IN THE GREY : Tuesday 19th May 2026

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'IN THE GREY' earlier this week, and this American action thriller film is Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Guy Ritchie, best known for his feature films including 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' his 1998 Directorial debut, then 'Snatch' in 2000, 'Sherlock Holmes' in 2009 and 'Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows' in 2011, 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' in 2015, 'The Gentlemen' in 2019, 'Operation Fortune : Ruse de Guerre' in 2023, 'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare' in 2024 and 'Fountain of Youth' in 2025. This film was released in the USA and Australia last week, has so far grossed US$5M, and has generated mixed or average critical reviews. 

The film opens up with a SUV driving down a road hugging the side of a mountain, before it pulls off. Inside the car is Braxton (Darrell D'Silva), his henchman and Axel Olsson (Kristofer Hivju). Braxton takes a call and asks the two to leave the vehicle and step out side momentarily. Braxton says to the caller that he has the signed paperwork, and that Salazar agreed to pay the US$1B debt that he owes. Axel then shoots dead the henchman, and Braxton who by now now has exited the SUV in a panic. He too is shot dead, and Axel leans over his corpse, retrieves the letter, and calls Salazar, who tells him to destroy it. In the meantime, Rachel Wilde (Eiza Gonzalez) a street smart, tough as nails specialist lawyer, whose particularly adept at recovering large sums of money from those who aren't supposed to have it, visits New York banking Executive Bobby Sheen (Rosamund Pike), whose employer is wanting to recover the US$1B it loaned to criminal dictator Manny Salazar (Carlos Bardem), who has successfully evaded capture over recent years by adopting numerous aliases. Rachel says she can do the job, but wants a commission for her troubles of 20%, but Bobby negotiates her quickly down to 15%, with US$10M upfront payment in addition bargains Rachel, which Bobby accepts. 

Rachel has at her disposal a crack team of other lawyers, plus various other experts in surveillance, computer hacking, cyber security etc. plus a pair of assets in Bronco (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Sid (Henry Cavill) who in turn have a team of mercenaries for hire at their disposal. They are armed to the teeth with the latest gadgets, vehicles, weapons, covert surveillance gear and the wherewithal to take out a small country - which is exactly what they need to do, as Salazar owns and rules over a small island off the coast of Portugal, which they need to infiltrate. 

And so Bronco travels to Salazar's island with his team, while Sid travels to Jeddah and is met by his contact there with the aim of shutting down Salazar's construction of a major hotel development. And so Sid bribes the building engineer to the tune of US$25K, and in the process laying off some 400 Saudi construction workers and costing Salazar millions each week in lost productivity. Next up Rachel targets Salazar's private jet and then his ocean going super yacht which she has forfeited, and then a giant oil rig waiting dockside to be imminently commissioned. Meanwhile, Salazar's own lawyer William Horowitz (Fisher Stevens) is beside himself at Rachel's doggedness at pursuing Salazar and has to front up to his boss every time there is another development to explain away her actions. Needless to say Salazar is becoming increasingly frustrated and anxious, and unusually demands a face to face meeting with Rachel. 

And so Rachel flies onto the island and is flanked by Sid and Bronco who join her at her cosy little meeting at Salazar's private villa. Salazar says that he is prepared to pay US$400M of the debt and not a penny more, and if she doesn't agree she can fuck off. The meeting ends there with Rachel walking away. The plan was then to extract Rachel off the island by using one of three planned escape routes which Bronco and Sid had meticulously planned and rehearsed multiple times over the previous several weeks, and covering off on all possible scenarios. 

As a consequence Rachel digs in hard and goes after Salazar's business interests by having court injunctions taken out on all of his known company's, thereby having them effectively closed down with the front doors chained, padlocked and guarded. This naturally causes Salazar more financial pain and anguish, so he calls another face to face meeting with Rachel, at which he offers her US$800M to pay off his debt. Rachel won't budge however, and replies that she knows every last detail of every shell company he has dotted all around the world, and will happily expose his nefarious deeds to the very long arm of the law. Salazar relents and agrees to pay back the US$1B on the condition that all of his assets are returned to him and that his various business interests are freed up. Rachel agrees.

