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Hope (2026)

20 Sunday Sep 2026

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I hope we won’t be spotted.
I hope it’s safe to stay.
With every hour
More we cower,
The more I feel like prey.

I hear the sounds approaching.
I fear their origin,
The smell of death
Upon its breath
As hope is wearing thin.
__________________

MPA rating: R (for violence and language)

I’m torn on whether I should catch up on a pretty deep backlog of films or focus on new releases, so I might as well alternate. One of several Korean imports in recent months, Hope is the latest film from acclaimed director Na Hong-jin, an apocalyptic alien invasion thriller that boasts the highest budget yet for a Korean film. Set in the (surprisingly heavily armed) rural village of Hope Harbor near the DMZ, police chief Ko Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min) goes from investigating a mysterious dead cow to fighting for survival against a giant creature wreaking havoc on the town, with bigger implications as the scope of the danger spreads.

Despite an overlong runtime of over 2½ hours, Hope’s pace rarely falters, with the extended sequences of alien carnage being the main attraction. Whether it’s navigating narrow village streets or battling in beautiful green forests, the action is consistently thrilling and shot fluidly to capture the right balance of tension and movement, with echoes of Attack on Titan and Predator. Once seen, the monsters themselves suffer a bit from imperfect CGI, but they have a unique biology and thick hide that make them a particularly dangerous adversary for mere humans. Special mention is deserved by Jung Ho-yeon as a rookie cop with a truly badass introduction and Zo In-sung as a hunter with especially impressive plot armor.

The main drawback for Hope is that it is very obviously incomplete; it might as well be called Hope: Part One for all the closure it gives to… anything. After an exciting chase scene that gets a bit repetitive, something big and catastrophic happens for reasons unknown, and it just ends. There’s a sort of twist in the final moments that indicates the alien perspective will become more important, which could be really interesting in a sequel, which is supposedly already written but yet to be greenlit. But as the film stands now, it offers little beyond the action (admittedly very skillful, intense action) and a suggestion of a larger story that we may never see. One can only hope that a worthy Part Two will come eventually.

Rank:  List Runner-Up

© 2026 S.G. Liput
790 Followers and Counting

Superman (2025)

07 Monday Sep 2026

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Do you believe that a man can fly?
Or do they all fall to the cynical eye?
The worst is more likely, so doubt in the best.
That S on the chest
Is a pie in the sky.

Do you believe we are too far gone,
That the king and the queen have forgotten the pawn?
But someone is fighting, if need be alone,
And every stone thrown
Makes trying feel wrong.

Do you believe we are doomed from the start?
Or can hope be found in the ol’ bleeding heart?
It’s risky, of course, pinning hopes anywhere,
But such is the prayer
Of playing one’s part.
___________________

MPA rating: PG-13

Considering how deep my year-plus backlog of movies is, I wasn’t sure where to start with my return to blogging, but it made sense to begin with my official favorite movie of 2025. I don’t think I’m alone, but I have long been a proponent of Marvel’s cinematic universe over DC’s more scattershot attempts. Except for Wonder Woman and Shazam, I never really connected with most of the Snyderverse, so I had no qualms over James Gunn taking over the DC franchise and giving it a fresh coat of paint. And considering his first film in that rebooted world, I’m fully on board.

Stepping confidently into Christopher Reeve’s shoes and eschewing the more broody Henry Cavill take, David Corenswet plays the new Man of Steel, already an established hero dating Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and defending Metropolis alongside an incipient “Justice Gang” made up of a Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi). Superman ends up a punching bag more often than one might expect, both literally and figuratively, thanks to the machinations of born hater Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), who is intent on taking his nemesis down physically and in the public eye.

It was smart of Gunn to not belabor yet another origin story for an already well-known character, and he wastes no time in dropping us into the new DC universe, complete with Krypto the Superdog, prison pocket dimensions, Fortress of Solitude robots, and existing character dynamics. There’s a lot of comic book geekery on display, yet it manages to serve the story without alienating newcomers. It doesn’t hurt that Gunn borrows some of his own trademarks from Guardians of the Galaxy, like an extended one-shot battle scene set to music that makes Mr. Terrific the unexpected stand-out side character.

