Reviews

I would have rated this a 5 for story/plot, if not for the excellent work of CB, HM, and GA.

The movie starts slow and has a nice build; I don't mind that in movie and can appreciate it. That said, there were quite a few lucky coincidences and not very many (if any at all) red herrings to make things more interesting. When the pace starts to pick up, it's pretty straight foward, not much of a mystery until the final twist at the end.

While Lea's involvement/reveal as a baddie might be considered a twist, there's enough in Lucy Boynton and Harry Lawtey's (Artemus) performances by the dinner scene that give away a little more than a hunch. I felt Gillian Anderson (Julia/Mrs. Marquis) gave it away in her first scene during her conversation with Bale (Landor) at the gate.

In relation to the twist with Landor at the end, there were some MAJOR plot holes for me - if the only clue Poe, played to perfection by Melling BTW, had to Landor's involvement was his handwriting on the notes, it makes no sense why Landor would have pointed out the note or handed it/given it to Poe to decode. One might argue that he didn't realize a piece was missing (hard to believe considering he's supposedly a preeminent detective who would have presumably burned the note he "tore" from Fry's hand and noticed it was missing a chunk from the middle); the argument could also be made that he knew a piece was missing but didn't know it was in Fry's hand, and chose to open his hand and reveal it to the Captain Hitchcock (Simon McBurney) and Dr. Marquis (an excellent Toby Jones, whose character in this reminded me a little of his Dr. McBrearty in "The Wonder") to bolster the idea that the academy brass need him to help solve the case (i.e. He is quickly/easily noticing things they are missing). Even if that is the case, there's no reason for him to pursue a working relationship of any kind with Poe and even less to ask him for help decifering the torn note and even less than that to let him hang on to it (which I think might be a goof, since Poe gives the scrap back to Landor at the tavern). Finally, one would think Landor would try to disguise his handwriting or not leave a note for Poe at all, knowing Poe has seen/studied his handwriting. Without this note/handwriting match, Poe would have only discovered Landor's secret through his late mother, who is the ultimate deus ex machina (she could have been less cryptic warning her son off Lea... jk). Another slightly annoying detail for me - paper and ink in this movie seem miraculously impervious to water... The note scrap seems to survive in Fry's sweaty hand as he claws at his neck to save himself, the snow outside, and finally, being submerged in a literal bathtub of formaldehyde; Fry's journal pages also seem to stand up just fine under a water bath.

My final gripe - is it possible the three cadets didn't know Mattie Landor was related to Detective Landor? At formal balls during this time, women had escorts and men and women had to be introduced; balls also involved dance cards that were signed by dance partners...etc. It's hard to believe that Ballinger or Stoddard (Fry was understandably caught off guard) wouldn't have made the connection - the cadets obviously knew why he was there, since Poe (who was not close with Fry) approaches Landor early on and says, "Are you Augustus Landor? Unless I mistake, you've been tasked with solving the mystery..."

So, while not necessarily mystery, the movie is enjoyable enough - beautifully shot, fantastic costumes and settings, fantasitcally acted.

This is a feel-good, colorful love letter to Paris (complete with knowing nods to it's political/social history) - as advertised. It also covers themes as following one's dreams, knowing yourself, finding yourself, and not letting your job or what others see/believe what you are define you.. albeit not delving very deeply.

There were a few things that did rub me the wrong way, the major one being that after her dress is damaged, she THROWS IT IN THE THAMES. More than being littering, it is astonishingly wasteful and unbelieveably out of character: one of the female staff at Dior who is very kind to Mrs. Harris takes her on a tour of the atelier and tells her all the materials such as fabric, beads...etc. Are all carefully sourced from the best of the best; throughout the movie, Mrs. Harris, an acomplished seamstress, expresses extreme respect and awe for the artisans (seamstresses, embroiderers, fabric cutters and drapers...etc.). She would have known the dress (which has a signifcant jeweled beaded front that was not damaged) could have been salvaged. Even if it was not salvageable or she could not afford to fix it, it's beyond imagining she would throw a massive, custom, handmade silk ballgown painstakingly made (on a rush order, mind you) by people she befriended and respected (she is even not-too-subtly reminded by the garbage man on strike that in France "the worker is king") and she believed the spirit of her beloved late husband and her friends helped her obtain, into the river. She would more likely carefully pack it away, finding it too painful to look at, or hang it in her wardrobe to stare at in perpetual despair. This also being post-WW2 and her being old enough to remember rationing (i.e. Silk was saved for soldier's parachutes and NOT available for frivolities like dresses), it definitely took away from the movie for me to have her just unceremoniously toss it into the river. Maybe I'm being silly, but to drive the fact home: $1 USD today was roughly $10.59 in 1957. The green dress cost 430 pounds, equivalent to about $4,553.70 today... a WHOPPING sum of money. For context, the average new home in the US at the time was about $12,200 and a new car was about $2,000.

