Deadline is now reporting that Dance will play Christopher Dent, the imposing (and, if lore holds, abusive) father to Harvey Dent, who will be brought to screens this time by Sebastian Stan.
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And we now also know that Scarlett Johansson, whose part until recently has been a mystery, will be Dent’s wife.
Little is known officially about what Pattinson’s Caped Crusader will tackle, but we do know that Farrell is back as Oz Cobb, the villainous gangster nicknamed “The Penguin” while Jeffrey Wright (James Gordon) is also predicted to be back.
We can probably expect to see Batman tackle another menace from his rogues’ gallery, with Barry Keoghan teased as a potential Joker at the end of the original movie, but nothing confirmed about him actually playing the role.
When will ‘The Batman: Part II’ be in theaters?
Following a variety of release date shifts as Reeves and co-writer Mattson Tomlin honed the script, the movie is currently set to land on screens on October 1, 2027.
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
Launching via Peacock on November 14th with the first five episodes (followed by one a week before a two-episode finale on December 12th), ‘The Day of the Jackal’ represents the latest attempt to translate Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel about an assassin and those who want to stop him killing his latest target to screens.
We’ve had two movies previously (one in 1973 and the 1997 effort simply titled ‘The Jackal,’ which saw Bruce Willis in a rare villainous role as the titular killer), so any new adaptation has that baggage to carry along with trying to establish itself as fresh and new.
This TV version, crafted by writer/producer Ronan Bennett (who previously created respected drama ‘Top Boy’) only achieves some of its ambitions.
Does ‘The Day of the Jackal’ accurately provide thrills?
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
What actor doesn’t love the chance to slap on a rubbery mask and slither around foreign cities meticulously planning assassinations? Trouble is, we’ve all seen this story many times before, not least in the previous two adaptations.
Like its predecessors, ‘The Day of the Jackal’ looks to update the story for present day concerns such as tech and big media, while adding in extra layers of complication for the person (in this case, Lashana Lynch’s rigorous MI6 agent Bianca) who is looking to track and stop the Jackal (played here by Eddie Redmayne).
Yet while the TV miniseries format offers a chance to expand upon the story and let the characters breathe more than a movie can, some of this ‘Jackal’s inventions don’t necessarily work, leaving the story feeling overstuffed and weighed down by a few of the additions.
It also doesn’t help that the story naturally must draw on the sort of scenes that are common among such entries in this genre. How many times can we really watch an assassin meticulously take apart a sniper rifle, no matter how cleverly disguised the weapon might be?
Script and Direction
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
Bennett has certainly proved he can create compelling characters, and here he’s aiming to put meat on some very trope-heavy plot skeletons. That effort is much more successful in the case of Lynch’s character, to the point where you can imagine where she might have gone with her 007 character from ‘No Time to Die,’ if she had the added responsibility of a family along with her MI6 duties.
The script for the Jackal’s scenes is less successful, even given a welcome addition of his own family complications (even if it does somewhat stretch credulity that such a fastidious and seemingly controlled type who risk the burden of loved ones, whose presence naturally causes problems for him, though in slightly refreshing fashion that we won’t spoil here).
Brian Kirk is the primary director here, handling the first three episodes and he sets a visual style that is lavish yet focused. It’s clear that all involved are looking to essentially make a James Bond movie for TV from the opening credits in, and they are mostly fruitful.
Performances
Redmayne and Lynch are the key characters, but showrunner Bennett retains his good eye for an ensemble.
Eddie Redmayne as The Jackal
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
You can see the appeal for Redmayne, who gets to have fun –– well, we can imagine the prosthetics aren’t always enjoyable –– as a twisted take on a Tom Cruise character jetting around the world and being paid millions to assassinate prominent figures.
There is some effort here to make him less of a cipher (the aforementioned family relationships), but it doesn’t always work, even in the capable hands of an Oscar winner like Redmayne.
Lashana Lynch as Bianca
Lashana Lynch as Bianca in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
The tenacious MI6 agent is distinct from the role Lynch took in the Bond film, and that’s thanks mostly to her portrayal. This is another knockout performance from an actor who has proved she can handle action, comedy and even musicals (‘Matilda the Musical’).
