The Northman

The Northman was Robert Eggers on 'roids. This is what happens when Eggers get a studio-sized budget. He gets to indulge his whims - extended ritualistic sequences, long shots with a large cast, a large cast of extras to lend further credence of authenticity, and an extravagant, period-specific production design that allowed for gorgeous natural-esque lighting. In all, an immersive and engrossing historical epic. No wonder Shakespeare was inspired by the legend of Amleth to create Hamlet (come on, even Hamlet is an anagram of Amleth).

The film was fantastically anchored by the charismatic and magnetic Alexander Skarsgård with great support from a fearless Nicole Kidman, an equally commanding villain in Claes Bang, an all-in Ethan Hawke and a surprisingly restrained Anya Taylor-Joy. Björk and, Eggers' staple Willem Dafoe, were essentially cameos but, boy, were their moments on screen utterly memorable. 

The story was familiar and has been retold in countless variation, most notably by Shakespeare as Hamlet, but what Eggers did was to boldly imbue and enrich the script, that he co-wrote with Sjón, with both the language and legends of Old Norse. The magical realism and fablistic retelling of the revenge epic was brought to life with a mix of CGI, gorgeous cinematography, haunting score and uncompromising direction. 

Although the film did meander a bit during the second act, but the strong first act lent it enough goodwill to trust that Eggers will bring it home in the third act - a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy to be honest. However, once the final act kicked in, we were in for a ride as secrets spilled and blood were shed. Ultimately culminating in an ending that had the cheesiest SFx of the film and inevitably echoed Star Wars (especially since Obi-wan Kenobi was running on Disney+ too).

Audiences familiar with Hamlet would more or less be aware of how the story of Amleth would end. Therefore, what Eggers did successfully was to make that journey interesting enough to hold the attention. But also, the casting was crucial, and no other actor could have been in that role other than Skarsgård. 

Skarsgård was not only physically imposing and impressive as the bear-wolf (another hah!) savage ex-viking Prince, but he had a silent charisma that demanded attention. As he hunched and hid, somehow Skarsgård managed to look small and unassuming. But when he stands tall and fight, he was fierce, confident and terrifying. 

It was a bit surprising to hear that Kidman was cast as Skarsgård's mother, but that role required a ferocity and nakedness that not many of today's actresses seemed to possessed. Kidman's one main scene was a standout as she was equal measures terrifying, seductive, manipulative, vulnerable and scared.

As aforementioned, the rest of the cast were spot on, and with The Northman, Eggers has shown that he does have an eye for casting the characters that he has created/envisioned.

Undoubtedly this film, like Eggers' previous films, will be more of an art-house/indie favourite rather than to the general audience, because despite the budget and the studio-backing, it was still essentially a film that relied on richly written characters that wrestled more with internal conflicts rather than a Nordic, action-piece that the marketing seemed to want the audience to think it is.

Jurassic World Dominion [IMAX]

Well at least with this film, this double-trilogy is now finally over. Hopefully. 

With each successive film, they have managed to continuously downgrade the good faith and awe generated from the incomparable first film. With each new entry, the spectacle of seeing dinosaurs on the big screen just seemed to slowly evaporate. It could be a consequence of time or the saturation of the modern movie-going experience with CGIs, but undoubtedly it was also due to the lack of realism from the practical effects that made Steven Spielberg's very first Jurassic Park such a wonderous milestone in cinematic history. It almost felt like the dinosaurs' CGI are getting cheaper with every film.

Then of course, Colin Trevorrow's direction is not at the level of Spielberg yet. Granted, Trevorrow had a couple of great scenes. However, those involved mainly the dinosaurs and action set pieces. They were tense, well-framed and exciting. But, the scenes that involved human interactions and dialogue exchanges were flat and lifeless. 

The messy screenplay by him and Emily Carmichael definitely did not help. Too many ideas, too many characters, too much exposition. It was like Jurassic Park meets Indiana Jones meets James Bond meets Taken meets Godzilla. Tonally inconsistent and not even fun while doing it.

The persistent lack of chemistry between Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Pratt did not help. Pratt remained a blank slate here as his leading man character who just so boring and vanilla; Howard at least had a little more emoting to do here. 

Although the addition of legacy characters played by Sam Neil, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum were welcomed - the strains of John William's classic score underlying Neil and Dern's first meet was giddily fun - they were let down by a clunky script, poor direction choices and a huge sense of "why are they even here in the first place?". Goldblum provided some humour playing, essentially, the same act he has honed through these recent years. Nothing new but pleasant nonetheless. 