Upon leaving, Salazar orders Axel to hunt them down and kill them. And so begins an all guns blazing chase as Sid and Bronco and their four mercenary colleagues attempt to extract Rachel off the island, against Salazar's team of Police and his own militia of about fifty men try to thwart their enemy. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Salazar's small army that may have the numbers of boots on the ground, but they don't have Sid and Bronco's latest technical wizardry, military grade weapons, specialist vehicles or pre-set booby traps which are all used to great effect, including taking down Alex with a bazooka as he fires on our two likely lads and Rachel from a helicopter. 

As Rachel is taken off the island by boat, Sid and Bronco remain behind to attend to some last minute business, saying that they'll catch them up. And so the pair return to Salazar's villa posing as maintenance men. Salazar appears and orders them to leave, but Bronco steps up behind him and injects him with a serum that knocks him old cold. Wrapping him up in cling film leaving only his mouth and nose exposed, they load him into a shipping container and send him off to Miami, Florida. There, the FBI converge on the container to find a battered and bruised Salazar sat on the floor sucking on a cigar. The FBI Officer calls out Salazar's name to which he responds, my name is Smith. 

In the opening voiceover Rachel comments that she and her team exist somewhere between what is legal and illegal, between what is moral and immoral, and between what is black and what is white - in the grey! And so it is with scribe and film maker Guy Ritchie who has crafted a film which is full of exposition like he's spoon feeding the audience with his on-screen graphics of what's about to play out. The action sequences are all reasonably well staged but offer up nothing we haven't seen a hundred times before; the banter and the quips between Sid and Bronco come thick and fast with some landing and others falling by the wayside; and the cast are all beautifully coiffed and kitted out in designer wear that wouldn't look out of place in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'. As for the plot, well you can leave your brain in neutral and go along for the ride, which exists 'in the grey' - it's neither that good, nor that bad either, and at a brisk 98 minute run time doesn't outstay its welcome.

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

ARGYLLE : Tuesday 6th February 2024.

I saw the M Rated 'ARGYLLE' earlier this week at my local multiplex, and this spy action comedy film is Co-Produced and Directed by Matthew Vaughn whose previous feature film Directorial credits include his debut with 'Layer Cake' in 2004, then 'Kick-Ass' in 2010, 'X-Men : First Class' in 2011, 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' in 2014, 'Kingsman : The Golden Circle' in 2017 and 'The King's Man' in 2021. The film was released last week too in the US, cost about US$200M to produce, has so far recovered just US$41M, has garnered generally negative critical reviews and is apparently the first in a trilogy of films, with a third trilogy of films coming from Vaughn's Marv Studio that will see a crossover with the 'Kingsman' franchise.

Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), is the reclusive and introverted author of a series of best-selling espionage novels, whose idea of bliss is a night at home with her computer and her cat, Alfie (whom she adores and takes everywhere with her). She has just completed the draft of her fifth book in the hugely successful 'Argylle' series and calls her mother Ruth (Catherine O'Hara) for her opinion. Her mum read through the draft the previous night and thought is was great but the closing chapter needed more work, rather than leaving it as a cliffhanger for the sixth book in the series. Elly travel by train to visit her Mum so that they can complete the story together with a more concrete ending.

On the train journey, Elly is saved from an ambush by an actual spy, Aidan Wylde (Sam Rockwell), who explains to her that a devious organisation, known as the Division, has targeted her because her Argylle novels seem to have an uncanny knack of predicting their future. Aidan travels with a reluctant Elly to London, England in a private jet (with Elly admitting that she has a deep rooted fear of flying and it is her first time in a plane), hoping that her next chapter will reveal how to stop the Division. 

Once in London, the pair search for a Masterkey' that would help expose the Division that Elly had also referenced in her novels. After fending off a small and very well equipped army of the Division's agents, the pair decamp to a run down hotel to rest up and get refreshed. While Aidan is in the bathroom supposedly taking a shower, Elly overhears him on the phone speaking to someone about how he wants to put a bullet in her head. Elly calls her parents for help who get on the first plane bound for London, and agree to meet in a suite at The Savoy Hotel. As Ruth and Barry Conway (Bryan Cranston) arrive, Aidan reveals that they are in fact both operatives working for the Division sent to capture her, forcing him and Elly to fend them off before fleeing the scene, chased down by a group of the Division's agents. 

