ROOFMAN : Tuesday 21st October 2025

I saw the M Rated 'ROOFMAN' earlier this week, and this American crime comedy drama film is Co-Written for the screen and Directed by Derek Cianfrance who made his Directorial debut with 'Brother Tied' in 1998 and would follow this up with 'Blue Valentine' in 2010, 'The Place Beyond the Pines' in 2012, and 'The Light Between Oceans' in 2016. The film had its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September, was released in the US and here in Australia on 9th October, has generated largely positive press and has so far grossed US$21M from a production budget of US$18M. 

The films story opens in 1998 with Jeffrey Manchester (Channing Tatum), a divorced US Army veteran living in North Carolina. He struggles to provide for his three young children, and after one of his daughters sixth birthday, he is reminded by Steve (LaKeith Stanfield), his friend and fellow member of the 82nd Airborne Division, of his powerful skills of observation. Jeffrey uses this 'superpower' for noticing and exploiting routines to rob a McDonald's, breaking in through the roof at night. Surprising the morning shift before they start work for the day, Jeffrey orders the employees into the walk-in freezer but treats them kindly, even giving the manager his own coat to keep warm, before escaping with the contents of the safe. Over the course of the following two years, Jeffrey carries out about forty-five or so robberies with the same strategy, capturing the attention of the authorities and the media as the mysterious 'Roofman'. He is subsequently caught and arrested at his daughter's birthday party after attempting to escape the clutches of the local Police, and is sentenced to 45 years in prison, while his ex-wife Talana (Melonie Diaz) meanwhile ends his contact with their children.

In July 2004, he works in the prison shop, using his attention to detail to escape by hiding underneath a delivery truck and concealing himself above a black painted plank of wood that fits snugly under the truck and is sturdy enough to bear his weight. Hitchhiking to Charlotte in makeshift street clothes, he is unable to reach his children with a manhunt underway, and his face on all the news channels. He calls Steve, who warns him to lie low for a month and make contact with nobody. He is forced to hide in the bathroom ceiling at a Toys 'R' Us store.

And so Jeffrey ventures into the employee area once the store closes for the night, and finds the security system manual and puts a stop to the stores CCTV cameras from recording. He kits out a hiding place in a hollow wall behind a bicycle display using whatever he can find from the stores shelves to make himself a mattress and a chair. Concealing himself, sleeping, watching and listening in on the remote baby monitoring system to track the staff he has set up during the day, and roaming the empty store at night. 

Helping himself to clothes from the donation bin and other merchandise, he survives on Peanut M&M's and baby food. When Mitch (Peter Dinklage), the store's manager, is unwilling to accommodate his employee Leigh's (Kirsten Dunst) schedule as a single mother, so Jeffrey accesses Mitch's computer to change Leigh's shifts himself, by viewing Mitch's log in and password through his hidden cameras.

Jeffrey steals toys to donate to the toy drive Leigh has organised at her church, and when he is pressed to enter the church by another member of the congregation he claims to be a visiting New Yorker named John Zorn and is introduced to Leigh. He pawns stolen video games to pay for dental work after living on a diet of peanut M&M's. He later evades questions at a church singles lunch event by telling Leigh and the other gathered women that he is an undercover government agent. Leigh asks 'John' on a date, and they begin a relationship. Missing his own children, Jeffrey makes a concerted  effort to bond with Leigh's daughters Lindsay (Lily Collias) and Dee (Kennedy Moyer), but is unable to persuade Leigh to start a new life together some place else.

Early one morning while washing himself at the store, a naked and soap covered Jeffrey is interrupted by Mitch who comes into work much earlier than usual. Jeffrey quickly retreats to his hideout, while Mitch frightened bolts to the relative safety of his office, leaving Police to believe a homeless man snuck in and then fled through a fire escape. Later Lindsay and Leigh get into a heated argument, as she lashes out at her mother. Jeffrey buys a used car to teach her to drive and gain some independence and takes the family on a reckless test drive, with the used car salesman (Jimmy O.Yang) sat in the passenger seat nearly crapping himself over Jeffrey's high speed driving antics. 

Steve returns after months overseas, and agrees to help Jeffrey escape the country under a new identity for US$50K. Steve's partner Michelle (Juno Temple) aids the process by co-ordinating a hair piece for disguise purposes to help him clear customs. Desperate, Jeffrey botches a break-in at the pawn shop to steal a gun, and burns down his dentist's office to cover his tracks for fear of being identified through his dental records. 

