Predator: Killer Of Killers (2025) Film Review

A Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a World War II pilot encounter a fierce intergalactic hunter.

Predator: Killer Of Killers is directed by Dan Trachtenberg director of 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and Prey (2022). Predator: Killer Of Killers is the sixth film and the eighth installment of the Predator franchise.

After Prey (2022) was released with large amounts of praise, there was no doubt that there would be another Predator film, first they announced Predator: Badlands which releases later this year in November. Predator Killer Of Killers was a secret film that Trachtenberg was working on and the film further shows that Trachtenberg is doing truly creative and exciting things with the Predator franchise.

The first thing you will notice is how beautifully animated the film really is, I could go on for hours of how wonderfully done each and every scene really is. The amount of attention to detail helps build each and every scene, the characters are expressive and finally we have action scenes which in a lot of ways do have this Saturday morning cartoon feel but not in a bad way. The action scenes do such a great job of moving this film along at such a nice pace that compliments the atmosphere which manage to be dark, fun and tense at the same time.

The characters are simple yet effective, there is not any groundbreaking character writing here. But that ultimately does not hurt the film since the characters work just fine on their own. Ursa, Kenji and John J. Torres all get their own segment which ultimately leads up the final segment of the film. Their stories are admittedly a bit of the same in terms of what exactly happens (which is why I chose not to talk about each segment individually), with that being said it is simply very neat to see the predator travel through different periods of time and combine that with some really strong action scenes. Plus there are some genuine moments here where you do want to see the main three character’s loved ones survive.

The final segment is especially really strong, a giant colosseum battle that is so pleasing to watch. The buildup the film has been setting up pays off incredibly well and goes all out, it helps that we also got some pretty effective world building that I do hope we get to see in future films. There is a lot going on during this giant battle that is filled to the brim with fun character moments, the predators speaking in their native language and of course more beautifully done scenes thanks to the animation.

Overall Predator: Killer Of Killers is a lot of fun and one of the best installments of the franchise, it is filled to the brim with creativity even when some segments result in the same outcome that ultimately does not hurt the film as the film is beautifully made, written and executed.

Predator: Killer Of Killers is available on Hulu!

9/10 A

Thunderbolts (2025) Film Review

Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes — Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker — embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.

Thunderbolts is directed by Jake Schreier director of Robot & Frank (2012) and Paper Towns (2015). Thunderbolts is the 36th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

To say Thunderbolts is a breath of fresh air for the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be a huge understatement, a lot of the flaws to some of the more recent installments of the universe are not present here. Instead we get a lot of genuinely beautiful moments mixed with the film tackling some themes that might not exactly be groundbreaking in execution but the way the film goes about executing them is quite great. Combine that with some really strong acting, action scenes and engaging dialogue and you have yourself one of the best installments to the MCU in quite a while.

The performances are all fantastic across the board, everyone here gets a chance to shine even when some have very limited time on screening. Florence Pugh is one of the major standouts, she carries a lot of the dramatic weight of the film and puts so much passion and power into Yelena as a character. The character moments we get from her is quite beautiful and even heartbreaking at times, there are moments here that actually make the viewer tear up a bit, Pugh is a powerhouse actress as I’ve said in the past and here is no exception. She’s able to really build this whole different look to Yelena that are different from her past appearances while also complimenting them as well, Pugh is also able to have this wonderful balance between her dramatic moments and her comedic ones. The humor is actually quite hilarious here so Pugh is able to take advantage of it and work her magic, lastly the action scenes with Pugh are fantastic and always a treat to watch due to how committed she really is.

Lewis Pullman who plays Bob or Sentry/Void is the other major standout, he delivers this complex and sympathetic character who is constantly at war with himself. At first he may not seem like much but as the film goes on we see the character building in action which quickly pushes Pullman to one of the film’s best assets, this where the theme of mental health kicks in and it is very well integrated into Bob’s character arc. There’s one particular moment that is a highlights this incredibly well, Pullman just overall gives a fantastic performance that is truly beautifully done. Much like Pugh, he’s able to have this balance of dramatic and comedic moments. The timing is especially well done and his facial acting combined with his character clearly struggling gets the viewer more and more invested as it goes on.

Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and David Harbour are all quite great, they all work incredibly well together. The banter between them is fun and the team chemistry is filled to the brim with charm, even if some get more bigger moments than others you still are invested in these characters. All of their personalities all blend together very nicely and have this genuine connection, it helps that the writing actually does help build these characters.

Speaking of which the script from Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo is truly fascinating here, not only is it a very fun time with humor that is genuinely fun. But there is a lot of dramatic moments that help push these characters, these moments help build them into something the viewer can connect with and there’s a lot of successful moments like these throughout the film. The theme of mental health although not exactly groundbreaking (as I said before) still feels like it’s coming from a place of honesty and shows what people can go through when they are at war with themselves (obviously in a more comic book way with giant voids but you get the point.)

The action scenes are incredibly well done, they are very well detailed the stunt team seriously knocks it out of the park here with quite honestly some of the best we have seen from the MCU. The cinematography from cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo is beautifully done, pays a lot of attention detail and has this large in scale feel that really captures the world of the film. It is the epic massive beast of a picture that is striking and lets the viewer look around at many given opportunities.

Overall Thunderbolts is a huge step in the right direction for the MCU, the film has a lot of the spirit of what made the Guardians Of The Galaxy films so great and even does it’s own thing as well. Even apart from the MCU (the film does not really have any easter eggs) the film is still fantastic and is just an overall excellent film that is both fun and filled to the brim with heart.

Thunderbolts is currently in theaters

10/10 A+

The Assessment (2025) Film Review!

In a not-so-distant future where parenthood is strictly controlled, a couple’s mysterious seven-day assessment for the right to have a child unravels into a nightmare, forcing them to question the very foundations of society.

The Assessment is directed by Fleur Fortuné which is her directorial debut!

The Assessment really impressed me, not only because of how fantastic this was for a directorial debut. But how surprisingly grounded of a sci-fi story in a lot of ways, it also takes a somewhat high concept and goes all out with what it can with a low budget ($8 million.) There is so much attention to detail with this film’s world, to the point where I wanted to keep exploring this film’s world even when the credits rolled.

The performances from the cast are some of the best so far this year, Elizabeth Olsen, Alicia Vikander and Himesh Patel are all fantastic here in each of their own ways. Elizabeth Olsen gives one of the best performances of her career, the many emotions she goes through during the film and how quickly she’s able to match the atmosphere is truly incredible to watch. She has great chemistry with Himesh Patel who’s just as great as Olsen. Patel and Olsen have strong chemistry between one another that you really do buy them as parents and hear them out with their issues.

Alicia Vikander however is the show stealer, she gives such a bonkers, wild and intense performance that really drives home the point of the film’s themes. This is by far the best performance from Vikander in a while, Vikander quickly going from acting like a normal person to a toddler as part of Mia and Aaryan’s assessment is comedic, disturbing and at times uncomfortable. The atmosphere compliments that well with it bouncing around between being comedic and uncomfortable, Vikander takes advantage of this and never holds back. It helps that the writing completely matches the actions of Vikander’s character Virginia who’s just such a fascinating and well written character that truly captures the film’s world.

The film is a scaled down sci-fi film when it comes to production design and that was definitely the smartest move. Everything in this film’s world feels a lot more natural, as I said before it’s a much more grounded story than you usually see in sci-fi films. The film does such an excellent job of keeping it as natural as possible while also having a few out there ideas that still match the more raw tone the film is going for.

The direction from Fortuné is what really makes this work, showcasing three incredibly talented actors going all out with their performances is an absolute recipe for success and that’s no exception here. The themes of parenthood and environment are well done, offering ideas that the viewer may have not even thought about. The film shows a lot of the dark side of these themes and how they could end up in the future which again the film manages to capture with its atmosphere and direction.