Escaping to France, Aidan and former CIA Deputy Director Alfred Solomon (Samuel L. Jackson) who resides in a high tech winery, reveal that Argylle is not entirely fictional and that Elly is in fact agent Rachel Kylle who was captured and brainwashed by the Division five years ago by the two people masquerading as her parents. She put her suppressed memories into her novels. With the latest Argylle novel, Elly was about to reveal the whereabouts of the Masterkey before her cover was blown.

Aidan and Rachel travel to Saudi Arabia, where they retrieve the Masterkey from Saba Al-Badr, the Keeper of Secrets (Sofia Boutella) but are soon cornered by the Division and are knocked out and brought to the Division's base. Ritter (Bryan Cranston), the Division's Director, reveals that Rachel was one of their most loyal assets, after which she offers to interrogate Aidan, subsequently shooting him in the chest. She also locates Alfred for them, but reveals that she in fact sent him the Masterkey, betraying the Division. Ritter stops the transmission and she and a surviving Aidan (after he has plugged himself with four shots of adrenalin) fight their way through the base, which turns out to be an oil tanker far out to sea, eventually killing him. Ruth, who pretended to be Rachel's mother previously, uses a mental trigger code to turn her on Aidan, until she is killed, after which Alfred finally receives the message at his French winery.

Agents Argylle, Wyatt (John Cena) and Keira (Ariana DeBose) the fictional agents from her novels are seen aboard a speedboat fleeing the oil tanker before it explodes into a ball of flame, with Elly's voiceover saying that for the first time Agent Argylle was free. In the closing scene Rachel resumes her novelist persona, and publishes her final novel in the series, where at a reading, the real Argylle reveals himself, much to her shock and confusion. In a post-credit scene, set some twenty years prior, a young Argylle is seen to be ordering a drink at The King's Man pub, where he is revealed to be a Kingsman agent, with the first novel being based on his life.

I didn't hate 'Argylle' but then I also didn't love it, and it some how manages to traverse the line between 'John Wick' (creative action aplenty) and 'Get Smart' (spy comedy romp) aided by some questionable CGI effects, an overly convoluted plot with more twists and turns than you could ever hope to poke a stick at, an excessive run time of two hours twenty minutes, but is just about saved by an ensemble cast who seem to be all in on the silliness most notably Howard, Rockwell and Cavill. Mathew Vaughn here once again demonstrates his skill at the colourful over-the-top action set pieces, but there is really very little new here that we haven't already seen in his previous 'Kingsman' and 'Kick-Ass' franchises, and so Mr. Vaughn, perhaps it's time for a radical rethink of your future filmography. 

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

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT - Tuesday 7th August 2018.

'MISSION : IMPOSSIBLE - FALLOUT' which I saw at my local multiplex this week is the sixth instalment in the Tom Cruise action franchise based on the popular '60's television series, that since 1996 has been dusted off every five years or so with another big budget high octane screen offering. The franchise launched with Brian De Palma's first film adaptation in 1996, followed by John Woo's Directed 'Mission : Impossible 2' in 2000; then J.J. Abrams took over Directing duties with 'Mission : Impossible III' in 2006, then Brad Bird assumed the mantle in 2011 with 'Mission : Impossible - Ghost Protocol' followed by Christoper McQuarrie in 2015 with 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation'. These first five films have grossed at the worldwide Box Office a combined US$2.8B from a collective Budget of US$650M. Now in 2018 Christoper McQuarrie returns to the Directors chair for 'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' which he also wrote. Tom Cruise Produces too, as he has all other films in the series to date. The film has received universal acclaim from Critics, with many praising it as the best in the series so far with the cinematography, action set pieces, stunt work, storyline and cast performances as being particularly credit worthy. The film cost US$178M to Produce and has so far raked in US$360M since its release Stateside last week.