At a team meeting held by Mitch just before the onset of the busiest time of the year, Christmas, he informs his team that all hours as rostered must be worked, no exceptions, and that he expects 110% commitment from every team member to achieve the stores sales goals. Jeffrey then once again adjusts Leigh's schedule to keep her away from the store until 10:30am on the day that Jeffrey holds the Toys 'R' Us staff at gunpoint and pistol-whips an armoured car guard knocking him unconscious. However, Leigh arrives early while he is calling for an ambulance. She recognises the masked Jeffrey, who flees with the store's cash before the Police arrive, who upon investigating the store premises discover his hideout. Jeffrey pays Steve for his fake documents and leaves for the airport, but receives a call from Leigh while en route. Unwilling to abandon her, he arrives at her apartment at their designated time of 5:00pm clutching helium filled festive balloons and gifts, but it turns out to be a trap by the Police after Leigh gave him up. He is taken into custody and receives an additional forty-year sentence.

Leigh visits Jeffrey in prison and they forgive each other, and tearfully embrace. He reconnects with his own daughter as he accepts life behind bars. An epilogue reveals that Leigh remarried but visited Jeffrey again for the first time in decades, while Jeffrey made two more escape attempts in 2009 and 2017, but says that no more escape plans feature on his agenda, that he is resigned to his fate in prison, and it is where he deserves to be. He is eligible for parole in 2036. Also starring Ben Mendelsohn and Tony Revolori.

I enjoyed 'Roofman' - up to a point. This film is part RomCom, part drama and part thriller, and is ably held together by two on point performances by a likeable rogue thief in Channing Tatum, and his trusting but ultimately betrayed girlfriend Kirsten Dunst. It has heart, humour, emotion and tension and Director Derek Cianfrance knows how to weave these elements in to a neat and tidy unoffensive package, but at a run time of 126 minutes the film for me outstayed its welcome by twenty minutes and I felt it dragging at the midpoint. That said this is a crowd pleaser of a film that demonstrates that life is stranger than fiction but I would have liked to have seen more of Manchester's roofman exploits and a little less of his Toys 'R' Us squat.

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

BLINK TWICE : Tuesday 27th August 2024

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'BLINK TWICE' earlier this week, and this American psychological thriller film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Zoe Kravitz in her Directorial debut. The film was released last week too in the US, has so far grossed US$17M from a production budget of US$20M and has generated largely positive critical reviews. 

Here animal-themed nail artist and casual cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) works an exclusive fund raising gala event with her best friend Jess (Alia Shawcat). Frida encounters billionaire tech mogul, Slater King (Channing Tatum), who is hosting the event and who recently stepped down as CEO amid a very public apology for his past behaviour toward his employees. After their shift has finished, the pair put on their glad rags and crash the after party, where ultimately Slater invites her and Jess to join him on his private island. And so Slater and his entourage fly off to the island on his private jet.

There, Slater's assistant Stacy (Geena Davis) confiscates their phones. In attendance are Slater's friends and business associates, photographer Vic (Christian Slater), private chef Cody (Simon Rex), DJ Tom (Haley Joel-Osment), and graduate Lucas (Levon Hawke), as well as three female guests - Sarah (Adria Arjona), Camilla (Liz Caribel), and Heather (Trew Mullen). The women are treated with lavish rooms, gift bags of perfume, and a high end holiday experience, enhanced by gourmet meals, cocktails and fine wines prepared by Cody, and potent hallucinogenic drugs supplied by Vic.

Frida clashes with Sarah for Slater's attention while Jess observes lapses in her memory. Frida notices that the local workers all sport the same snake tattoo on their arm, and she has strange encounters with an older maid who doesn't speak English, yet appears to recognise her and calls her 'Red Rabbit'. Later, Rich (Kyle MacLachlan), Slater's therapist, visits and receives a gift in a red bag. During a night of partying and drugs, Jess is bitten by a non-venomous snake and later confesses to Frida she wants to leave. 

At breakfast, Frida notices that Lucas smells like the perfume the women are given. While the men are away on a fishing trip, Frida discovers a room with dozens of identical red gift bags all lined up neatly around the room on rows of shelves. She is then tricked into drinking the snake's venom from a bottle by the maid and shortly thereafter begins to remember strange events. She realises that Jess is missing, although the rest of the women do not. Alarmed, Frida investigates and learns a flower indigenous to the island capable of wiping memories has been inside the food and perfume gifted to them. Frida convinces Sarah of what is happening and gets her to drink the venom too, an antidote to the flower's effects.