As I’ve been saying throughout this review the atmosphere is always consistent and is a major key as to why the film works as well as it does. When the film needs thrilling and darker moments the atmosphere delivers (there’s a few scenes in particular that really showcase this) when the film needs some more happy moments the atmosphere will also give the film that as well. It especially helps the performances and just how fascinating they are, each character has their own path and you really feel that throughout the film.

The world building is incredibly top notch, sure we are restrained to a house but just by looking at the background, the house itself and from what the characters tell us it’s more than enough to connect to the film’s world. It’s to the point where you really want to stick around and explore more even when the film ends.

Overall The Assessment is a fantastic film, showcasing some of the best performances so far this year with some incredible world building and excellent direction! I highly recommend this one!

The Assessment is currently in theaters.

9/10 A

Ash (2025) Film Review

Riya wakes up on a mysterious planet to discover her crewmates have been slaughtered. When a man arrives to rescue her, an ordeal of psychological and physical terror ensues. Warning: This film contains extended sequences of flashing lights.

Ash is directed by Flying Lotus who previously directed Kuso (2017).

Flying Lotus returns with his second film, Kuso (2017) was a wild and pretty insane film that has grown on me over the years. Even back when I first watched it I did wonder what Flying Lotus would end up doing next, Ash is a very different film and that’s definitely a good thing in this case. It’s much more mainstream and what you would expect from a sci-fi horror film, that’s not to say that there isn’t any surprises or Flying Lotus does not make anything his own because he absolutely does especially when it comes to the third act.

The performances are quite great particularly Eiza González who hits it out of the park and makes for an incredibly fun final girl and Aaron Paul who works well with González plus matches the film’s atmosphere perfectly. González carries a lot of this film, we slowly learn more about her character Riya and what exactly happened that caused the situation she’s in, what happened to everyone and who she really is. All of this is done and shown through her strong performance that captures the film’s void like atmosphere the type where you keep guessing as to what is exactly going on here, we are put into the perspective of Riya slowly recovering memories as to what happened and we slowly learn the horrifying truth with her. All of this makes for a fantastic performance especially with her facial expressions and the more quiet moments.

We do not get as much with Aaron Paul’s character Brion but his acting and conversations with Eiza González is more than enough to build his character. Some may already predict what the film does with Brion as a character, but the execution is still quite solid and at least has a lot of other fun elements to his character to back it up. The acting from Paul and González naturally bounce off of each other incredibly well which gives the atmosphere it’s much needed thrills and intrigue as it goes on.

Ash takes heavy inspiration from survival horror games such as Dead Space, Resident Evil 4, Outlast and Silent Hill. There’s also a mix of Alien (1979), Event Horizon (1997) and a lot of cosmic horror films. All of which blend well together and give the viewer a genuinely creepy experience. The practical effects with the monsters is creative and brings this classic sci-fi charm into the mix, the film is very immersive much like the survival horror games I mentioned. It does a great job of making you feel like you are there especially with certain camera angles the film opts to use later on which lead to some quite brutal and gory scenes.

The visuals are absolutely stunning, some space themed horror films have this problem with a lack of identity when it comes to visuals. But Ash goes all out with it’s visuals and manages to create something truly beautiful as well as haunting, it’s use of color combined with the cinematography make for some of the most beautiful shots from a film so far this year. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a film like Ash really make the whole space theme a bit more unique with a lot of color and go all out with combining the color with the atmosphere.

I will say that Ash takes a while to get going, if you are going into the film expecting a straightforward film about a monster hunting people down one by one then you are going to be left disappointed. Ash is a film that takes its time to build the mystery of what happened and explore its world, we get flashbacks throughout the film but we don’t get answers until later on. Usually this would heavily backfire for most films but this is a different case here, the film does such a great job of building interest from the viewer and rewards the patience with some incredibly fun gore, practical effects and an even more dark atmosphere.

