A fairly engaging film by Gina Prince-Bythewood that mildly subverted the superhero film genre. It had great action, hand-on-hand sequences and a good performance by lead actress Charlize Theron. But at just over 2-hours long, the screenplay by Greg Rucka, who also wrote the original comic book this was based on, did tend to dawdle and the plotting and writing was inconsistent and occasionally clunky with many logic lapses and contrivances in the service of plot momentum and twists. The rest of the cast was also a mixed bag, with Luca Marinelli and Marwan Kenzari as standouts (even their characters tend to the steal the show), together with the brooding Matthias Schoenearts. Unfortunately, the two Black characters played by KiKi Layne and Chiwetel Ejiofor were uninteresting and underused respectively.
Prince-Bythewood's directing was assured and for a first-time action and genre director, she competently executed the terrific open sequence that hooked the audience in and also the climatic big finale fight. Even the hand-on-hand fights, mainly showcasing Theron, were beautifully choreographed, kinetically energetic and believably deadly without the showy slow-mos that was all pretty but usually ridiculous.
On the dramatic front, Theron again shone with her authentic portrayal of an old immortal who has grown world weary and jaded. Similarly, the relationship between Marinelli and Kenzari was a highlight - it was highly refreshing to see queer superheroes in a relationship but not having that queerness highlighted. However, the origin story of Layne's newbie immortal lacked character depth and a sense of urgency. Layne was so good in If Beale Street Could Talk but her talents are kind of wasted here.
As for the bad guys. they really were of the cupboard-variety, one-dimensional villainy with no ounce of redemption (at least Henry Melling seemed to be having fun, whereas Ejiofor appeared to struggle to give his character a believable purpose).
The music by Hauschka and Dustin O'Halloran was perhaps a bit too on the nose, with lots of #SadPiano and #PlaintiveCello, but otherwise it did help to move the story along. Although perhaps the soundtrack was more apt and memorable than the score.
The powers-that-be clearly wants this to be a new franchise, and with Rucka already releasing a comic sequel to the first series and the mid-credits easter egg, it is highly likely and inevitable that we will get a franchise soon. Although hopefully the creative team will all be back and maybe hire a co-writer to help Rucka fine tune his screenplay.
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