Bianca gives her scope to be a terrier of an agent who won’t drop a case just because her superiors tell her to, but also a dedicated wife and mother who struggles to juggle the two sides of her life in believable, relatable fashion.
Other notable characters
Chukwudi Iwuji as Osi in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
Úrsula Corberó has some entertaining work to do as Nuria, wife to Redmayne’s Jackal. More than simply a loving spouse or easily fridged damsel in distress, she scores her own storyline.
Chukwudi Iwuji, meanwhile, is solid as Osita Halcrow, Bianca’s immediate boss at MI6. While he could have been just a stodgy authority figure, Iwuji gives him some spirit and flavor. There is also a fun supporting turn from ‘Game of Thrones’ veteran Richard Dormer as the Jackal’s chosen gun manufacturer, a wizard with weaponry.
Final Thoughts
Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal in ‘The Day of the Jackal’. Photo: Marcell Piti/Carnival Film and Television Limited.
Though ‘The Day of the Jackal’ initially struggles with establishing itself as apart from the myriad of other action thriller stories with oft-utilized tropes and storylines, there is ultimately enough here to make it worth seeing.
And with five episodes available on the first day, at least you have a reasonable enough chance to see beyond the somewhat staid setup. It’s still not the best example of the genre we’ve ever seen, however.
‘The Day of the Jackal’ receives 6.5 out of 10 stars.
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What’s the plot of ‘The Day of the Jackal’?
An unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal (Eddie Redmayne), makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee.
But following his latest kill, he meets his match in tenacious British intelligence officer Bianca (Lashana Lynch) who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.
‘The Fist Omen’ successfully connects to the mythology of the original ‘The Omen’ with a strong opening sequence and third act but suffers from pacing issues throughout. Director Arkasha Stevenson crafts some solid scares but fails to keep the momentum building through the second act. However, Nell Tiger Free’s fearless performance carries the movie with the help of strong supporting performances from Maria Caballero, Sônia Braga, Ralph Ineson and Bill Nighy.
The film is set in Rome in the mid-1970’s and begins by introducing us to Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson), who is investigating a conspiracy within the Catholic Church. We then meet Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free), an American sent to Rome to work in an orphanage before taking the veil. Margaret has suffered from strange visions since she was a child and was recruited by longtime mentor Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy).
Upon arrival at the orphanage, Margaret meets her new roommate, Luz Valez (Maria Caballero), a young woman also preparing to take the veil but who wants to experience as much of life as possible before becoming a nun. Margaret also meets Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga), who runs the orphanage, and a young girl named Carlita Skianna (Nicole Sorace), who suffers from the same strange visions as Margaret.
While Margaret secretly enjoys Rome’s nightlife with Luz, she also realizes that something strange is happening with Carlita and discovers that her own dark visions have returned. Margaret soon becomes suspicious of Sister Silvia and the other nuns, who lock Carlita away from the other children. When unexplained events begin happening at the orphanage, Margaret is contacted by Father Brennan who shares his theory on the events.
According to Brennan, there is a secret society within the Catholic church that wants to birth the Anti-Christ so that the modern world will believe in God again. Believing that Carlita is the key, Margaret works with Father Brennan to save Carlita and stop the church from enacting their evil plans, but she soon learns that she can trust no one, including herself.
Director Arkasha Stevenson has a good feel for crafting scary moments and there are quite a few good ones here, but the set-up can feel slow and unruly at times. While the pacing feels off, the mood and tone is solid and delivers what you would expect from an ‘Omen’ prequel. Stevenson and co-writers Tom Smith and Keith Thomas wisely place the prequel in the mid-1970s, right before the events of the original (erasing the possibility of a ‘First Omen’ sequel) but leading right up to the original movie.
The location, period setting, production design and costumes are all well executed, which adds to the film’s gothic tone. Stevenson also gets very good performances from her cast, despite the screenplay’s shortcomings.
‘The First Omen’ works best when it is exploring the mythology of the original film in the opening sequence and the third act, but it loses its urgency in the first and second act. Being a prequel, the film is a bit predictable as we know that it will end with the birth of Damian. How they get there doesn’t completely work, and the movie gets lost at times setting up what we all know is coming. However, once it gets there, it’s a race to the finish with a very exciting third act.
