Tag: comic-book

Morbius (2022, dir. Daniel Espinosa)

After experiments backfire, a scientist develops vampiric abilities. Ho-hum second-tier Marvel adaptation, halfway between Blade and Venom, and much less fun than either. A decent cast struggles to make much of the material, which is standard antihero origin story stuff.

Here’s the trailer.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) [AKA Birds of Prey / Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey] (2020, dir. Cathy Yan)

Harley Quinn, now no longer enjoying The Joker’s protection, is both the target of vengeful Gotham criminals and embroiled in a quest for a diamond. Dayglo spinoff of Suicide Squad with some verve in its playing, direction, action choreography and design. It wants to be a female-led Deadpool, but is let down somewhat by an under-par script.

Judge Dredd (1995, dir. Danny Cannon)

Dredd is framed in a revenge conspiracy and loses his Judge status. Patchy first attempt at the iconic 2000AD character, with twice as many daft ideas as good ones. Some striking moments, though, and some still-impressive design and effects work.

Tomboy (AKA Tomboy: A Revenger’s Tale / The Assignment / (Re) Assignment) (2016, dir. Walter Hill)

A hitman is subjected to forced gender reassignment. A messy hotchpotch of bad taste, worse gender politics, and a standard pulpy noir payback yarn. Tomboy is never uninteresting, but not always for the right genre reasons. A future cult beckons.