Overall Ash is a really solid sci-fi horror film, sure it does not exactly reinvent the genre. But the inspirations that Flying Lotus took are done well here, the performances are strong (I do wish we got to see a bit more from the side characters but that’s really not a huge deal) and the atmosphere is top notch. Definitely check this one out if you haven’t!

Ash is currently in theaters.

8/10 B+

Mickey 17 (2025) Film Review

A disposable employee is sent on a human expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories

Mickey 17 is directed by Bong Joon Ho director of Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000), Memories Of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Mother (2009), Snowpiercer (2013), Okja (2017) and Parasite (2019).

Mickey 17 is drastically different from Bong Joon Ho’s previous films but retains a lot of the elements that make his work so great. You have a little bit of everything here and even if there are some issues here and there, the film is still quite spectacular and truly something different.

What makes Mickey 17 work as well as it does is Robert Pattinson’s performance, without him the film would not have worked nearly as well as it did. Pattinson has shown over the years how incredible he is as an actor and here is no exception, Mickey Barnes/Mickey 17/Mickey 18 are just such fun characters that the film takes its sweet time to explore and beautiful detail. The film does this in a mostly humorous way that early on establishes this humorous atmosphere that Pattinson captures almost immediately. He’s at his best when he has these character moments whether it be with the rest of the cast or himself, in this kind of beautiful way we see him slowly open up as the film goes on as well as some sharp voice over moments that sum up Mickey as a character incredibly well.

Naomi Ackie is also quite fantastic here, the romance between Mickey and Ackie’s character Nasha Barridge is genuinely beautiful, heartfelt and quite honestly comes off as very natural. That’s mainly due to just how great the chemistry between Pattinson and Ackie really is, there’s theme of love and having someone who supports you. So many implications of love that is truly well done and Naomi Ackie pushes it in such beautiful ways that can even bring the viewer to shed a few tears.

The only really major flaw here comes from Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette, while I do get what their performances were trying to go for here it did not quite work for me. Each scene they are in it almost seems like they are battling to be the louder person in the room and although that is the point of their characters it doesn’t really make for interesting characters or even fun villains. Especially when you compare the two with the rest of the film that is strongly written and has more of a calm but absurd nature to it (in a good way) the two’s performances really stick out like a sore thumb and end up being the weakest part in a incredibly well made film.

The visuals are stunning especially when combined with the cinematography from Darius Khondji, it makes the film’s world look massive and even the film itself becomes large in scale. There’s this sense of epicness from the film that just oozes out to the viewer, it’s beautiful to look at and is striking in every single way it possibly can. The film’s atmosphere combined with its humor reminds me of old sci-fi television shows such as some of the early episodes of Star Trek it’s fun to watch and just flows together incredibly well. There is this classic sci-fi feel here that some films don’t seem to have much anymore (not always a bad thing) but here it feels extra special.

Lastly the film is just a whole lot of fun, it’s a fun sci-fi comedy that displays so much passion to the genre especially when it comes to Bong Joon Ho’s direction which has so much love and passion poured into it much like his other films. Even with the stuff with Ruffalo and Collette, while I don’t think a lot of it worked I appreciate what he was going for and that’s not to say that some scenes did work with the two. Towards the end of the film I do think they get a bit better and more focused as well.

Overall Mickey 17 is grand in scale and even bigger when it comes to how great the film is. As I said not everything works but between the performances from Pattinson and Ackie plus the visuals, the beautiful theme of love and much more. The film ends up working and ends up being the best film of the year so far.

Mickey 17 is available in theaters!

9/10 A

The Electric State (2025)

An orphaned teen hits the road with a mysterious robot to find her long-lost brother, teaming up with a smuggler and his wisecracking sidekick.

