I enjoyed M3gan 2.0 more than I thought I would, It was partly the unexpected use of This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush in a key scene, a smidge reminiscent of the creepy performance of Titanium by the AI robot in the first film. I also liked the cheeky, sassy one-liners from Gemma’s creation, which returns after being decommissioned at the end of the first movie.
Being honest, the plot is a bit of a sideshow here, and if you’re looking to switch off your brain for a couple of hours, this does the job nicely. My advice - don’t watch it expecting a horror film. A Reform election broadcast is scarier, and this is more of a comedy with occasional gore (but fairly sanitised, given its certificate). Whilst it’s genuinely funny in places, and the cast certainly give it their all, it’s wildly different tonally from the first film. If you watch it knowing that, you might well enjoy the battle to save Earth from a megalomaniac scientist that you’ve seen in a million other movies. On the plus side, at least they’ve tried something different and not just remade the first one.
I rewatched F1 The Movie this week as well, and my dad really enjoyed it, as I knew he would. With a production credit for Lewis Hamilton and a few F1 cameos that impressed my F1 fan father, this stood up to a second viewing very well. If you’re daunted by its duration, the 155 minutes whizz by faster than Brad Pitt’s revamped car in the later racing scenes. He plays Sonny Hayes, dubbed “the greatest that never was”, and offered a lucrative opportunity to help out an ailing team at risk of being sold by their shareholders. I really liked the camaraderie between Pitt and Damon Idris, who plays his team mate Joshua Pearce (nicknamed “Swan”, for reasons that will become clear during their initial scenes together). Loud, brash, and really well filmed, with a pulsing soundtrack from Hans Zimmer. Worth seeing on the big screen if you can!
With the summer holidays upon us, a couple of new releases to look out for this week. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in early 1960s New York, and sees Mr Fantastic and Sue Storm living together with the Human Torch and The Thing... with a baby on the way. Described by the Telegraph as “Marvel’s best film in a decade” and “pleasant enough, but lacks tension”, according to a BBC review. I’ll do my best to overcome my superhero malaise and give it a watch before next week’s column.
Bad Guys 2 follows in the footsteps of the first film, which was a surprise hit in 2022. The trailer has had over 40 million hits on YouTube, and sees Mr. Wolf, Mr. Shark, Mr. Piranha, and Ms. Tarantula being pulled back into the criminal world. It’s predicted to do well, and being honest, doesn’t have all that much competition in terms of big summer releases for families.
