Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom (PG13)
124 minutes, now showing, 4 stars
The best thing about going to a movie by Australian film-maker James Wan is that he is the least likely among the current batch of blockbuster directors to deliver self-serious nonsense.
His films – among them horror works Insidious (2010) and the underrated Malignant (2021), as well as the muscle-car spectacle Furious 7 (2015) – are ego-free. The stories might be overblown and simplistic, but no one can accuse him of being boring.
In this sequel to Aquaman (2018) – both films are helmed by Wan – David Kane/Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) seeks vengeance against Arthur Curry/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) for the death of his father, seen in the first film.
With the help of scientist Stephen Shin (Randall Park), Kane finds the Black Trident, an artefact that grants superpowers to anyone wielding it. Aquaman, now the king of Atlantis, must team up with his imprisoned half-brother Orm (Patrick Wilson) to defeat Kane.
Momoa’s Aquaman remains the “bro-iest” superhero in the DC Extended Universe. It is clear that the actor is just playing himself as the guy who loves beer, burgers and pranking his buddies. A certain Guinness beverage appears so often, it deserves a supporting-actor credit.
Abdul-Mateen II is brilliant as the baddie, and so is Park as Dr Shin, the scientist who lets his curiosity lead him into a partnership with Kane. Wilson is also above average as the prodigal brother roped in to save the world.
The Three Musketeers: Milady (PG13)
115 minutes, now showing, 4 stars
This blockbuster adaptation by French director Martin Bourboulon is a duology shot back to back. The Three Musketeers: Milady follows on immediately from part one, The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan, which screened here in November.
It is the 17th century, and France is under the dual threat of a religious insurrection and a British invasion. The king’s musketeers are the last bastion against chaos.
Young, hot-headed D’Artagnan (Francois Civil) has aligned with ageing Athos (Vincent Cassel), foppish Aramis (Romain Duris) and perpetually sloshed Porthos (Pio Marmai) upon arriving in Paris to find a civil war brewing between Catholic royalists and Protestant republicans.
The four musketeers uncover a conspiracy to assassinate King Louis XIII (Louis Garrel).
D’Artagnan forms an uneasy alliance with the eponymous mystery femme fatale (Eva Green), last seen leaping off a cliff.
Milady de Winter is the central antagonist of the concluding chapter. The smirking, scheming, bosom-heaving Green is sensational in a smoking-hot all-star Euro cast.
There is no dull moment in this galloping mediaeval action-adventure that would be even better were it not English-dubbed.
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (PG)
90 minutes, now showing at The Projector, 4 stars
Released on Apple TV+ earlier in 2023 and now available on the big screen, this film tells the story of Marcel, an adorable shell who lives with his grandmother.
Both were once part of a thriving shell community, now mysteriously gone. The naively optimistic Marcel sets out on an adventure to reunite with his family.
Created by American film-maker Dean Fleischer Camp as his debut feature, this independently funded stop-motion picture earned a Best Animated Feature nomination at the 2023 Oscars.
The film is as quirky as it sounds, yet wholly believable, thanks to the naturalistic integration of stop-motion and live-action footage that also reaped best animation nominations at the British Academy Film Awards and Golden Globes.
To get a taste of the film, one can find on YouTube the Marcel The Shell short films, released from 2010 to 2014. Now at over 40 million views, their popularity gave Fleischer Camp the impetus to start the feature-length project.
In both the short works and the film, Marcel is voiced by actress-comedianne Jenny Slate (Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022; The Secret Life Of Pets 2, 2019).
