David R. Walker

Rental Family

Director: Hikari

Cast: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Mari Yamamoto, Shannon Mahina Gorman

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Language: Japanese with English subtitles

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Please note this film is mostly in Japanese with English Subtitles

Ever since Brendan Fraser won the Best Actor Oscar for Darren Aronofsky’s brilliant film The Whale, he has experienced a career resurgence after his millennial high with the Mummy franchise opposite Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener).

After brief appearance in director Martin Scorsese’s Killer of the Flower Moon, it is refreshing to see Brendan Fraser take on a lead role in a fascinating Japanese drama called Rental Family shot entirely in Tokyo.

Fraser plays the cumbersome but lovable American actor Philip Vanderploeg from Minnesota who is literally trying to make it big in Japan. Japanese director Hikari who also directed the brilliant Netflix series Beef about two Korean Americans in Los Angeles who have a road rage fight. Hikari presents an elegant feminine touch in directing Rental Family about some of the bizarre practices of Japanese culture.

Vanderploeg plays a rent an hour actor for the happiness agency headed by Shinja Tada played by Takehiro Hira with the help of his able assistant and fixer Akiro Nakajima superbly played by Mari Yamamoto who as an actor also produced the excellent series Tokyo Vice.

As a noticeable American, Vanderploeg is hired out to be a make believe husband for a fake wedding so that the bride can hide her sexuality from her parents. He is also hired to play a fake reporter for an ageing Japanese film star with dementia. Most significantly he is hired to play an American fake father to a young Eurasian girl Mia expertly played by Shannon Mahina Gorman.

Vanderploeg becomes emotionally attached to his make believe clients. He becomes fond of the ageing Japanese film star who is keen to escape from his over protective daughter. He loves playing a fake father to Mia as a means for the young girl to gain admittance into a posh Tokyo school.

Soon, Vanderploeg’s cover is blown, while he is attempting to navigate an unsual Japanese culture in which payment for make believe emotions is a common social practice.

Hikari as a director captures the mysterious allure of Japan as well as the densely populated bustle of metropolitan Tokyo with beautiful cinematography by Takuro Ishizaka and production design by Norhiro Isoda and Masako Takayama.

Brendan Fraser is excellent as the actor playing a version of himself in a foreign exotic country with unbelievable customs. Rental Family is a fascinating drama about fake relations and real emotions and is highly recommended viewing for those that love Japanese culture and films.

Rental Family gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is worth seeing for those that enjoyed films like Babel and Lost in Translation.

The 31st Critics’ Choice Awards were presented on Sunday January 4, 2026, at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, honouring the finest achievements of filmmaking and television programming in 2025.

These are the winners in the film category:

Best Picture: One Battle After Another

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Actor: Timothee Chalamet – Marty Supreme

Best Actress: Jessie Buckley – Hamnet

Best Supporting Actor: Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Madigan – Weapons

Best Original Screenplay: Ryan Coogler – Sinners

Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson – One Battle After Another

Best Cinematography: Alphonso Veloso – Train Dreams

Best Production Design: Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Frankenstein

Best Costume Design: Kate Hawley – Frankenstein

Best Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Marty Supreme

Director: Josh Safdie

Cast: Timothee Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion, Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, Emory Cohen, Kevin O’Leary, Abel Ferrara

Running time: 2 hours and 29 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Director Josh Safdie found the right actor with Oscar nominee 30 year stratospheric star Timothee Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name, A Complete Unknown) to take on the main role of the obnoxious and cheeky yet determined table tennis player Marty Mauser in his new brilliant original film Marty Supreme set in New York in 1952, just seven years after the end of World War II.

Co-written with Ronald Bronstein, Marty Supreme features a tour-de-force performance by Timothee Chalamet as a determined and broke young shoe salesman who plans on following his dream by representing America in table tennis at the international table tennis championships first in London and then eventually in Tokyo.

Except that Marty is trapped in a family business working for his uncle who is financially supporting his mother Rebecca Mauser played by Fran Drescher.

Marty has big dreams, lots of energy and confidence and is ready to do literally anything to escape the claustrophobic setting of his New York neighbour however he accidentally complicates his life when he sleeps with the young and audacious Rachel Mizler wonderfully played by Odessa A’zion.