The opening sequence featuring Father Brennan questioning another priest played by Charles Dance feels like a classic ‘Omen’ scene, but then the tone changes once we are introduced to Margaret and we don’t get back to uncovering the conspiracy until later in the film.
However, the conspiracy is well thought out, and fans of the original will be happy to see a posthumous photo cameo from Gregory Peck, who starred in ‘The Omen,’ connecting this new movie to the original.
Actress Nell Tiger Free gives a very good performance and really carries much of the film. As Margaret, she is completely believable as a quiet young American concealing a dark secret of her own and is also fun in her moments when the character is exploring life outside the church. She has some excellent scenes with Father Brennan, Cardinal Lawrence, and Sister Silvia, and has great chemistry with Maria Caballero and Nicole Sorace.
Speaking of Caballero, she brings Luz alive in a very interesting way, creating a seemingly innocent character who is much more nefarious than one would expect. While Sorace fills her demanding role well, playing a possibly possessed child with very little dialogue.
Veteran actors Bill Nighy, Sônia Braga and Ralph Ineson are all welcomed additions to the film, but I did wish there was more time to explore their characters. Nighy’s Cardinal Lawrence is a fascinating character but has very little screentime and practically disappears in the middle of the movie. Ineson’s Father Brannan is probably the most developed of the three characters, but again, is not given enough time to truly explore his role.
Déjà vu?
Sydney Sweeney in ‘Immaculate.’ Photo: Neon.
Hollywood is no stranger to delivering two different movies about the same subject at the same time, and in fact has a long track record of doing so. We had two asteroid movies (‘Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’), two volcano movies (‘Volcano’ and ‘Dante’s Peak‘) and even two movies about runner Steve Prefontaine (‘Prefontaine’ and ‘Without Limits’). So, it should be no surprise that we are getting two different “Nunsploitation” horror movies just a few weeks apart.
The other “Nunsploitation” movie already in theaters is Sydney Sweeney’s “so bad its good” ‘Immaculate’. ‘The First Omen’ is basically the same exact movie, just without the popular ‘Euphoria’ actress and featuring ‘Omen’ mythology. I’m sure the movie will be unable to avoid comparisons to ‘Immaculate,’ and fairly or not, they are basically carbon copies of each other. While I liked ‘Immaculate’ slightly more due to Sweeney’s performance and its tongue-in-cheek vibes, fans of the original series will probably prefer ‘First Omen’ because of its connections to the overall franchise.
While ‘The First Omen’ drags through much of the middle, its opening and closing sequences are strong, as is its ties to the original. Nonetheless, Nell Tiger Free gives a very strong performance and is helped by an excellent supporting cast of actors. In the end, while it’s not a home run, ‘The First Omen’ does have an interesting premise and connects to the franchise well-enough to entertain fans of the genre and the series alike.
‘The First Omen’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.
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What is the Plot of ‘The First Omen’?
The plot follows an American woman (Nell Tiger Free) sent to work at a church in Rome who uncovers a sinister conspiracy to bring about the birth of the Antichrist.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Nell Tiger Free in-person about her work on ‘The First Omen,’ her first reaction to the screenplay, being an ‘Omen’ fan, her character’s strange history, preparing for the role, working with Bill Nighy, and collaborating with director Arkasha Stevenson on set.
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Free and director Arkasha Stevenson.
Moviefone: To begin with, what was your first reaction to the screenplay and were you an ‘Omen’ fan before you signed on for the project?
Nell Tiger Free: Big time. I love ‘The Omen.’ I love horror. I love all things weird and wonderful, and so getting to do this movie has been a real dream for me, honestly. It’s like all my favorite things combined, so I feel very lucky to be a part of this. When I read the original script, I remember almost looking at it initially from a fan’s point of view, not something that I was reading for potential work. It was more just like, what are they going to do with the prequel to ‘The Omen’? This was before I was signed on. I read the script and I remember reading it and going, okay, that’s great. That’s a really good idea. I just thought it was a great idea and a great expansion on the universe, “The Omen-Verse.” It just felt like it worked. Then I was like, I really hope they let me do this movie. I was really excited by it. As an actress and as a fan, thumbs up, I would say. That was my first initial reaction.