The men return from their fishing trip later that afternoon, as Frida and Sarah grow increasingly agitated and concerned for their ongoing safety. The pair trick the other women, including Stacy, into drinking tequila shots laced with the venom to restore their memories. Frida sneaks into Slater's office to retrieve their phones, only to find they are out of power and out of service range. Her full memories return, revealing the men have been sexually assaulting the women and then wiping their memories using the flower. When Jess's memories could not be wiped due to the venom in her system from the earlier snake bite, they killed her. She also discovers polaroids featuring different women and men with red gift bags, revealing that Slater is inviting guests to rape people regularly and gifting them perfume to use when they are away from the island.

Frida and Sarah try to buy themselves time with varying degrees of success as Camilla and Heather's memories return, leading Camilla to stab Tom to death while Heather badly injures Vic by repeatedly slamming a marble chess board into his head, before being shot dead by Stan (Cris Costa), Slater's former US Marine security guard. Slater kills Camilla and the men take refuge in Slater's villa where Slater chastises Lucas for opting to be inactively complicit in the abuse by doing nothing to help the women. Stacy attacks Frida, preferring to be ignorant of the men’s behaviour before Frida stabs her to death. Frida runs into the woods behind the villa and is chased by Stan who catches up with her and holds her at gunpoint, but is then bludgeoned to death from behind by Sarah with a rock, who takes his gun. Cody makes his way to the woods but is shot dead by Sarah. In the villa, Lucas tries to run away but due to a trap set for Slater by Frida and Sarah, is mistakenly shot in the head. Following this, Slater traps Frida in the villa and binds her hands and gags her mouth. 

It is revealed that Frida was invited to the island the year before and experienced the same events, biting off Vic's little finger and scarring her temple when she fell against a rock before her memories were wiped. The maid had recognised Frida from her fingernails painted with red rabbits. Slater laughs off his recent apology in the media and exclaims that forgetting is better than forgiveness, before leaving to retrieve Sarah. While Slater is gone, Frida cuts through her hand bindings with a shard of broken glass, and laces his vape with the memory-erasing perfume. When Slater returns with Sarah he holds a kitchen knife to her throat, but the effects make him forget the previous events, back away from Sarah and cause him to panic upon seeing the dead and mutilated bodies strewn across the floor. Slater slips and knocks himself unconscious as the villa catches fire. The two women escape, leaving Vic to die but Frida saves Slater. 

Sometime later at a similar gala dinner as to the one that opened the film, Rich, who also assaulted Frida on the island, encounters Slater who is noticeably incoherent. It is revealed that Frida has married Slater and assumed his position as CEO, all the while drugging his vape with the flower to keep him compliant. As the event's guests congratulate Frida, Rich is apprehended by law enforcement officers.

For Zoe Kravitz Directorial debut, she has hit on a winner here proving her filmmaking talents both in front and behind the camera, leaving this Reviewer keen to see what she turns her mind to next. Here she ably ramps up the tension, leverages the suspense, throws in the occasional laugh before serving up a blood soaked ending with nods to 'The Menu' and 'Get Out' especially. Channing Tatum is right on form here as the disgraced CEO tech tycoon, and Naomi Ackie and Adria Arjona add weight and credibility through their performances too. A well crafted film, with on point sound design, a cracking soundtrack and a stacked cast of A-list talent, this film is worth searching out for the underlying messages it seeks to impart, the visual spectacle and its power to keep you talking after the credits have rolled.

'Blink Twice' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

FLY ME TO THE MOON : Tuesday 13th August 2024.

I saw the M Rated 'FLY ME TO THE MOON' earlier this week at my local independent picture house, and this American romantic dramedy is Directed by Greg Berlanti whose prior feature film output takes in 'The Broken Hearts Club' in 2000, 'Life as We Know It' in 2010 and 'Love, Simon' in 2018 as well as creating, writing and producing numerous successful TV shows and series. This film was released here in Australia and the US on 11th July, had a production budget of US$100M, has so far grossed US$41M and has garnered mixed critical reviews.