Marty flies to London where while at the Ritz during a crazy interview with reporters he spots the beautiful and regal 1930’s screen actress Kay Stone superbly played by Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love) who is absolutely brilliant as a fading film star trapped in a lavish but loveless marriage to the ink billionaire Milton Rockwell, sadistically played to perfection by Kevin O’Leary. In Kay Stone and Milton Rockwell, Marty discovers affluent people with the means to do anything, a far cry from the hustlers and con artists that populate his world. Marty is mesmerized by the alluring Kay Stone and embarks on a passionate but bizarre maternal affair with his financier’s wife.

Gwyneth Paltrow after a long screen hiatus is back in an emotional nuanced performance beautifully based on annoyance and lust whereby she holds Marty in contempt for being not only her younger male lover but also because socially he is well below her social status even though she is just an actress.

Broke and desperate to raise money to get to the table tennis champions in Tokyo, a dream which seems impossible to everyone, Marty is determined to hustle and woo Milton Rockwell while also trying to steal money from an old gangster Ezra Mishkin played by film director Abel Ferrara who will pay a reward fee to find his lost dog.

With a colourful script by Bronstein and Safdie, Marty Supreme is an amazing life affirming, frenetic picaresque tale of one man who is determined to make his dreams come true despite his social, financial and romantic challenges.

At the centre of Marty Supreme is a brilliant Oscar worthy performance by Timothee Chalamet who inhabits every moment of the Neo-realist narrative filling the screen with crazy antics, snappy dialogue and an immeasurable screen confidence which overflows in a story about determination, success and the ability to believe in yourself.

Set between New York, London and Tokyo, Marty Supreme is an electrifying film anchored by two amazing performances by Timothee Chalamet and Gwyneth Paltrow who counterbalance a story about chaos, blind ambition and responsibility.

Marty Supreme is an inventive original film which deserves recognition and gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10.

It’s a crazy film but audiences will not be disappointed. Chalamet deserves all the acting accolades coming his way. Highly recommended viewing.   

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Giovanni Ribisi, David Thewlis, Jack Champion, Laz Alonso, Kevin Dorman

Running Time: 3 hours and 17 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

Titanic director James Cameron has proved his worth as a cinematic world builder.

In the third instalment of the Avatar franchise, the new film entitled Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron reassembles his old cast in a multi-themed narrative about the air breathers or Sky People fighting the Na’vi which culminates in a lavish adventure while constantly being threatened by an evil fire tribe headed by the fiery Varang voiced by Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Oona Chaplin (Quantum of Solace, The Devil’s Double).

Varang heads up the fire wielding Ash creatures who makes a deal with Miles Quatrich played by Stephen Lang in exchange for much coveted arms. In this extraordinary narrative, Sully played again by Sam Worthington along with his family are out to protect Spider played by Jack Champion who has inadvertently found the ability to survive on Pandora without needing an oxygen mask.

Avatar: Fire and Ash has stunning production design by Dylan Cole and Ben Procter coupled with shimmering cinematography by Russell Carpenter. The film itself is a sight to behold, lavish, beautiful and entertaining.

As Sully and Spider avoid capture by Varang, they fall into the hands of the technologically advanced humans on Pandora particularly General Ardmore played by Edie Falco and Selfridge played by Giovanni Ribisi (Selma, Contraband, The Rum Diary) who are desperate to experiment on Spider after he is infused with a strange substance that allows him to breath on Pandora, a substance which if harnessed properly could allow the humans to colonize and exist on Pandora and eternally threaten the Na’vi. General Ardmore views the Na vi as hostiles on the perimeter of their industrial military complex.  

As the final battle looms between the humans and the Na’vi creatures, strange alliances are forged to help protect Pandora’s ecosystem and the existence of the indigenous oceanic tribes, an allegorical nod to climate change and the horrors of ruthless colonialism.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is much better than one expects although the film is extremely long but considering how packed the cinema was when I watched it, it’s definitely a film that is attracting crowds back to the movie theatres.

Something that Hollywood needs at this critical time in which streaming services are blatantly threatening the survival of the collective cinema experience.

