The Kid Who Would Be King review

THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING:

KIDS RULE IN THIS MODERN TAKE ON THE CLASSIC KING ARTHUR LEGEND!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

20^TH CENTURY FOX

Louis Ashbourne Serkis in The Kid Who Would Be King

            No, this is not a sequel or rip-off of the infamous 90s film, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court, because nobody saw it. Anyway, a twelve-year-old boy in Britain pulls a magic sword out of a stone and must fend off an army of darkness to save the world in The Kid Who Would Be King, a modern retelling of the tales of King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone, I guess Disney can go ahead and scrap their live-action remake of that.

            My expectations were low at first when I saw the trailer, not that it looked bad, it seemed like a perfectly fine children’s movie. But, when I hear the concept of a kid in a modern setting being whisked away to the fantasy world of King Arthur, I have horrific memories of A Kid in King Arthur’s Court.

            Then the reviews came out and was shocked to hear about the film’s positive responses from critics. So, I sat down in the theater to see if this “Kid” is truly worthy of being a king.

            Yeah, pretty much, The Kid Who Would Be King is a clever update on the classic King Arthur story and an all-around fun family adventure. It’s no masterpiece or anything like that but compared to some of the other retellings of King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable that came out in recent years like Jerry Bruckheimer’s King Arthur movie from 2004 or the notorious King Arthur: Legend of the Sword in 2017, this kid-friendly variation of the story is a lot cleverer and more entertaining than those films put together. That’s right, Jerry Bruckheimer and Guy Ritchie got beaten by a kids’ movie!

            In ancient Britain, Arthur pulled the magic sword, Excalibur out of the stone and was crowned king. He had the ability to turn enemies into allies, created the Roundtable so all of his knights would be treated equally and was able to keep the country safe from the wrath of his dark sorceress half-sister, Morgana (Rebecca Ferguson-Mission: Impossible 5 and 6, The Greatest Showman, Men in Black: International) for several generations after banishing her to the underworld.

            Flash-forward to modern day London and the film follows a young boy named Alex Elliot (Newcomer, Louis Ashbourne Serkis) who is picked on at school by bullies and thinks he’s a nobody with no real purpose. That all changes when he comes across the sword in the stone at a construction site and manages to pull it out.

            Alex and his best friend, Bedders (Newcomer, Dean Chaumoo) assume that it’s just an ordinary sword until they are greeted by the shapeshifting wizard, Merlin (Angus Imrie-The Archers, The Hollow Crown, Restless) and in his real form, Patrick Stewart-Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men franchise, Green Room) and informs them that the sword really is Excalibur and warns them that the evil sorceress, Morgana is returning to the living world to take back the country and plunge Britain as well as the world into slavery and destruction.

            In order to stop her army, Alex must create a new roundtable of knights that will aid him in his battle against Morgana. He recruits Bedders and much like King Arthur, turns his enemies into allies and in this case, the bullies, Lance (Tom Taylor-Doctor Foster, The Dark Tower) and Kaye (Newcomer, Rhianna Doris), but with the future at stake and Morgana’s army growing stronger, it’s going to take a lot more than just four kids and a wizard to stop this evil force.

            The film also stars Denise Gough (Robin Hood (2010), Titanic: Blood and Steel, Colette) as Mrs. Elliot and Genevieve O’Reilly (The Matrix Reloaded/Revolutions, Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith/Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, The Legend of Tarzan) as Sophie.

            Overall, The Kid Who Would Be King is a refreshing take on a familiar story with just enough originality and charm to differentiate itself from previous King Arthur adaptations. It’s a basic good vs evil story but modernized just enough so it doesn’t feel forced such as when the kids are outrunning and destroying an army of demonic soldiers with a car and especially during the climax when they recruit the entire school into helping them in the battle by using street signs as shields and cars and items found around the school as traps for Morgana’s soldiers, fun stuff.

            The film plays more like a King Arthur version of Harry Potter or Percy Jackson where a kid in the modern world learns he is descendant of a magical family and all the fantasy things are happening in the present day. In fact, they even namedrop Harry Potter as well as Luke Skywalker from Star Wars and Frodo and Sam from The Lord of the Rings in the movie, luckily the film still has plenty of originality and those references never get in the way.

            The main characters are all likable and they work off each other very well, Alex is basically the Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter of the movie who doesn’t realize magic is within him, and Louis Ashbourne Serkis does a solid job portraying the part. I thought for sure the best friend and bullies would get on my nerves as either obnoxious or one-dimensional, but they won me over, Bedders gets some good laughs once in a while and Lance and Kaye at first act like generic movie bullies but change their ways as the film progresses and it shows their softer sides when they accompany Alex and Bedders on their adventure.

