THOR : RAGNAROK - Tuesday 31st October 2017.

'THOR : RAGNAROK' which I saw earlier this week, is the third film in the 'Thor' franchise and the seventeenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and has been much hyped, keenly awaited and highly anticipated since the first trailers were released and New Zealander Taika Waititi was announced for Directing duties. With a production budget of US$180M and filmed largely at Australia's Gold Coast film studios, the film has already received largely positive press, hailing it the best of the three so far, ahead of its US release in early November, and its Australian release last week. The first two films in the series, 2011's 'Thor' and 2013's 'Thor : The Dark World' were made for a combined US$303M and grossed between them close to US$1.1B, so expectations are running high for this instalment. The film has so far taken US$109M.

By way of a lesson into Norse mythology, Ragnarok is a series of future events, including a great battle, foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Following such a cataclysmic event, the world will resurface afresh, renewed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. This film then, is set four years after the events of 'Thor: The Dark World', and two years following on from 'Avengers: Age of Ultron'. As the film opens we find Thor wrapped in chains imprisoned on some far away planet by the fire demon Surtur (voiced by Clancy Brown and acted in MoCap by Taika Waititi) having unsuccessfully scoured the four corners of the universe for the Infinity Stones. In a comical opening scene we see Thor dangling by a chain deep within a cavernous cave taunting Surtur who tells him that his father Odin, has abandoned Asgard and that the realm will soon be destroyed in a foretold Ragnarok as soon as he is able to unite himself with The Eternal Flame that burns beneath the city of Asgard. Using his mighty hammer, Mjolnir, Thor is able to defeat Surtur and remove his crown, so preventing the apocalyptic Ragnarok . . . or so he thinks. Thor returns to Asgard.

On Asgard, Thor arrives to find Loki (Tom Hiddleston) posing as Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and therefore ruling over all of Asgard. Thor can see over Loki's ruse, and reveals his true identity to the people of Asgard. He also convinces Loki to help find his father. They travel to Earth and with the help of Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) they locate Odin hanging out in Norway. Odin explains to his sons that he is dying and has little time left. He further explains that with his passing, this will allow his first born daughter Hela, the Goddess of Death (Cate Blanchett) to be freed from prison where she was exiled to long long ago. Hela has at one time back in the dim and distant past been the leader of Asgard's almighty armies and with Odin they conquered the Nine Realms, and built Asgard to be the mighty civilisation it now is. But Hela got too big for her boots and became over ambitious, hence her imprisonment and being written out of the family history, to the extent that she was not even known of by Thor or Loki.

Odin dies and almost immediately Hela arrives. Hela commands that Thor and Loki kneel before her, but they refuse. Thor goes into battle mode determined to wipe his older sister from the face of the Earth, but she'll have none of it, for Hela is all powerful and in a show of strength stops Mjolnir at arms length and crushes it as though it were glass. Thor's hammer falls to the floor shattered into several chunks with Thor looking on in disbelief. At this Thor and Loki decide its time to get outta Dodge and summons the Bifrost Bridge to return them to Asgard. Hela pursues them and chases them through the wormhole overpowering them and causing the two brothers into space to supposedly perish and die, while she continues onto Asgard. She quickly asserts her power and single handedly wipes out the Asgardian army, resurrects the ancient dead with whom she once fought and who are buried deep within a secret vault below the castle, and appoints the new sentry of the Bifrost Bridge, Skurge (Karl Urban) as her new executioner. While Hela and Skurge are otherwise pre-occupied stamping their mark on Asgard, Heimdall (Idris Elba) who is in self imposed exile during Loki's reign, scales the mountainside and steals the sword that controls the Bridge, to prevent Hela from using the Bridge for her own empire building gain.

Meanwhile, Thor lands on the garbage planet Sakaar, and is immediately picked up by locals who are then overpowered by a lone mercenary and bounty hunter called Scrapper 142 (Tessa Thompson). She in turn overpowers Thor and drags him off to meet the planets immortal ruler, Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum) who runs a gladiator arena for the sport of the local population.