No hate to the prior Superman actors, but Corenswet is a natural, boasting excellent chemistry with Brosnahan and a likeable boy-scout earnestness opposite the more cynical heroes. A climactic monologue to Luthor doesn’t quite land as well as intended, but a quieter moment with Lois in his childhood bedroom reinforces how his optimism and goodness are their own form of resistance. I liked how his adoptive parents Ma and Pa Kent are played by lesser-known actors (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell), as well as his arc of ultimately embracing his earth heritage over his Kryptonian one.

After the comparative drudgery of the Snyderverse, the latest Superman is a breath of fresh air. Action-packed, sincere, perhaps slightly overstuffed, but above all fun, this is how to start a cinematic universe.

Best line: (Lois) “My point is I question everything and everyone. You trust everyone and think everyone you’ve ever met is, like… beautiful.”   (Clark) “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2026 S.G. Liput
790 Followers and Counting

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

03 Saturday May 2025

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(I’m catching up after the fact, but for Day 15 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a six-line poem characterized by simple language and enthusiasm, so I focused on the film itself this time.)

I played the games when I was young.
I guess I’ll go watch the movie. Looks fun.
It’s not as if I’ve been waiting for this,
But all my friends saw it. I don’t want to miss
The tragic backstory, Jim Carrey’s full glory, ooh, that scene was peak!
Shut up, I’m no geek….
______________________

MPA rating: PG

It honestly feels like a minor miracle that the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has translated to the big screen as well as it has. It seemed as if it would be a bomb on arrival after the poorly received initial design for the title character, but three live-action movies and a streaming show later, it’s proven to be remarkably fun. In this third outing (did I never review the sequel? Guess not.), a powerful black and red hedgehog called Shadow (Keanu Reeves) is freed from decades-long imprisonment and embarks on a spree of vengeance, leading Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) to team with the non-shockingly not dead Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to bring him down.

While the Knuckles series got rather dumb as it dragged out, the movies have found the right secret sauce for Team Sonic, with Sonic’s quippy super-speed antics bouncing well off of Tails’ earnest tech support and Knuckles’ headstrong aggression. Add in a self-serious straight man in the form of Shadow, a villain very much in the mold of Mewtwo from Pokémon, and the film is able to find a surprising balance between silly action and emotional stakes. It also helps that James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Sonic’s adoptive parents are given more to do this time, while Jim Carrey pulls eccentric double duty as both the returning mad scientist Ivo Robotnik and his even madder grandfather Gerald.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives every indication that this franchise has the potential to keep getting better, with yet another character from the games teased at the end for a sequel. One dance scene between the Robotniks will no doubt go down as one of Carrey’s finest and most hilarious moments and well worth his return from retirement. And though there’s nothing revolutionary about the plot or themes, the overall entertainment value makes this a film to please nostalgic nerds and present kids alike.

Best line: (Shadow) “The light shines, even though the star is gone.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
809 Followers and Counting

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

27 Sunday Apr 2025

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(For Day 27 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on a detail of a painting, but I think I’ll go off-prompt today and cover a movie I’ve been meaning to review for a while.)

The legends that matter endure through time.
The others are lost with a final breath,
Were not so luck’ly preserved in rhyme,
And died an unremembered death.

What could have saved the tales so lost?
A copied scroll or a memorized line?
What bade a once-loved myth be tossed
Ere passing history’s finish line?

What wonders, horrors, joys, and fears
Have gone extinct with fossils none?
The stories mute for want of ears…
I wish I could read oblivion.
___________________

If you imagine a Venn diagram with anime fandom and Lord of the Rings fandom as the two circles, I would be squarely in the middle of the shared area. Therefore, an anime spin-off film set a couple hundred years before The Fellowship of the Ring was right up my alley from the start. Focusing on one of the legendary tales of the horse-riding nation of Rohan, the story follows Princess Héra (Gaia Wise), daughter of King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), as she defends her nation from the invasion of Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a former friend bent on vengeance.