The Electric State is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo directors of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Cherry (2021), The Gray Man (2022) and a few others.

The Electric State is the type of streaming movie where I like to play a game of “where did the money go?” movies like Heart Of Stone (2023), The Gray Man (2022) and Red Notice (2023) are the worst offenders of this. Even from the trailer you can just tell that the budget of $320 million (which is one of the highest budgets of a movie) doesn’t reflect of what’s being shown.

The performances here are just dreadful, Chris Pratt is incredibly one note here and has next to nothing to work with character wise. His character John D. Keats is about as unfunny as you can get and just doesn’t work well with the rest of the cast, it doesn’t help that he’s playing the exact type of role he’s been playing for years now. Only where as in other movies it was at the very least tolerable, but here it that’s not so much the case mainly due to how terrible the writing really is.

Millie Bobby Brown is in the same boat, only that I would argue she has a bit more to her than Pratt does in this case. She still gives a completely bland performance that does nothing for the story being told and really doesn’t push her as an actress. Michelle Greene is just another standard teenager character that is somehow even less developed than a lot of Brown’s other past performances. Stanley Tuuci, Ke Huy Quan and Colman Domingo (the latter two showing up for 5 seconds) are fun here but none of the moments they are given are enough to really save this sinking ship.

At times the world building is not terrible, there’s moments where the movie seems like it’s going to discuss its world and go into detail about it. Unfortunately none of that ever ends up happening and what we are left with is ideas that had the potential to be executed incredibly well but the movie decides to cut a lot of corners. It doesn’t help that the movie itself just does not care about its characters or themes, sure we are told briefly about Michelle and John’s backstory but there isn’t anything compelling. It’s a ton of tired cliches that at this point the viewer has seen in far better films.

As far as themes go the movie tackles the theme of technology about as deep as a kiddie pool, this is yet another robots vs humans type of deal. From what I’ve heard and seen online from fans of the source material the movie does a very poor job of retelling the story and I’m willing to believe them because the way the story is told here is a complete and total mess. It’s long, drawn out and never sparks any interest from the viewer, the direction from the Russo brothers is some of the most dull and lifeless direction I’ve seen so far this year. It very much feels like mechanical noise (no pun intended) that’s only job is to get views and have articles published about how it’s “one of Netflix’s most watched films”

I originally had a lot more to say about The Electric State but the more I thought about it the more I realized how very little there is here. Sure the budget is high and you have a stacked cast, but when you do absolutely nothing with the source material and most of the cast either don’t have a whole lot to their characters or only appear for about 5 seconds. Is there really anything going on here? This is just yet another terrible Netflix original movie only that it appears bigger than it really is.

The Electric State is available on Netflix.

1/10 F

Love Me (2025) Film Review

A buoy and a satellite meet online long after humanity’s extinction. As they learn what life was like on Earth, they discover themselves and what it means to be alive and in love.

Love Me is directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero which is their directorial debut.

Love Me is the most disappointing film of 2025 so far and it really stings, the movie has all the right Ingredients to make something truly special. There’s themes of love, what it means to be a human and connection in a post-apocalyptic world. Unfortunately the movie has a ton of tonal shift problems when the movie switches styles and unfortunately does not really explore this world in any impactful way.

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun both give fantastic performances here, we start the movie off with a Buoy (voiced by Kristen Stewart) and a Satellite (voiced by Steven Yeun) the Buoy seeks connection while the Satellite carries knowledge of humanity. We get a lot of this interesting bits about humans and wanting to connect with one another, this part does admittedly go on for a bit too long and the similarities to WALL-E (2008) are hard to ignore but I do think the movie makes the idea its own.

We eventually get to see Stewart and Yeun as actual people but unfortunately it’s not for very long, for the most part we see them as digital avatars (that’s definitely some of the weaker parts) which results in a lack of real emotional connection for the viewer. I get what they were going for here and there are times it’s interesting but a lot of the time it really feels like a huge waste of two brilliant actors and not utilizing their full talent. The digital avatar elements have their place but they ultimately don’t result into anything impactful, it feels much more like a showcase of what could potentially be a good idea and forgets to use the substance.