The film opens up with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) woken from his slumber in a Belfast safe house. He is delivered the ubiquitous package detailing his next mission . . . .  should he choose to accept it. Set two years following the events of 'Mission : Impossible - Rogue Nation' in which Soloman Lane (Sean Harris) was captured with what remains of his secretive anarchic organisation 'The Syndicate', reformed into a terrorist group operating across the world known as 'The Apostles'. Hunt's mission is to prevent the sale of three plutonium cores to the group on behalf of their client, one John Lark whose true identity remains a mystery. Hunt's pre-recorded message self destructs within five seconds, and next we find him in Berlin where he meets up with colleagues Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) to arrange the purchase of said plutonium cores. However, the mission goes awry, leaving Hunt a choice to either sacrifice the cores or sacrifice Luther being held at gunpoint. He chooses to save Luther's life, and lo and behold the cores disappear into the night, courtesy of The Apostles.

The team quickly home in on Nils Debruuk (Kristoffer Joner) and set an elaborate trap to make him confess his involvement and hand over the blueprints for his three portable nuclear weapons as well as releasing valuable information relating to The Apostle's next move. Director of CIA Erica Sloane (Angela Bassett) instructs Special Activities Division operative August Walker (Henry Cavill) to shadow Hunt as he attempts to retrieve the plutonium, much to the distrust of IMF Secretary Alan Hunley (Alec Baldwin).

Hunt and Walker HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) parachute jump into Paris, where they infiltrate a fundraiser party at a lavish venue where John Lark is set to buy the cores from The Apostles. They track a man whom they suspect to be Lark to a Gents WC, where a fight breaks out between Lark, Hunt and Walker in which Lark gains the upper hand over the other two, but is shot dead unexpectedly by the emergence of Isla Faust (Rebecca Fergusson).

To ensure the successful execution of the mission, Hunt impersonates Lark and meets with an arms dealer Alanna Mitsopolis, aka The White Widow (Vanessa Kirby) acting as a broker, on the basis that she will not be aware of the true identity of Lark. Agents of The Apostles have been sent to kill John Lark and The White Widow, but she and Hunt escape from the private party in a hail of bullets, knives and fist fights with a room full of guests and panicked onlookers. The White Widow has fallen for Hunt's rouse.

Believing Hunt to be Lark, and in order to secure the plutonium, The White Widow tasks him with extracting Lane from an armoured convoy transporting the fugitive through Paris. She hands over one of the plutonium cores as a payment in kind for the mission. Hunt and his team attack the convoy but not as planned, pushing the armoured vehicle into the Seine so saving the lives of numerous Police Officers who would have been collateral damage, and sending the perpetrators into complete disarray. A straight jacketed Lane is extracted from the now completely submerged armoured vehicle by Benji Dunn and bundled into the back of a waiting speed boat and Luther Stickell.

Walker and Hunt drive a panel van as part of their getaway chased down the back streets of Paris by The White Widows henchmen. They then decamp to getaway motorcycles as the van becomes wedged at the end of a narrow street. Successfully evading the Police, but only narrowly, Hunt is picked up in the speed boat by Dunn and Stickell and a hooded and still straight jacketed Lane.

The team of three and a captured Lane now make for a lock up garage in which is stowed their getaway car - an olive green BMW from yesteryear. Upon raising the garage door they are greeted by a random female Police Officer who suspecting that something is not quite right pulls her gun and orders the three and their hooded and bound captive to freeze. Whereupon four of The White Widows goons arrive to take charge of the situation and reclaim Lane. In the standoff the Police Officer is shot but in a non-life threatening way, and the four goons are all rapidly dispensed with courtesy of Hunt. A high speed car chase ensues across Paris, with Hunt skillfully dodging traffic, pedestrians, motorcyclists and all manner of obstacles while also avoiding The White Widow's forces, the Police and Ilsa, who is under orders to kill Lane to fulfil her mission for MI6 and to be able to walk free following her exploits of two years ago when she joined the IMF and Hunt's team. The mission to extract Lane remains successful, whereupon The White Widow instructs the team to deliver Lane, and Ilsa, to London.

Meanwhile, also in Paris, Walker has secretly met with Erica Sloane and spun her a yarn how Hunt is in fact the elusive Lane, and has framed him by doctoring the evidence found on the man they believed to be Lane and who they killed at the party earlier. Walker hands over the dead mans mobile phone containing all the 'evidence' that Sloane needs to incriminate Hunt. Sloane needs little convincing and orders Walker to put an end to the mission by whatever means necessary, even if it means taking Hunt, and his team, out.