The most common criticism I heard about War of the Rohirrim was about the choppy animation, and yes, character movement is a bit stilted at times, particularly at the beginning. Even using a 3D rotoscope-like technology, Sola Entertainment as a studio can’t match the butter-smooth animation of MAPPA or Science Saru, so we can only imagine how different the style might have been in the hands of a different studio. But the animation is still good throughout and even excels in the big action moments, and best of all, the style compliments Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-earth with some outstanding backgrounds and scenery. (Besides, the previous standard for LotR animation was Rankin/Bass or Ralph Bakshi, and this is still a cut above those.)

Beyond the animation, I’ve heard all the complaints, from the plot being too long, the characters one-note, the story being basically female-forward fan fiction since Héra isn’t even named in the Tolkien appendices from which the plot was drawn (and the film doesn’t explain why she was supposedly left out of the official history). And yet, I really liked this movie, my inherent love of the franchise winning out over all else. None of those grievances detracted from the experience of being able to visit Middle-earth again, with Howard Shore’s Rohan theme setting the epic mood and some hype-worthy set pieces bringing the action. A friend who saw it with me thought it went too anime at times, with clearly human characters pulling off superhuman feats as if they were elves, but I saw such moments perhaps as embellishments, considering the story is told as a legend of Rohan by the narrating voice of Eowyn (Miranda Otto). I also thought Héra was a good example of a “strong female character,” by simply rising to the challenge set before her rather than harping about gender differences or whatnot, similar to Miyazaki’s Nausicaä, who was cited as an influence by Wise.

All in all, The War of the Rohirrim is an epic story that continues the tradition of Peter Jackson’s world. Even if it was simply an expendable side project so New Line could hold onto the Tolkien rights, that just makes the care and quality that was put into it that much more impressive. It broke my heart then that, whether due to disinterest or poor marketing, the film flopped last December, failing to even earn back its budget. I don’t deny that it had room to be better with smoother animation or more interesting dialogue, but it met my high expectations for a Middle-earth movie and, in my opinion, deserved better.

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

The Gorge (2025)

20 Sunday Apr 2025

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(Happy Easter to all! For Day 20 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for “a poem informed by musical phrasing or melody,” with the suggestion of rewriting a song’s lyrics. I’ve done that plenty of times before, so I considered the theme of long-distance relationships and rewrote the irregular lyrics of “Spitting Off the Edge of the World” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Perfume Genius, which was prominently used in this film.)

Distance, not too far
To meet your eyes.
Though I know where you are,
And you likewise,
Must, must wishes on a star
Be squandered on this expanse
That spans our hearts?
I’ll never mind the gap in between
Your heart and mine.
Standing on a cliff,
I see your sign.
I’ll never mind the gap in between
Earth and its star.
Never mind what if;
It’s not so far.

Lover, I wait and watch
With bated breath.
If you shoot, I won’t dodge
A welcome death,
But if you can stand the thirst,
That suffering deserves quite a dance,
Our favorite parts.
I’ll never mind the gap in between
Your heart and mine.
Standing on a cliff,
I see your sign.
I’ll never mind the gap in between
Earth and its star.
Never mind what if;
It’s not so far.
I’ll never mind the gap in between
Souls biding time,
Standing on a cliff
That’s worth the climb.
___________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

It’s unfortunate that films deserving of a theater release can easily be overlooked when only available behind the walls of a particular streaming service. Luckily, Apple TV+ is among my subscriptions, allowing me to watch The Gorge, which caught my interest just from the trailer (which gives way too much away, in my opinion; don’t watch it first). Directed by Scott Derrickson of Sinister and Doctor Strange fame, the film stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy as a pair of world-weary snipers, one American and one Lithuanian, who are tasked with guarding remote outposts on either side of a deep and mysterious gorge. Despite the pit between them and orders not to communicate, they gradually develop a relationship, even as the secrets at the bottom of the gorge threaten to emerge.

