PotassiumMan

Director Ari Aster tackles the political and societal nightmare stemming from COVID, set in a fictitious town in New Mexico where a bleak landscape of despair and anxiety has taken over. This unwieldy and heavy-handed film is Aster's game attempt at portraying political rigidity on both sides of the fence and one man's slow unraveling even when his beliefs are sincere and ironclad. The biggest drawback is that Aster bites off more than he can chew. A tighter film would have picked its battles and left the rest for us to judge on our own.

A superior acting lineup bravely does its best with a cartoonish screenplay. Joaquin Phoenix gives it his all in a buffoonish role as the local sheriff who despises COVID restrictions and dogmatically stands up against their enforcement even when the townspeople are willing to comply. The problem is that Phoenix often has to carry the whole film himself. Emma Stone, Austin Butler and even Pedro Pascal are consigned to compelling, but smaller roles that barely dot the desert landscape.

Despite its punishing running time, the film is never boring. A more apt term would be "wearying" and it's not just because of the unpleasant memories of 2020 that are evoked. Simply put, it doesn't know when to quit and just when there's the possibility of a merciful, chastening conclusion, it has to be dragged along even further. Despite the bludgeoning that the film starts to inflict, especially towards the end, it does linger on as a compelling depiction of how lost the country is politically. What could have been a sobering and powerful morality tale ends up coming across as considerably less in the end, as if retreating back into caricature, just when it was about to say something serious.

In the end, Aster needs to learn how to edit himself and stop trying to do too much and understand that longer is not always better. If you're looking for his best craft, this simply isn't it. Not recommended, except to the most narrow audience that embraces irony and nihilism at the expense of all else.

With this film, Fantastic Four finally gets a cinematic version that truly rises to a level of memorable intensity. The 2005 version was only a decent start. The 2015 version turned out to be a notorious misfire. Finally, with this version, we get something that conveys the optimism and vitality of a superhero group that captured people's imagination. It takes place in 1960s America, in a world in which idealism, common purpose and firm trust are prevalent in society.

The film starts out with a solid backstory. Four astronauts who went to space have come home permanently changed but each with unique abilities that enable them to stop any threat to humanity. They quickly become adored heroes. However, their abilities are tested like never before when a monstrous space god who devours planets finally comes for Earth. The space god's ransom is the new child born to two of these superheroes. What follows is Earth's fight for survival and the Fantastic Four facing their first backlash from those who have believed in them.

A stellar cast gives it their all. Pedro Pascal is flawless as the brilliant and conscientious Dr. Reed Richards, whose leadership proves so crucial even as he begins his life as a new father. Vanessa Kirby is a force of energy as Sue Storm whose telepathic powers can contain any physical threat. Ebon-Moss Bachrach plays the straight man as the lumbering, but earnest Thing. Joseph Quinn is eternally juvenile as Johnny Storm or the Human Torch. Julia Garner proves to be a disquieting presence as Silver Surfer, an alien messenger who serves the space god. The film's recreation of the early 1960s is splendidly realized. This is what Marvel in its peak form can produce. From start to finish, it's a riveting adventure. Recommended to the highest degree.

Scarlett Johansson is a chastened covert-op who is approached by a pharmaceutical CEO (an oily Rupert Friend) that looks to achieve groundbreaking medical research through the blood of dinosaurs in a world now inhabited by them, albeit in a marginalized state. She enlists the help of various allies (Jonathan Bailey, an awkward but fearless scientist; Mahershala Ali, a fellow covert-op) for this secret undertaking. A young family that crosses paths with this corporate expedition becomes a likeable, albeit ill-defined plot thread.

A talented cast makes a committed effort with a very lazy script and stale material. Their game effort should be recognized even if the results are sloppy.

The film has a brief prologue that lays out the scientific experimentation in mutating dinosaur species, suggesting that such experiments set the stage for the obstacles to come. Some mutations make some funny homages to other film franchises. A dinosaur that resembles the Xenomorph from "Alien" graces the screen in this chapter. Unlike Jurassic World Dominion, this film lacks the presence of a clear-cut human villain and borrows a lot more liberally from the original Jurassic Park film. Nevertheless, a rousing adventure that gives us mutations and chases right and left. Gladly recommended.