MF: Can you talk about the strange visions that haunted your character as a child and how that still affects her as an adult?
MF: Yeah, absolutely. I think when we first meet Margaret, it’s all sunny, sweet and lovely, and that is true to a degree and that’s what you see on the surface. But Margaret’s deeply troubled from the opening frame. When she’s seeing Rome, she’s so mesmerized because she’s never been away from where she lives. She’s grown up there and she doesn’t know where she comes from or who she is. She grew up in an orphanage and she was very mistreated as a young child. Those things plague her and trouble her. She spent her entire childhood and adult life having people tell her that what she’s seeing isn’t real and to constantly question her reality and to constantly question herself. What’s so lovely is that at some point, she decides to stop listening and listen to herself instead. That was a very fun moment and fun arc to play.
MF: Was this an emotionally difficult or physically exhausting role to play?
NTF: Yeah, very much so it was. Physically, it was exhausting, but in such a rewarding, lovely way. I love being pushed like that. I love being challenged. Those days were my favorite days. The days where I’m doing the most intense, crazy stuff, those are the days I was most looking forward to. Emotionally, you can’t help what happens after. You can’t really help what happens before. You can only focus on what’s going on during. And during, if it feels real, then you push it and you just go for it and you let it run. You let over you. If you can’t stop crying, great, keep it going. I love that too. I’m a weirdo. The worst time it looks like I’m having on screen, the best time I’m having in my heart in real life.
MF: Can you talk about Margaret’s history with Cardinal Lawrence, why she trusts him, and working with Bill Nighy?
NTF: It wasn’t hard to act like I trusted Bill Nighy because I trust him with my life, honestly. Sometimes I think if I got arrested, he’d be my first phone call. I think he’d just know what to do. I don’t know. I mean, that relationship is so nuanced, I think, between the two of them, even right up until the last moments. There’s never a clear, wrong or right thing that happens, and I think there is genuine real love between the two of them. He’s very much a father figure for Margaret, and I think he sees her very much as a child, as a daughter figure, and the love between them is very real and its real right up until the end. Unfortunately, there are some sinister things behind it, but it’s a real relationship and that’s why it’s so heartbreaking when we see the building blocks start to come down.
MF: Finally, can you talk about collaborating with director Arkasha Stevenson on set?
NTF: The movie is Arkasha. It was everything. The whole universe was just infinitely better with Arkasha in it. I mean, having her there was everything to me. It was so important. I think with this subject matter and the content and weird stuff that I had to do, we really had to trust each other. I really had to trust her, and I did straight away within the first 10 seconds of meeting her. She just got more wonderful as the days went by and her directorial style is so hands-on and so respectful. She values every opinion and every thought that you have. It’s not like, okay, do one for you and do one for me, take-wise, which happens all the time where you’re at odds with what you think it should be. She’s always collaborative every time. She’s also just the loveliest person in the world, so it was a real dream. It was a real gift.
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What is the Plot of ‘The First Omen’?
The plot follows an American woman (Nell Tiger Free) sent to work at a church in Rome who uncovers a sinister conspiracy to bring about the birth of the Antichrist.
Premiering on Paramount+ March 26th is the new spy thriller series ‘Rabbit Hole,’ which was created by ‘Focus’ directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra.
What is the plot of ‘Rabbit Hole?’
In ‘Rabbit Hole,’ John Weir (Kiefer Sutherland), a master of deception in the world of corporate espionage, is framed for murder by powerful forces with the ability to influence and control populations.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kiefer Sutherland about his work on ‘Rabbit Hole,’ the new series, his character, working with the writers, and why he wanted to do the show.
Kiefer Sutherland stars on Paramount+’s ‘Rabbit Hole.’
You can read the full interview below or click on the video player above to watch our interviews with Sutherland, Charles Dance, Meta Golding, Walt Klink, Enid Graham, Rob Yang, and series creators John Requa and Glenn Ficarra.
Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about returning to the espionage thriller genre after ’24,’ and what was it that Glenn Ficarra and John Requa told you about the series to get you excited about doing it?
