Director: Jonathan Zuck
Writers: Dick Grunert, Ryan R. Johnson, James Kondelik
Stars: Alice Eve, Eric Michael Cole, Jim Klock

Synopsis: A newlywed couple joins friends on a Mediterranean yacht excursion, only to find themselves caught between a predatory shark and a psychopathic killer in their midst-transforming a sun-drenched escape into a fight for survival.

Shark films occupy a fascinating corner of cinema. For every genre-defining masterpiece like Jaws, there have been countless imitators hoping to capture the same magic. Some have succeeded surprisingly well. Films such as The Shallows and Deep Blue Sea understood that audiences come for the sharks but stay for the tension. Others have embraced outright absurdity, with everything from Sharknado to giant prehistoric predators leaping through blockbuster spectacles. Yet for every memorable shark movie, dozens disappear without a trace, lost somewhere in the murky depths between suspense and silliness. Thankfully, Chum falls into the more entertaining category. It embraces its ridiculous premise with enough enthusiasm to make for a surprisingly enjoyable film.

The setup is wonderfully chaotic from the start. It wastes no time in action and drama, letting audiences know exactly what this film is about. What should be a dream wedding in the sun-drenched beauty of Malta quickly spirals into a nightmare when a deadly shark begins circling the celebrations. If that wasn’t enough trouble, a mysterious fisherman with his own sinister agenda enters the picture, turning a survival story into something far more unpredictable. Suddenly, the wedding guests find themselves trapped between a hungry predator in the water and a dangerous human threat on land. It’s a premise that sounds like several different films stitched together, and in many ways, that’s exactly what makes Chum entertaining.

Visually, the film benefits enormously from its setting. Malta provides a beautiful backdrop that contrasts nicely with the increasingly bloody events unfolding throughout the story. The crystal-clear waters and picturesque scenery create a false sense of security that the film gleefully destroys whenever possible. The music is very important and used extremely well in building the suspense in this film, as well as creating the overall party and easy vibe the characters are feeling before dread and despair set in.

Alice Eve brings welcome credibility to the production, delivering a committed performance even when the script occasionally veers into familiar genre territory. She’s joined by a solid ensemble that helps bring this story to life – convincingly. Nobody plays the material as a joke, but neither does anyone take it so seriously that the fun disappears.

One of Chum’s more enjoyable qualities is its willingness to add extra layers to what could have been a straightforward shark attack movie. The inclusion of the fisherman subplot introduces an additional threat that keeps the narrative moving whenever the shark isn’t actively causing problems. This dual-threat approach gives the film a slightly different flavor from many of its aquatic horror contemporaries.

That said, the screenplay occasionally struggles to juggle all of its moving parts. The shark, the fisherman, the wedding drama, and the relationship tensions don’t always fit together seamlessly. There are moments where the film feels torn between being a creature feature, a survival thriller, and a relationship drama.

The shark effects themselves are a mixed bag. At times, the creature looks genuinely intimidating, particularly when glimpsed beneath the water’s surface. At other moments, budget limitations become more noticeable. Thankfully, the film’s overall aesthetic allows for this without it being cheesy or cheap. Just watch out for some pieces of dialogue and how they’re executed; it can be pretty basic, but that’s what we love B-movies for.

What works particularly well is the pacing. At just 87 minutes, Chum isn’t as dull as dishwater. The film moves quickly from one crisis to the next, keeping audiences entertained without getting bogged down in unnecessary exposition. The body count steadily rises and not just in the form of added side characters you know are there to be shark bait.

It’s messy in places, occasionally predictable, and sometimes held back by its budget, but it’s also entertaining, self-aware, and surprisingly suspenseful. In a crowded sea of shark movies, Chum manages to avoid sinking entirely and instead offers a fun, blood-soaked diversion that knows how to have a good time. A must-watch for shark-thriller fans!

Grade: B

Director: Ol Parker
Writers: Brett Goldstein, Joe Kelly
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Brett Goldstein, Betty Gilpin

Synopsis: Jackie, President and CEO of Air Cruz, runs a tight ship in her business, including a rigid anti-fraternization policy for all her employees. When a new sexy lawyer begins working for her, that policy becomes very tested.