Love Me would have absolutely worked better as a short film, I admire the swings the movie was willing to throw but ultimately a lot of the themes are incredibly one note. The movie wants to explore the nature of love and what it means to feel but unfortunately you don’t really get that here at all, the writing is incredibly shallow and the constant tonal shifts completely distract the movie from throwing anything hard hitting or meaningful that could have been said

Overall despite my criticism I don’t think Love Me is a terrible movie, it’s one that has the right ideas just very lacking execution. I am very interested to see what Sam and Andy Zuchero will do next though.

Love Me is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

The Gorge (2025) Film Review

Two highly-trained operatives are appointed to posts in guard towers on opposite sides of a vast and highly classified gorge, protecting the world from a mysterious evil that lurks within. They work together to keep the secret in the gorge.

The Gorge is directed by Scott Derrickson director of The Black Phone (2022), Doctor Strange (2016), Deliver Us From Evil (2014), Sinister (2012) and a few others.

The Gorge is one of those films that are on the brink of being a half decent movie but just miss the mark due to some elements really holding it back. There is a lot the movie gets right but there’s also a ton that it gets wrong which ultimately cost it.

The performances are by far the best part of the movie, Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy actually have really strong chemistry between one another. There’s some genuine romantic moments that you actually believe as the viewer, it helps that Teller and Joy are already fantastic at what they do, their performances here might not be one of their absolute best or striking. But there’s no denying they really help build the film’s atmosphere and give it some much needed life, the two bounce off of each other well and the moments they first meet are filled to the brim with charm.

There are some neat sci-fi horror elements here that do a bit of world building, the monster stuff also has its moments of fun. The first half of the film does a pretty solid job with its character building particularly with Levi (played by Miles Teller) and Drasa (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) as well as the world building. We are introduced to some of this film’s rules and the dangers of it all which in turn creates a decently suspenseful atmosphere.

Having that said after the introduction the movie starts to fumble, what kills The Gorge is the direction and the struggle to really standout among tons of other sci-fi horror films. It’s a bold choice by Derrickson to combine so many genres at once in this case romance, horror, thriller and sci-fi but that results in the movie becoming a bit of a mess and constantly switching the tone which often gives whiplashes to the viewer. Granted nothing ever reaches a point where the movie becomes terrible, it’s just incredibly bland direction throughout that really does not seem to know where it wants to go.

It becomes a hollow shell that lacks the storytelling to really back it up and give these characters and world more depth, as great as Levi and Drasa were during the first half of the movie they never truly evolve by the end. That’s mainly due to how bland and forgettable the rest of the movie becomes, there’s a few moments during the second half that are fun enough but don’t really result to anything that really helps the movie in the long run.

Overall I don’t think The Gorge is a terrible movie, the acting remains consistently great and there are fun moments. It’s just your very definition of a straight to streaming movie, the one where as soon as you immediately watch it you will forget about it after a few hours.

The Gorge is available on Apple TV+

5/10 C

Venom: The Last Dance (2024) Film Review

Eddie Brock and Venom must make a devastating decision as they’re pursued by a mysterious military man and alien monsters from Venom’s home world.

Venom: The Last Dance is directed by Kelly Marcel which is her directorial debut, this film serves as the final film in the Venom trilogy and is the fifth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Going into this one I was hoping it would be somewhat fun. I liked the last film Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) decently enough but did not like Venom (2018). Unfortunately The Last Dance is a very nothing movie, it really does seem like everyone involved had no clue how to wrap up the trilogy so they threw as many ideas as the wall as they possibly could.

