The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director: Fede Alvarez
Starring: Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason, LaKeith Stanfield
Duration: 117 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Distinguishing itself from David Fincher’s 2011 masterpiece or even 2009’s Swedish language version of the late Stieg Larrson’s characters is a bit of a knot that The Girl in the Spider’s Web nonetheless does try its best to untangle.

Lisbeth Salander (a crisply accented Claire Foy) and Mikael Blomkvist (Sverrir Gudnason) make a return in this story, this time taking their cues from a story penned by David Lagercrantz and none of the material from the Millenium series that Larrson had managed to set down before his death.

The film departs still from the novel, seeing Salander and Blomkvist team up to find former NSA agent Frans Balder who has returned to Sweden to care for his savant son. Balder has created a programme that can access the world’s nuclear codes, which he needs Lisbeth to retrieve for him. The Girl in the Spider’s Web has made a less than valiant return to the big screen, with many critics lamenting the blockbuster feel of the film that comes at the expense of its brooding characters.

“Reduces Lisbeth Salander to a goth James Bond,” opens Sam Adams of Slate. “For Alvarez, she is an icon first and last, which is to say she never feels like an actual person.”

 “It’s a muddy mess that doesn’t really succeed as an action thriller, a franchise-starter that plays like a tired sequel,” says David Sims of The Atlantic.

“There’s no chance for any energy or fun, which is a problem for a movie that’s trying to present itself as a secret-agent thriller.”

While highly visually orientated, the film lacks connection to its painfully human characters.  

Ratings
IMDB: 6.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 40%
Empire: 3 stars

Jovan Adepo plays quiet-but-intelligent army recruit named Boyce in Overlord.Jovan Adepo plays quiet-but-intelligent army recruit named Boyce in Overlord.

Overlord (2018)
Genre: Action, Horror
Director: Julius Avery
Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbæk,
Duration: 109 minutes
Class: 18
KRS Releasing Ltd

On the eve of D-Day, a squad of paratroopers are shot out of the sky leaving only five apparent survivors.

Faced with an unending parade of war horror and gore, the group soldiers on with their mission to destroy a radio tower housed in an old church that is serving as a Nazi base.

The group meets a French woman called Chloe who agrees to help them. Making their way across the village they realise several residents have been left disfigured by the activities of the Nazi base.

The troupe quickly realises that something far more sinister is happening in the base and must fight their way through to see it destroyed.

Overlord has received fairly positive reviews with many lavishing in the B-movie horror tropes and fun delivery, given the production’s modest budget.

Mike D’Angelo of The AV Club called the film “reasonably good, creepy fun” provided one does not  think too deeply about its implications.

D’Angelo praises the cast and fresh director Julius Avery for striking a good balance between a war film and a gore horror extravaganza. “The able low-wattage cast manages to sell most of this cheerfully gory nonsense.” 

Emily Yoshida of New York Magazine had a less favourable view, comparing Overlord’s polished look and sparse narrative  to an overproduced video game.

“Overlord’s problem is that it doesn’t seem terribly interested in showing us who its villains are, and thus significantly mutes the satisfaction of watching them get flamethrowered to death,” she writes.  

Ratings
IMDB: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%
Empire: 3 stars

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