I’ll say up front, as many critics have complained, that the premise of The Gorge does take a massive amount of suspension of disbelief. The secrecy around the giant hidden trench begs a lot of logistical questions (like how many giant pieces of paper did the eastern side keep in stock?), and the action of the latter half, often putting Derrickson’s horror roots to good use, does strain credulity. Yet this is one of those cases where I just didn’t mind, thanks in large part to Teller and Taylor-Joy, who share a remarkable chemistry and one of the steamiest dance scenes in recent memory (set to that wonderfully atmospheric Yeah Yeah Yeahs song). Taylor-Joy especially has never looked better, so maybe I just have a new celebrity crush. The Gorge is popcorn entertainment sadly relegated to small-screen streaming, a far-fetched but very watchable mashup of genres that I highly recommend.

Best line: (actually quoting T.S. Eliot) “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
806 Followers and Counting

The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

13 Sunday Apr 2025

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(For Day 12 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was a doozy: a multi-section poem drawing from myths and legends featuring rhyme and mixed formal and informal language. So, with this film in mind, I mused on what to do if offered three wishes by a genie.)

Wish 1

To access wishes, surely I
Must be in dire straits myself.
Trapped within a tomb of stone
Or stranded on an icy shelf,
Marooned upon an isle alone
Or chained in jail, condemned to die.

For my first wish, therefore, I must
Escape the fate that brought me here,
Wish myself above the ground
Or make what threatens disappear,
Unstuck, unbound, uncooked, undrowned,
Ideally somewhere I can trust.

Wish 2

My second wish
Depends on much.

Has the djinn at least been kind,
Or left half of me behind?

Am I truly free from harm,
Or acquired a new alarm?

Am I not falling from the sky
With no faculty to fly?

Is my friend in peril somewhere?
Do I like them enough to care?

Does the djinn insist on rules,
Like no death or love or ghouls?

And, unlike the foolish herds,
Am I careful with my words?

If yes to all above,
Then I guess I’ll side with love
For my friend who’s so in need
And ensure they’re also freed.
Aren’t I nice? I am indeed.

Wish 3

Assuming both my prior wishes
Haven’t spiraled far awry,
Now that I’m not about to die,
I have an epic choice ahead.

The world is mine to seize and form.
With but a wish, I’d gain renown,
A merry harem, a sultan’s crown,
A sorcerer or god instead.

In place of a dark lord or queen,
The world will love me and despair!
I’m kidding, no, I wouldn’t dare,
But I have to end this with a bang.

Hypnosis, health, wisdom, wealth?
Would they be subject to some twist?
I wish I knew the perfect wish
To satisfy me… dang.
_________________________

MPA rating: Approved (a likely G)

Having grown up with The Wizard of Oz, I’ve loved it from the start, viewing its dated or hokey elements as charming rather than a detraction, and I suspect the same would be true for The Thief of Bagdad, had it been an old childhood favorite as well. Boasting 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, this fantasy adventure draws elements from the One Thousand and One Nights to tell a partially non-linear tale of the betrayed Prince Ahmad of Bagdad (John Justin) and his wily friend/thief Abu (young Indian actor Sabu) as they fight against the evil vizier Jaffar (Conrad Veidt) and save a princess (June Duprez).

It was especially amusing to see how many aspects of Disney’s Aladdin were borrowed directly from this film. Sharing a name with Aladdin’s monkey, Abu flees a crowd with stolen food in an early scene, instantly bringing to mind the opening number from the animated film. In addition, you have a vizier named Jaffar/Jafar, a weak-minded sultan (Miles Malleson) who loves toys and is looking to give his daughter in marriage, a sheltered royal sneaking out of the palace to mingle with the common folk, and a genie and magic carpet aiding the heroes. The Djinn/genie (Rex Ingram) is quite different, though, more malevolent and helping Abu grudgingly, and there are plenty of other differences to set it apart.