Netflix’s Office Romance is a throwback to the golden age of ’90s rom-coms. With two charming, good-looking leads, chemistry that practically burns up the screen, and just enough raunchy humor, it offers the kind of crowd-pleasing romance that should appeal to a wide range of audiences, something the streaming giant specializes in.

The appeal here, and what elevates the movie, is that Office Romance was written by Ted Lasso’s Brett Goldstein, who brings his signature brand of winning comedy, making this fairly straightforward, low-risk romantic comedy worth taking a chance on. Combined with the megastar wattage of Jennifer Lopez, you have a movie that’s endearing instead of cheesy. 

Then there are dashes of gross-out humor, including a childbirth scene shot with guerrilla-style camerawork, that gets right in the middle of the action; a gag that may either win audiences over or send them running for the exits. Either way, the new streaming film will charm the audience it was made for, with Goldstein bringing some unexpected wit and humor that the genre is known for. 

The story follows Jackie Cruz (Lopez), the chief executive officer of the airline Air Cruz, which is trying to expand into the Dallas/Fort Worth market. Securing gates at a major airport is like finding shelf space in a big-box store, where you need to punch, scratch, and elbow your way into obtaining them, but it’s even harder to keep them.

When a rival airline sues Jackie and her father, “Captain” Jack (Edward James Olmos), who founded the company, in an effort to slow their momentum, Jackie turns to her top lawyer, Peter Vance (Get Out’s Bradley Whitford). However, after Peter ends up in the hospital from choking on a breakfast burrito, they call in his replacement, Daniel (Brett Goldstein), to handle the deposition.

Daniel is immediately taken aback by Jackie’s immense beauty, fumbling his words, and the only legal shop talk he can come up with is complimenting Ms. Cruz’s fancy shoes. However, after he clears his head, he handles the legal proceeding with ease, impressing Jackie, who shakes his hand and begins to give Mr. Blanchflower an unexpected, uh, standing ovation. 

That’s the setup, and now the regrettable pun of here’s the carrot, that is really as complex as Office Romance becomes, putting much of the focus on the chemistry between the leads, and folding in an inane plot of will they or won’t they blow their cover of being involved in strictly forbidden workplace trysts. You really cannot take your eyes off them, becoming more with each passing scene. 

Director Ol Parker (Ticket to Paradise) never falls into the trap of self-importance or pretentiousness. If anything, you wish the script from Brett Goldstein and Joe Kelly (Saturday Night Live) put more effort into the plot, instead of relying on corporate governance issues as a key component of the story. It’s a predictable development that audiences will see coming from a mile away.

Office Romance is nothing special, losing steam by the end of the film, but for fans of the genre and Lopez, the “classic” ending feels almost like an homage to the rom-coms of Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts, and Sandra Bullock. Sure, the plot is basic, and some irreverent comedy bits and subplots seem out of place. Yet, if we choose to find them refreshing, the combination of Goldstein’s warm and anything-but-cynical writing makes this film rise above the formulaic premise for the audience the movie is intended for. 

You can stream Office Romance exclusively on Netflix starting June 5th!

Grade: C+

Director: Rajat Kapoor
Writer: Rajat Kapoor
Stars: Vinay Pathak, Koel Purie, Neil Bhoopalam

Synopsis: A seemingly perfect anniversary party at an old mansion turns into a deadly game of secrets when the most hated guest, Sohrab Handa, is found murdered. As the night unfolds, friendships crack, loyalties shift.

The “whodunit” genre is one that is filled with incredibly memorable and dense mysteries, ranging from classics like Rear Window, Se7en and Clue to recent releases like the Knives Out trilogy and A Haunting in Venice, and sprawling across different film regions of the world. Oftentimes, it is the most entertaining, keeping the audience guessing as to who may have been involved in a high-profile murder and who might have finally done the deed. Many a time, “whodunit” murder mysteries also carry a somewhat theatrical flair to them, as characters are often in confined locations where the crime took place, and have to talk amongst themselves to figure out the truth, especially as tensions begin to escalate. It would only make sense then, that someone who is a theater actor/director would take a crack at the genre, which is where Rajat Kapoor enters with his film, Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa.

