Review
AT HOME WITH JAMIE EAST
The Old Guard is an exciting, if slightly clichéd, action film with some fantastic moments
IMMORTALITY has had its bones picked clean by Hollywood and while this attempt at kick-starting a Charlize Theron franchise doesn’t stretch the genre much, it offers an exciting, if slightly clichéd, couple of hours.
Theron picks up where she left off with Atomic Blonde and further cements herself alongside Emily Blunt and Gal Gadot as a bankable action star.
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Here, she is Andromache The Scythian (you can call her Andy), an immortal warrior hundreds of years old.
Having joined forces with a select group of similar soldiers, they spend their days righting wrongs and diverting the course of history for the better.
As is normal in movie land, there’s always someone trying to spoil it for everyone and in this case it’s Merick, the dreaded megalomaniac pharma billionaire, who sets a trap to capture them.
Whilst on the run/hunt (it’s never entirely clear which) they all experience a vision directing them towards a newly realised immortal in the shape of Freeman (If Beale Street Could Talk’s excellent Kiki Layne).
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It’s this sub-plot that offers the most – teaching us about the group’s mythology.
This doesn’t dig deep enough into any of the characters for us to beg for more but as a stand-alone popcorn thrill, it’s more than enough and has some fantastic moments.
The Old Guard (15) 118mins
Netflix
★★★★☆
Greyhound
TOM Hanks is once again the captain of a ship.
There are no pirates on the horizon this time but he still has trouble on his hands in this taut war thriller.
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He plays Ernest Krause, at the helm of the USS Keeling (codename: Greyhound) leading 37 ships across the Atlantic to deliver troops and supplies to Liverpool during World War Two as Nazi U-boats prowl.
Hanks wrote the screenplay, adapted from the novel The Good Shepherd, and has bemoaned the lack of a cinematic release – it is available exclusively on AppleTV+ from today. And I can see his point.
Without a big screen to make the most of the stunning visuals and nailbiting action, the surprising lack of Hanks’ customary empathy, realism and humanity is exposed.
Despite that, this is a cracking war film with plenty of naval tactics and near misses.
Ultimately, that describes the film itself – pretty damned good but a near miss from being great.
Greyhound, 91mins
Apple TV
★★★★☆
Finding The Way Back
A POST-BATMAN Ben Affleck stars in this drama, which with its messages of addiction, redemption and new beginnings must have felt quite close to home for him.
He is Jack Cunningham, a construction worker and an alcoholic, separated from his wife.
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He’s asked to coach the struggling basketball team at his old high school (he used to be their star player).
He finds them in complete disarray.
His disciplinarian approach to coaching initially causes huge ructions, but as the team begin to follow his lead, they start to get results.
Beer cans in the office litter bin cause the college to take a closer look at Jack’s drinking and, as you would expect, the whole thing starts to unravel. It’s relatively formulaic.
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Yet Affleck’s personal struggles with addiction and relationships carry their own layer of hubris and empathy.
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There’s something rather moving about him filming this role.
I’ve always preferred Introspective Affleck to Hollywood Affleck and this reminds us how good he can be.
Finding The Way Back (15) 108mins
OD
★★★☆☆
Greyhound: official trailer for WW2 thriller starring Tom Hanks
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