Tom Hardy is still quite fun here, the interactions between him and Venom are still great and have some decently funny moments. They aren’t on the scale as they were in the past but considering how empty the rest of this movie is that should be considered a compliment. I also do like some of the action scenes, the special effects are quite bad in some areas but the action is just silly enough to be considered entertaining.

Unfortunately the rest of the movie is a mess, we are introduced to a lot of new characters who quite frankly should have been in the previous movies. Because tell me why this is the last movie of the trilogy and we are only now getting introduced to bare bone characters? Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple in particular have very little to work with, the movie also wastes so much potential with Knull (played by Andy Serkis) as the villain. Knull suffers from not being in the movie that much and really fails to show how interesting the character can be. Instead the movie wastes so much time on plot points that should have been explored far earlier in more depth.

Perhaps the most jarring thing about this movie is the final moments, it ends with Maroon 5’s Memories in just such a so bad it’s hilarious type of way that is so baffling. It’s by far the most memorable part of the movie in all the wrong ways, it makes you wish that the rest of the movie at least attempted to try and be that silly. But that’s not the case here, unfortunately you are stuck with dull characters that you couldn’t care less about with some mediocre action and a very bland wrap up to a trilogy.

The ending also really makes you question what was even the point of the trilogy to begin with, it’s obviously trying to go for this emotional “let’s look at the old times” sort of deal but it doesn’t work narratively and that it’s just so laughably bad.

Overall Venom: The Last Dance is a very nothing movie and adds nothing to the trilogy, it’s a shame because as I said earlier the stuff with Knull had potential. There was just absolutely no focus whatsoever at all in this movie.

Venom: The Last Dance is available on all VOD platforms.

4/10 D+

Transformers One (2024) Film Review!

Optimus Prime and Megatron, as former friends, bonded like brothers. Their relationship ultimately changes Cybertron’s fate forever.

Transformers One is directed by Josh Cooley who previously directed Toy Story 4 (2019).

By this point there’s been a ton of Transformers films after so many live action ones a new animated one takes the stage. Do not let the trailers fool you this is actually a really great Transformers film.

Transformers One sort of serves as an origin story and focuses on the friendship of Optimus Prime and Megatron and how they drifted apart, the way the film executes this is surprisingly quite great. This could have easily went completely wrong and even come across as silly or nonsensical, but the script and the direction the film takes has a lot of passion behind it and these characters are well developed to make the whole idea work.

The voice cast all around are quite great Chris Hemsworth as Optimus Prime and Brian Tyree Henry as Megatron are the standouts by far, seeing the two’s back and forth is truly investing and their voices gives these characters so much power and depth. The two have great chemistry and really make a lot of crucial scenes shine, Keegan-Michael Key as Bumblebee is a fun performance, Jon Hamm as Sentinel Prime makes for a great villain and Steve Buscemi as Starscream is just excellent casting. Even if he doesn’t get a lot of screen time he absolutely embodies Starscream and is a dead ringer to Chris Latta’s version of the character.

The animation is actually quite great, it takes a bit to get use to how the characters look but as the film goes on it becomes more clear that this art direction was the best move and incredibly fitting. The film has some gorgeous moments that really do make it shine and capture the world of Transformers. Plus the visuals do a very good job of building the world of the film, combine that with the dialogue that does not over explain itself and you have yourself a simple yet beautiful world.

The film exploring the friendship between Optimus Prime and Megatron plus leading into the downfall of it is the film’s main strength. It’s very reminiscent of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (2005) and I mean that in a good way, you get the excellent action scenes, some really powerful dialogue that reflects the two’s bond and how much it’s slowly being broken. There’s a lot of loud and quiet moments between the two and it’s enough to get the viewer invested in these characters, although we know what’s going to happen it’s still incredibly powerful and well written.

There’s of course minor flaws such as Sentinel Prime being a very obvious villain from the start and some of the jokes don’t quite land. But those are nowhere near enough to take away how much fun and overall well written Transformers One really is.

Transformers One is available on all VOD platforms.

9/10 A