Grandmaster determines that Thor should fight in his Contest of Champions against his so far unbeaten champion prize fighter. After a brief introduction, a lesson in all things Sakaar, getting his golden locks shorn off by a Stan Lee cameo appearance and befriending a stone being named Korg (a laugh out loud Taika Waititi performance rendered in MoCap) as his only ally on the garbage planet, Thor is thrust into the arena to await his fate up against an all conquering foe that he does not yet know. Meanwhile, Loki has emerged too and has ingratiated himself to the Grandmaster and is living the free and easy life, unlike his now captive brother who tries to reason with him so that he can be set free too. But, Loki will have none of it!

As Thor readies himself under the spotlights of the arena, so he comes face to face with old buddy 'from work', Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). The pair clash in a brutal battle with Thor gaining the upper hand and almost defeating his old friend, before Grandmaster fixes the fight to guarantee Hulk's victory and to save face. Still held in captivity at the mercy of Grandmaster, Thor and Hulk, begin to reconcile their differences. Thor needs a plan and a Team to get back to Asgard, before Hela unleashes more death and destruction on Asgard and the Realms.

Thor tries to convince Hulk and Scrapper 142 to join forces and help him save Asgard and defeat Hela. They are not interested, even though he recognises Scrapper 142 as being one of the Valkyrie, a legendary force of female fighters who were all but wiped out trying to defend Asgard from Hela in days long since gone by. So Thor decides to go it alone using the Quinjet that bought Hulk to Sakaar two years previously. He breaks out of the Grandmaster's palace and gets to the Quinjet. Hulk follows behind where a recorded message on a monitor from Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is the catalyst for Hulk turning back into Bruce Banner for the first time since the incidents at Sokovia two years previously.

Grandmaster orders that Scrapper 142 and Loki join forces to hunt down Thor and Banner, but the pair are hardly a match made in Heaven, and ultimately Scrapper 142 has a change of heart, takes Loki prisoner and agrees to join forces with the other two. Loki is however, reluctant to be left behind on the garbage planet now that he is a wanted man, and so he provides the group with the means to commandeer one of Grandmasters ships. They then set free the other gladiators led by Korg who stage a revolution.

Loki, being one not to be trusted, attempts to betray his brother but Thor can see through this, and immobilises him and leaves him behind. However, he is soon picked up by an unsuspecting Korg and the revolutionaries. Thor, Banner and Scrapper 142 escape through a giant wormhole known affectionately as the Devil's Anus, and arrive back on Asgard.

Upon arrival the three are confronted by Heimdall and the citizens of Asgard who are under siege by Hela, Skurge, their undead forces and a giant man eating hound that Hela has at her command. Banner transforms into Hulk again and with Scrapper 142 they fight Skurge and his forces, while Thor is off to see to unfinished business with Hela. Loki, Korg and the gladiators arrive aboard a giant ship having come through the Devil's Anus too. They join in the fight while the fleeing citizens of Asgard board the giant ship that will take them to someplace else, safe!

In his fight with Hela, Thor is overpowered and suffers stabbings, slashing and the loss of an eye. But theses mere scrapes do not deter him from the end game. In a moment of clarity, Thor has a vision of Odin, his father, that makes him see that only Ragnarok can defeat Hela. While Thor, Hulk and Scrapper 142 keep Hela distracted in battle, Loki sets off to retrieve the crown of Surtur and thrust it into the Eternal Flame, so resurrecting the fire demon bringing on Ragnarok to engulf all of Asgard and destroy Hela.

Thor and his crew board the giant ship with the now safe citizens of Asgard. Thor is crowned King, and when asked by Korg where to, he replies Earth, where perhaps he intends to rebuild Asgard. Watch out for the mid-credits scene and if you can wait it out until the final credits have rolled, there is a closing sequence featuring Grandmaster. The film also stars cameo performances from Matt Damon, Sam Neill and Liam Hemsworth (brother of Chris).

It is hardly surprising that Critics have heaped praise upon 'Thor : Ragnarok'. Whilst the film takes the 'Thor' movie franchise off in a new direction, and the MCU for that matter, the film retains many of the Thor touchstones including the action, the spectacle and the characterisation but freshens them up with a deadpan sense of humour, sarcasm, a wild ride and fun that is not out of place. For a hitherto little known New Zealand Director, Writer and Actor, Taika Waititi (whose previous credits include 'Boy', 'What We Do In The Shadows' and 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'), what he has achieved here in his first big budget epic scale Hollywood picture is reinvigorate the Thor character and those around him, but reenergise the series and reestablish our faith in the MCU. Solid performances (if a little tongue in cheek at times), a good story, epic battles that are always preposterous but entertaining nonetheless, bold Direction and endless fun from start to finish - catch it on the big screen, and you won't be disappointed.