Kiefer Sutherland: Well, they referenced movies that I really admired and loved growing up watching as a young person. Those movies were ‘Three Days of the Condor’ with Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman in ‘Marathon Man,’ ‘The Parallax View,’ and ‘The Fugitive.’ So once they told me about that, the thriller is a genre that I love working in, and I’m a huge fan of them as writers and directors. They started describing John Weir as a character, and then the thing they touched on almost out of the gate was that this character would go from being the hunter to the hunted in a matter of moments, and that he was then spending the rest of the series running for his life and trying to prove his innocence. That was a very dynamic shift, and any time you can take someone and make them go 180 degrees in the other direction, it gives an actor a lot of room to work and makes that character very vulnerable. So just in that first discussion, I knew it was something that I really wanted to do and I was grateful that they called me first because I don’t think anybody would’ve said no. I was just thrilled to be a part of it, and when I got the script, I was certainly not let down. I thought it was fantastic and couldn’t wait to get started making it. Now I’m finally at a place where I can’t wait for people to finally see it. But we’re very proud of it.
MF: Did you receive scripts for the entire season, or are you going one script at a time while you’re building your character?
KS: We got about half the season up front and then got the other half as we went, which was a lot better than any other experience I’ve had before because television, normally you’re writing as you’re working, which makes making the show very complicated. So it was very nice actually to have half of the material in advance. Then they’re just really beautiful writers in the sense that they can deliver the plot lines and the big ideas, but they’ve also got such subtlety and nuance. One of the really nice benefits for me with this character is that he has a sense of humor, finally. So the romantic, kind of sarcastic banter between Meta (Golding), who plays opposite me is just really special. It’s also something that I don’t normally get asked to do. So it was a lot of fun for me.
MF: Finally, can you talk about John Weir’s background and how he got to the place where we find him at the beginning of this series?
KS: Well, I think he has a number of skills, but I think his understanding of the human psyche is really important. So it allows him to run scams on people that allow them to believe that the market is going in one direction, when in fact it’s not. He can manipulate technology so that the truth is what he wants the truth to be, and he uses that to his advantage to help the companies that are employing him. Very quickly in the first episode, that is turned on him and he again goes from the hunter to the hunted and is literally running for his life.
Arriving on Netflix August 5th, ‘The Sandman’ is the culmination of years of efforts to bring Neil Gaiman’s classic graphic novel series to screens.
Filmmakers including Joseph Gordon-Levitt (‘Inception’), Roger Avery (‘Pulp Fiction’) and Eric Heisserer (‘Arrival’) have all tried to crack the code and bring Gaiman’s story to theaters. But in all the years of trying, no one has gotten close to making it happen. And Gaiman has gone on record as saying that one or two of the scripts he’s written (not by those listed above) are among the worst he’s ever read, let alone adaptations of his work.
You can imagine, then, the pressure on the team looking to bring it to Netflix. Fortunately, Gaiman is fully involved this time, and while he isn’t running the show as he did with Prime Video’s ‘Good Omens’, he’s had a lot of say in what ends up on screen, including co-writing the first episode with fellow executive producers David Goyer and Allan Heinberg (the latter of whom took the lion’s share of the work).
And, with the longer time permitted by a season of television and the hefty budget/credibility provided by Netflix, it’s a relief to say that the show really works – for the most part, at least.
(L to R) Tom Sturridge as Morpheus / Dream and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
The focus of the comics’ series (co-created by artists Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg) is the titular Sandman, called Dream, but also known as Morpheus, among other titles. He is one of the seven Endless, a family of anthropomorphic godlike beings. The other Endless are Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium (formerly Delight), and Destruction (also called ‘The Prodigal’).
Adapting the first couple of volumes of the comics, the show kicks off with Dream (played by Tom Sturridge) unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for over a century by magician Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance) through the use of an incantation.
Once Dream is able to finally free himself, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.
That’s a very basic summary, especially for the sprawling source material, which has generated reams of stories and spin-offs. The show doesn’t try to squeeze everything into these initial 10 episodes, but there is plenty to see, including a trip to Hell, a convention of serial killers, a beautiful visit with one of Death’s siblings and one terrible night for the customers in a diner.
Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
Like the comics before it, the series functions as almost a set of short stories, linked by the overarching characters of Dream, his family and various attendants/creations/humans. There’s an episodic feel to many installments, which means that if you’re not a fan of one, the next is likely to offer something you’ll enjoy instead.
Early on, the story is burdened by the need to set itself up, to introduce the world to newcomers (and not frustrate those who have feverishly consumed the comic across the years) and offer a briefing on Dream’s tough situation.
It helps that you have the likes of Charles Dance in the early going, bringing gravitas and grit to roles that could so easily be cartoonish, and if Sturridge takes a little while to warm up to playing such a tricky character as Dream, he does find his stride.
Dream could be a massive cliché, the sort of whispering goth guy who looks like a young Robert Smith (of The Cure). In Sturridge and the writers/directors’ hands, he’s a complicated, conflicted creation, rocked by his entrapment and thrown off balance by the changes to his dreaming realm upon his return.
Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer Morningstar in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
His quest to reacquire his magical tools – a bag of sand, a helm that looks like gas mask affixed to a spine and a ruby with terrifying powers – is sometimes the least interesting story, feeling like watching someone play a video game and collect items while battling level bosses, but it’s still filled with enough of Gaiman and co.’s creativity and creatures to make it watchable.
One particularly disappointing aspect is the fourth episode, ‘A Hope in Hell’. Despite boasting ‘Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, it ends up a ridiculous, poorly executed (several big effects shots look like a 1990s TV drama) battle of wills where the outcome is never in doubt.
That, however, is entirely balanced out by the sixth episode, ‘The Sound of Her Wings’, which features one of ‘Sandman’s most iconic and beloved characters, Dream’s older sister Death.
Eschewing the usual cloaked skeleton or otherwise imposing figure, Gaiman instead imagines her as an impish young woman, with a cheery face and a kind word to guide humans from the land of the living to “the sunless lands” once they die. Brought to life on screen by ‘The Good Place’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste, she’s a show highlight, a charming and effusive counterpoint to Dream’s gloomy, wet-eyed meandering.
(L to R) Tom Sturridge as Morpheus / Dream and Stephen Fry as Fiddler’s Green / Gilbert in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
Yet even he gets some real moments to shine in that same episode, with the other half of the running time given over to the story of Dream’s encounters with Hob Gadling (Ferdinand Kingsley), whom he first meets in 1389. The subject of a bet between Death and Dream, Hob gets his wish to become immortal and meets Dream every hundred years in the same tavern.
We watch Hob’s fate rise and fall and Kingsley imbues him with real, deep emotion, crafting a character who watches the world change around him, sometimes using that to his advantage, other times suffering for it. It’s a magnificent performance and elevates the show around it.
Other elements to recommend include Matthew the Raven, who aids Dream in his missions. A winning combination of superb digital effects and real birds, Matthew also benefits from a charming voice performance by Patton Oswalt.
David Thewlis, meanwhile, brings pathos and cold sociopathy all at once to John Dee, whose ownership of Dream’s ruby goes very, very wrong. Thewlis is, in fact, like Kingsley, one of the actors whose performance is superior to the source material.
David Thewlis as Dr. John Dee in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
‘The Sandman’ may never please every fan in exactly the way they hope – this is an adaptation, don’t forget – but it’s faithful where needed, spirited and fantastical. It also doesn’t shave away the more brutal ruminations on the darker side of humanity.
Faithful fans have waited many years to see the series realized; this might be as close to correct as it’s possible to get in the visual medium.
‘The Sandman’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.
(L to R) Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death and Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine in Netflix’s ‘The Sandman.’
Netflix is running its annual “Geeked Week” this week, making announcements, and releasing trailers for a host of shows and movies all themed around genre.
One of the most exciting pieces of news is word that the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s classic comic series ‘The Sandman’ will launch its first season on the streaming service this coming August.
To boil it down to the basics, the story is this: “When the Sandman, aka Dream (Tom Sturridge) — the powerful cosmic being who controls all our dreams — is unexpectedly captured and held prisoner for over a century, he must journey across different worlds and timelines to fix the chaos his absence has caused.”
Of course, this being Neil Gaiman, there is a lot more to it than that. A lot more.