Congratulations to James Cameron who delivers another visually resplendent epic film yet again with Avatar: Fire and Ash which should get recognized at the 2026 Oscars for nominations for Best Picture and Visual Effects. If Titanic was the film that made James Cameron famous, Avatar will be his legacy.

Avatar: Fire and Ash is entertaining and visually beautiful with amazing special effects. This epic gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is highly recommended for fans of the first two films. Worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Director: Bill Condon

Cast: Diego Luna, Jennifer Lopez, Tonatiuh, Bruno Bechir, Josefina Scaglione, Driton Dovolani, Aline Mayagoitia

Running Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Thank you to United International Pictures for organizing the press preview at Suncoast Cinemas in Durban on Tuesday 9th December 2025.

Forty years after the original Oscar winning film Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) by Argentinian director Hector Babenco which won William Hurt an Oscar for Best Actor back in 1986, Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast director Bill Condon reimagines the novel by Manuel Puig as a musical with Diego Luna as political prisoner Valentin Arregui and Tonatiuh as his homosexual cellmate Luis Molina in a Buenos Aires prison in the last brutal days of a military junta in 1983 which terrorized Argentina in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is all about the relationship between the two men, Valentin is all machismo and brute strength while Molina possesses a vivid and flamboyant imagination passing the lonely cell hours telling Valentin about his love of cinema particularly the film Kiss of the Spider Woman and all while trying to extract information about Valentin to tell the authorities.

While the original film was dark and serious touching on the taboo subject of homosexuality at the heights of the AIDS crisis in America, this version is lighter and more vibrant helped immensely by the brilliant casting of pop music icon and actress Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers, Maid in Manhattan, Out of Sight) as Aurora the fabulous heroine of our story who Molina aspires to be like. He imagines a transgender version of himself dressed as Aurora with pearls, furs and gorgeous gowns.

Aurora is also the Spider Woman, a role played by Sonia Braga in the original film. Golden Globe nominee Jennifer Lopez (Selena) is radiant as Aurora in Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman effortlessly singing fantastic songs from the stage musical by Terrence McNally.

As the film flicks between fantasy and what is really happening in that dank and sweaty prison cell between Valentin and Molina, a relationship based on desire and repression, Kiss of the Spiderwoman brilliantly creates a contrast between the bright and glamourous world of imaginary cinema which Molina conjures up and that of the two men’s sinister political situation under repression, whereby despite the circumstances queer love triumphs.

The 2025 Kiss of the Spider Woman is vibrant and beautifully done with fabulous singing by Jennifer Lopez, a refreshingly different role for an actress who has been type cast in romantic comedies coupled with a sizzling gay relationship between Valentin and his fatally beautiful and vivid lover Molina.

The tone of this film radiates hope and accepts for the LGBTIQ+ community in an era when sexual orientation is not frowned upon or prohibited like it was back in the early 1980’s.

Mexican actor Diego Luna is no stranger to queer roles, expertly playing Harvey Milk’s hysterical lover Jack Lira in Gus van Sant’s Oscar winning film Milk in 2008.  Diego Luna and Jennifer Lopez are brilliant in this musical version of Kiss of the Spiderwoman while Tonatiuh’s portrayal of Molina is suitably camp and tragic.

Bill Condon effortlessly breathes new life into Kiss of the Spider Woman for a new generation of queer cinema lovers and does justice to the vivid imagination of the author Manuel Puig on whose novel this film is based.

Kiss of the Spider Woman gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for lovers of queer musicals featuring exotic Argentinian dance numbers and a story that will dazzle viewers and give hope to anyone that is living under authoritarian repression because human desire always triumphs over political control.

Eternity

Director: David Freyne

Cast: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, John Early

Running Time: 1 hour and 53 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

In director David Freyne’s romantic comedy Eternity, purgatory is a plush place, a destination reminiscent of a resort.

Eternity stars Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller as a married couple, Larry and Joan who both pass away within months of each other and land up in this Pleasantville type holding resort whereby the recently deceased have a chance to recover from their journey into the afterlife and await their arrival of an afterlife consultant.