Sabu and Justin make an appealing heroic team, while Veidt has an excellent Vincent Price-like coldness that made him a popular villain actor at the time. Of course, it’s a bit odd that most of the main roles (save for Sabu) are clearly white actors surrounded by Middle Eastern extras and settings, but I suppose that’s just due to the time period. The sets and props really add to the world-building, and the film is known for pioneering the first use of bluescreen/greenscreen to place Sabu within the extravagant special effects sequences of the latter half. While The Thief of Bagdad starts off a bit awkwardly before the plot gets rolling, it’s a genre classic that deserves wider appreciation as an entertaining fantasy of Old Hollywood.

Best line: (the Djinn, to Abu) “You’re a clever little man, little master of the universe, but mortals are weak and frail. If their stomach speaks, they forget their brain. If their brain speaks, they forget their heart. And if their heart speaks [laughing], they forget everything.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

65 (2023)

09 Wednesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 9 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a rhyming poem with varying line lengths, so I thought exploring time might be a good theme.)

The stone on which the house in which the chair in which I sit
Has witnessed quite a bit.
While flesh is quick to disappear,
The bedrock lives in centuries;
It waits for ice to yield to sea to yield to continental sheer
And waits for errant meteors or yet another global freeze,
Eroding into dust and grit,
Chipped and thawed and trod and split,
Ground and pressed and layered deep and never asking “what’s the year?”
Giving purchase to the dirt, the firm foundation of the trees,
Until at last, I came to rest
Here.
____________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I love the idea of 65 more than I do 65 itself. I can absolutely picture the pitch meeting for the concept of aliens stumbling upon Earth in prehistoric times and being met by a dinosaur-filled death trap in the same way humans imagine inhospitable exoplanets. But it’s all in the execution, and 65 (named for the number of millions of years ago) somehow makes that thrilling notion feel ho-hum.

Adam Driver is serviceable as the main character Mills, a grieving father who left his sick daughter to pilot a space expedition, only for the ship to crash-land with only him and a young girl (Ariana Greenblatt) surviving. What follows is rather paint-by-numbers as they fight or evade dinosaurs and grow closer in their shared loss. There’s nothing particularly wrong with the plot or effects-heavy action, and it makes for a decent watch; it just never rises above a slightly futuristic Jurassic Park knock-off. Maybe films like Jurassic Park or King Kong have simply made dinosaurs less scary than they should be, at least when viewed from the comfort of our living rooms.

Best line: (Nevine, Mills’ daughter) “I know that you’re leaving. And I know it’s because of me.” (Mills) “No. It’s not because of you, it’s for you.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

02 Wednesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 2 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem that directly addresses someone and includes elements like an unusual simile and an anachronism. As you may guess, the addressee here is some WWII Nazis taken by surprise.)

I say, chaps, don’t gawp at me like you’re in shock;
You knew this was coming (or should have at least).
You can’t go around gobbling up the whole bloc
And starting up wars on the west and the east.

It truly was only a matter of time
Before some resourceful dissenters arrived
To answer each war crime with, well, even more crime
Until your dear Reich has been quite unalived.

You looked oh so smug in your grey uniforms,
That swastika bent like a crime scene in chalk,
But you lie with the devil, then you get the horns,
A regular arsenal, loaded and cocked.

So don’t be so stunned by the Colt in your face;
It’s not so irregular when you come to it.
There’s action that’s needed when Nazis give chase,
And always somebody, like us, who will do it.
____________________

MPA rating:  R (for strong violence)

Based on a Damien Lewis book about Churchill’s secret Special Operations Executive (SOE), The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare sees director Guy Ritchie leaning into that cinematic axiom that Nazis make the best villains and by extension the best victims. At the height of World War II, debonaire commando Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill) is recruited by one Brigadier Gubbins (Cary Elwes) and tasked with forming an elite espionage team to target Nazi operations with sabotage and guerilla warfare. Joined by a savage Dane (Alan Ritchson), an expert frogman (Henry Golding), and others, the team sets out to destroy an Italian supply ship in what would be known as Operation Postmaster.