‘Sandman’, for those who might be unfamiliar, was a 75-issue DC/Vertigo comics series published in the 1990s. Gaiman’s own one-line synopsis was: “The lord of dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision,” yet the sprawling series takes in pantheons and mythologies from across the globe, via threads about fantastical quests, serial killers, road trips, and short stories only tangentially connected to the core narrative. Many tales featured Dream’s siblings, the Endless: Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire, and Delirium. There are some characters – such as members of his own family – who are happy to see Dream return, while others are not so sure this is a good thing.
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Gaiman himself has noted that the first, 10-episode season of the Netflix show only covers to the end of ‘The Doll’s House’, the second collected trade paperback of the comics. There are 10 in all, and that doesn’t even include the many spin-off stories.
Attempts have been made in the past to turn this one into a movie, though the streaming series format (not to mention the budget and scope afforded by the likes of Netflix) most certainly feels the natural home for something so sprawling. It’s hard to imagine a film franchise even the size of, say, ‘Harry Potter’ doing justice to what Gaiman and his various collaborators brought to the page.
Though the writer has directly overseen adaptations of his work before (‘Good Omens’ particularly), here he was more of a consultant, with Allan Heinberg and David S. Goyer developing the series with Gaiman and then running the show.
(L to R) Ralph Fiennes and Djimon Hounsou in ‘The King’s Man’
Opening in theaters on December 22nd is director Matthew Vaughn’s ‘The King’s Man,’ which is a prequel to his 2014 movie ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ and its sequel, ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle.’ The film tells the story of Orlando Oxford (Ralph Fiennes) and how he created the Kingsman during World War I to defeat a collection of history’s worst tyrants, including Grigori Rasputin (Rhys Ifans). In addition to Fiennes and Ifans, the film also stars Harris Dickinson (‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’), Gemma Arterton (‘Quantum of Solace’), Djimon Hounsou (‘Captain Marvel’), Matthew Goode (‘Watchmen’), Daniel Brühl (‘Captain America: Civil War’), Charles Dance (‘Game of Thrones’), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’), and Stanley Tucci (‘The Hunger Games’). The result is an interesting premise that fails to recapture the energy and charm of the first movie, but still features some fun action sequences and strong performances from Fiennes and Ifans.
The movie starts pre-World War I and introduces us to Orlando Oxford (Fiennes), a former soldier now working with the Red Cross along with his wife and young son, Conrad (Dickinson). But when tragedy strikes the Oxford family, Orlando swears never to let Conrad near war again. Years later, King George, Kaiser Wilheim and Tsar Nicholas, the leaders of England, Germany and Russia, respectively, are on the brink of World War I, which is being engineered by a mysterious figure who leads a group of evildoers that includes Grigori Rasputin (Ifans), Erik Jan Hanussen (Daniel Bruhl) and Mata Hari (Valerie Pachner). King George eventually asks Oxford to assassinate Rasputin, which he agrees to do, and reluctantly brings Conrad to help. They are joined by Oxford’s staff, Polly (Gemma Arterton) and Shola (Djimon Hounsou), who are not the ordinary servants they seem to be and are actually well-trained fighters who can gather intel from a network of other servants around the world.
After the war begins, Conrad desperately wants to join the army and fight for England, but his father refuses, hoping he will keep fighting in the shadows by his side where Oxford can protect him. Eventually, Conrad defies his father’s wishes and joins the army, and is eventually sent to the frontlines. Meanwhile, Oxford, Polly and Shola work to crack Germany’s code and discover who is the sinister mastermind orchestrating the war. After Conrad risks his life to recover the intelligence needed to crack the code, Oxford and his team have new motivation to track down the mysterious villain and put a stop to the war, which in turn creates the Kingsman.
I really enjoyed ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ and ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ and was really excited about the prospect of seeing an origin story about the Kingsman, but the film falls flat and doesn’t have the same fun and charm as the first two movies. The characters are strong, and the action scenes are good, but there’s not much else to pull it together. The second act of the film basically becomes ‘1917’ or the “No Man’s Land” scene from ‘Wonder Woman’ and ceases to be a ‘Kingsman’ movie for about 20 minutes. It’s an odd turn in the film and doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the movie. Without giving anything away, there is a specific choice made that affects a pivotal character before the beginning of the third act. While I understand it was done to motivate other characters, I disagree with taking the film in that direction and wish they had done something different with that character’s storyline. The film also blurs the lines between fiction and history, and the plot becomes confusing at times when you are unsure what is factual and what is made up.