The film opens up with the three man crew of NASA's Apollo 1 preparing for a launch rehearsal test in late January 1967 when an electrical fire breaks out in the cabin killing all three crew members - Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee, and destroyed the command module. The Director in charge of the test Cole Davis (Channing Tatum) has had to live with the memory of that ill fated day ever since. We then cut to New York City and marketing ace Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) is seen in a meeting with three men, all of whom have very clearly defined views on women in the workplace, and is there to pitch a motor vehicle campaign, which needless to say she aces too after correctly guessing the make and model of the cars the three drive. Following that meeting she is met by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) who works for President Richard Nixon as his 'fixer', and offers her the role of a lifetime down in Florida to fix up NASA's public image, which she can hardly refuse, and especially considering Kelly's somewhat dubious background which he says would also allow her to walk away ultimately with a clean slate. 

And so Kelly and her trusted assistant Ruby Martin (Anna Garcia) fly down to Cape Kennedy, Florida where they quickly meet with, and fail to hit it off, with Cole and his right hand man in mission control Henry Smalls (Ray Romano). After establishing themselves in situ at NASA HQ Kelly quickly unveils her marketing plans to lift awareness of NASA among the American public with extremes in her campaign ranging from Omega Watches sponsorship to having the breakfast cereal that goes Snap, Crackle and Pop replaced with Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins, who plan to blast off in Apollo 11 on 16th July 1969 - some 170 days hence, and be the first men to walk on the Moon. 

Needless to say as Kelly's various campaigns begin to prove successful, Cole's stance toward her begins to soften. However, the fly in the ointment proves to be a number of government senators who are opposed to the NASA programme and want to shut down the Apollo mission and redirect that funding to more meaningful purposes that will have a direct positive impact on the American people. And so Kelly goes to work on Senator Hopp (Gene Jones), Senator Cook (Colin Jost), Senator Hedges (Victor Garber) who of them all is walk in the park as he is already pro-NASA, but its Senator Vanning (Joe Chrest) who is the real problem child. 

And so one evening Cole decides to introduce Kelly to the love of his life Jenny - his own twin prop two seater plane - and fly them both across the border to meet for dinner with Senator Vanning and his wife Jolene (Stephanie Kurtzuba) at their home. The Vanning's are God fearing folk who believe in the word of the bible over science hence his seemingly staunch resistance to supporting NASA. Cole however, wins him over with a counter argument of how science and religion go hand in hand on this project, and on national TV Vanning pledges his support to the cause. 

Moe shows up one day unannounced with a suitcase, and discusses its contents first with Kelly before calling Cole into the meeting. He motions to the suitcase and asks Cole to look inside, revealing a bulky and heavy looking camera which Moe wants attached to the lunar landing module to take video footage that can be beamed back to Earth. Cole immediately says no, and that they are at a point where they are having to weigh every screw in an attempt to reduce the weight, and strapping a 15lb camera to the pod is totally impractical. Moe then mentions that he can always advise the President to withdraw funding to which Cole very reluctantly agrees and calls in two of his top engineers Stu Bryce and Don Harper (Donald Elise Watkins and Noah Robbins respectively) to strip the camera down to its bear bones and mount it on the pod. 

The next time Moe shows up he has a much more outlandish plan for Kelly, but she is sworn to secrecy apart from those in her inner circle, which does not include either Cole or Henry under any circumstances. She is given top secret access to a hangar in which she she is to 'stage' a fake Moon landing as a back up in the event that the real landing fails for whatever reason. And so Kelly and Ruby set to work, and they hire a Director whom they have worked with previously on ad campaigns in New York - Lance Vespertine (Jim Rash) who at first struggles with the concept, the surroundings and the 'actors' hired to portray Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins. But after a number of set backs Lance comes good as the day approaches. 

On launch day Kelly confides to Cole the plan to stage a fake Moon landing. Needless to say he is none to pleased at the prospect and storms off. Cole is advised that a component on the lunar lander camera is broken and enlist Stu and Don to investigate immediately. Reporting back that they need a component from a modern day colour TV set they jump in Coles Mustang with Kelly behind the wheel and drive off frantically to the nearest TV retail outlet only to find it closed for the pending launch. Kelly throws a garbage bin through the window of the shop while Stu enters and grabs a TV just as the Police show up. Caught red handed, Kelly turns on her charm and before you know it they are tearing back to Mission Control with a Police escort leading from in front. Stu hurriedly enters the cabin, replaces the component with just a few moments to spare before countdown begins. 