The history of the SOE and the feats of the real-life war heroes are undoubtedly interesting, but this is obviously the Hollywood version of events. The film revels in its chance to dispatch Nazis with every sharp instrument at hand, yet, despite the danger involved, the action is so one-sided that there’s rarely any suspense for the fates of the main characters. That’s a shame too, because Cavill has an effortless charisma as the leader of the pack, complemented by the cool but ferocious Ritchson, and their characters might have shone even more with a slightly less glamorized script.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare makes popcorn entertainment out of an under-publicized chapter of WWII history, and it does so reasonably well. From the undercover seductions of Eiza González to the shoot-em-up carnage of a tropical rescue mission, it’s sometimes brutal fun, but it also feels like empty calories in a way such intriguing history shouldn’t.

Best line: (Churchill) “If Hitler isn’t playing by the Rules, then neither shall we?”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
803 Followers and Counting

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)

29 Monday Apr 2024

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(For Day 29 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem inspired by one of the ten vocabulary words compiled by Merriam-Webster from various Taylor Swift songs, including incandescent, clandestine, Machiavellian, cardigan, elegy, altruism, self-effacing, albatross, antithetical, and mercurial. With more time, I might have liked to tackle using all ten, but I settled on the word clandestine for now.)

Their agents are clandestine
So normal folk can rest in
The peace that comes from ignorance and bliss.
Not knowing we need saving,
We carry on behaving.
Don’t tell the targets just how near the miss.

The villains and the heroes,
The neutral ones and zeroes,
They trade their blows for country, cash, or crown.
I doubt the average person
Will mind if conflicts worsen
As long as they will simply… keep it down!
__________________________

MPA rating:  PG-13

I’ve been behind the curve when it comes to the Mission: Impossible franchise, only realizing how good it was in recent years. Thus, this seventh installment in the Tom Cruise juggernaut is the first one that I was lucky enough to see in theaters. And as is the case ever since the third movie found the franchise’s stride, Dead Reckoning Part One is another winning spy thriller making full use of Cruise’s willingness for death-defying stunts.

After a Russian submarine is sunk by its own torpedo, world leaders are informed of a rogue A.I. known as the Entity, capable of manipulating any computer system. The Entity would be a game changer for whatever government procures the two-part key that can control it, so Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his friends Luther (Ving Rhames), Benji (Simon Pegg), and the now fugitive Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson) take it upon themselves to ensure it is destroyed to preserve the global balance of power. With its predictive capabilities, the A.I. is always a step ahead of them as they contend with a self-serving thief (Hayley Atwell) and Ethan’s old nemesis (Esai Morales).

Ethan Hunt is no stranger to “going rogue,” but it’s an interesting change for him to willingly defy his government’s agenda to obtain the Entity because he doesn’t trust it in anyone’s hands, as opposed to the myriad times he’s been set up by a villain. It’s becoming cliché for A.I. to be made scary as it runs amok, and it’s perhaps unrealistic how the Entity pulls strings, seeming omniscient but not infallible, yet it works well as a change of pace from the typical terrorist or corrupt IMF agent that usually battles Hunt’s team, though Morales’ Gabriel still provides that too.

(Non-specific spoilers here) While I liked how characters from previous films were brought back, a part of me is disappointed with how the film handles a particular character, apparently having little idea what to do with them except sacrifice them for the sake of drama. And it’s clear that Hayley Atwell is meant to be the new blood for the team. While that narrative intent is unmistakable, I can’t be too mad because Atwell is a breath of fresh air, a great female foil to Ethan as they match wits until she is drawn deeper into this world of espionage than she expected. Considering Ethan let Michelle Monaghan slip through his fingers already, I think the two of them make an excellent pair.