The only problem that Joan has is that she bumps into her first dead husband, a Korean war soldier Luke wonderfully played with debonair swagger by British star Callum Turner in his first big film role since starring in Autumn de Wilde’s lush cinematic reinvention of Jane Austen’s classic Emma back in 2020.

The trick with this version of a love triangle with a woman and two men is that both men look very similar and that’s down to the casting of Miles Teller (Whiplash, Top Gun: Maverick) and Callum Turner that physically look the same but act very differently. Joan’s choice between her first husband which she couldn’t make a life with and her second husband Larry in which she made a beautiful life with is hard. She needs help.

The afterlife assistants come in the form of comic back up with Anna and Ryan. Anna is the larger than life character played by Oscar winner DaVine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) and Ryan played with a hint of campiness by John Early.

While the men typically fight with each other when they both realize that Joan has to choose between them for eternity, Joan is awash with emotion about the bizarre and surreal experience of having two dead husbands to choose from.

Fortunately both of them look gorgeous and Joan herself, expertly played by Elizabeth Olsen (Wind River, Avengers: Age of Ultron) is weighing up the choice based on bitter memories and chance encounters. Luke represents cold Blue Mountains, rugged and appealing while Larry represents sunshine and beach wear, relaxed and comfortably American.

As a romantic comedy, Eternity is well paced, brilliantly painted with vibrant production design by Zazu Meyers allowing the actors to inhabit a world somewhere between a busy train station and a multitude of different locations. Fortunately this film works because of the fantastic on screen chemistry between the three main leads, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner and Miles Teller each displaying their comic timing and exuberance.

As a young director David Freyne’s comedy Eternity is fun, frenetic and thought-provoking, a wonderfully light film about some heavy duty topics skilfully dealing with love, death and the afterlife. Like Challengers, Eternity works because of the superb casting.  

Eternity gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is highly recommended viewing for those that enjoy weird romantic comedy’s not set on this earth. A perfect film for date night.

Wicked: For Good

Director: Jon M. Chu

Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, Colman Domingo, Michelle Yeoh, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James

Running Time: 2 hours and 17 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10  

Crazy, Rich Asians and In The Heights director Jon M. Chu directs an elegant sequel to Wicked in Wicked: For Good set again in Oz. This time Ariana Grande steals the limelight in her sparkling pink bubble as the ultimate fairy Glinda. Although she is a witch, she is the Good witch and her opposite Elphaba expertly played again by Cynthia Erivo is being demonised in the land of Oz by Madame Morible, master manipulator played by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) who is convincing the general vibrant population that Elphaba is indeed the wicked witch of the west.

As the dynamic between Glinda and Elphaba is heightened by the announcement of the wedding between Glinda and the extremely handsome and buff Fiyero played by Jonathan Bailey, the Wizard of Oz wonderfully played by Jeff Goldblum is hiding a dark secret in which Elphaba is determined to uncover.

Wicked: For Good is an excellent musical film with exceptionally high production values, gorgeous costumes by Oscar winning costume designer Paul Tazewell (Wicked) and extravagant production design by Nathan Crowley yet it is a far different film to Wicked.

Firstly, Wicked was all about Elphaba while Wicked: For Good is all about Glinda and Ariana Grande deserves another Oscar nomination for her brilliant portrayal of that brittle and demanding princess that is Glinda whose pink bubble gets rightly pricked when Fiyero leaves her at the altar for her nemesis.

In the midst of all the chaos at Oz, Madame Morible creates a hurricane which naturally brings in Dorothy fresh from Kansas along with the Tin Man and Scarecrow who all proceed down the yellow brick road to pander to the wishes of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy unknowingly stole Elphaba’s dead sister’s sparkling ruby slippers.

Interestingly the arrival of Dorothy is not the focal point of Wicked: For Good it is more of a side story. We catch glimpses of Dorothy in a closet, running along the yellow brick road and hell bent on destroying Elphaba. Remember this is the back story of The Wizard of Oz. Jon M. Chu pays cinematic homage to the infamous 1939 Oscar winning film The Wizard of Oz but he doesn’t remake that story. That’s a classic best left untouched.