The plot is simple: on a weekend celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary, Raman and Jayanti Chawla (Neil Bhoopalam and Palomi Ghosh) invite a group of their friends and colleagues to a mansion on the outskirts of town to join in on the festivities. The most prominent of these guests is Raman’s business partner Sohrab Handa (Vinay Pathak), who is far from the nicest person in the bunch, as he often berates and insults everyone around him and acts superior to the rest of the crowd. That night, after the celebration has died down, Handa is found dead, seemingly murdered. As the police arrive and the guests are confined to the mansion while questioning begins, it becomes clear that every single person present had something against Handa, and enough reason to want to kill him if the opportunity arose.

Taking place over the duration of a single day, Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa often feels like an Agatha Christie play brought to life. Kapoor’s background in the theater medium allows him to present an extensive amount of dialogue-driven moments where characters are limited to only a few rooms of the mansion in total, while ramping up the tension as everyone begins to point fingers at one another to see who would have the most compelling reason to kill Handa. This approach from Kapoor leads to some incredibly strong performances, particularly from Pathak, who is most known by audiences as a terrific comedic actor. Here, playing the unlikeable and disrespectful titular character, he gets to display his more dramatic and serious chops considerably, leading to one of his best performances in years. Kapoor, starring as Chandra, a psychologist who is slowly beginning to understand how fundamentally flawed and messy everyone seems to be, from people like Madhavan (Ranvir Shorey) and his girlfriend Nazia (Kankana Chakraborty) who seem to be seeing each other under suspicious circumstances, to Kumar (Danish Hussain), a news anchor who seems to escalate everything to get views and rile his audiences up, and of course Handa, who continually deteriorates with every scene.

Where Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa also succeeds is in its sense of claustrophobia. Once the inspector, Afzal Qureshi (Saurabh Shukla), arrives to find the killer, Rafey Mahmood’s cinematography is often with close quarters of every character, while also providing some great moments that showcase the surroundings of the mansion, including a wonderfully candlelit moment in the evening, and even providing some clever POV sequences like an extended one-shot which lays out the whole scene and showcases all the characters. The production design is also effective in this regard, making every room feel lived in and every object tangible. There is an attention to detail captured by the camera and Kapoor’s direction that makes the situation far more immersive.

The dialogue is mostly crisp and allows for some great interactions as well, especially when exposing the emotional deterioration of each character, and providing a reason for the distrust between every guest. By the halfway mark, everyone has a reason to hate each other, let alone Handa, and help provide extensive motivations and suspicions to make the mystery more bizarre. And yet, the actual murder mystery angle of the story feels a bit undercooked. On a thematic and narrative level, Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa often introduces ideas like the reasoning behind why Handa may be how he is and the backgrounds of other characters building into the mystery, such as with Handa’s father Baba (M.K. Raina), with whom he seems to have a tumultuous relationship, and his quieter brother Arun (Chandrachoor Rai), who also seems to have troubles of his own, but it doesn’t develop many of those aspects past these shallow points. As a result, when the movie begins to explore a few things in later parts of the movie, they do not quite land as effectively as they could. Adding to that, many of the supporting characters do not get much development and screen time to flourish beyond an initial setup, such as with Shorey and Chakraborty’s storyline, which is addressed in bursts, but is relegated to the side after some time.

Towards the end of Everybody Loves Sohrab Handa, however, what also fizzles out is the final reveal, which almost feels like an afterthought and significantly underdeveloped. Save for one moment that only mildly hints at something deeper, the jump to the answers feels less earned. And yet for all its flaws, it never ceases to entertain and keep up a solid momentum. While nowhere near a perfect whodunit murder mystery, it is still a compellingly acted, well directed and lensed thriller that has some excellent moments of dialogue sprinkled in to make the performances shine. Everybody may not love the movie, but it is a fun enough watch.

Grade: B

Director: Ildikó Enyedi
Writer: Ildikó Enyedi
Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Luna Wedler, Enzo Brumm, Léa Seydoux

Synopsis: At the heart of an old German university grows a majestic ginkgo tree, its lifespan measured in centuries. As the years pass, the distinguished plant bears witness to the private lives of those who seek shade under its boundless branches. Over time, each is transformed by the quiet, enduring, and mysterious power of nature.

