THE KING'S MAN : Tuesday 11th January 2022.

I saw 'THE KING'S MAN' at my local multiplex this week and this MA15+ Rated spy action film is Directed, written for the screen, based on a story and Co-Produced by Matthew Vaughn, and is based on the 2012 comic book series created by Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons known as 'The Secret Service'. This film serves as a prequel to 2014's 'The Kingsman : The Secret Service' and 2017's 'Kingsman : The Golden Circle' both Directed also by Matthew Vaughn which between them grossed US$826M off the back of combined production budgets of US$195M. This film was released on 22nd December in the US, on 26th December 2021 in the UK and was last week released in Australia having been delayed several times from an original November 2019 release date, partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received mixed reviews from critics, grossing US$75M so far. 

At the turn of the 20th Century Orlando, the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes), his wife Emily (Alexandra Maria Lara) and young son Conrad (Alexander Shaw) visit a concentration camp in South Africa during the Boer War while working for the Red Cross. Emily is killed during a Boer sniper attack on the camp, causing pacifist Orlando to determine that the world needs someone to head off such conflicts before they arise. Fast forward twelve years, and Orlando has recruited two of his servants, Shola (Djimon Hounsou) and Polly (Gemma Arterton), into his spy network dedicated to protecting the United Kingdom and the British Empire from the imminent Great War. Conrad (Harris Dickinson) is eager to fight on the front line but is forbidden to join up by his protective father, who persuades his close friend Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War (Charles Dance), not to let him join the army. 

Upon the express wishes of Lord Kitchener, Conrad and Orlando ride with Orlando's friend Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Ron Cook) through Sarajevo, and Conrad saves the Archduke from a bomb thrown by Gavrilo Princip (Joel Basman), a rebel intent on sparking a war. Later, Princip runs into the Archduke's entourage again, this time succeeding in fatally shooting Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. Orlando's group learn that Princip was part of a plot to pit the German, Russian, and British empires against each other. The group, headed by the mysterious Shepherd from a secret mountain-top headquarters, have their own network of agents, including the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans), a trusted adviser to Tsar Nicholas (Tom Hollander) of Russia. Rasputin, working under the direction of the Shepherd, manipulates Tsar Nicholas by poisoning his young son, and only curing him when the Tsar agrees to leave the war. 

Conrad is notified of Rasputin's manipulation by his cousin Felix Yusupov (Aaron Vodovoz). Knowing the Western Front will be left vulnerable if Russia exits the war, Conrad delivers this information to Kitchener and his personal assistant Major Morton (Matthew Goode), who embark for Russia on a steam ship. Their ship is torpedoed by a submarine, which is split in two and sinks rapidly in a ball of flame apparently killing them both. Word of Kitchener's death reaches Orlando, spurring him to head to Russia with Shola, Polly, and Conrad to put an end to Rasputin once and for all. At a Christmas party hosted by Prince Yusupov, Orlando, Shola, Conrad, and Rasputin get into a fight with the skirmish only ending when Polly shoots Rasputin between the eyes and kills him.

Again, at the Shepherd's insistence, Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Bruhl), an adviser to Kaiser Wilhelm II (Tom Hollander), sends a secret diplomatic communication that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico, hoping to sidetrack Britain and the USA. Although the message is intercepted by British intelligence and given to the United States, President Woodrow Wilson (Ian Kelly) refuses to join the war without absolute proof. The Shepherd recruits Vladimir Lenin (August Diehl) and orders his Bolsheviks to overthrow the Tsar and remove Russia from the war, and sending an assassin to kill off the Romanovs.

Now nineteen years of age, Conrad is free to join the war effort without intervention from his father. He is commissioned into the Grenadier Guards against his father's wishes. Orlando meets with King George V (Tom Hollander) who agrees to give his son an administrative pen pushing desk job and thus summons Conrad back to Britain. Conrad sends back a young soldier in his place named Lance Corporal Archie Reid (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), giving him the codename 'Lancelot' to send a message to his father. Disguised as Archie, a member of the Black Watch, Royal Regiment of Scotland, Conrad volunteers for a mission into No-Man's Land to retrieve information from a British agent wounded there, but is mistaken for a German spy upon his return and executed at point blank range with a bullet to the head. However, the information he retrieved from the spy is the proof President Wilson required to enter the war. Orlando is devastated by the news of his sons death, and crawls inside a bottle of Scotch to drown his sorrows, refuses to eat, shave, and leave the house for weeks on end. It takes King George to visit Orlando and present him with a Victoria Cross medal awarded posthumously to Conrad for gallantry and valour and Polly to finally make him come to his senses, after she resigns from his service, which he ultimately refuses to accept. 