            But, who really steals the show are Angus Imrie and Patrick Stewart as Merlin, the film acknowledges that Merlin is supposed to be an old man, so seeing a younger Merlin who’s wise but also funny is quite refreshing and Imrie gets plenty of time to shine. Despite only appearing in a few scenes Patrick Stewart is great as the older Merlin and the filmmakers must have basked in the moment of casting him as a wizard when Ian McKellen played the wizard, Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings films and both of them starred together as Charles Xavier and Magneto in the X-Men franchise.

            The villain however is pretty bland and forgettable, as much as I like Rebecca Ferguson as an actress, she doesn’t really do much as Morgana. For most of the movie she’s in the underworld constantly whispering that she will take Excalibur and rule the world, if she was more like Voldemort or Darth Vader and they made her more interesting, she could have been a really intimidating villain, but as is, it’s proof that scary whispering doesn’t immediately translate to being threatening.

            The Kid Who Would Be King is an entertaining adventure for the entire family and easily one of the better versions of the King Arthur story in recent years. It never takes itself too seriously nor is it too silly for adults to be invested, grab a sword and see for yourself.

Destroyer review

DESTROYER:

NICOLE KIDMAN’S PERFORMANCE IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS FLAWED BUT GRIPPING CRIME DRAMA!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

ANNAPURNA PICTURES

Nicole Kidman in Destroyer

            You asked for it? Here it is, by popular demand a review of the new crime drama, Destroyer which is not to be confused with the Godzilla monster, Destoroyah. Anyway, the film is directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation) and stars Nicole Kidman (Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge!, Aquaman) as an LAPD detective who went undercover as a gang member which ended in tragedy, finally getting a chance to get revenge on the gang when its leader re-emerges several years later.

            Destroyer is a very ambitious project with only a limited theatrical run at the time of this review and focuses more on drama and establishing its protagonist over gritty violence, though there is plenty of that. I doubt it will appeal to the general public, but for me I thought it was a legitimately solid film with one hell of a Nicole Kidman performance.

             The film follows LAPD detective, Erin Bell (Kidman) who, as a young cop was placed undercover with a gang in the California desert with horrific end results. But when the gang’s leader, Silas (Toby Kebbell-RocknRolla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, A Monster Calls) re-emerges many years later, Erin must work her way through the remaining members and her own history with them to finally take these criminals down for destroying her past.

            The film also stars Sebastian Stan (Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Martian, I, Tonya) as Chris, Tatiana Maslany (Diary of the Dead, Eastern Promises, Woman in Gold) as Petra, Bradley Whitford (Transparent, Get Out, The Post) as DiFranco, Jade Pettyjohn (An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars, The Last Ship, School of Rock (TV series)) as Erin’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Shelby Bell, Scoot McNairy (12 Years a Slave, Gone Girl, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice) as Ethan, Toby Huss (The Adventures of Pete & Pete, King of the Hill, Carnivále) as Gil Lawson, James Jordan (Veronica Mars, Wind River, The Endless) as Toby, Beau Knapp (Run All Night, Southpaw, Death Wish (2018)) as Jay, and Shamier Anderson (The Next Step, Race, Wynonna Earp) as Antonio.

            Overall, Destroyer is a thrilling crime drama that suffers from some pacing issues and is a bit overlong. But, Nicole Kidman’s performance alone is more than enough for me to recommend seeing it.

            This is easily some of Nicole Kidman’s best acting and she goes full “Charlize Theron Monster” as she transforms into her character. I’m serious, the makeup on Kidman is so good there were times in the movie I had to remind myself “Oh yeah, that’s Nicole Kidman” and she’s usually a pretty recognizable actress, this is truly one of those performances that you have to see to believe.

            As mentioned before, this is not a perfect movie and there are some problems with its pacing and narrative structure. A lot of the movie is told through flashbacks and certain plot points are told out of order, which is fine if you know how to execute it properly, but there were a couple of times where we flash back to Kidman in the gang and nothing much really happens, and I was like “What was the point of cutting to that?”.

For most of the movie, I was completely invested and on the edge of my seat anticipating what was going to happen next. But by the time a gritty shootout in a bank between Kidman, two other cops, and several gang members ended, and the film kept going, I kind of punched out and wanted it to wrap up.

            Not to say the final act of the movie is bad but it never really lived up to the gunfight in the bank where it really felt the stakes have been raised. Had the movie been trimmed down by ten minutes and was given more time to develop its side characters, this would have been a much stronger story.

            That’s really about all I can say with Destroyer, it’s a perfectly decent movie with a gripping story but it’s a little rough around the edges. However, thanks to Nicole Kidman’s extraordinary performance as Erin Bell, it’s more than worth the price of admission especially if you’re a Nicole Kidman fan and/or a fan of gritty crime films.