-Steve, at Odeon Online- 

STAR TREK : BEYOND - Tuesday 26th July 2016.

I saw 'STAR TREK : BEYOND' in 3D this week because it was the only option at a time that suited me, but, it does add value! 'Star Trek' as we know it had its humble beginnings as an NBC television series back in 1966, which ran for just three seasons - having been cancelled in 1969 because of declining ratings. Series creator Gene Roddenberry always wanted to continue the series in film first pitching the idea in 1969, but it would be another ten years before the small screen series made it to the big screen - largely off the back of syndicated series re-runs during the 70's which proved to be a whole lot more popular second time around. Released in time for Christmas 1979, the first film 'Star Trek : The Motion Picture' reunited the television cast for US$35M, returning a worldwide gross of US$139M. Throughout the 80's there were a further five films up until 1991with 'The Next Generation' taking over in 1994 and running though until 2002, culminating with 'Nemesis' - the worst performing film of the franchise to date making just US$67M from its US$60M outlay. Then in 2009 Director J.J.Abrams got hold of the franchise for an overdue and much needed reboot with 'Star Trek' and followed this up in 2013 with 'Star Trek : Into Darkness' - the latter proving the most successful of the franchise so far yielding a return of US$467M from its US$185M budget. The first twelve films were made for a combined US$540M and returned a collective US$1,931B, with this film, the thirteenth, made for US$185M and released in the 50th anniversary year of that original television series going to air. So far the film has grossed US$161M.

And so to this next instalment. Co-Written by Simon Pegg - a self confessed Trekkie and Chief Engineer of the USS Enterprise, Scottie, and Directed by Justin Lin who Directed the 'Fast & Furious films 3, 4, 5 and 6' to huge Box Office success, with J.J.Abrams taking a Producer credit on this one. Here the rebooted crew are reunited once again as we find them mid-way through their five year journey to go boldly where no man has gone before, en route to dock with the only recently completed, shining, bright and new deep-space starbase 'Yorktown'. As the film opens after an engaging scene where Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is on some distant planet with a goodwill gift offering to some 'Gremlin' like inhabitants that doesn't go quite according to plan, he is transported back to the USS Enterprise where through an introductory narrative we learn that life out in deep deep space for so long has become very hum drum, routine and mundane with Kirk beginning to question the purpose of their five year long mission to probe the outer reaches of the universe. 

Docking with the star base 'Yorktown' laid out in all its deep space steel, glass and technological glory is a visual spectacle especially in 3D, and here we learn that Kirk has applied for a Vice Admiral promotion based on the Yorktown which would essentially mean life on the ground and no more flying for Captain Kirk. He recommends Spock (Zachary Quinto) as the new Captain of the Enterprise, who has just learned that Ambassador Spock has recently passed away (Leonard Nimoy died during pre-production of the film). 

In a Yorktown command centre, an advancing escape pod is intercepted drifting from a nearby nebula containing a survivor named Kalara who claims that her ship and her people are stranded on Altamid, a planet in the nebula. The Enterprise is the most technically advanced ship in the fleet and so Kirk agrees to a rescue mission, and musters his crew. However, once inside the nebula and navigating through a sea of giant rocks their rescue mission turns into an ambush as the Enterprise is overcome by a huge swarm of small attack ships that quickly dismantle the ship leaving it venerable to the as yet unknown enemy. 

The enemy quickly manifests itself in the form of alien being Krall (Idris Elba), who boards the ship and begins to overthrow all those in their path as they search for an alien artifact called the 'Abronath' - that Kirk and Spock have in their possession, and which Kirk has attempted to give to the 'Gremlins' at the introduction. Kirk is able to stow the Abronath away as the Enterprise is systematically torn apart by the swarm, and for as long as possible Krall and his army search the ship unsuccessfully. With all hope for salvaging the now heavily disabled Enterprise, Kirk gives the order to abandon ship, as the saucer section is all that remains and begins its decent into the planet below. The crew do so in a multitude of escape pods, which are quickly picked up by the returning attack ships.