Wicked: For Good focuses on the bizarre love triangle between Glinda, Elphaba and Fiyero but of the three it is by far Glinda that steals this gorgeous show.  

The musical numbers in Wicked: For Good are well-executed, definitely appealing to those that love big Hollywood musicals. This film sequel should do well at the 2026 Oscar nominations.

Wicked: For Good is a truly magical film which is high value entertainment best seen on the biggest screen possible. Ariana Grande is absolutely superb in this film upstaging Dorothy and coming to terms with Elphaba’s unrelenting power.

Highly recommended viewing for those that loved the first film, Wicked: For Good gets a film rating of 8 out of 10. Magical, enchanting and definitely entertaining.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Rosamund Pike, Isla Fisher, Dominic Sessa, Justice Smith, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Thabang Molaba, Ariana Goldblatt, Lizzy Caplan

Running Time: 1 hour 53 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Nine years after the sequel, Now You See Me 2 in 2016, Gangster Squad director Ruben Fleischer reunites the four horseman of magic in the third instalment aptly titled Now You See Me: Now You Don’t starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco.

In the new film some bright young characters emerge, ambitious magicians that are trying to emulate the four horseman. These are June played by Ariana Goldblatt, Bosco brilliantly played by Dominic Sessa (The Holdovers) and Charlie played by Justice Smith.

J. Daniel Atlas eloquently played with enough charisma by Eisenberg recruits the young magicians to help him pull off a daring diamond heist in Antwerp, Belgium. Enter the villain.

Rosamund Pike is no stranger to playing the villain, after she played Miranda Frost in 2002’s James Bond film Die Another Day. This time the British Oscar nominee effortlessly takes on a strong South African accent to play diamond heiress Veronica Vanderberg who inherited her father’s South African diamond empire.

She has a sparkling very expensive diamond in which the magicians want to steal at a diamond auction in Antwerp. Many disappearing acts occur in which the diamond is snatched by the four horsemen and their young accomplices. They flee Belgium for a mysterious Chateau in France where they meet chief magician and illusionist Thaddeus Bradley played by Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby).

Things go south at the Chateau and soon Merritt McKinney played by Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson (The People vs Larry Flynt, The Messenger, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri) is kidnapped by the ruthless but vivacious Vanderberg.

Swiftly a fifth magician appears, Lizzy Caplan reprising her role as Luna and the entire gang head to Abu Dhabi to the Yas Marina Grand Prix circuit whereby Vanderberg Enterprises will be showcasing their new racing car. The magicians land up getting caught in a sandbox quickly filling with sand while Vanderberg seems to escape into the Arabian night.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t has great entertainment value judging by how fill the cinema was when I saw it. It is a sleek and visually impressive film with a great ensemble cast and sufficient tricky to wow the viewers into being captivated by every sleight of hand and misdirection.

With multiple screenwriters contributing to the screenplay, the narrative is outlandish and pure escapism but that is what magic is all about.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is pure entertainment with no violence, lots of action and loads of magic helped by a truly talented ensemble cast. Recommended viewing.

After the Hunt

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Cast: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, Andrew Garfield, Chloe Sevigny

Running Time: 2 hours and 18 minutes

Film Rating: 6 out of 10

THIS FILM IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON AMAZON PRIME

Sicilian director Luca Gudagnino follows on from the success of his previous film Challengers which was lavishly shot with a strange psychological thriller in which he attempts unsuccessfully to capture the zeitgeist of the early 2020’s in his new film After the Hunt.

Fortunately Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich) centres this uneven and ultimately disappointing film which unravels from the middle onwards.

Roberts plays an ambitious philosophy lecturer Alma at the prestigious Yale University where by her and her fellow lecturer Hank superbly played with hyper masculinity by Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge, Tick Tick, Boom) are embroiled in a dangerous and toxic game of accusations and counter accusations when an arch manipulator and troubled student Maggie brilliantly played by The Bear star Ayo Edebiri disrupts their comfortable and privileged lives.

After a particularly boozy party at Alma’s house hosted by herself and her husband, clinical psychologist Frederik expertly played by Michael Stuhlbarg, Hank accompanies Maggie home.