The action now moves to a London safehouse in which Alan Hunley confronts Hunt about being John Lark, based on the fabricated evidence presented by Walker to Sloane. Hunt denies these accusations naturally and incapacitates Hunley to continue with their mission. Benji Dunn masks up as Lane for the purposes of the trade with The White Widow, leaving the real Lane under the charge of Walker while Hunt and his crew go off to make the deal. After being asked to monitor Lane, Walker unwittingly reveals himself to be the real John Lark, in association with Lane. But Benji Dunn and the real Lane did the switcheroo and pulled a fast one on Walker which they recorded for all posterity, with Sloane watching in remotely, while Hunt, Stickell and the real Lane were still in the building.

At this Sloane has instructed a shadow CIA team to take Lane, Walker, and Hunt’s team in. The CIA team though has been infiltrated by The Apostles and Walker orders them to attack the IMF team. Hunley is stabbed and killed in the ensuing fight by Walker, who then escapes on foot across London.  Hunt, after bidding a fond farewell to a dying Hunley, chases Walker on foot aided by Benji Dunn guiding him remotely as a result on implanting a tracking device in Walker's neck during the fracas at the safehouse. Walker leads Hunt on a chase across roof tops to the Tate Modern art gallery, where Walker escapes with Lane in a waiting helicopter on the rooftop, but not before making a threat against Hunt's ex-wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan) as added security for Hunt to no longer meddle.  

Using the tracking device still in Walker's neck leads the team to a medical aid camp somewhere in the foothills of Kashmir. Faust deduces that Lane intends to detonate the two remaining nuclear devices at a river that crosses the borders of China, Pakistan and India so contaminating the water supply to a third of the world's population. Upon arrival at the camp, Hunt comes face to face with Julia and her new husband Patrick (Wes Bentley) who are both working as Doctors providing voluntary medical aid to the locals. Walker had set up Julia to be there to raise the incentive for Hunt. 

Lane activates the nuclear weapons choosing to stay behind as his work is now done, but seeing to it that Walker leaves quickly so as to be out of harms way when the atomic blasts come, which is counting down to fifteen minutes hence. Lane hands the detonator key to Walker who exists in a helicopter. Hunt takes off in a second helicopter clinging to a payload hanging below, leaving Dunn, Stickell and Faust to locate the two nuclear devices and attempt to disarm them within the next fifteen minutes. Hunt clambers up the dangling payload and into the cockpit of the helicopter dispensing with the pilot and co-pilot before taking the controls. All the while Hunt is negotiating mountainous terrain, cavernous ravines, glacial landscapes and deep valleys under a barrage of machine gun fire from a mightily pissed off Walker in hot pursuit. 

Hunt and Walker continue to engage in aerial combat each from their own helicopter, before Hunt uses his chopper to ram Walker's helicopter out of the sky, causing the two downed aircraft to come to rest on a snow covered cliff edge. Narrowly escaping the remnants of two destroyed helicopters, the pair fight high up on a flattened cliff edge, where Hunt eventually kills Walker by sending him to his death wearing a helicopter necklace that explodes in a ball of flame a couple of hundred metres below. Ethan gains control of the detonator while Stickell, Dunn, Faust aided by Julia, deactivate the bombs with one second to spare. With the two cores safely recovered, Sloane arrives on the scene having sent a rescue helicopter to air lift Hunt off the precipice. Sloane hands Lane over to MI6 aided by The White Widow who has secretly been working undercover for MI6 to infiltrate Lane and his network. Faust is cleared of any wrongdoing and is off the hook with MI6. Hunt, Stickell and Dunn can say Mission : Accomplished, and the world is safe, for another day at least!

'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' is by far and away the best in an escapist action franchise that just keeps on improving with age. Here the Cruisemeister just reaffirms his position at the top of the ladder in terms of balls out epic big screen action commercial cinema where he chooses to do all his own practical stunts for added realism instead of giving way to green screen CGI enhanced effects, and all credit to ya Tom. He jumps, leaps, runs, climbs, clings, fist fights, kicks, shoots and is involved in a foot chase, a car chase, a motorcycle chase, a helicopter chase, jumps from a plane at 25,000 feet and saves the world all in the space of two and half hours of action packed adrenalin fuelled high octane fast paced drama. All the while, the story is believable, the action sequences of which there are many are delivered with a deft touch, the locations spectacular, and Hunt is presented as human after all with emotions, regrets, feelings and a vulnerability that perhaps we have not seen in previous instalments. This is a well rounded film in every respect - from the performances, the pacing, and the practical effects and the McQuarrie/Cruise combo has proved a sure fire winner here that elevates this franchise much further up the food chain. See it on the big screen while you can - you won't be disappointed.