One of the foundational aspects of being alive is the need for connection. Even individuals prone to introversion typically have at least a few close people they trust enough to be a part of their little community. What qualifies as connection is often extremely personal, and it is not always going to translate to an obvious, grand spectacle. Director Ildikó Enyedi is seemingly fascinated by the unseen, and perhaps unknowable, forces that bring us together. In 2017’s Oscar-nominated On Body and Soul, two outsiders found themselves drawn to one another when they realized they were meeting each other every night in their dreams. Now, in her long-awaited follow-up, Silent Friend, she transitions out of the mystical space of dreams and into the awe-inspiring wonder of the natural world. With so much emphasis often put on technology as the grand uniter of the world, it is rewarding to be reminded that, even when we feel at our most alone, we are always connected to something larger than ourselves. 

Our story begins in the present era, as we serpentine through the neural pathways of an infant whose parents are aiding the work of a curious researcher. This observer is Tony (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), a neuroscientist from Hong Kong who is visiting a historic German university in early 2020. As you may guess from the date, Tony gets stranded on campus during the pandemic lockdown, completely alone outside of a territorial groundskeeper (Sylvester Groth) who eyes Tony with almost comical suspicion at every turn—an odd development for a film so steeped in subtlety. Unable to continue his research into the brain activity of babies, Tony pivots to a most unlikely subject: a noble ginkgo tree that has slowly been making itself a prominent fixture in the space since it was planted in 1832. Tony believes that he can measure the organic waves emanating from the tree to glean something about the complex internal life within this mighty presence. 

Silent Friend is presumably one of only a handful of films in history that has a “Featured Plants” section in the closing credits, rightfully giving these plants the respect they deserve as pivotal characters in their own right. Enyedi gives us glimpses of the tree’s experience, from the stimulating fireworks of a hard rainfall to the unremarkable inevitability of someone losing their lunch over its roots after too much to drink. With such a long lifespan, this ginkgo tree has seen it all, and, as such, it acts as our shepherd to two other distinct time periods. 

The oldest memory it shares is from 1908, when we meet Grete (Luna Wedler), who has just been admitted as the first female student at the university. Her story is the most overtly dramatic, especially in an introductory scene in which a panel of professors grills her on scientific procedures with a healthy dose of cutting sexism not even attempting to mask their disdain. The tightrope that Grete and Wedler have to walk to remain composed in the face of such an exasperating barrage is captivating to observe. In a movie with Tony Leung Chiu-wai, it is hard to emerge as the MVP, but Wedler certainly puts up a fight throughout her journey of persecution and self-discovery. Yet, even within this seemingly familiar arc, the movie does not take the most obvious roads, taking cues from the reserved nature of its central monolith. 

We also spend time in 1972 with Hannes (Enzo Brumm), an aloof, young German student who appears eager to leave his simple farm life behind, even to the point of being dismissive of plant life altogether in one instance. Of course, this shifts a bit as he develops a friendship with Gundula (Marlene Burow), who has a passion for botany. Of the three stories, this one is the slowest to gain momentum, but it pulls its weight once Hannes begins to house-sit for Gundula and take care of a geranium on which she is experimenting. The movie shows such love and respect for plant life that you will find yourself wondering why you are holding your breath and gripping your seat as you await to see if any misfortune falls upon this flower. 

The major barrier for many audience members will be the slow, luxurious pace of the movie that urges you to take time and truly observe every inch of the screen. The sentiment is lovely, yet even as someone who has bought into the narrative, you really start to wonder if the film necessarily needed to clock in at two-and-a-half hours. Enyedi and cinematographer Gergely Pálos combat the restlessness somewhat by keeping things visually interesting. While the modern time period has a crisp digital aesthetic, things get more hazy and imprecise in the ‘70s as the footage switches to 16mm, and, finally, black-and-white 35mm for Grete’s section in 1908. Each time period swirls together and fades in and out of one another in the editing process, lending credence to the belief that, even if we might feel isolated, we are all part of a larger story.  

Silent Friend is an extremely thoughtful and ambitious narrative that eschews easy sentimentality in favor of something more meditative and cerebral. All the pieces are here for greatness, yet it comes up just short by playing things a little too emotionally cool and not completely earning its massive runtime. Plus, having Léa Seydoux in your film and confining her to a handful of expository Zoom calls with Tony Leung Chiu-wai feels like some sort of crime against the gods of cinema. Nevertheless, Ildikó Enyedi continues to earn our admiration for the way she approaches humanity and connection in ways that are not easily quantifiable. It is a work that lingers with you and makes you extra mindful that, even when no one else is in sight, life is all around you.

