The Arora Cut.
2021 was basically more of 2020. That didn’t change Akhil Arora’s movie reviews though—there’s more of everything alongside the birth of new franchises.
Minnal Murali
“Designed as a superhero (and supervillain) origin story on the surface. But along the way, Minnal Murali crams in subplots about half a dozen other characters, which offer muted commentary on xenophobia, casteism, and religious strife. Most of these nonsensically drag on for what feels like an eternity. At 158 minutes, Minnal Murali is overlong by a mile.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home
“The big question of whether [it] stands on its own two feet is rather impossible to answer given how deeply it is woven into the fabric of five other Spider-Man movies. But more crucially, it is immaterial. [… With] the guidance of the shared film universe master [Marvel Studios, Sony Pictures has …] finally delivered a Spider-Man movie that’s at once a mouth-watering prospect for financial analysts, and a button-pushing treat for Spider-Man fans of all ages.”
Ghostbusters: Afterlife
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife isn’t as slavish to its original film as [Star Wars:] The Force Awakens was, but it’s also not nearly as enjoyable. For what it’s worth, [Jason] Reitman tries to carve out a new voice for the Ghostbusters series [… but troublingly, it] doubles down on the nostalgia towards the end—which undoes the good work that Reitman signals at for most of his film.”
Red Notice
“[Keeps] throwing a series of one-liners without ever committing to its jokes. [It] doesn’t have a personality—it screams bland actioner […] I saw it earlier this week and I’ve already forgotten most of its action sequences. That’s how unmemorable they are. Essentially, Red Notice is a very run-of-the-mill heist movie with little flair and panache of its own. Except that it features three of Hollywood’s leading actors stars. And that is the only reason it exists.”
Eternals
“Worryingly, Eternals doesn’t ever really feel like a Chloé Zhao movie. Though that may be because we’ve never seen a Zhao movie on this scale. […] Eternals has epic vistas and is beautiful to look at, and there is a tangible feeling to some of its settings. But all of that is superficial. Zhao fails to bring the heart and soul she’s known for on Eternals—instead, she delivers a gigantic and gorgeous movie with nothing to say, something that Marvel gets blamed for all too often.”
Dune
“[A] bold bet. […] There are no lightsabers, dogfights, or space battles here. […] Its characters don’t trade quips, or ping-pong across planets on a galactic adventure. [… There’s] no humour on display here, it’s all self-serious. Dune is more akin to Game of Thrones, but in space, and, minus the sex and the humour. It serves up a whole lot of palace intrigue, hints at a questionable quasi-Biblical journey, and seemingly evokes Lawrence of Arabia at times.”
Black Widow
“Black Widow is too little too late for Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff, who deserved a full arc outside of her Avengers exploits. Instead, she’s gotten a farewell flick. It also wastes its helmeted villain Taskmaster. […] Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova is better served [though] a cynic could argue that Black Widow is essentially a $200 million backdoor pilot [and Marvel launch vehicle].”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
“Where the early scenes between [Xu] Wenwu and [Ying] Li are swooning, the Marvel movie shifts into slapstick gear with [Katy and Xu Shang-Chi]—who go from doing a mini-Speed on the streets of San Francisco, a Jackie Chan-inspired high-stakes survival on bamboo scaffolding at a Macau skyscraper, to a climactic sequence that goes all out. There are dragons, colourful horses, giant cuddly lions, and dog-like creatures with no faces.”
Fast & Furious 9
“A poorly-used John Cena can’t mask Justin Lin’s [giant electromagnet] gimmicks and meta discussions [about how everyone’s favourite petrolheads seem to survive anything and everything. Plus,] Fast & Furious 9 brings back virtually everyone we know […] F9 is essentially a compendium of The Fast Saga. But it’s still incomplete.”
Cruella
“Cruella is a fast-paced slick affair. Parts of it are like a heist movie, there’s campy dramedy sprinkled in parts, and every scene of the Disney movie is a showcase for Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan. Cruella oozes style—be it the costumes, the cinematography, or the soundtrack that is obsessed with needle drops … but it’s serving precious little substance.”
The Suicide Squad
“[James] Gunn operating with his raw sensibilities and shredding what hasn’t worked for him before. As such, The Suicide Squad is not bothered with storytelling constraints. In fact, the film’s plot can probably be summed up in two sentences. [… It] feels like a series of sketches stitched together. The Suicide Squad is essentially a giant big joke that the film is in on.”
Luca
“[Brought] to life with some of Pixar’s most stylised animation to date—[Enrico] Casarosa & Co. have spoken about how they were inspired by traditional 2D animation, Japanese woodblock paintings, a bunch of Italian classic movies, and the works of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki—and paired with a scintillating background score … that is at once serene, playful, tingling, and epic.”
Army of the Dead
“Army of the Dead earns its 18+ rating with copious amounts of blood, gore and human entrails … but it’s all gratuitous, and the movie is empty outside of it. [And it’s also] drab, dull and devoid of any fun. It’s a [Zack] Snyder trademark at this point, but it’s still disappointing to see that he has no interest in changing his voice or visual style.”
Snyder Cut x HBO Max
“On one hand, you’ve HBO Max, a new platform hungry for subscribers. On the other hand, you’ve Justice League Snyder Cut, arguably the hottest property right now. This was the perfect moment for HBO Max to go global. [… The] perfect gateway to millions of new subscribers. Instead, HBO Max is letting Snyder Cut fans end up a one-time customer when it could have invited them into a whole new world were it part of a subscription.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
“To call it overlong might be an understatement. It’s so long that some characters aren’t introduced until after the first hour, while others don’t show up until we pass the two-hour mark. It’s so long that the film’s epilogue takes half an hour, featuring multiple ‘endings’ that seem to suggest [Zack] Snyder put everything he had up on the wall. Justice League Snyder Cut is definitely indulgent.”
Raya and the Last Dragon
“[Ever] timelier in a world where isolationism is the new normal, where people make little effort to understand each other, and nearly every country seems to be practising an ‘us first’ policy. [… Sometimes], it’s up to the next generation to fix the world. That’s a resonant message given how young activists today are viciously attacked, jailed, or even killed globally.”