As those escape pods not captured by the returning swarm come to land on the planet they are spread far and wide over mountainous terrain. Sulu (John Choo) and Uhura (Zoe Saldana) are rounded up by Krall's foot soldiers. Kirk and Pavell (Anton Yelchin) round up with Kalara to find the wreckage of the Enterprise saucer in the hope that they can establish communication with other survivors. Spock and Bones (Karl Urban) come down close to each other and meet up although Spock is wounded to his stomach by a large piece of shrapnel. Scottie (Simon Pegg) is alone in the forest wondering what to do next when he is set up on by some alien no good types and is promptly rescued by Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) an alien scavenger with a particular set of skills who has previously escaped from Krall's prison camp, and we learn that Krall's second-in-command was responsible for the death of her father. So she has a axe to grind with Krall and his types.

At this point in the film we focus on the three separated groups as they attempt to regroup, while Krall plots an attack on the Yorktown initially and then the wider Federation. Jaylah takes Scottie under her wing and leads him to her 'house' which it turns out is the USS Franklin - the wrecked Starfleet ship that disappeared mysteriously over one hundred years ago. Jaylah has used her cunning engineering skills to reboot the fallen vessel, and with Scottie's help is able to get the ship almost operational again - it could just be their ticket outta Dodge! 

Whilst working on they ship which has been invisibly cloaked from view, an alarm is triggered by a trap laid by Jaylah that has ensnared both Kirk and Pavell, reuniting these characters. They make the Franklin their base of operations and together plot their move on Krall to free the survivors of the Enterprise. With the Franklin's old but still serviceable technology Kirk, Pavell, Scottie and Jaylah are able to locate Spock and Bones and beam them up, so reuniting the team to devise their plan to free their colleagues in Krall's captivity.

Meanwhile, Krall eventually gets his hands on the Abronath, that has been secretly concealed by one of the captive Enterprise crew. It transpires that this is one half of a sophisticated age old bioweapon created by the original inhabitants of Altamid, that can destroy humanoid lifeforms in a matter of seconds. Now armed with this missing half, Krall can complete the weapon and set his mission in train, beginning with his wholesale attack on Yorktown. With the rescue mission of those crew members held captive successful and them all beamed up to the Franklin, Kirk gives the order for the now fired up ship to hot foot it to Yorktown to intercept the swarm and Krall.

The question is now how to foil the swarm that so rapidly and so efficiently all but destroyed the Enterprise, in a ship that is one hundred years her senior and with less sophisticated technology. Spock hits upon an idea to treat the bioweapon like a swarm of bees and so you confuse one you confuse them all that leads to their collective downfall. Send a VHF jamming signal to halt their communication with each other, confuse the hell out of them and the swarm will self destruct . . . and it does - leaving just Krall and a few remaining officers heading full bore into Yorktown pursued by Kirk and the Franklin.

By now Krall's true identity has been revealed and as it turns out he has a lot in common with the Federation, has a reason to be pissed and wanting to take out bitter revenge on those that he believes did him wrong in the past. Krall escapes on foot having survived the wreckage of being pursued and downed by the Franklin. He heads up a ventilation shaft with the aim of activating the bioweapon on the one million or so citizens of Yorktown, and is chased by Kirk. This all leads to some pretty fancy footwork and close quarter fist fighting in zero gravity that is rendered well in 3D high above the city below. Needless to say it doesn't end well for Krall who is ejected into the vacuum of deep space where he is engulfed and quickly consumed by his own unleashed bioweapon.

Alls well that ends well, as the crew are reunited on a safe and secured Yorktown, except for some minor collateral damage. They gather to celebrate Kirk's birthday, as Kirk turns down the offer for promotion in favour of remaining in command of a newly constructed USS Enterprise-A rather than being a desk bound grounded Vice Admiral. Spock opens a box from Ambassador Spock and within its contents is a photograph of the Enterprise crew - their future selves (as depicted by Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Takei et al).