And we mustn’t forget the action. Whether it’s a car chase through Rome or a free-for-all aboard the Orient Express, the stunts and skirmishes never disappoint, including Cruise’s well-documented motorcycle jump off of an Alpine cliff, though the train climax that follows is even better, in my opinion. It’s unfortunate that the Mission: Impossible hype has waned, leaving this Part One of a two-part story a box-office disappointment, but I sincerely hope it can bounce back even stronger (perhaps with a tighter runtime) because Cruise and this series clearly still have gas in the tank.

Best line: (Ethan, to Gabriel) “If anything happens to them, there’s no place on Earth where you or your God [the Entity] will be safe from me. There’s no place where I won’t go to kill you. THAT is written.”

Rank:  List-Worthy (joining the rest of the series)

© 2024 S.G. Liput
796 Followers and Counting

Peninsula (2020)

28 Sunday Apr 2024

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(For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a sijo, a Korean form similar to the haiku but with longer lines of 14 to 16 syllables, for a total of 44 to 46 syllables. It seems like a tricky form to get right, but I tried my best with the six-line format, ending up with 45 syllables. And of course, I had to pair it with a Korean film.)

For the dead, we spare no thought,
Heedless without a gutted grave.
The shells we humans wear
Serve us well before our final molt.
What remains is not you, not me;
May it never crave your fear.
____________________________

MPA rating:  Not Rated (a light R seems about right)

Train to Busan was an anomaly for me, a Korean zombie film that I genuinely loved as it showcased character growth and action over gross-out horror so common to the genre. The animated prequel Seoul Station only reinforced its predecessor’s uniqueness, since that was merely another exercise in apocalyptic nihilism. So I was cautious in approaching Peninsula, the standalone sequel set in the same zombie-infested South Korea as Train to Busan. While it feels more like the zombie dystopias I tend to avoid, Peninsula proved to be a pleasant surprise.

Four years after South Korea was overrun by fast-moving zombies and sealed off from the rest of the world, former Marine officer Jung-seok (Gang Dong-won) is haunted by the day his world fell apart, losing his sister and nephew in the undead chaos. When he and his bitter brother-in-law (Kim Do-yoon) are approached by mobsters to return to Korea, they sneak back into the desolated Incheon to retrieve a truck with $20 million, only to be confronted by both zombie hordes and a violent rogue military unit that has taken control of the wasteland. With a handful of resourceful survivors (Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Re), Jung-seok must outmaneuver both living and dead to find a way off the peninsula.

At first glance, Peninsula has many of the familiar trappings of the zombie movie: swarming hordes, abandoned cityscapes, evil humans acting worse than the zombies. One thing I liked about Train to Busan was that it was comparatively less violent than others of its genre, owing to the fact that the characters didn’t have access to bloodletting weapons like guns or swords. In contrast, Peninsula has no shortage of guns, making it more of a conventional shoot-em-up actioner, though it at least doesn’t turn into a full-on gorefest.

So, as many middling reviews have pointed out, this sequel doesn’t match the original for creativity or emotional payoff, but it comes closer than I would have expected. While Jung-seok doesn’t have quite the selfless character arc of Seok-woo in the first film, the way his guilt motivates him to do better still becomes poignant by the end, and the story presents a satisfying karma of evil or selfish characters getting their due. Plus, despite the “conventional actioner” complaint earlier, the action is thrilling throughout, particularly a fantastic, Mad Max-level car chase toward the end.

Though Peninsula is more violent and less inspired than its forerunner, I was glad to find that it is not a complete departure from what made Train to Busan so good. Zombie movies are such a well-worn format by now that there needs to be something to set new installments apart, and I can certainly get behind car chases, heist thriller elements, and an emotional core.

Rank:  List-Worthy (joining Train to Busan)

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