There are also some pretty big-name actors including Stanley Tucci and Aaron Taylor-Johnson who make appearances but have very small parts, possibly signaling larger roles in future sequels, but it’s unfortunate that we have to wait for an additional film in order to see Oxford’s new team together. What does work in ‘The King’s Man’ are the characters and the performances from the impressive cast. Daniel Brühl is well cast as Erik Jan Hanussen but does not have enough to do in the role and is too similar to characters the actor’s played before in ‘Inglorious Basterds’ and the MCU projects. But it’s really Rhys Ifans as an unrecognizable Grigori Rasputin that steals every scene he is in. Ifans plays Rasputin as a Goth madmen, part psychopath and part con-man. Ifans is clearly having fun in the role and chews up the scenery in every scene he’s in. Matthew Goode is solid as Herbert Kitchener’s righthand man, but the character’s not-so-surprising turn in the third act could be seen from a mile away.
I’m a big fan of Gemma Arterton and am very happy to see her back on the big screen. As Polly, she gives a sweet and strong performance, but doesn’t have enough screen time, something that would perhaps be rectified in a possible sequel. Djimon Hounson is also quite entertaining in the thankless role of Shola, another interesting character that does not get enough screen time and is relegated to having a larger role in a sequel that may or may not ever get made. Harris Dickinson is really good as Conrad Oxford, and as an audience member you really relate to his struggles, which is why the character’s twist at the end of the second act is so unwelcome. Dickinson has great chemistry with Fiennes, and the two actors make a fun onscreen father and son pair.
But if the film works on any level, it is because of the commanding performance of Ralph Fiennes as Orlando Oxford. In many ways, ‘The Kingsman’ franchise is a spoof of James Bond movies, and in that way, it’s great to see ‘No Time To Die’s M in the “James Bond” role. Fiennes has the perfect attitude and personality for the character and shines as the first Kingsman. Unfortunately, Fiennes’ strong performance is at times undermined by the film’s confusing screenplay and unclear tone. In the end, director Matthew Vaughn has delivered an interesting concept of a prequel, with strong characters and terrific performances, that is lost under the weight of its own ambition and omits the fun and charm demonstrated in the rest of the series.
Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, and Djimon Hounsou are here to give us a look at the origins of Kingsman, the world’s first independent intelligence agency.
This prequel to the ‘Kingsman’ series looks to be set around the time of WWI, although at this point, the official synopsis is predictably short on details:
As a collection of history’s worst tyrants and criminal masterminds gather to plot a war to wipe out millions, one man must race against time to stop them. Discover the origins of the very first independent intelligence agency in “The King’s Man.”
Matthew Vaughn, director of the first two ‘Kingsman’ films returns to direct this latest entry. Joining Fiennes, Arterton, and Hounsou is a pretty impressive cast, including Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Daniel Brühl, and Charles Dance.
‘The King’s Man’ will open in theaters on September 18, 2020.
The world of “Kingsman” is getting populated with new faces.
The third movie in the franchise will be a prequel and instead of starring Taron Egerton, will focus on Harris Dickinson’s Conrad, a cocky yet charming young hero who fights in World War I. Joseph Fiennes is also set to star.
Now, Collider reports that the drama’s ensemble is growing. In talks to join the cast are Daniel Brühl (“Captain America: Civil War,” TNT’s “The Alienist”); Charles Dance (“Game of Thrones”); Matthew Goode (“Downton Abbey,” “The Crown”); and Rhys Ifans (“Harry Potter,” “Alice Through the Looking Glass”).
Ifans would reportedly play a dangerous and manipulative Russian mystic, while the other roles are unclear.
“Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn has big plans for the franchise universe. He’s working on a sequel to “Golden Circle” that would bring back Egerton as Eggy. He’s also developing a “Kingsman” television series and a “Statesman” movie about American spies.
The “Kingsman” prequel is slated for release November 9, 2019.