Orlando's group learns that President Wilson is being blackmailed with a film of him being seduced by one of the Shepherd's agents, Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner). Orlando locates her at the American Embassy and after overpowering her recovers her cashmere scarf, made from rare wool only found in one specific mountainous region. Having identified this location as the Shepherd's base of operations, Orlando, Shola, and Polly head there and fight their way inside. Morton, who had faked his own death and sunk the battleship, is revealed to be the Shepherd (Matthew Goode). Orlando and Shola fight and kill the Shepherd while Polly recovers the original film negative of Wilson's seduction and returns it to the American President, who promptly burns it on the open fireplace in the Oval Office, so allowing his country's forces to mobilise, and ultimately bring an end to the Great War.

Fast forward twelve months after the end of the war, and Orlando has purchased the Kingsman Tailor Shop as a front for his organisation. Gathered around the table as Orlando announces the formation of the original Kingsman are Polly (codenamed Galahad), King George (Percival), Archie Reid (Lancelot), and US Ambassador Chester King (Stanley Tucci as Bedivere) as Shola enters the room late and is given the codename Merlin, with Orlando taking the name of Arthur - all from the legend of King Arthur in honour of Conrad. Remain in your seat for a mid-credits sequence in which Hanussen has assumed the mantle of the Shepherd and in talks with Lenin introduces him to the Romanovs assassin - one young Adolf Hitler (David Kross).

Like Quentin Tarantino's movie 'Inglorious Basterds' did with reimagining the outcome of WWII, here Matthew Vaughn reimagines the outcome of WWI and does so with a comic book style that helps keep the narrative fresh and at times surprising. The action set pieces, of which there are plenty, are well handled but offer up nothing new that we haven't seen a hundred times before, but which are nonetheless likely to satisfy fans of the first two films in the series. Whilst there are some moments of humour in this film, the storyline here offers up more emotion, and greater sincerity than its predecessors which helps in keeping the wild running plot grounded and relatable . . . just! Ralph Fiennes is dependable as ever in his role as the main protagonist here and playing largely against type just as Colin Firth did in the first two instalments, and proving just how adept he is at close quarter hand to hand combat, and maintaining that stiff British upper lip whilst dressed in the best threads of the era. The remaining ensemble cast all deliver too, especially Rhys Ifans in his over the top camp performance as Rasputin, who ultimately gets his comeuppance that isn't too far removed from the truth it seems. All up, 'The King's Man' is an enjoyable enough romp through an alternate WWI history, is an acceptable origin story, has some standout performances but fails to deliver on what made 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' so memorable and fresh, and is only just a notch or two above 'Kingsman : The Golden Circle'. 

'The King's Man' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 6th January 2022.

As the film and television awards season really begins to heat up in the lead up to Hollywood's night of nights, culminating with the Oscars Ceremony, at the start of 2022 is as good a time as any to mark in your diaries when the main events in the celebratory calendar fall. As such, detailed below are the main milestones :

* January 7th - the annual 23rd AFI (American Film Institute) Awards - subsequently postponed due to COVID concerns.

* January 9th - the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards (subsequently postponed due to COVID concerns).

* January 9th - the 79th annual Golden Globe Awards.

* January 11th - the National Board of Review Awards.

* January 15th - the AMPAS (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) Governor's Awards.

* January 26th - the 11th AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) International Awards.

* January 31st - the 64th annual Grammy Awards.

* February 26th - the 33rd annual PGA (Producers Guild of America) Awards.

* February 26th - the 49th annual Annie Awards.

* February 26th - the 72nd annual ACE (American Cinema Editors) Awards.

* February 26th - the 53rd NACCP (National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) Image Awards.

* February 27th - the 28th annual SAG (Screen Actors Guild) Awards.

* March 2nd - the 13th annual AAFCA (African American Film Critics Association) Awards.

* March 6th - the 37th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards.

* March 12th- the 74th annual DGA (Director's Guild of America) Awards.

* March 13th - the 75th annual BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards.

* March 20th - the 75th annual WGA (Writers Guild of America) Awards.

* March 20th - the 36th annual ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) Awards.

* March 27th - the 94th annual Academy Awards.