Glass review

GLASS:

UNDERWHELMING IN ITS LAST ACT, BUT MOST OF IT IS CLASSIC SHYAMALAN CREEPS AND TWISTS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

(From left to right) James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Willis in Glass

            Superheroes and villains are among us in Glass, the latest thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Visit) and a sequel to 2000’s Unbreakable and 2017’s Split, thus forming the Eastrail 177 trilogy. Ever since Bruce Willis (Die Hard franchise, Sin City 1 and 2, RED 1 and 2) reprised his role from Unbreakable as security guard, David Dunn at the end of Split there was a lot of hype for not just a sequel to Unbreakable, but a crossover film featuring characters from both movies.

            It makes perfect sense to bring these characters together, both films did well at the box-office and are examples of Shyamalan’s better work after a long slog of misfires from the director following the release of 2002’s Signs. But thanks to collaborating with producer, Jason Blum (The Purge franchise, Get Out, Happy Death Day 1 and 2) on The Visit in 2015 and Split, Shyamalan made a comeback with two well-received and commercially successful hits in a row.

            Now, we finally have the long-awaited Unbreakable sequel, Glass with Willis and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Hateful Eight) reprising their roles as David Dunn and highly intelligent comic book theorist and mass murderer with very fragile bones, Elijah Price/Mr. Glass from Unbreakable, as well as James McAvoy (Atonement, Wanted, X-Men franchise) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Thoroughbreds, The New Mutants) reprising their roles from Split as former Philadelphia Zoo employee with 23 different personalities, Kevin Wendell Crumb and the only captive who survived an encounter with Kevin’s hulking creature known as “The Beast”, Casey Cooke. After nineteen years of development and excitement, I can say that the first half of Glass is classic Shyamalan filmmaking at its best but disappoints in its final act.

            The film follows David Dunn working with his now-adult son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark-Gladiator, Mystic River, Much Ado About Nothing (2012)) and using his superhuman strength to protect people from criminals under his new alias, The Overseer. When he learns that Kevin Wendell Crumb kidnapped another group of teenage girls to sacrifice to The Beast, Dunn pursues Kevin only to find himself and Kevin in a mental institution headed by psychiatric, Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson-12 Years a Slave, The Post, Ocean’s 8).

            It turns out they were sent to the same institution that houses David’s arch-nemesis, Elijah Price/Mr. Glass who was responsible for causing the train crash that David survived all those years ago. When Mr. Glass hears about Kevin and his Beast persona, he partners up with Kevin and his 23 personalities with a plot to unleash The Beast onto the world, so everyone can see that superheroes and supervillains exist with Dunn and the only survivor of The Beast’s wrath who believes there is still some good in Kevin, Casey Cooke standing in their way.

            The film also stars Charlayne Woodard (Roseanne, Days of Our Lives, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) reprising her role from Unbreakable as Elijah’s mother, Mrs. Price and Luke Kirby (Halloween: Resurrection, Mambo Italiano, Rectify) as caretaker at the institution, Pierce.

            Overall, Glass is an entertaining but disappointing conclusion to the Shyamalan Universe, it’s better than some of his other films like Lady in the Water, The Happening, and ESPECIALLY THE LAST AIRBENDER! But compared to the films that preceded it, the film doesn’t really live up to the hype and the ending is lame and underwhelming.

            For the most part, Glass delivered what I was expecting, and the first half of the movie I think is really solid. The possibilities of what would happen if superheroes and supervillains really existed are explored even further, more of Mr. Glass’ backstory is shown and you legitimately feel sorry for his troubled life despite being the “Bad Guy”, and Willis, McAvoy, and Jackson do an incredible job working off each other and all three of them have great chemistry together.

            Sadly, the last third of the movie doesn’t live up to the rest of the film, it isn’t really a horrible ending but it’s just kind of bland, generic, and uninteresting. When I sat down to watch the movie, I was expecting something completely insane on par with McAvoy’s acting and when you hear what Mr. Glass and The Beast were going to do after they escape the institution, it could have made for an interesting and exciting climax, but instead we get a superhero equivalent of watching three nutcases trying to kill one another outside a mental hospital, it’s just not very interesting and not what this franchise deserved to end on.

            Without giving much away, let’s talk about the “Shyamalan Twist”, it’s not bad but it felt like a retread of Shyamalan’s Unbreakable twist to me. I mean, it’s kind of interesting how it ties both Unbreakable and Split together, but you’ve already seen it happen so where’s the shock value? I guess it’s better than having aliens that are weakened by water and wood.

            Even though the third act falls apart, I still recommend Glass, just don’t expect a wild climax that’s going to change your perspective on the franchise. It has plenty of frights, action, and McAvoy overacting in glorious Shyamalan form.