masonsaul

The Long Walk is a highly investing and suitably bleak thriller. It stumbles slightly towards the end but everything before then is either deeply human or unrelentingly tense. The premise is simple yet extremely effective, explained in a concise fashion and told with an unflinching commitment to showing the dark logistics of the long walk. Once the title bluntly appears after an extended opening, it just doesn't stop and has a righteous anger.

Cooper Hoffman gives a great lead performance that brings ample empathy and determination. He also has wonderful chemistry with a phenomenal David Jonsson, who hides his pain beneath a genuine kindness that steals the whole film. When the two of them are with Ben Wang and Tut Nyuot, they form a strong core four so the emotional beats really land and their banter offers some much needed humour.

Director Francis Lawrence is a fitting choice to helm this and turns the seemingly mundane act of constantly walking into a never ending nightmare where the brutal violence arrives quickly and in disturbing detail without revelling in those shocking sequences. JT Mollner's tight screenplay keeps the characters mostly focused on the next moment and composer Jeremiah Fraites brings a sombre and emotional score.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a worthwhile comedy sequel that has some gaps between really successful jokes but it still has plenty of them overall. It's a loving return with all the expected absurdity contained in another efficiently brief run time. There's a few fun cameos from music legends to counterbalance the incredibly brief appearances from original supporting cast members which feel pointless.

Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer & Michael McKean retain their endearingly awkward rapport. Chris Addison and Kerry Godliman are wonderful new additions who match the film's energy like their predecessors did. Returning director Rob Reiner brings the same lovable energy in his performance and his direction still understands how to be a mockumentary with the best decision being to keep the film going throughout the credits again.

Rush Hour 3 wastes no time getting the plot going, runs out of steam in the middle and then regains its footing towards the end. An incredibly predictable plot and reliance on franchise formula is counterbalanced by the same winning humour that's delivered consistently enough, especially in the bloopers which remain the best part. Despite being the most recent entry, this has actually aged the worst out of the trilogy.

Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker can still sustain their vital and highly entertaining comedic rapport, even if Chris Tucker is wandering into self parody at this point. It is annoying that the film tries to put their relationship on shakier ground however, it never hurts their chemistry or detract from the fun scenarios they find themselves in. Hiroyuki Sanada could've been a standout villain but ends up being wasted with minimal screen time.

Brett Ratner's direction is so lackluster thanks to a distracting reliance on bad CGI which is all the more frustrating because the budget for this one is the biggest of the three. Jackie Chan's stunt work continues to be impressive when it's utilised but those moments are few and far between in comparison to what came before. The film seriously needed more stunt work uninterrupted by CGI so the comedy didn't have to do so much of the heavy lifting.