I enjoyed 'Star Trek : Beyond' and in having Simon Pegg co-script has added a tone of originality and a throw back to the Star Trek of old that combines adventure, escapism, spectacle, fun and humour to the storyline. The 3D is worth the added cost especially for the scenes of the Yorktown and the early demise of the Enterprise under attack from an all powerful, ruthless and relentless enemy. The cast have by now settled into their roles with a familiarity and comfort factor that makes them watchable and relatable, and Director Justin Lin knows how to deliver on the action set pieces on an epic scale and with confidence. Worth seeing on the big screen and worth the price of your ticket for sure.  'Star Trek 4' has just been announced, with expectations the crew will return together with Chris Hemsworth as Captain Kirk's father, George Kirk. This film is dedicated to the memories of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

'RED' : archive from 10th November 2010.

There is a lot to like about action comedy 'RED' - which I saw last night and very entertaining it is too. Directed by Robert Schwentke and based on a limited comic book series of the same name this film was made for US$58M and made US$200M and stars Bruce Willis (always at his best in these actioners); John Malkovich (hamming it up & loving it); Morgan Freeman (as steady as ever); Helen Mirren (always delightful and to see her taking a bullet and toting a machine gun is worth the ticket price alone); Brian Cox, Karl Urban, Richard Dreyfus and Ernest Borgnine - what an all star line up and great fun.

The 'RED' here is the shortening for 'Retired and Extremely Dangerous' and refers to former black-ops CIA Agent Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) who is now happily retired and living the quiet life in suburban Cleveland. Chatting over the phone, as he does often, to Customer Service Agent Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker) at the Pension Office who issue his monthly pension cheque which he promptly rips up just so he can call Sarah and chat away the day, he is later that night raided by a six-man hit squad that Frank quickly dispenses with. Realising that his phone has been tapped he gets over to Kansas City to protect Sarah, but when she refuses to leave with the guy she has only ever spoken to on the phone, he binds and gags her and so becomes his reluctant companion. Needing to uncover who is tracking him down and why, he turns to his former associates for help, while back at the CIA HQ Agent William Cooper (Karl Urban) is instructed to hunt down Frank and kill him.

Frank then heads off to New Orleans to see his CIA Mentor Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman) living in a nursing home who advises the same hit squad that attacked Frank, took out a New York Times Reporter. So Frank and Sarah head to New York looking for clues where they come across a hit-list, but not before Cooper has arrived on the scene and bungles his attempt to get to Frank and secure the list, resulting in his (temporary) arrest. From there they get to Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) also a former black-ops CIA Agent and now retired, but a deeply paranoid conspiracy theorist.

Upon reading the list Boggs comes to the realisation that all those shown therein are linked to an earlier 1981 Guatemalan covert operation in which Frank and Marvin were involved. One on the list is still alive and so he is tracked down and before being gunned down from an above helicopter reveals that the mission in Guatemala involved the extraction of an important individual who is now the Vice President of the free world (Julian McMahon), but back then was involved in the massacre of village civilians.

Along the way there are further altercations with Cooper in which Frank is injured but manages to escape, they seek safe haven in the home of former assassin Victoria (Helen Mirren) who joins the quest, and they secure a meeting with an illegal arms dealer (Richard Dreyfus) whose name is not on the list but whom they believe is linked in some way that they have yet to uncover. At this point the house is surrounded by Cooper and his CIA henchmen who open fire, but in the confusion and the hail of bullets our RED Team escape courtesy of ex-Russian Secret Agent and former lover of Victoria (Brian Cox).

This all leads to a fundraiser for the Vice-President back in Chicago which the RED Team infiltrate and successfully manage to kidnap the Vice-President which Frank now wants to trade for Sarah who was taken captive by Cooper during in the firefight back at Victoria's house. As all the protagonists come together the body count rises as the Vice President is killed by the arms dealer who is killed by Frank leaving Cooper to clean things up as he agrees to let the RED guys walk free no further questions asked!

'RED 2' was released in 2013 and with a  bigger budget at US$84M grossed close to US$150M reuniting the same surviving cast and joined by Anthony Hopkins, Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Thewlis, Tim Pigott-Smith and Neal McDonough. 'RED 3' is apparently in the works.

I really enjoyed this mash up of tongue in cheek humour and action, and commend you to see this if you haven't already, and on a dark cold wet evening sit in the comfort of your own lounge and watch 'RED 1 & 2' back to back - you won't be disappointed as the oldies kick-ass, and Mirren exhibits bad-ass sass! Great fun!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-