That scene aside, the movie delivers what it promises - a sweet and sometimes silly feel-good film to fill the time.

Animation/direction is gorgeous - lovely shots in "U" and in the MC's real world. I was really hoping to watch this with subs, but Prime and HBO only have English dubs, which might be the reason quite a bit of the dialogue seems off/strange. Even with that in mind, the story does need a little more fleshing out to make the serious topics it's trying to tackle actually have weight - i.e. It's hard to feel completely sympathetic towards the MC when she seems oblivious to her father's suffering. There are also some illogical/unrealistic/unanswered plot devices - i.e. Why Suzu's mom doesn't take an extra life jacket with her into the river, how the dragon/beast has wounds at all in a virtual world, how the AI characters work (the ones in the castle called the beast "master"...), are the "Justices" AI or real people/U employees/self-styled neighborhood watch (which if they are, why don't the U creators just suspend the beast's account instead of letting him cause disruption for all the other users), and how 5 billion global users aren't able to discover the identity of arguably the two most popular avatars despite really trying (we all know a much smaller social media hive mind today can find anything/anyone), and why the hell a father who has already lost his wife from her trying to help a stranger's kid would allow/at least not immediately follow his only child/teenage daughter to the capitol city after finding out she's trying to save 2 young boys from their emotionally, verbally, and physically abusive father... Expanding on/adjusting these things would help raise the stakes and make us care more about the characters.

Started off strong, but never really became what it could have been. The main character is strangely unlikeable; something that could have been solved with more subtle clues to a cause dropped here and there instead of a sudden, giant late exposition dump to a another character who doesn't care/is on screen for 5 minutes. There were also MANY loose ends: Why was Samantha not able to go to the police? Why did the she use Kimi instead of some other more secure recording device? Why did Chowdury help Brad if his crime really was rape? Was there resolution between Angela and her mom? Did her Mom ever call the cops after that video call? What happened to Kevin? Are they friends now? Did he also overcome his issues? What happened to the company and Chowdhury (did the IPO happen)?

There were also too many strange oversights - especially infuriating, illogical pauses by Angela while being chased (i.e. Stopping to take a breather in the hallway of her apartment building, then barely making it through her apartment door...) I definitely found myself yelling at her from the couch, "Why are you stopping?!" several times. Two of the baddies at the end also inexplicably pause after Angela arms herself and turns the tables, making them convenient, easy prey. The apartment also has a wall of windows facing a busy building and street, with several windows open - why not scream for help? Angela is shown considering taking additional anxiety meds before the chase starts, but decides against it - an agoraphobe would NOT be as calm as she is for the remainder of the film, unless she had popped a few extra. Finally, the Kevin-rescue really caused a problem for me: when I first saw him, I thought he might have been an undercover cop/detective/FBI already on the case/investigating Amygdala. That would have tied up several threads - why he seems to never leave his apt, why he would know when she's in trouble and know who she is. For him to find out who she is as simply a fellow agoraphobe/shut-in, he would have had to do more than his character states... he would have to search for her apartment building, find the floor plans and estimate which apartment is hers (the building is under construction and her apartment was worked on by her contractor father so changes might have been made that can't be determined from the several windows he sees her in), then know what apartment number/letter it is (if anyone has ever gotten lost in a hotel looking for their room they know this can get tricky), then find her name, the make sure her name matches her face, since she might not be the owner/on paper. Sure, he helps save her, but it's still creepy, dude.

All in all, a fine movie to watch to fill the time - felt like more of an awkward summary of a thriller. Nothing outstanding, nothing new.

Beautifully shot, but only provides one ludicrous conclusion for the central mystery.

All the characters, but especially the lead, are very pretentious and seemingly wise and unbothered, but it's not earned. Not a single character seems to be accomplished at or aware of anything. The only jobs we're aware of are these girls that apparently are all prostitutes, or singing troupe "brides", or actual brides. And none of the women wear pants - maybe there's a hidden message there?! 80% of the main character getting anywhere is luck, the other 20% is paranoia. Finally, why was the 'zine author killed? What does the Homeless King have to do with the "ascension" of gross rich men and their cult wives? What did dogs have to do with anything? Who was the Owl's Kiss? Does the rich guy not care about his kids or that his daughter was murdered (probably by those who are keeping his secret) while trying to find him? Why did old songwriter-Methusala try to kill Sam? What did the parrot and old topless lady have to do with anything? There's no message here.

This movie is like a journey through the mind of someone's deteriorating brain - in the end, there's not even any stakes because she wasn't murdered. Verdict: MEH.