Grade: B+

Director: Travis Knight
Writers: Chris Butler, Aaron Nee, Adam Nee
Stars: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba

Synopsis: A young man on Earth discovers a fabulous secret legacy as the prince of an alien planet, and must recover a magic sword and return home to protect his kingdom.

When it comes to Masters of the Universe (or rather He-Man and the Masters of the Universe), Mattel’s premiere toy-line turned media franchise, the power hasn’t always been there. Despite some small successes on the small screen with few various animated series – including one starring his female counterpart She-Ra – the silver screen attempts at He-Man and friends have been fraught at best. Starting with the box-office failure of 1987’s Masters of the Universe starring Dolph Lundgren, the idea of another stab at bringing Eternia back to life via a complete reboot has been held hostage by development hell. Everyone from John Woo (yeah, that John Woo) to Netflix and Noah Centineo being involved with it getting so close off the ground, only for it never to materialize.

Luckily, director Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe is a fun, engaging, yet surprisingly earnest ride from beginning to end. With Knight’s MOTU, along with Kubo and the Two Strings scribe Chris Butler, Knight balances a traditional fish-out-of-water story and high-octane action with ease. Butler’s script also echoes tonal elements of Thor: Ragnarok – in which the film uses situational humor to downplay or uplift serious moments. This works, but also doesn’t always succeed at times. But, this is too far in-between. Yet, the film surprisingly strikes a balance between this type of humor with genuine earnestness, most of which is due to reverence for the source material. 

This is also extended into other areas with production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas (Maria) applying a faithful look to the world of Eternia. Dyas’ production designer also goes in line with what costume designer Richard Sale (Jurassic Park: Rebirth) is cooking, in which bright and pure colors are on full display. Additionally, this is also present in the cinematography with director of photography Fabian Wagner (Venom: The Last Dance) giving the film a glowing bright aesthetic.  At times though, this does clash with some of the VFX work – with some of it not computing well. But, for the most part, visual effects supervisors Tim Burke (The Little Mermaid) and David Vickery (Jurassic Park: Rebirth) along with VFX companies Industrial Light & Magic, Double Negative, Rodeo FX, Cinesite, Untold Studios, and Host VFX manage to supply the film with an insane wealth of effects, balancing both digital and practical at the same time. 

But, the one area that does an insane amount of heavy lifting is the score (and by extension – the soundtrack). Composer Daniel Pemberton – fresh off of the incredible Project Hail Mary – in collaboration with Queen guitarist Brian May combine ’80s synth with a heavy electric guitar presence. Thus, amplifying scenes that should be basic into a fun, jovial ear-worm. Now, in regards to the soundtrack, music supervisor Kier Lehman (Spider-Noir) included some major needle-drops. (Some of which, I refuse to spoil.) Others, were surprising in nature asking “How is this song in this movie?” 

As for the cast, Nicholas Galitzine (Bottoms, The Sheep Detectives) leads with an interesting balance. Portraying both Prince Adam (or in this case, just Adam) and He-Man, he uses broad humor to breakdown and display the character’s personality. We see this especially with the fish-out-of-water aspect of the film, for which Galitzine excels at. Once he starts to turn into He-Man himself, Galitzine takes a very Superman-like approach, honoring the film’s main messaging. However, when it comes to the rest of the ensemble, most are game and feel right. Examples include Camila Mendes (Riverdale) – whose dynamic between her and Galitzine is fun, Idris Elba (Zootopia 2) – who as Duncan provides a combination of strength, humor, and heart, but most especially with Mendes’ Teela, and Alison Brie (Together) – whose Evil-Lyn straddles the line between menacing and somewhat sympathetic. But, a standout that is present (and one that I’m hesitant to include because of all the baggage this particular individual has) is Jared Leto (Tron: Ares). As Skeletor, Leto combines Shakespearean wit and gravitas with elements of camp. This not only recognizes the character’s flair for the dramatic, but also represents Leto’s Skeletor as being a formidable foe in the form of Galitzine’s He-Man. In other, more simpler words – he’s actually pretty good (God, everything about writing that felt wrong). 