And so watched by a global audience Apollo 11 successfully launches into orbit. Some twenty-seven hours later the lunar landing module touches down on the Sea of Tranquility on the Moon. In the hangar housing the fake Moon landing mock up the cameras are set to roll, while simultaneously the cameras are also set to roll on the Moon. Watching on dual monitors in the hangar is Moe, Kelly and Ruby who once Armstrong exits the lunar lander can hardly tell the difference between the events unfolding for real on the Moon and those within the hangar. Until that is, a pesky black cat appears on the gantry directly above the fake set up, and is then chased by a Security Officer who gets his legs tangled in a rope and falls over the edge of the gantry to come to halt dangling just out of view of the camera. Meanwhile, the cat has run off and is running amok on the fake lunar landscape and ends up between the legs of 'Neil Armstrong'. 

Fortunately the footage had been cut by this time, but no one is any wiser as to which footage is real that is being broadcast to the world. It wasn't until Armstrong uttered those immortal words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind' that they all realise that the real Moon landing footage is being beamed around the world. And so the team, including Moe, breathe a big sigh of relief.

In the aftermath, Moe congratulates Kelly on a job well done and tells her that her history is now cleared and that she is free to start afresh. Kelly confides her back story to Cole saying that she was brought up from a very young age to sell door to door with her Mum and she would scam people into buying stuff they didn't need and that was how she ended up becoming a marketing whizz, and by the way, her real name is Winnie. Cole, having told Kelly that he never wants to see her again following her reveal about the fake Moon landing, embraces her, and they kiss. 

I must confess that I was pleasantly surprised by 'Fly Me to the Moon' which is part RomCom, part drama, part nostalgic history lesson and part conspiracy theory all wrapped into one neat little package with the chemistry between Johansson and Tatum clearly evident here, ably aided and abetted by Romano and always on top form Harrelson. This film is a real throwback to the comedies of the '60's featuring the likes of Hudson and Day, and on that level it works just fine if that's where your expectations rest. Director Berlanti has crammed enough sub-plots into the storyline here to maintain the interest, but at a run time time of 132 minutes the film at times feels a little bloated and off-kilter. That said, its worth the price of your cinema ticket to catch a movie the likes of which don't come around too often anymore these days.

'Fly Me to the Moon' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE : Tuesday 30th July 2024.

I saw the MA15+ rated 'DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE' at my local multiplex theatre this week, and this much hyped, eagerly awaited and highly anticipated American Superhero film is based on the Marvel Comics characters Deadpool and Wolverine, and is the 34th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and a sequel to 2016's 'Deadpool' and 2018's 'Deadpool 2'. Those first two films in the franchise grossed a total US$1.57B at the worldwide Box Office off the back of a combined production budget of US$168M. Tim Miller Directed that first instalment with David Leitch on duty for the second, and Shawn Levy taking the helm on this third offering, who also gets a Co-Writer and a Co-Producer credit too. With a budget of US$200M the film has so far grossed US$659M internationally in its first week since opening and has set the highest grossing opening for an R rated film and has garnered largely mixed or average reviews.

The film opens with an action set piece while the starting credits roll of Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) going head to head with a small army of TVA (Time Variance Authority) foot soldiers whom he successfully manages to violently kill every last standing one of them by utilising Logan's adamantium skeleton which he has just dug up, as his preferred weapon of choice. We then back track to 2018 and Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) uses Cable's time-traveling device to travel from his timeline, being Earth-10005, to Earth-616, the 'Sacred Timeline', where he meets with Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) and basically pleads to join the Avengers because he want's to 'matter', but is rejected.

We then fast forward six years later, and find Wade has officially retired from being Deadpool and is working as a used-car salesman with his friend Peter Wisdom (Rob Delaney) after splitting up with his girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle (Morena Baccarin). During his birthday party, the TVA captures Wade and brings him to Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) who offers him a place on Earth-616, while also revealing that Wade's timeline is deteriorating as a result of the death of its stabilising 'anchor being' - that is, Logan. Paradox details his plans to use the 'Time Ripper', a device he developed to mercy kill timelines, to prematurely destroy Wade's timeline in three days rather than the traditional couple of thousand years it would usually take. Wade steals Paradox's TemPad to escape and dig up Logan's grave, which brings us back to the opening sequence. When he fails to resurrect Logan, Wade uses the TemPad to travel across the multiverse in an attempt to find a Variant of Logan in order to save his timeline, but locating the right Logan proves problematical for Deadpool.

After crossing paths with numerous Logan variants across numerous timelines, Wade comes across one in a bar knocking back whisky like it's going out of fashion and he feels this one fits the bill. He takes this one back to the TVA, where he learns that this particular Logan (Hugh Jackman) is considered the worst Wolverine in the multiverse. After an argument, during which Wade learns that Paradox is acting without the knowledge of his superiors, Paradox prunes Wade and Logan into the Void. 

