2020-2029, Film Review

Joy Ride (2023)

Posted on July 10, 2023December 10, 2023 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

Joy Ride – Film Review

Cast: Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu, Sabrina Wu, Ronny Chieng, Desmond Chaim, Alexander Hodge, Daniel Dae Kim

Director: Adele Lim

Synopsis: A lawyer is convinced by her best friend to travel across China in search of her birth mother…

Review: It is inevitable that any movie featuring a group of friends on some kind of raunchy/boozy quest filled with mischievous shenanigans will have comparisons made to either The Hangover franchise or to Bridesmaids. Though they were not the first films of their kind, the latter opened the door for more female-driven R-rated comedies to level a playing field that tended to be dominated by Caucasian men. As such, a comedy which featured Asian-American women at the centre would have been unheard of a few years ago. However, in recent years, Asian-led films have become increasingly more prominent, including a rom-com with a predominantly Asian cast and the not-so-small matter of an Asian-led multiverse film which claimed Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, both of which represented significant moments for Asian representation on screen. Enter Crazy Rich Asians co-writer Adele Lim, making her directorial debut to continue the step forward for representation by having Asian American women at the centre of one of the funniest R-rated comedies in a long time.

Audrey Sullivan (Park) and Lolo Chen (Cola) are best friends who grew up together as the only two Asian children in their neighbourhood, appropriately named White Hills. Now into adulthood, Audrey is a high-flying lawyer on the cusp of a big promotion, while Lolo is an artist specialising in sex positivity. To clinch her promotion, she is tasked by the bosses within her firm to travel to China to close out an important business deal and takes Lolo along to act as a translator. While in the country, they meet up with Lolo’s K-Pop-obsessed cousin Deadeye (Wu) and Audrey’s actor friend Kat Heung (Hsu). After the meeting doesn’t quite go as planned, the four of them go on a journey across the country to find Audrey’s birth mother.

On the surface, Joy Ride certainly resembles the aforementioned comedies featuring a group of friends on a journey of self-discovery, all while engaged in some humorous hijinks. However, through Cherry Chevapravatdumrong’s and Teresa Hsiao’s hilarious screenplay, the film establishes itself from the off by tapping the mindset of these four very different people. Each of them will discover new things about themselves, and their aspirations for what they aspire to achieve while learning some new things about their friendships and cultures along the way. Particularly in the case of Audrey, as someone who has grown up in the US, having been adopted from China as a very young child, it explores her perspective as someone who sees herself torn between the life she has known growing up in her adopted homeland and the family she never knew in Asia. Right from the moment they meet, the friendship between Audrey and Lolo is beautifully realised in no small part due to standing up to a racist bully, with one of the best utterances of “fuck you” in any movie ever. From that moment on, the unbreakable bond between them was set, and the chemistry between Park and Cola is delightful.

It’s not until Audrey and Lolo arrive in China in search of the former’s birth mother, where they quickly meet up with Deadeye and Kat, that the hijinks and hilarity ensue and they come thick and fast. From the key business meeting which descends into a drinking game and more, a highly amusing train journey, uproarious sexual encounters each of our leads has with members of a local sports team (chances are you may well never look at a basketball and a massage gun in the same way again!), and a rendition of a popular rap song, there is no limit to how raunchy and mischievous the comedy will go to make the audience laugh. Each character is given their moment to shine, from Audrey’s insecurities about her identity and her heritage to Lolo being looked down on for her sex-positive art, to Deadeye’s socially introverted nature and fanatic love of K-pop to Kat’s attempts to cover up her sexually promiscuous past from her devoutly Christian fiance. Each actor brings heart and sincerity to their performance and as their journey takes them across Asia, they grow and bond as a group of friends.

While the central quest to find Audrey’s birth mother involves endless amounts of humour, it crucially finds the time to establish some genuine emotional moments between the group to bring them together, particularly in the third act which is where Park’s performance soars. Balancing the comedy with emotional weight can be a tough balancing act as there’s a risk the comedy will negate the emotional drama. However, Lim expertly handles this balance with assured direction. The similarities with other comedies of this nature are obvious. However, the level of passion which went into the making of the film comes across in both the writing and the performances, with a story that will undoubtedly be relatable to countless millions, plus another significant moment for representation in a comedy that will provide you with endless amounts of joy, and that is never a bad thing.

