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ALSO SCREENING
IN
JUNE
After a bumpy start to the DC Cinematic Universe,
will Diana Prince be the one to turn the tide (or
will that be Aquaman)? And more importantly,
will we see her invisible jet? The imposing Gal
Gadot is perfectly cast as the lasso-swinging
Amazonian who finds her calling when American
pilot Chris Pine washes up on her island home
and tells of a great war beyond her shores. Diana
joins the fight on
June 1.
(See page 8)
WONDER WOMAN
Don't expect a retread of the Brendan Fraser
version when Tom Cruise becomes involved
with Egyptian sorcery and a female mummy
in this slick update of the Universal monster
classic. Unwrapped on
June 8
. (See page 12)
THE MUMMY
Expect medieval mayhem and dragonbots in this
fifth chapter of the blockbuster franchise. Optimus
Prime has left us, Anthony Hopkins has joined the
Transformer-verse, and Mark Wahlberg appears
to be in dire peril... again. Two worlds collide and
only one will survive on
June 22
.
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT
Gru meets his long-lost twin brother, Dru, and
grapples with a grown-up former child star (Trey
Parker) who's hellbent on world domination. All
this and Minions too, on
June 15
. (See page 14)
DESPICABLE ME 3
Think
Baywatch
and what springs to mind is
David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson running
along the beach in slow motion. Chronicling the
adventures of a bunch of L.A. lifeguards, both on
and off the beach, the TV series was a regular
fixture on the tube throughout the '90s and one
of the most watched shows in the world at the
time. The fact that it was a feast of beefcake and
bikini babes might have had something to do
with that, but it also featured some decent plots
– something the writers of this big screen version
haven't overlooked. Ergo, the
Baywatch
movie has
more to offer than just jiggling cleavage and dick
jokes (of which there are still plenty). The boogie
board and red swimwear has been passed to the
dependable Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario
(those eyes!) and Zac Efron (those abs!), who set
out to bust a local drug syndicate after corpses
and bags of meth begin washing up on the beach.
Some of the set pieces are inspired, including
an absurd fight in a nursery and a sequence in a
morgue that's not half as disturbing as the later
sight of Efron undercover in drag! And the climax
is literally explosive. Unlike the recent
CHIPS
,
Baywatch
is totally in tune with the spirit of its
inspiration, lampooning the series' stereotypes
while delivering a tongue-in-cheek comedy
caper that's elevated by some canny casting.
The combined charisma and chemistry between
Johnson and Efron makes
Baywatch
less
painful than treading on a sea urchin, and the
ample eye candy and lowbrow shenanigans will
score highly with a target audience too young
to remember the TV series. Those old enough
to have tuned in will enjoy a cheeky nostalgia
rush while waiting for the inevitable cameos by
Pammy and the Hoff.
Scott Hocking
Life's a beach.
BAYWATCH
RELEASED:
June 1
DIRECTOR:
Seth Gordon
CAST:
Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario
RATING:
TBC
Is
Alien: Covenant
better than
Prometheus
?
Not really, but at least it's a step closer to
recapturing what we love about the Alien
franchise. However, where
Prometheus
shared
DNA with the Alien movies – namely the nature
of the fossilised 'space jockey' discovered in
the derelict spacecraft by the Nostromo crew –
Alien: Covenant
is more of a
Prometheus
sequel
than an 'official' Alien film, with the creatures
relegated to a supporting role. Set 10 years
after the events of
Prometheus
, the Covenant
is a colony ship carrying two thousand pilgrims
and a bank of embryos to a new world. After an
energy wave disables it and awakens the crew
from hypersleep early, a strange transmission
from a nearby planet warrants investigation.
What they find is a habitable world where
we discover what happened to Dr. Elizabeth
Shaw and the synthetic David, after they took
off in search of the Engineers' homeworld at
the end of
Prometheus
. We also find out how
the Engineers' bioweapon ultimately becomes
the iconic, projectile-jawed and acid-blooded
xenomorph.
Alien: Covenant
continues to explore
the philosophical themes of playing god and the
nature of creation, and therein lies the problem.
Ridley Scott's determination to demystify the
origin of the aliens is actually working to the
detriment of the franchise – the fear of the
unknown is what made the creatures terrifying
in the first place. And by the time the film kicks
into high gear as a fully fledged Alien movie, it's
a case of too little, too late. With a third prequel
film to follow that will reportedly dovetail into
the events of
Alien
, it's hard to see how Scott
will tie everything up neatly. Sometimes, letting
the original director conceive a prequel trilogy
isn't the best move (Star Wars, anybody?) – a
pair of fresh eyes and the return of Sigourney
Weaver's Ripley is what the Alien universe
really needs right now.
Scott Hocking
Or Prometheus 2.
ALIEN: COVENANT
RELEASED:
Now Showing
DIRECTOR:
Ridley Scott
CAST:
Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterson
RATING:
MA15+
visit
stack.net.auCINEMA
REVIEWS
jbhifi.com.au20
JUNE
2017
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