'Mission : Impossible - Fallout' warrants five claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, out of a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

JUSTICE LEAGUE : Tuesday 21st November 2017.

'JUSTICE LEAGUE' which I saw earlier this week is here finally after all the hype, the media attention and the speculation surrounding this long awaited and eagerly anticipated fifth film in the DC Extended Universe following hot on the heels of 2013's 'Superman', 2016's 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice', and 'Suicide Squad', and 'Wonder Woman' earlier this year. Zack Snyder Directed 'Man of Steel' which grossed US$668M, and 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' which grossed US$874M, with David Ayer Directing 'Suicide Squad' which grossed US$746M and Patty Jenkins on Director duty for 'Wonder Woman' which grossed US$822M. Once again Zack Snyder is back in the Directors chair for this collective Superhero offering featuring a cast of DC characters thrust together for the first time in a live action instalment, an ensemble cast and a price tag of US$300M to bring to the big screen, making 'Justice League' one of the most expensive films ever made. But, I guess on the strength that the first four films cost a combined US$800M and grossed a collective sum total of US$3.1B, then this fifth film should represent a sure bet for the numerous Production Companies involved. A sequel to this film was scheduled for a mid-2019 release date, which has subsequently been pushed back to make way for a stand alone 'Batman' film. At the time of publishing this Post, 'Justice League' had taken US$308M at the Box Office.

This story then follows on several months after the end of 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' in which Batman/Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) who is now inspired by Superman's selfless act to sacrifice himself for the greater good of all humanity, teams up with new ally Wonder Woman/Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) to fend off a new threat, with the help of a few others yet to be recruited to the Team.

That threat comes in the form of Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciaran Hinds) - an alien high ranking military officer who is immortal and possesses superhuman strength, speed and stamina from the planet Apokolips, and who has a very specific mission on Earth that could have catastrophic consequences for our humble little green planet. He leads an army of winged flying Parademons who extend into their countless thousands, are fiercely loyal to their leader, have heightened strength and high pain tolerance, carry powerful weapons and resemble giant pesky flies only twice as ugly and much more menacing! Steppenwolf wants to capture three 'Mother Boxes' and combine their energy source into 'The Unity' to remake Earth into the hellish domain he can call home and rule over. Back in the day Steppenwolf and his legions of giant pesky flying armed creatures were thwarted by the combined forces of Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlantians, Green Lanterns and humans, and the three all powerful Mother Boxes secreted away in various places of hiding around the world to lie dormant for thousands of years . . . . until now!

Following the death of Superman, the Mother Boxes are all triggered back into life which prompts Steppenwolf's return to Earth to retrieve them. The first such box is housed underground in Themyscira, the island home of Diana Prince, which he successfully overruns and escapes with his Parademons in tow. Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) sends a warning to Diana Prince that Steppenwolf is on his way. This prompts Bruce and Diana to try and muster the support of other known metahumans Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) and Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) which Bruce goes in search of, and Victor Stone (Ray Fisher) which Diana searches out. They fail to convince both Curry and Stone to join their Team, but Allen is very enthusiastic and enlists immediately, giving the young lad some purpose in his otherwise meandering wasteful life. Stone joins the group after his father Silas (Joe Morton) is kidnapped by Steppenwolf searching out the Box left to the humans. Curry also joins too after Atlantis is attacked and the second Mother Box buried deep within the ocean is retrieved by Steppenwolf.

Commissioner James Gordon (J.K.Simmons) advises that he has learned that the Parademons are underground. Surmising that the only location is a long abandoned facility under Gotham Harbour, he advises Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash, now joined also by Cyborg and they converge on the facility and engage with Steppenwolf and his Parademons. In the ensuing close quarter fight, the walls of the facility are ruptured allowing torrents of water to flood into the underground chamber.  Aquaman comes to the rescue and holds back the water so allowing the others to escape.