There, Wade and Logan fight before they and Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) of The Fantastic Four are captured and taken to Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin), the twin sister of X-Men leader Charles Xavier. Cassandra, who was pruned as an infant but made a deal with the TVA to stay willingly in the Void, kills Johnny and leaves Wade and Logan to be consumed by Alioth (a cloud-like, matter-consuming entity which lives in the Void and guards the Citadel at the End of Time), although they successfully manage to escape. 

Logan and Wade meet a variant of Wade called 'Nicepool', who gives them a beat up old Honda Odyssey  and points them to the Void's borderlands, where the resistance against Cassandra is located. However, en route Logan chastises Wade for hiding the fact that he is unable to fix Logan's timeline, leading to a fight that leaves them both unconscious. Laura aka X-23 (Dafne Keen) drives them to the borderlands, where they meet resistance members Elektra Natchios (Jennifer Garner), Eric Brooks aka Blade (Wesley Snipes) and Remy LeBeau aka Gambit (Channing Tatum). Wade calls them the 'Others' and proposes an alliance to fight Cassandra. Logan refuses to cooperate, but eventually relents after a conversation with Laura about his inability to save the X-Men in his universe. 

Wade, Logan, and the Others go to confront Cassandra, and manage to block her powers by placing Juggernaut's telepathic blocking helmet on her head. However, Cassandra is betrayed and shot several times in the stomach by her henchman Pyro (Aaron Stanford) acting on behalf of Paradox. Logan convinces Wade to remove the helmet which he does reluctantly so allowing Cassandra to self heal and open a portal back to Wade's timeline, which he and Logan jump through. 

Arriving back on on Earth-10005, Wade and Logan come across an army of Deadpools all transported in from the Void and all intent on dispensing with Wade and Logan. Needless to say Wade and Logan successfully thwart the army of Deadpool variants only for each and every one of them to rise up regenerated from their injuries. However, when Peter Wisdom emerges as his own Deadpool variant, the other variants all crowd around him and cheer, leaving Wade and Logan to continue with their business at hand. They soon find that Paradox has begun to use the Time Ripper. Cassandra, having learned of Paradox's plan from Pyro before executing him, arrives through another portal and kidnaps Paradox. She plans to take control of the Time Ripper to destroy all timelines, leaving only the Void, as revenge for Paradox's betrayal. Paradox tells Wade and Logan that disrupting the matter and anti-matter power flow of the Time Ripper would kill a person. Wade and Logan use both of their bodies as a conductor by sharing the burden, and destroy the Time Ripper, killing Cassandra. Paradox is then promptly arrested by Hunter B-15 (Wunmi Mosaku) from the TVA. 

B-15 reveals that Wade and Logan's actions prevented Wade's timeline from deteriorating. Wade asks B-15 to free the Others from the Void, before asking if it is possible to rewrite the history of Logan's timeline. B-15 says it was his history that made Logan the hero needed to stop Cassandra and there is nothing to fix. The pair then go off to find something to eat at which time Wade asks Logan, what's next for him. Logan, says that he wishes to retire and live a peaceful life, but is taken by Wade to meet his friends, along with Laura. Upon Logan's encouragement, Wade reconnects with Vanessa.

With 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Director Shawn Levy has crafted a film that has clearly won over critics and audiences alike (for the most part anyway!) and this is particularly evidenced by its record breaking Box Office haul just ten days after release. The chemistry and mateship that exists between Reynolds and Jackman is plainly evident here, even if the plot is wafer thin and makes little sense - but that's hardly the point, as it's the sheer entertainment value derived from seeing these two characters riff off one another ad infinitum, the F-bombs that come thick and fast and the irreverence shown at almost every turn. With cameo appearances aplenty this film is sure to please MCU and X-Men fans as well as those harking back to a bygone era of superheroes whose TV and film time is spent or was never realised (think Elektra, Blade and Gambit here most notably). The action sequences, of which there are enough to fill two feature length films, come thick and fast and are very well executed, although I couldn't help thinking that with their regenerative powers what's the point behind shooting, stabbing, punching, kicking in all manner of creative ways if your opponent is going to get up and brush it all off when you're done. All of that said 'Deadpool & Wolverine' is well worth the price of your cinema entry and should be seen on the big screen.

'Deadpool & Wolverine' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-