Everything Everywhere All At Once – Film Review

Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis

Directors: Daniel Kwan and Dan Scheinert

Synopsis: Staring at the looming possibility of her business being forcibly closed down and amid rocky relationships with her family, a woman discovers she has the ability to travel through the multiverse…

Review: Humanity has long had a fascination with the concept of the multiverse, which has often found its way into the media that we consume. Most notably with science fiction and the realm of superhero movies, particularly the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It does make you wonder, what if there was an alternative version of you living in a universe in conjunction with this mad world we find ourselves living in? How would their life be different from the one you currently have and how different their world would be compared to ours? The answers to those questions, and so much more, can be found in one of the best explorations of this concept that’s ever been put to film.

Evelyn (Yeoh) is a Chinese-American woman who owns a laundromat whilst living in a tiny cramped flat above the laundromat with her husband Waymond (Quan). Her business is currently under audit by the IRS and Evelyn is up to her eyeballs in paperwork to sift through. To make matters worse, she’s presently enduring some troubled relationships with her family. Her marriage is teetering on the brink of divorce, her ailing father (Hong) is coming to visit and her relationship with her daughter Joy (Hsu) is breaking down to potentially the point of no return. Everything comes to a head when Evelyn realises, whilst in a crucial meeting with the IRS, that she has the power to travel through the multiverse. She’s able to see the various different lives she could have led, and as it turns out, is humanity’s last hope as a grave threat threatens to destroy not just her universe, but every single universe in existence.

If you have seen the previous film from Daniel Kwan and Dan Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, where a farting corpse discovers the meaning of life and friendship, you know to expect the unexpected. But even with that caveat, nothing can truly quite prepare the audience for the breathtaking film that they are about to experience. Effortlessly combining multiversal travel, with flawlessly executed kung-fu inspired action scenes, absurd moments of brilliant comedy and a very sincere heartfelt story sounds like an impossible job for one film to accomplish. It would be very easy for any film dealing with multiverses to get lost in the madness and for things to spiral hopelessly out of control to the point where it’s nought but an incoherent mess that has scrambled your brain. Fortunately, Daniels’ screenplay is extremely airtight. The imagination to have come up with such a brilliantly realised story is beyond impressive. However, to go into much more detail and to give away some of the hilarious jokes and gags would be a disservice to the genius of Daniels’ brilliantly bonkers vision.

Michelle Yeoh has always been a very prominent figure across a plethora of Hollywood movies, from her memorable turns as a Bond lady in Tomorrow Never Dies to her scene-stealing work in Crazy Rich Asians, but it’s usually been from a supporting perspective. So, to see her given her first leading role in a Hollywood film is so immensely satisfying, because it is what an actor of her immense talent truly deserves. Yeoh throws everything she has into this role, doing all of her own stunts, and in turn, gives the many different lives of Evelyn that we see on screen so much depth. She demonstrates just why she’s such a revered actor and Yeoh gives the performance of her career. While the film belongs to Yeoh, the work of the supporting cast must not be discounted.

Having had a very small role in last year’s Shang-Chi, Stephanie Hsu gets her chance to shine as Evelyn’s disgruntled daughter Joy and she seizes that opportunity with both hands. There is so much depth and nuance to Joy and the relationship between Joy and her mother. Ke Huy Quan, who shot to fame with his early performances in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies had been away from the acting game for a while, so it is fantastic to see him return and give such a brilliant performance as Evelyn’s goofy husband Waymond. The icing on the cake is Jamie Lee Curtis’s hilarious turn as the grumpy IRS agent who’s leading the audit into Evelyn’s business.

Regardless of the medium, an exploration of the multiverse offers filmmakers/showrunners so many possibilities. However, the film doesn’t lose sight of its core story about the importance of family and finding one’s place in the world. It gives the audience that and an enthralling ride along the way that they are unlikely to forget any time soon. Films like Everything Everywhere All At Once don’t come around too often, but when they do, they demand to be celebrated and cherished. For as long as the cinematic art form exists, films like this one are a powerful reminder of the wonder that this medium can accomplish.

Taking a plethora of genres and throwing them all into one film could have very easily backfired. However, with a career-best performance from Michelle Yeoh, this cinematic masterpiece fully lives up to its title by being hilarious, exhilarating and heartfelt all at once.

Venom – Film Review

Cast: Tom Hardy, Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Jenny Slate, Reid Scott

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Synopsis: Investigative journalist Eddie Brock investigates the Life Foundation and its shady experiments. In doing so, he becomes one with a sinister alien symbiote that gives him superhuman abilities..

Review: It would not exactly be an astute observation to say that over the last few years, Hollywood has treated audiences to a rather large amount of superhero films. The market has become extremely well saturated and so in order to make an impression in this crowded field, you really have got to stand out. Hence, a film that focuses on a character who is not exactly a hero by any stretch of the imagination, can give you that opportunity. While this is not exactly new ground (see Deadpool), it nevertheless gives you a chance to create something unique. Specifically in Eddie Brock/Venom, you have a chance to truly show that “the world has enough superheroes.” Unfortunately, this chance is completely squandered.

Immediately, you know that this is not in the hands of those folks who, piece by piece, put together the wonder that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It starts off interestingly enough though as a mission by the Life Foundation brings these alien symbiotes back down to earth to use them for experiments, and our eponymous anti-hero is born when investigative journalist Eddie (Hardy) merges with one of these symbiotes when clandestinely investigating this organisation. Now Eddie and this Venom creature must learn to live and co-operate with each other whilst trying to prevent the organisation and its CEO Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) from carrying out future experiments.

“Bring Your Symbiote to Work Day” did not end well…

Given that a previous version of this character was completely shoehorned into Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3, and was only given the most briefest of nods in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a solo film seemed like a good idea, and on paper, the potential is there. With an actor as good as Tom Hardy in the lead, there is cause to be optimistic. While he is certainly trying his best, there is something about his performance that just doesn’t quite click, and his accent is a little iffy in places. Opposite him, Michelle Williams also tries her best, but the lack of chemistry between her and Hardy really hinders the plot. The screenplay also really doesn’t help matters as the set up of Brock becoming Venom is really sloppy in its execution. Also Riz Ahmed is completely wasted in a villainous role, that had this been part of the MCU, would put him in the not-so-prestigious company of some of the weaker MCU villains. Also his main goal just does not make any sense whatsoever.

The dialogue all round here is generally pretty poor. There are some funny moments but it is definitely more of a case of laughing at the characters, rather than with them. What is somewhat interesting is the dynamic between Brock and the villainous symbiote. There is at the very least a solid distinction that they are two very different people, something that the Topher Grace iteration of the character didn’t quite get right. What’s more, moments that are clearly intending to be funny, just come across as awkward, embarrassing and extremely painful to watch.

Fleischer’s past works include Zombieland and Gangster Squad, so he knows how to craft action scenes. While there are some competently made action scenes, we have seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe really show us how it is done when it comes to this aspect. There is nothing here that stands out when you compare it with some of the work that has come from the MCU. Furthermore, a film such as this is tailor-made to push the boundaries and go for some really strong violence, but it doesn’t utilise this opportunity and that is extremely disappointing.

Much like Universal’s Dark Universe, that has seemingly died a death after one film, it might well be the case that Sony’s Marvel Universe is over before it has a chance to get going. However, if he became part of the MCU, the potential that is there for a such an interesting character to be given the big screen treatment that could maybe do the character justice, which would be most welcome after two cinematic misfires.

An insipid and lacklustre attempt to bring something new to the genre, complete with a messy screenplay, and extremely bland and uninteresting characters.

We… are most definitely NOT Venom.