Stone has been in possession of the third remaining Mother Box, as it was the energy from it that allowed his father Silas, to develop the power to rebuild his son into the Cyborg he is today. Batman hatches a plan to resurrect Superman using the same energy from the Mother Box. This would enable them to fight Steppenwolf on another level and overcome this formidable enemy, whilst at the same time restoring some hope in the world that all is not lost.

Reluctantly Prince and Curry agree although are not too happy with the prospect. Stone and Allen exhume Clark Kent's body and take it to the Kryptonian Ship with the Mother Box. Kent is laid in the incubation waters, and with Allen generating enough electricity they are able to bring Clark Kent back from the dead. However, Superman (Henry Cavill) is suffering from some memory loss and makes a sharp exit out of the ship and into a nearby park where he attacks The Flash, Cyborg who inadvertently tried to kill him, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman. With Superman as expected gaining the upper hand in any battle, things don't go so well for the group or the gathered Police. Until that is, Batman brings out his secret weapon - Lois Lane (Amy Adams), at which point his memories come flooding back. While the Team are distracted with all this in-fighting and Clark and Lois reconnecting, the third Mother Box is left unguarded and easy pickings for Steppenwolf, which he claims from right under their noses.

Cyborg tracks Steppenwolf and the heightened seismic activity from the three Mother Boxes now drawn together, to a remote Russian Village - the scene of a nuclear disaster some decades earlier and where a small enclave of people still reside. With Steppenwolf commencing The Unity, time is fast running out for the world as we know it. The Team of five make their way via the supersonic Bat Jet arriving with a plan to distract the Parademons while Cyborg sets about separating the three Boxes. The team of the remaining four are no match for Steppenwolf and his hordes of Parademons, who are unable to provide sufficient distraction to allow Cyborg to be effective. Until that is, Superman arrives and beats the crap out of Steppenwolf; saves the lives, with The Flash too, of multiple families trying to flee the conflagration; and helps Cyborg separate the Mother Boxes successfully so stripping Steppenwolf of his power. Seeing their leader overcome with fear, the Parademons descend on Steppenwolf just like flies on a freshly laid turd, and transport him instantly back to the world from whence they came.

In the closing scenes we see Alfred (Jeremy Irons) escorting Bruce and Diana to the burnt out shell of Wayne Manor. They agree to rebuild it as the centre of operations for the new Team, with room for future expansion as more metahumans join. The newly formed Team then all default to what they do best - Curry returns to his home of Atlantis; Stone works with his father on developing his cyborg technology and abilities; Prince take her place in the spotlight as a hero of truth and justice; Kent takes up his former role as Superman; and Allen gets an official job with the Police Department of Central City impressing his imprisoned father Henry Allen (Billy Crudup). Remain seated for the mid-credits sequence which sees The Flash race Superman to the Pacific coast, and the end credits scene in which Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) breaks out of Arkham Asylum with a new and deadly ally.

I enjoyed 'Justice League' perhaps more than most Critics who seem intent on bagging the Hell out of the DCEU in favour of the MCU. Sure this film is not perfect, and the MCU still has the upper hand in the Superhero stakes - both singularly and collectively, but this film is moving the DCEU in the right direction that's for sure. There is more levity in this film from the principal cast members which makes them more grounded, approachable and human; the action sequences are well executed; the storyline whilst a little thin is relatable; and in particular Ezra Miller, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa steal the show, whilst Ben Affleck's Batman often looks bewildered and confused by all the going's on. After all he should be centre stage as the corner stone, the originator of the forming Justice League, but is sidelined by his colleagues who do (unlike him) possess real super powers - he's just super 'rich' after all! As an origin story for The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg there is just enough back story to set the scene (remembering that a standalone 'Aquaman' film has just wrapped production, and arrives in our cinemas in December 2018), but Steppenwolf as the big bad villain in the piece is very one dimensional and he just barks orders as his Parademons and beats up anyone or anything that gets in his way, until Superman arrives on the scene. The film is fun and fast paced, and holds promise for future DCEU instalments - I wish it well, and in giving those guys at the MCU a run for their money!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-