Packed with hilarious raunchy humour and a sweet and emotionally heart-warming story of four friends on a journey of self-discovery, Joy Ride is easily the funniest movie you will see all year.

2020-2029, Film Review

Raya and the Last Dragon (2021)

Posted on March 8, 2021March 8, 2021 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**Image is property of Disney Animation Studios**

Raya and the Last Dragon – Film Review

Cast: Kelly Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, Izaac Wang, Thalia Tran, Alan Tudyk

Directors: Don Hall and Carlos López Estrada

Synopsis: In the ancient land that was once known as Kumandra, a warrior princess goes in search of what is believed to be the last dragon….

Review: Throughout the many decades of animated films to emerge from Walt Disney Animation Studios, stories of fairy tales and Princesses have been plentiful. It is after all, one of the many things that they do best. The early Disney Princess stories might have leaned into the more traditional aspects of fairytales and princesses. Yet, from the Renaissance years onwards, the studio’s Disney Princess outings have all had an element of striving to something that does not stick to the norm, and breaks substantial new ground in terms of story-telling and representation. With what is their 59th film, they’ve taken a massive step forward in terms of representation by creating for the very first time, a South-East Asian heroine.

Many centuries ago, in the land of Kumandra, humanity and dragons co-existed in harmony. However, when the land comes under attack from a vicious evil spirt known as the Druun, an all powerful artefact that repels the Druun is created to repel them forever. Flash forward to the present, and with the dragons now believed to be long gone, the people are now divided into five warring tribes, all seeking possession of this artefact. When the conflict boils over, and this deadly evil spirit returns, the burden falls on Raya’s shoulders to seek out the Last Dragon, before this evil spirit consumes the entire world as they know it.

It’s practicality a formality that whenever one comes to watch an animated film from the House of Mouse, that the animation is going to be the best that it could possibly be. It is to the immense credit of the animators, that not only is the animation absolute breath-taking to look at, but it seems to be somehow getting even better with each passing film. For each territory of this civilisation, there’s a considerable change in the terrain, and this shift provides numerous opportunities for the animators to explore the richness and the diversity of the terrain. Through their wonderful work, they do not disappoint as each territory enables the animators to demonstrate their animation wizardry, which helps to bring so much vividness and beauty to this world.

After having endured an absolutely ridiculous and completely undeserved amount of flak for her work in the Star Wars franchise, seeing Kelly Marie Tran given a leading role as a Disney Princess is just wonderful, and she absolutely crushes it with her performance as Raya. Through her excellent voice work, she imbues this character with a sense of courage, honour, and duty to her family and her people. While this may all be familiar beats for a Disney film, what Raya also has in her favour is that she is a fearless warrior who boasts excellent skills with a sword, which should ensure Raya adds her name to the ever growing list of fierce, strong and badass heroines that Disney films have produced.

Alongside her, Awkwafina, an actress who has been excelling in recent years, almost steals the show as the voice of the dragon Sisu. Being the last of her kind, there’s an understandable element of seriousness given how integral this character is to the film’s story. However, the film’s script by Qui Nguyen and Adele Lim, allows Awkwafina to use her comedic talents to wonderful effect, and through the voice talents of both actresses, the characters form a deep bond that helps to drive the film forward. Furthermore, the cast is further enhanced with excellent contributions from the talents of Gemma Chan, Sandra Oh, Benedict Wong, and Alan Tudyk as Tuk Tuk, one of the most adorable animal side characters this studio has ever created.

The film can sometimes get a bit bogged down by the sheer amount of lore and backstory that it tries to fill in its runtime. While there’s some familiarity with some of the story’s beats, the film packs plenty of heart and emotional weight. In many ways, Raya and The Last Dragon is a film that feels tailor made for these divisive and troubled times that the world has been living through for the last year or so. As a society that feels broken, bereft of trust and compassion for those around us, as we collectively struggle to deal with a crisis that has shaken society to its very core, leaving a heart-breaking amount of pain, and loss in its wake. In the year 2021, the world could learn a thing or two from a hero like Raya.

