TMW #1: Gladiator II, Emilia Pérez and Joy reviewed
Plus Wingman recommendations and the new Mission: Impossible trailer
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Welcome to the inaugural dispatch from The Movie Wingman. When we announced our new endeavour we did so with a healthy mix of excitement and trepidation. After more than a decade at Total Film magazine we were buzzing to work together again, on something we could call our own and build from the ground up; but putting yourself out there is scary! What if nobody cared? The response, however, has been sincerely touching, and we are deeply grateful to every one of you who has subscribed, shared, liked, followed or simply sent good vibes our way.
We have some exciting plans ahead, but first: the basics. Every Friday you’ll receive our weekly reviews and recommendations. This is where we’ll appraise the cinema, streaming and home-ent releases you should know about, to offer our expert guidance through the modern content jungle. Tuesdays is when you can expect features and fun, with a magazine-style mix of opinion pieces, filmmaker interviews, personal columns, critical essays, deep-dives, quizzes and more. As we’re not beholden to the SEO gods our plan is to offer a balanced film diet - arthouse veggies alongside blockbuster steak (or should that be the other way around?) In other words, anything and everything worth watching, you’ll know about.
We’re entirely reader-supported, so if you can afford to back us financially you’ll help to make The Movie Wingman sustainable in the long term. To give everyone a taste of what to expect we won’t be erecting the paywall in earnest until the end of the month, with our first paywalled writings going out on 3 December. So subscribe before December for full access going forward, and to take advantage of our introductory offer to get 25% off a monthly or annual subscription for the first year.
As for this week’s debut batch of reviews, we’re kicking things off with a biggie - Gladiator II - which is out today in UK cinemas, and also happened to grace the final cover of Total Film. Both that feature and the review you’re about to read were written by Matt Maytum, so you’ll find few critical breakdowns with more authority. And stick around till the end for some essential weekend watching that doesn’t require a trip to the cinema.
Thanks for reading!
Jordan, Matt and Matthew
Reviews
Gladiator II
15, in cinemas now
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Maximus’ legacy weighs on Gladiator II in more ways than one. But while the return to the brutal bloodsport of Rome’s Colosseum leans heavily on the formula established in the 2000 Oscar-winner, it does so in wildly entertaining fashion.
Some 20 years after Maximus’ death in the arena (recapped in a painterly animated sequence), heir to the Roman Empire Lucius (played by Spencer Treat Clark in the original) has been sent to live in anonymity in Numidia, North Africa, for his own safety. He grows up into Paul Mescal, and his predilection for sensually caressing grains gives some indication of his arc and ancestry. His humble life is shattered by a Roman invasion, a barnstorming set-piece that opens the film with intent. Few directors can marshal battles of this scale with the gusto of Ridley Scott; only one can do it two years on the bounce (check out Napoleon’s eye-saucering battle sequences).
Lucius’ capture provides his motivation - vengeance against the storied general, Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), who led the invasion - and sets him on the familiar soldier-to-slave-to-gladiator path. As before, the staged battles in front of baying crowds increase in size and intensity as the plot progresses. An early men-against-baboons encounter veers a little too close to fantasy with some distracting CG, but later encounters with a rhino and sharks are invigorating, as Lucius grows in confidence in the arena and Scott unleashes his more-is-more approach.
Mescal admirably nails the transition from small-scale intimate dramas (Aftersun, TV’s Normal People) to the blockbuster big leagues. He’s at his best in the most physically demanding scenes, or when rallying allies. And while G2 might lack the emotional heft of the original, it does benefit from a wickedly humorous streak. The standout performance comes from Denzel Washington as gladiator handler Macrinus, a former slave turned power broker. Reuniting with Scott 17 years after American Gangster, Washington threatens to walk off with the entire film under his toga. Also enjoyably OTT are twin emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), whose anarchic leadership has seen Rome drift far from Marcus Aurelius’ vision.
At 2hrs 28mins it occasionally feels too short; compared to the slow burn of Peak TV, some of the machinations play out a little fast. But minor gripes aside, Gladiator II is a real bang-for-your-buck cinema experience - essential to see on the big screen, and a crowdpleaser likely to garner a thumbs up from anyone who gives in to the spectacle. (Matt Maytum)
In short: While it’s an impossible feat to match the original, Gladiator II delivers pretty much everything the audience is baying for.
Stay for the end credits? Nothing here you have to wait around for.
Best supporting actor who is also a monkey: Cherry as Dondas, Caracalla’s capuchin who takes on a significant role as the emperor’s sanity declines.
Emilia Pérez
15, in cinemas and on Netflix now
⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Zoe Saldaña takes a break from Gamora, Pandora and the Enterprise bridge for a wildly ambitious opus where sci-fi is virtually the only genre missing from the mix. Although there is something slightly fantastical about Jacques Audiard’s (A Prophet, Rust and Bone) comedy-thriller-musical-melodrama (phew), which kicks in with Saldaña’s stressed-out lawyer Rita snatched from the streets of Mexico City and made an offer she can’t refuse: to surreptitiously arrange gender-affirming surgery for a notorious cartel boss (Karla Sofía Gascón).
