to Moscow and gets through customs no questions asked. He checks into his hotel and within a couple of days is meeting with a delegation of businessmen with whom he is hoping to develop business relations with so that all sides can gain a benefit. At that meeting is Oleg Penkovsky who invites Wynne for lunch, and then the opera and so the relationship is cemented having noticed a tie clip that was given to Wynne by Agent Donovan back in London, saying that he should wear it all times while in Moscow.

And so the story of subterfuge and international espionage ensues with Wynne playing the everyman businessman being wined and dined by the Russians, and in return he pays it back when the delegation of Russian's visit London on a famil. Wynne certainly knows how to turn on the charm and entertains his Russian guests with good food, plenty of liquor and a rousing time showing them the London club scene and all the trappings of a western capitalist society, with his wife Sheila (Jessie Buckley) also in attendance. All the while he and Penkovsky are exchanging 'contracts' for their undercover business dealings which in reality are top secret Russian military documents being drip fed back to the CIA and MI6. 

As Wynne spends more and more time toing and froing between London and Moscow so Sheila becomes increasingly suspicious - even more so because he has adopted a fitness regime and has become more adventurous in bed - and because we learn Wynne was at some point in the past unfaithful to his seemingly dutiful and forgiving wife. Shortly afterwards Penkovsky is paid a random visit in his Moscow office by a KGB Officer Gribanov (Kirill Pirogov) who begins asking probing questions about Wynne. Penkovsky states that he just a capitalist western salesman looking to make money by trading with Russia and that there is nothing to fear, and so Gribanov leaves apparently satisfied, for now! 

Khrushchev is becoming increasingly restless with America's placement of nuclear warheads in Turkey making them within easy range of Moscow. And so he seeks out a location on America's doorstep that would make US soil within easy reach of Russia's nuclear capability - Cuba. And so Penkovsky ramps up his supply of intelligence to Wynne providing documents, plans, drawings and maps of nuclear installations, long range rockets, and the fallout projections of an attack on the US. Shortly afterwards Penkovsky collapses in his office one day seemingly suffering a heart attack. He is seen recovering in hospital days later with his wife by his side, having been told by a nurse that he will make a full recovery and is just exhausted and worn out. 

Following this, Wynne returns to his hotel room to find that a Collins pocket Russian/English dictionary had been misplaced from the position he left it in when he exited earlier in the day. He suspects that his room had been searched and is now bugged. With the Russians seemingly now closing in and the Cuban Missile Crisis gathering real and potentially deadly consequences for the western world, Penkovsky agrees a time line for he and his wife and young daughter to defect. An escape route is planned and Donovan travels to Moscow to coordinate his extraction. In the American Embassy Wynne and Donovan watch the unfolding reports in Cuba on the television. With this, they spring into action with Wynne catching the next plane outta Dodge, and Donovan coordinating Penkovsky's extraction on the ground.  

As Penkovsky rushes to his modest apartment to gather up a few possessions and his wife and daughter to flee the country once and for all, he is greeted by Gribanov and a contingent of KGB personnel. Gribanov states that he poisoned Penkovsky which put him in hospital so that he could search his home and his office while he was out of action temporarily. There he found all the evidence needed to prove his guilt of feeding intelligence to the west. Gribanov asks Penkovsky to tell his wife and daughter what he had done, and knowing full well that his time had come he says that he betrayed his country and is a traitor. At that, he is physically manhandled out his apartment, leaving his wife distraught and sobbing. Meanwhile, Wynne is sitting anxiously in his seat on the plane waiting for takeoff. A message comes over the PA system apologising for the deadly in the takeoff. At that KGB Officers board the plane and order Wynne out of his seat and to accompany them. He is bundled into the back of a waiting vehicle. Donovan is arrested too by KGB authorities for driving the vehicle that was to transport Penkovsky out of the country, but she has diplomatic immunity and is later dropped off at the American Embassy and told she has 24 hours to leave the country. 

Wynne is carted off to a prison facility - his head is shaved, he is stripped naked, body searched, is given a cold shower and thrown in a basic cell with a cast iron bed, a couple of blankets and a bucket filled with the previous inmates urine and faeces. He is repeatedly interrogated by Gribanov and given water thin soup with a few chopped carrots and eyeballs with which to sustain himself. Time marches on as the weeks turn into months. 

Donovan and Francis visit Sheila at her home and break the news that Wynne had been arrested and was in prison in Russia. She, like Penkovsky's wife, was completely unknowing. They ask her to vehemently deny any rumours or speculation about her husbands alleged spying activities to the press or media and to carry on as though this is all a storm in a tea cup. After six months, and a dramatic loss of weight and nearly at breaking point, Wynne is visited in his prison by Shelia, who asks for her forgiveness for ever doubting him. She also tells him that the Cuban Missile Crisis was averted and Khrushchev withdrew his weapons from Cuba at the steadfast insistence of Kennedy - this was the first time Wynne has heard news of this development. Sheila tells him to remain strong as it could take another year for England to secure his release. 

Later while under further questioning by Gribanov, Penkovsky is brought into the room. It is the first time in about eight months that the pair have seen each other. Penkovsky confesses that he did hand over secret military documents to Wynne, but that Wynne had no knowledge of the contents of the packages, and that he was simply a mule. Wynne reaches across the table and grabs Penkovsky's hand and tells him that he averted the missile crisis in Cuba and that Russia withdrew, and that his sacrifices were worth it in the end. At this point Wynne is grabbed from behind and carted out of the room - this is the last time the pair ever set eyes on each other. 

A year later on 22nd April 1964 Wynne is released in a spy-swap for the Russian Konon Molody (known in the west as Gordon Arnold Lonsdale). Penkovsky is executed and buried in an unmarked grave, while his wife and daughter remain free and living in Moscow. In a pre-credits summary we are told that during their association Penkovksy exchanged over five thousand pieces of secret military intelligence with Wynne, making for a particularly fruitful relationship while it lasted. 

This film has been compared a lot to Spielberg's 'Bridge of Spies' and while this film is not in the same league as that offering I did learn something new about the unassuming English salesman who aided and abetted Oleg Penkovsky in defusing the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. Cumberbatch is perfectly cast as the everyman who ultimately shows extraordinary courage in the face of extreme adversity while demonstrating strength in human decency and simply wanting to make the world a safe place. Ninidze is also well cast as is Buckley, the production values are top notch and the film moves along a goodly pace despite the lack of any car chases, explosions, gun play, fist fights or gratuitous deaths. This is simply put, a well crafted Cold War true story that ups the tension, drama, emotion, patriotism and heroics in an effective albeit understated way that only adds to the appeal ultimately. Old fashioned cinema - but there's nothing wrong in that!

'The Courier' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-