By embracing the absurdity of its source material and showing reverence and respect for the cartoon, Knight’s Masters of the Universe is a fun, yet surprisingly earnest ride. One that balances high-octane and hilarious humor. Not to mention, the VFX, score, cinematography, and production designer all help bring the world of Eternia to life. Finally, the cast led by Galitzine not only feels right, but in some cases, feels too right (looking at you, Leto). To quote He-Man himself: By the power of Grayskull, this film simply does…have the power.

Grade: B-

Director: André Øvredal
Writers: Zachary Donohue, T.W. Burgess
Stars: Lou Llobell, Jacob Scipio, Melissa Leo

Synopsis: After a young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident, they soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone, as a demonic presence called the Passenger that won’t stop until it claims them both turns their van life adventure into a nightmare.

Many audience members equate “horror movies” with “jumpscares,” but there’s nothing more boring in this economy of listless cinema than a technique that transforms an experience of pure agony and terror into a theme park ride. Jumpscares don’t make a movie scary – the atmosphere and sense of tension do. Look at Ian Tuason’s undertone as a note-perfect example of how to employ a jumpscare through its aural designs, and compare it to André Øvredal’s latest misfire, Passenger. In this film, jumpscares are overused to distract the audience from its nonsensical plot, to the point where it becomes a festival of “BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” moments that permanently blast your eardrums forever. 

It’s a real shame, because there are two excellent sequences in this movie that show how capable a filmmaker Øvredal is at establishing tension through the visual medium of cinema. One sees protagonist Maddie (Lou Llobel) walk into a vast parking lot to her camper van. Ever since she was the witness of a horrible accident with her fiancé, Tyler (Jacob Scipio), Maddie has been seeing visions of a demonic entity dubbed “The Passenger” (Joseph Lopez), who has been tormenting them by continually distorting space and time until they no longer recognize what is real. 

With the aid of cinematographer Federico Verardi, Øvredal circles his camera around Maddie as she walks around this expansive parking lot to reach her van, but she’s hearing ominous footsteps of an unseen creature. Every time she tilts her head back, the van gets further away from her. It’s an incredible sequence that perfectly establishes the creature’s mechanics and the aesthetic impulses of the picture, without relying on cheap jump scares to scare people…until Maddie reaches her van, turns on the vehicle’s touchscreen and, well, I don’t need to tell you what happens next, right?

The same thing happens later in the movie, when Maddie and Tyler watch William Wyler’s Roman Holiday, and the Passenger appears on their screen, looking to rip it wide open. Instead of using their flashlights to investigate the demonic being’s whereabouts, they instead look at the dark woods through the projector, which hasn’t stopped playing the film. The faces of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck eventually bleed out on the trees and coalesce on the Passenger, creating the most evocative (and jaw-dropping) visual juxtaposition of Øvredal’s entire career. And yet, the sequence still ends on a dumb jumpscare, almost as if the Norwegian filmmaker can’t help himself and doesn’t feel confident that he can sell this sequence of pure atmospheric terror on its own. 

Why the insistence on such a tired trope to fill your entire runtime with? This is also what sank (pun intended) Øvredal’s last movie, The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Instead of building atmosphere and leading to rewarding – and scary – sequences, Øvredal uses jump scares to distract audiences from a lack of a compelling hook and a story that makes narrative sense. Of course, in horror movies, you have to suspend your disbelief. Demonic occurrences do not happen in real life (until proof of the contrary), so it becomes necessary to throw some logic out of the window.

However, as Øvredal and screenwriters Zachary Donoghue and T.W. Burgess begin to expand on the lore of the passenger and link it to the Catholic figure of Saint Christopher, the Patron Saint. The use of Biblical imagery is always welcomed in horror films, until we realize that Øvredal is doing nothing (and I mean nothing) with the parallel he presents, other than haphazardly linking the Passenger to scripture and wasting the talents of Melissa Leo as an exposition-delivery machine who will tell the protagonists that the creature can be weakened if it’s brought to a specific Church no one can find. Of course, that character disappears from the picture as soon as important pieces of exposition have been fully delivered, but none of what she says has any significance. 