As a MK fan, really wanted to like this. Yes, it was faithful to the games, but that's the "video game movie curse" - ignoring story, pacing, purpose, emotion, character origins/arcs... etc., just to tick off superficial boxes.

This should have been planned as a series - instead of the main character meeting a series of people who deliver lengthy explanations of what's going on, which the main character believes, leading to a series of fights. Actions also don't make sense: Sub-Zero is the worst assassin, mistakenly thinking he killed Scorpion AND Jax, the former who stupidily tried to take him on single-handedly when he could have just driven away. Cole also conveniently leaves his family behind with no protection (so writers didn't have the burden of doing something with the characters until they're needed to up the ante later on). The story would have been much more effective if Cole discovered MK lore on his own - i.e. Spotting the mark on Jax or narrowly escaping an assassination attempt...etc.). There was also no need to try and fit so much in one film - I think the first 7 min is pretty highly regarded; they should have kept the storyline more focused on Sub-Zero and Scorpion (the surviving daughter, the bloodline...); there was no need to include so many characters and try to explain/show everything - spreading it all out over two or three films would have been much neater, enjoyable, and build up anticipation for popular characters.

There's more to pick at, but long story short, this game probably satisfied most MK fans, but failed as an actual movie (for the masses).

5 for meandering story with no meaningful ending, 6 for the acting; everyone did well. Beautifully shot. Great soundtrack. Basically, this movie is probably what happens when you bump into an old acquaintance and they're like, "Oh, hey, did you hear about that guy from wherever from way back when? Well, let me tell you..." The friend launches into a long-winded story that you end up listening to over beers and smokes and at the end, they finish with, "...and no one knows, bro. It's anyone's guess." You're left heading home wondering if that was a waste of time - it was told well, but what was the point? There wasn't a lesson, or resolution, or even an opinion/point made. For me, this immediately seemed like an attempt at a version of "The Virgin Suicides" (1999). Entertaining enough; worth a watch.

Being a good director does NOT mean being a capable storyteller/screenwriter. No fault of the actors, this story and script was a bunched up carpet, riddled with holes. A rushed telling with a timeline that doesn't fit WW's other DCU appearances (i.e. tells Batman in current day/decades after the events in this film she "disappeared" and stayed hidden... not exactly what happens in 1984...) , a lazy plot device that requires absolutely no detective work by our heroine (Barbara does the one research scene and delivers all we need to know in one scene of dialogue condensed in one phone call; Diana finds the main villain almost immediately just driving on a road...), illogical/tired trope decisions transparently made for cheap reactions (Barb being a nerd complete with glasses, not being able to walk in heels and dropping things; Steve's outfit montage...), WW's powers being all over the place (she loses Steve unexpectedly and "discovers" her power in the first WW film and defeats Ares, the GOD OF WAR, but after revoking her wish in this film to regain her powers she can't stand her ground against the WIND created by a human who absorbed the powers of a little TRINKET another god created for kicks/laughs...), and no consequences for the main villain at the end - which completely decimates the original "lesson" from the beginning, about how cheating to gain what you haven't earned is... bad. The movie lost me when Steve was brought back... in another man's body. WHY. WHY? If the stone is so powerful, why couldn't it just manifest him as himself, instead of some poor dude who probably got fired for not showings up for days and got dumped by his girlfriend...etc. The way Diana and Steve just take over this person's apartment and life with no concern is strange, concerning, and completely out of character. There's so much more... Cheetah looking nothing like the comics, how much damage she was able to do to supposedly indestructible armor, no explanation of if the ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE WORLD would remember the events of this movie and if not, why/how... I'll just stop here. I heard there's a third film in the works - hope they learn from their mistakes.

Really wanted to rate this higher knowing what fans did to get it made... Was really hoping to see the whole gang, but as another review said, our favorite faithful pals barely rated a mention. When Miss Fisher sees Jack again, she doesn't seem to care that she's hurt him or the lengths he's gone to/how moved he was thinking she was dead; this doesn't jive at all with how we left things at the end of MFMM Season 3. Definitely could have had a more complex plot, more twists and turns, and involved more of the cast we did get to see; as a fan who has seen every episode of the tv series multiple times, I feel each episode packed more punch in the limited time than this movie did. I also wanted to give one whole star just for Phryne and Jack finally taking their relationship to the next level, but couldn't because I felt their kiss in the tv show finale was much more satisfying. Wouldn't mind seeing another if they can write themselves out of a corner, since I see an issue with trying to include the Scooby gang + Jack beause a sequel would probably have to involve Miss Fisher trying to solve who killed her Maharaja husband, of which no clues are likely to be in Australia.