Action Adventure – Matthew Liedke on Film

REVIEW: Nolan’s ‘Odyssey’ is an extraordinary cinematic experience

The word epic is sometimes thrown around loosely, but Christopher Nolan’s films usually earn the title. His latest flick once again qualifies.

“The Odyssey” is the latest from the Academy Award winning filmmaker. Based on Homer’s ancient text, the film stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Greek king of the city state Ithaca. Following the victory by Greece at Troy, Odysseus and his army are now trying to sail back to their home, but as legend tells, their journey is a perilous one.

Meanwhile, back in Ithaca, Odysseus’ son Telemachus (Tom Holland) is anxiously waiting for his father to return and deal with an escalating situation. The issue in question is the group of suitors wanting to marry Ithaca’s queen, Penelope (Anne Hathaway), as most believe Odysseus is dead leaving the throne vacant.

REVIEW: ‘Supergirl’ is astonishingly underwhelming

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s another DC cinematic universe going off track!

Sadly, that’s seems to be the case with this follow-up to last year’s movie depicting the Man of Steel. This time around, the focus is on the titular Supergirl, or Kara Zor-El, portrayed by Milly Alcock. The movie picks up with Supergirl traveling around space to celebrate her birthday by partying it up in intergalactic dive bars.

Though it should be a time of celebration, Supergirl doesn’t appear too happy, as she still hasn’t quite settled in to a life on Earth or wandering in space. However, she finds some purpose when approached by a girl, Ruthye (Eve Ridley), who’s seeking someone to help her get vengeance on the man who killed her family.

REVIEW: Strong set pieces don’t resolve ‘He-Man’ adaptation issues

Was this supposed to be “Masters of the Marvel Universe?” No? Could have fooled me.

In this titular universe, the focus is primarily on the world of Eternia, where a great cosmic power has long been held in the form of a sword and safeguarded by a royal family. That world comes under attack by a warlock, Skeletor (Jared Leto), hellbent on taking the sword, and the associated power, for himself.

With defenses failing, the young prince of Eternia, Adam, is sent to Earth with the sword to keep it away from Skeletor. The film then picks up with Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) as an adult, who is seeking the sword after losing it in the wormhole to Earth. Once he does retrieve it, he has an opportunity to return to the world he left and stand against Skeletor’s evil.

REVIEW: High octane ‘In the Grey’ excites, but doesn’t fully engage

In terms of grey movies, this isn’t as good as 2011’s “The Grey,” about on par with 2020’s “Greyhound” and better than 2022’s “The Gray Man (I think that counts).” Take that for what you will.

When it comes to “In the Grey,” Eiza Gonzalez stars as high-powered attorney Rachel Wild. The title gives insight into Rachel’s profession, she works in-between the criminal underworld and major financial institutions, or as she calls it, the black and white of the fiscal world. The grey. Her latest effort involves trying to recover a loan from a crime lord for a major establishment.

In order to do so, she recruits her elite team, headlined by two black ops-level individuals, Sid Sensible (Henry Cavill) and Bronco Beauregard (Jake Gyllenhaal). The trio, along with others on the team, set up an elaborate scheme to not only hurt the crime lord’s wallet, but come prepared with firepower in case the situation gets out of hand.

REVIEW: ‘Mortal Kombat’ is mostly poor filler between a few fun fights

Karl Urban is back in a video game adaptation and it’s certainly better than his last outing 20 years ago. Although, 2005’s “Doom” isn’t exactly a high bar.

Regardless, in this sequel to the 2021 “MK” film, Urban stars as Johnny Cage, a former martial artist turned action movie hero whose Hollywood career has declined. Now just attending fan conventions for money, he’s somewhat directionless in life. That is until he’s recruited to represent the realm of Earth in a tournament.

That tournament is one that will determine whether the empire of Outworld, ruled by the warlord Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), can conquer Earth. However, while the emperor’s forces are powerful, there is a dissenter in his daughter Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), whose own world was conquered by Outworld after her realm lost a similar tournament.

REVIEW: ‘Nobody 2’ entertains, but lacks spark of original

He may play a nobody, but Bob Odenkirk has become quite the action star with these two flicks.

Odenkirk once again stars as Hutch, a normal guy who appears to be a simple suburban family man, but actually has a lengthy past as an elite government operative. He’s returned to that line of work after some time away, while still trying to keep up his family life in a good place.

Unfortunately, like in the first movie, Hutch has found himself to be in somewhat of a rut. Looking for a way to spend more time with his family and reconnect, he decides to take a vacation to a water park he went to in his youth. However, like usual, danger seems to follow him around.

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REVIEW: First step for ‘Fantastic Four’ is fine, but not phenomenal

A “Fantastic Four” movie where Dr. Doom isn’t the main antagonist? That’s allowed?

Apparently it is, because good ole Victor isn’t the big bad of “First Steps.” Instead, the family of heroes including Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue (Vanessa Kirby), brother-in-law Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and colleague Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) face something from the depths of space.

Having picked up their powers a few years ago, the four have become celebrities, known for their contribution to science and several heroic moments. Things are going well, but that’s about to change. In addition to Sue getting pregnant with a potentially super-powered child, a planet-eating threat known as Galactus is on its way to Earth.

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REVIEW: Fourth ‘Expendables’ is an empty experience

The Expendables are back… Well, a few of them are. A lot of the cast from previous movies didn’t come back for this one, probably with good reason.

Still helmed by Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone), the elite group of expendable mercenaries are still taking on dangerous missions, but their latest adventure might have the highest stakes yet. The team is informed by the CIA that several nuclear weapons have fallen into the wrong hands.

To prevent any bombs from going off, the Expendables are hired to recover them and take out those behind the scheme. As part of the mission, they’re joined by some new mercenaries who offer additional combat skills.

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REVIEW: Latest ‘Mission: Impossible’ excels at action, stumbles elsewhere

The “Mission: Impossible” series has always made its protagonist juggle his commitment to completing his objective while protecting those close to him. The first “Dead Reckoning” is certainly no exception.

This time around, IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is informed about a dangerous artificial intelligence system, as well as a set of keys that can gain control of the program or shut it down. Hunt is ordered to recover it for the United States to give the country an advantage, but he goes rogue, believing it’s better to shut down the dangerous system rather than use it at all.

In his mission, he’s joined by fellow IMF teammates Luther (Ving Rhames) and Benji (Simon Pegg). However, they’re far from the only ones after the keys, as several other powers are after them, including a foe from Hunt’s past. Additionally, a renowned thief, Grace (Hayley Atwell), comes into play as she’s hired to get the keys by one of the many seekers.

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REVIEW: ‘Plane’ has plenty of suspense and action on board

Since 2017’s bomb “Geostorm,” Gerard Butler has rebounded with solid action pictures such as “Angel Has Fallen” in 2019 and “Greenland” in 2020. He’s added another enjoyable one to the list with “Plane.”

Butler plays Brodie Torrance, the pilot of the titular plane, who’s tasked with flying over the Pacific Ocean on New Year’s Eve. Two factors make it more than just a routine flight, though. One is some nasty weather and the other is a convicted criminal (Mike Colter) who’s on board to be extradited.

As the plane goes through bad weather, a lightning bolt hits the aircraft, knocking out its electronics and forcing Brodie to make a rough landing on a remote island. It turns out the island is controlled by a militant group and they take many people from the plane hostage. The only two left to rescue them are Brodie and the criminal, Louis, both of whom have military training.

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