Bursting with gorgeous, colourful animation, and a ground-breaking Warrior Princess heroine, Raya and The Last Dragon is another House of Mouse gem that feels tailor-made for the times we’re living in.

2010-2019, Film Review

Hellboy (2019)

Posted on April 19, 2019July 17, 2019 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**Image is property of Lionsgate, Summit Entertainment and** **Millennium** **Media**

Hellboy – Film Review

Cast: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, Thomas Haden Church

Director: Neil Marshall

Synopsis: When an Ancient evil sorceress seeks to establish a dark and terrible dominion over humanity, the task of stopping her falls to the one and only Hellboy…

Review: Reboots are all the rage in Hollywood these days, but when any effort is made to reboot a franchise, it can be a very tricky minefield to negotiate. If done right, there’s potential to win an army of new fans to a franchise. On the other hand, when done badly, it serves as a painful reminder to why sometimes a reboot should never have come to fruition, and instead should have stayed in (development) hell where it belongs.

Having been previously brought to the screen on two occasions by Guillermo del Toro, the opportunity for the visionary director to complete his trilogy never materialised. As a result, we now have a new iteration of the half man, half demon, with David Harbour stepping into the horns, vacated by Ron Perlman. We find ourselves in present day with the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (BPRD) under the stewardship of Professor Bruttenholm (McShane) who, along with Hellboy find themselves in the middle of a supernatural war. The villainous Blood Queen (Jovovich) seeks to subject humanity to the darkness under her tyrannical rule, and of course, the task of stepping up and taking her down, falls to our Demon friend.

**“Not even a gun this big can save this shitshow!”**

By far and away, the saving (of sorts) grace of this film is David Harbour’s take on Hellboy. He tries his best, through all his red make-up, to be charismatic and humorous. It’s just a shame then than that the film surrounding him is just a complete catastrophe. From the get go, the screenplay is shambolic, with seemingly no thought whatsoever given to structuring it in a coherent manner. We’re introduced to this supernatural conflict, via some exposition of the quite vulgar variety. From there, the plot just zips along from scene to scene with no time to actually work out what is even happening and why. Furthermore, for the overwhelming majority of the dialogue, the delivery is completely atrocious. The writers seemed to have been playing a game of how many times can we say the word “fuck”, with no nuance, or any particular reason why. It becomes very tiresome very quickly, and this is all within the first act of the film!

Harbour’s performance is the best of a very bad bunch, which is frustrating because there are actors here who have proven themselves to be better than this diabolical material, but when the screenplay is this atrocious, that doesn’t help matters. For instance, Ian McShane has proven himself capable in franchises like John Wick, here you can just tell how much he is phoning it in, likewise for Milla Jovovich’s villain who’s as generic as they come, and there’s a monstrous villain with a Liverpudlian accent. It all just makes no sense whatsoever and defies logic how all of it got approved in the first place. Sasha Lane is another talented actor who has proven her talents in other projects. There is intrigue to her character, but when the execution is just so extremely sloppy across the board and there’s next to no development to these characters, you don’t give a salty shit whether they live or die.

There’s various different ways that violence in films can be accomplished, you can go for the aesthetic route (see the works of Quentin Tarantino) or you could do what the filmmakers here do and go horror film-esque gore, with copious amounts of blood and limbs getting severed left, right and centre. They seemingly making the decision to see just how many people they can kill in two hours and in the most gruesome fashions. It’s just gratuitous and serves no purpose to the advancement of the story, and neither does some of the abysmal CGI. Extremely choppy editing, and the action scenes are migraine inducing, which given Neil Marshall’s portfolio, including two masterfully directed episodes of Game of Thrones, leaves so much to be desired.

Everything about this film should serve as a strong reminder studios that if you’re going to take on a reboot, make sure that you do it right, because otherwise the world is going to be filled with more grotesque abominations like this. For fans of this character, there’s always del Toro’s films to fall back on, and based on this monstrosity, it’s a hell of shame that he was never given the chance to complete his trilogy.