Music was by Michael Giacchino and it was unimpressive. One of his most rote and unimaginative score. John Schwartzman lensed the film and there were a couple of great shots but sadly not when the film needed it most.

This film was just all over the place and had so many ideas but yet so little conflict to engage an audience. It was almost as if the humans and their concerns were secondary to the spectacle of the dinosaurs.  But even then, the dinosaurs were losing their lustre and allure. And if even that is gone, what more can the Jurassic Era offer?

At 146 minutes long, this film was easily 20-30 minutes too long, and IMAX was definitely not necessary for this. Honestly, nowadays, maybe even wait for it to come to streaming.

Top Gun: Maverick

If there was one reason to go watch a movie in IMAX, Top Gun: Maverick was it. This was one film that deserved to be watched on a big screen, and the high octane, adrenaline-pumping, nail-biting flight sequences/dog fights fully utilised the magnificence of an IMAX screen and the superior surround system offered by an IMAX theatre. Sonic booms and missile launches never sounded more visceral. And above it all, it was simply a highly enjoyable film. 131 minutes just went by. There was humour, drama, pathos, love, romance and nostalgia. Lots of nostalgia. For those thinking of money, it really made the IMAX admission price worth it (the last film to truly did that was Avatar).

Director Joseph Konsinski had assembled an amazing creative team. The excellent music were credited to Harold Faltermeyer, Lady Gaga, Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe; the brilliant cinematography (those in-plane shots! WOW!) by Claudio Miranda (who won an Oscar for Life of Pi); the superb editing was by Eddie Hamilton (those mid-air scenes were edge-of-your-seats exciting). And most importantly was the cast led by the infinitely charismatic, he of the mega-watt smile who we sometimes forget can really act, Tom Cruise. 

The story line was basic. It was simple and rote, with a nefarious, ill-defined villain, for us to root against. But it served it purpose. It brought Cruise's Maverick back to Top Gun. It outlined the main conflicts and internal turmoils of our principles, and the rest was up to Cruise et al to deliver the predicted outcomes without being boring (with some help from Lady Gaga, David Bowie, Kenny Loggins and Jerry Lee Lewis).

In particular, Gaga's refrains from her inevitable Oscar/Grammy-nominated single, Hold My Hand, were expertly and effectively weaved in and out of the film until her soul-belting moment. 

The cast had great chemistry together with the new pilots being especially well-gelled. 

Miles Teller had a lot of Anthony Edwards' Goose's mannerisms down and he was a surprisingly good second lead. His arc, like most on the show, was simple and predictable, but Teller managed to make his character both empathetic and likeable. 

The standout of the cast was Glen Powell who inherited the Val Kilmer's Iceman role as the handsome, cocky showoff. However, Powell's infectious grin and non-malicious. male-aggro competitiveness will endear him to the audience (both genders alike). 

And speaking of Kilmer, this was a very respectful way to bring him into the film. Respecting both the character and the actor. That scene between just Kilmer and Cruise was powerful in its simplicity and rawness.

Nonetheless, Top Gun: Maverick as the title clearly stated was all about Cruise. Boy, did he deliver. Everything you liked about Tom Cruise was here. We have the action hero, the daredevil stuntman, the emotionally attuned modern man, the loyal brother-in-arms, the cheeky, rule-breaking bad boy with the heart of gold, and of course we definitely did have, Tom Cruise the movie star. There are only a handful of actors like him now, someone who can open a film and hold your attention just by being on screen. He just needs to finally win an Oscar.  

However, to be honest, this film was not without its fault. For all the simple, unequivocal enjoyment that it brought to a movie-going experience, it was also laden with issues. Top Gun: Maverick was also unabashedly a pro-war, military propaganda. It was also misogynistic in its absence of fully realised female characters (maybe then don't have any at all?). If not for Jennifer Connelly, Cruise's love interest would have just been another pretty face. But thankfully Connelly managed to make her somewhat interesting instead of just the  beautiful china vase the screenwriters wrote her out to be. Monica Barbaro was the featured female fighter pilot, but other than allowing the men around her to utter lines that speak of supposed woke-ness and feminism, her character could essentially have been male. There was supposedly another female fighter pilot in the mix, of Asian descent (why are they all POC?), but other than a brief glimpse of her once in a group, there was nary another mention nor appearance. This film basically failed the Bechdel test.

Regardless, and especially because of COVID, Top Gun: Maverick was truly the first film in a long while to prove that cinema is not dead. No, it wasn't Denis Villeneuve and Dune, nor definitely not Christopher Nolan and Tenet that heralded back the box office. It was Cruise (sorry Konsinski).