Embracing her new life as Emilia Pérez, Gascón’s former kingpin sets out to right some old wrongs - but tensions are brewing with Emilia’s ex Jessi (Selena Gomez), and there’s a violent reckoning on the cards…
Echoing Mrs Doubtfire one minute and Sicario the next, Audiard’s film may induce tonal whiplash in some viewers. Meanwhile, the musical numbers (by French composing duo Camille Dalmais and Clément Ducol) range from the sublime (the aching ‘Papá’) to the rather dubious (the surgery-centric ‘La Vaginoplastia’). But this is original, audacious, chaotically enjoyable filmmaking, with outstanding performances, especially from Gascón, a trans actor whose charisma, vulnerability and ace comic timing lend Emilia’s story a vibrant visibility. (Matthew Leyland)
Joy
12A, in cinemas now, on Netflix 22 Nov
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
There’s a remarkable story at the heart of Joy (not to be confused with the 2015 Jennifer Lawrence movie of the same name): the first successful IVF treatment. Ben Taylor’s film looks at the groundbreaking medical breakthrough from the perspective of a trio pivotal in its, ahem, conception. Nurse Jean Purdy (Thomasin McKenzie), ob-gyn Patrick Steptoe (Bill Nighy) and physiologist Robert Edwards (James Norton) are the team working tenaciously on the project across the ’60s and ’70s. But while the film’s anchored by decent performances - particularly from McKenzie, who shoulders a couple of the key themes, namely church vs. science and the reality of fertility issues - it never entirely shakes off the Sunday-night-telly vibe (Taylor’s best known for shows like Catastrophe and Sex Education), and the screenplay by Jack Thorne doesn’t always feel as propulsive as it could be. Wait till it's on Netflix, as its cosiness is best suited to the small screen. (Matt Maytum)
Wingman Recommends…
My Old Ass
(Out now, Prime Video)
Not only does the title offer the opportunity of endless mirth (‘Do you want to see My Old Ass?’ etc etc) but this high-concept coming-of-age comedy from writer/director Megan Park is stealthily one of the best films of the year. If you didn’t catch on its cinema run, it’s streaming on Prime Video now and stars Maisy Stella (delightful) as 18-year-old Elliott, who gets to meet her 39-year-self (Aubrey Plaza, currently on a can-do-no-wrong hot streak). A poignant, lo-fi gem that plays as well whether you’re closer in age to younger Elliott or Older Elliott. (MM)
Dan Da Dan
(Out now, Crunchyroll, Netflix)
A bit like The X Files reimagined by John Hughes, this ongoing anime series pitches two sceptical teens (one doesn’t believe in ghosts, the other in aliens) into a world where - surprise! - both ghosts and aliens exist. It’s eerie, funny, offbeat, a bit puerile (lots of talk of ‘weenies’ and ‘banana organs’) and has a demon called Turbo Granny. In other words, I’ll be watching until the mothership tears me away. (ML)
Aavesham
(Out now, Prime Video)
This Malayalam-language action-comedy is a riot. After being viciously hazed, three college first years befriend a seemingly benevolent local gangster called Ranga (Fahadh Faasil) to strike back. Ranga might just be my favourite character of the year and is basically a live-action anime antihero. Despite being a feared killer with an explosive temper, he’s sworn off raising a hand to anyone, and so directs his oddball band of goons to do his dirty work. Like a lot of Indian cinema it’s much too long at 161mins, but features two or three of the most inventive and comically overblown action sequences to come out of South Asia since RRR. (JF)
Trailer Club
We’re industrial-sized fans of the Mission: Impossible movies at Wingman, so the first trailer for The Final Reckoning hitting the web is big news around these parts. It’ll have to go a long way to top Fallout - perhaps the finest American action movie of the last decade - but the glimpses of past Mission movies have got us thinking: are we finally going to learn what M:I III’s notorious MacGuffin the rabbit’s foot was all about? That distant creak you hear is Christopher McQuarrie prying open JJ Abrams’ mystery box with a crowbar…
Also worth watching…
Renée Zellweger and Hugh Grant return in the Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy trailer
Rami Malek revives the paranoid conspiracy thriller in the first look at The Amateur
New clips from Ironheart, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, Daredevil: Born Again and more in the Disney+ ‘Coming in 2025’ trailer
Cameron Diaz takes a hiatus from retirement in the aptly named Back in Action teaser
Leigh Whannell follows up The Invisible Man with a new spin on The Wolfman.
If you get a chance to catch Gladiator II this weekend, we'd love to know what you think!
Really enjoyed the first post. I’ve already got my tickets booked to see Gladiator 2 with my parents on Sunday and I’m definitely hoping to catch Emile Perez on Netflix at some point too