This week then we have four new movies coming to an Odeon near you, kicking off with a much delayed spy action film that sees how one man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants plotting a war together that could wipe out millions. Next up we have the story of a washed-up porn star who clashes with his estranged wife after returning to his small coastal hometown in Texas. This is followed by an Aussie doco celebrating the life and career of the news making cricket spin bowler and scandal magnet Shane Warne; before closing out the week that sees this kooky and spooky family get tangled up in more wacky adventures and find themselves involved in hilarious run-ins with all sorts of unsuspecting characters as they embark on a road trip in their haunted camper van across America.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new films as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release or as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'THE KING'S MAN' (Rated MA15+) - is a spy action film Directed, written for the screen, based on a story and co-produced by Matthew Vaughn and is based on the 2012 comic book series created by Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons known as 'The Secret Service'. This film serves as a prequel to 2014's 'The Kingsman : The Secret Service' and 2017's 'Kingsman : The Golden Circle' both Directed also by Matthew Vaughn which between them grossed US$826M off the back of combined production budgets of US$195M. This film was released on 22nd December in the US, on 26th December 2021 in the UK and is this week released in Australia having been delayed several times from an original November 2019 release date, partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received mixed reviews from critics, grossing over US$48M so far. 

Set in the early years of the 20th century, the Kingsman agency is formed to stand against a cabal of history's worst and most devilish criminal masterminds from plotting a war to wipe out millions of people and destroy humanity as we know it. Starring and ensemble cast taking in Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Bruhl, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Stanley Tucci and David Kross.

'RED ROCKET' (Rated MA15+) - this American comedy drama film is Directed, Co-Written and Co-Produced by Sean Baker whose prior film making credits take in his debut in 2000 with 'Four Letter Words' to 'Take Out' in 2004, 'Tangerine' in 2015 and 'The Florida Project' in 2017. The film saw its World Premier screening at last years Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d'Or and was released in limited cinema's in early December 2021 in the US and now gets a release in Australia. Here, Mikey Saber (Simon Rex), a formerly successful but now near penniless adult entertainer who, in 2016, returns to his Gulf Coast hometown of Texas City after a seventeen year absence and arrives on the doorstep of the modest home shared by his estranged wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss). After trying unsuccessfully to land a job at a local diner and a variety store he persuades Leondria (Judy Hill) a pot dealer to give him his old job back. Ultimately Mikey cares less about people's affection and acceptance over persuading them to do what he wants, with the local townsfolk bearing witness to his various schemes and scams. The film has picked up five award wins and another fifteen nominations from around the awards and festival circuit, has generated largely positive critical acclaim and has so far recovered US$710K from its production budget of just US$1M.

'SHANE' (Rated M) - this Australian, UK and Northern Ireland co-produced documentary film is Directed by Jon Carey and Adam Darke. Mastering the difficult art of spin bowling after being kicked out of Australian rules football for not being a good enough player proved a pivotal choice for 19-year-old Shane Warne – declared unfit and fat, he transformed himself. When success came, so did fame and adulation, money, and prestige but a betting scandal, drugs scandal, and affairs that cost him his marriage and threatened to derail his career. From the lows of a twelve month ban he rebuilt his cricket, his career, and his reputation as seen when he travels the world revealing all aspects of his extraordinary life and career. 'Shane' celebrates the life and career of one of Australia’s most iconic sports personalities, and features interviews with Lord Ian Botham, Sachin Tendulkar, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Isa Guha, Ian Chappell, Ed Sheeran, Chris Martin, Shane and his family.

'THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2 : ROAD TRIP' (Rated PG) - is an American computer animated supernatural black comedy road film that is the sequel to 2019's 'The Addams Family' that grossed US$204M off the back of a US$24M production budget, and is Directed once again by Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan. This film was released on 1st October last year and has so far grossed US$110M - only now getting its cinematic release in Australia. Here we find Morticia (voiced by Charlize Theron) and Gomez (Oscar Isaac) distraught that their children are growing up, skipping family dinners, and totally consumed with 'scream time'. To reclaim their bond they decide to cram Wednesday (Chloe Grace Moretz), Pugsley (Javon Walton), Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll) and the crew into their haunted camper and hit the road for one last miserable family vacation. Their adventure across America takes them out of their element and into hilarious run-ins with their iconic cousin, Itt (Snoop Dogg), as well as many new kooky characters. What could possibly go wrong? Also starring Bette Midler, Bill Hader, Conrad Vernon and Wallace Shawn. The film has generated mostly negative Reviews so far.

With four new release movie offerings this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere at your local Odeon in the coming week.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-