The next day Maggie, Alma’s star philosophy graduate student comes to her professor with a shocking accusation that Hank tried to touch her inappropriately. There is no proof, only insinuation and hearsay.

Simultaneously Hank tells Alma that Maggie has plagiarised her philosophy dissertation and then when he gets accused and fired by the University faculty he explodes and tells Alma that he is a victim of this shallow cultural moment.

After the Hunt unfortunately doesn’t dwell on specifics in a meandering narrative which will leave the viewer slightly confused. Director Luca Guadagnino was keen to make a film that captured the zeitgeist of the MeToo movement in an academic setting but he doesn’t capitalize on a narrative which could have been explosive and challenging. After the Hunt suffers from a poor script and an overlong narrative which makes the film economically unviable.

Despite some great scenes between Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield, the entire film seems to virtue signal about a cultural moment which hasn’t finished running its course, so it’s true impact is impossible to quantify. After the Hunt will challenge viewers perceptions but will not entertain them.

After the Hunt has great potential, but sags in the middle causing the morally questionable characters to unsuccessfully sustain a narrative which lacks resolution.

Luca Guadagnino should go back to the formula which made his hit films so brilliant. After The Hunt fails to equal the brilliance of Call Me By Your Name or even Challengers.

After the Hunt gets a film rating of 6 out of 10.

The Running Man

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Glen Powell, Lee Pace, Sean Hayes, Colman Domingo, Josh Brolin, Jayme Lawson, William H. Macy, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones

Running time: 2 hours and 13 minutes.

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Baby Driver director Edgar Wright tackles with freneticism a remake of the 1987 action film The Running Man which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Conchita Alonso and Yaphet Kotto.

This time Top Gun Maverick and Twisters star Glen Powell takes the lead role as a poor man Ben Richards with anger issues that has to enter a reality TV show about how to survive without getting murdered in a Dystopian America set in a hyper contemporary future which strangely reflects the 2020’s.

The production design by Marcus Rowland is amazing in The Running Man as the story, with a screenplay by Edgar Wright and Michael Bacall based on the novel by horror writer Steven King, tracks the bizarre adventure of Richards as he enters The Running Man reality TV show in a vibrant and often violent game of hide and seek. As Richards travels from Co-op city to New York then Boston and onto Maine, he meets an assortment of fascinating characters. The most notable is forger Molie played by Oscar nominee William H. Macy (Sideways) and Elton Perrakis as the conspiracy theory weird dude who lives in a rambling house in Maine with his mother, brilliantly played by Michael Cera (Juno, Barbie).

The reality TV show is a dystopian colosseum as hordes of viewers eagerly watch the hunt of Ben Richards with bloodlust as the host of the show Bobby T whips up the crowd in a frenzy. Bobby T is flamboyantly played by Oscar nominee Colman Domingo (Rustin, Sing Sing) as he answers to the shady corporate TV network producer Dan Killian played by Oscar nominee Josh Brolin (Milk).

The Running Man is absolutely crazy and frenetic. Unfortunately Edgar Wright over directs this dystopian thriller but what saves this film is the charisma of Glen Powell whose good looks and gusto will make the film audience want Ben Richards to stay alive and save his wife and child and beat the show at its own murderous game all skilfully orchestrated by TV ratings and audience participation.

Some superb scenes in the film include a fight scene between Ben Richards and ruthless hunter Evan McCone played by Lee Pace (Captain Marvel) on a jetliner while a horrified captive Amelia Williams played by rising British star Emilia Jones looks on.

The Running Man is The Hunger Games on steroids, a fantastically crazy action film which is loud, brash and over directed by Edgar Wright who often gets the pacing of the film wrong. It is thoroughly entertaining especially watching the hunk Glen Powell outwit the crazy hunters and take revenge on the evil TV producer Killian.

Despite bad editing and a lack of pacing, The Running Man gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is an entertaining action film with outlandish characters and a leading man in which everyone will be cheering for as he goes up against an oppressive social system in which the rich willingly crush the poor purely for entertainment value.

The Running Man is certainly dystopian but very familiar in the current media climate. Recommended viewing for those that love high adrenalin action films set in a bizarre futuristic world.