It’s hard to go into deeper detail on the religious parallels of the film without spoiling anything, but let’s just say it retroactively makes The Passenger less scary, because Øvredal contradicts many of the entity’s parameters that were introduced in the thrilling parking lot and projector sequences. The film’s climax is an explosive confrontation that wants to add a demonic dimension to Steven Spielberg’s Duel, but let’s just say it falls much flatter than Demeter, even if it’s at least more aesthetically polished than Øvredal’s previous entry in the world of transportation horror (his next movie is going to be set on a plane, right?). 

At least Llobel and Scipio give impassioned performances and keep the movie relatively engaging until its final moments, which removes all the romantic tension the two actors thoughtfully built. Passenger is more engaging than The Last Voyage of the Demeter because it sees Øvredal evolve his techniques away from trying to become the next Guillermo del Toro. However, he needs to do away with jumpscares for good, or at least know when to use them. All of them are predictable. All of them are boring. And none of them actively enhance the story; they only highlight the movie’s cracks even more. If you’re going to do Catholic horror, please engage with the images you’re crafting. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Grade: D+

Director: Anthony Maras
Writers: David Haig, Anthony Maras
Stars: Andrew Scott, Brendan Fraser, Kerry Condon

Synopsis: In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice, launch the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.

Our lives revolve around weather. We are beholden to the strange, unpredictable, and changeable patterns that swirl above our heads and are entirely out of our control. Humans have attempted to predict the weather for thousands of years and it’s rarely more than an approximation. We have technology now that maps, moves, and gets ahead of weather systems, but we still have to run inside if black clouds roll in during our picnic because things change in fractions of degrees that no computer can calculate fast enough. We never think about how the weather can affect war, though. Humans have fought in every kind of weather there is, but something so precise as a seaborne invasion cannot be left to just looking up at the sky. Pressure puts the credit for the success for the landing of the Allied Expeditionary Force on D-Day to the meteorologists who found a lucky break in the weather.

As fascinating as the weather is, meteorologists are often not fascinating people. There’s a reason why when people have run out of small talk, they often remark on the weather as a last resort. Though, writers Anthony Maras and David Haig, whose play is the basis for the screenplay, do find many ways to amp up the drama. These ways are hit and miss at some points. Often it ends up with sniping, bloviating, and shouting, which feel a bit forced at times. Though, Damian Lewis’ delightfully smarmy turn as General Montgomery is all those things and the film is better for it every time he’s on screen. We lose much of the tension as we know the historical fact that this invasion was a success.

What keeps the tension from disappearing entirely is the way in which human empathy comes into the decision making. Often when war films focus on the higher ups, they lose touch with the actual fighting men or even civilians in harm’s way. Maras and Haig have built in small scenes to keep this kind of pressure on those in charge. There are interspersed scenes of the enlisted men camped at the headquarters, mixed with colorized footage of soldiers from the time of the actual invasion that bring into focus that this undertaking will cost the lives of some of these men.

That’s where the excellence of Maras’ direction comes in as well. He and cinematographer Jamie Ramsay start the film with the face of a young soldier wounded during a disastrous training exercise. Slowly, they pull back so we see the blood washing up with the surf and the dozens of bodies of dead and wounded soldiers. We never forget the faces of these men as Maras’ camera never lets us.

It even shows up in the edit as well. Editing was done by Maras and he was able to make the final scenes that depict the invasion as well as the reaction of the top brass in the bunker really resonate. That’s hard to do when history tells us what happened on June 6, 1944 and when Steven Spielberg gave us a gruesome, if realistic depiction of what it was like on the beach at D-Day. Yet, Maras finds the faces again. A man or two we saw in camp are followed as they struggle up the beach. We see their reactions to the battle around them mixed with the hectic shouting into phones and radios at the command bunker. Then the weather breaks just as hoped and the men find their way to taking out the machine gun nests that have been killing their comrades. It’s an excellent piece of intercutting action that achieves an exciting and emotional forward momentum.

Pressure is a well acted, tense, and emotionally powerful film about one of the greatest achievements in military history. You can forgive it for being a bit slow in places and for being a bit high and mighty in others because the pros far outweigh the cons. It’s a film you know the historical ending of, but it hits far differently when the human effects of the war take center stage.

Grade: B