Here are Damon Smith's reviews of the latest films at the flicks...
DON’T LET GO (15)
Three stars
A grief-stricken homicide detective warps the linear flow of time to solve his brother’s murder-suicide in Jacob Aaron Estes’s confidently executed thriller.
Bolted together with familiar genre tropes, Don’t Let Go is anchored by compelling performances from Oxford-born David Oyelowo as the crusading cop and 16-year-old Storm Reid as his plucky niece, who is blissfully unaware of her grisly destiny.
Estes’s script eschews deep, metaphysical discourse about fate to calmly explain every narrative twist, hand-holding the audience so no one gets left behind making sense of the film’s gnarly logic.
The writer-director intentionally obscures key facts until a breathless final act when a mosaic of flashbacks and cross cuts between interconnected time frames neatly slots into place the pieces of the puzzle.
Cause and effect ripples a la Back To The Future are clearly telegraphed, propelling the emotionally bruised lead character to the brink of a nervous breakdown as he bears the burden of manipulating events in the near past.
Tension is curiously absent from the second half, given the perilously high stakes for the characters, and supporting cast including Alfred Molina are merely servants to a well-oiled plot.
On June 28, Los Angeles police detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo) receives a muffled telephone call from his teenage niece, Ashley (Reid). The conversation is abruptly cut short and when Jack returns the call, he is diverted to her voicemail.
That night the cop pays an impromptu visit to Ashley and finds his brother Garret, sister-in-law Susan, his niece and the family’s dog shot dead. Evidence at the scene suggests Garret murdered the family in a drug-fuelled haze then turned the gun on himself.
“I pray to undo it,” Jack whimpers to detective partner Bobby after the funeral. “I pray God will give me a second chance.”
The universe answers and Jack receives a call to his mobile a few days later from Ashley. The voice on the other end of the line is apparently his niece and she is alive and well.
Jack fears he is suffering delusions and he takes temporary leave at the behest of his concerned boss (Molina). However, Ashley’s calls to his mobile continue and as Jack converses with the teenager, he surmises that she is talking to him from a few days before the massacre.
Without alarming his niece and tipping her off to her horrific near future, Jack makes Ashley an unwitting accomplice in his investigation. Don’t Let Go is a solid foray into sci-fi suspense that doesn’t clearly distinguish itself from countless other mind-bending mysteries.
Oyelowo’s befuddled hero remains a blank slate, apparently without a backstory or relatable personality traits other than being a slave to his police badge.
The luminous Reid tugs heartstrings in tear-stained close-up while Molina chews on meagre scraps in a perfunctory supporting role.
READY OR NOT (18)
Four stars
A wedding night ritual warps a childhood game of hide and seek into an exhilarating battle for survival in Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s twisted horror comedy.
Shot with a severed tongue wedged firmly in bullet-torn cheek, Ready Or Not is a gloriously gory and giddily entertaining bloodbath, anchored by a standout lead performance from Samara Weaving as the blushing bride, who unwittingly marries into a family of devil-worshipping lunatics.
Mischievous screenwriting duo Guy Busick and R Christopher Murphy have a foul-mouthed blast with their conventional premise of a damsel in distress being hunted for sport.
The marvellously macabre tone is set when one victim’s final spluttering gasps repeatedly interrupt another character’s battle cry and incite a hilariously over-the-top response.
Glamorous housemaids are dispatched in gruesome fashion to deadpan cries (“She was my favourite!”) before the remaining cast face potentially grisly ends courtesy of splatter-heavy make-up and special effects.
Jump-out-of-seat scares are handcuffed tightly to bloodcurdling whoops of delight as Weaving’s helpless heroine slowly turns the tables on her aggressors and resolves to thwart their Machiavellian master plan.
Ready Or Not doesn’t play hide and seek with giggles or the gore, taking us on a rollercoaster ride of wicked delights that include a hysterical supporting performance from Guadagni. A wince-inducing set piece with a rusty nail clearly telegraphs its intent with sadistic glee but is no less effective when we are forewarned and already glimpsing the screen through interlaced fingers.
THE GOLDFINCH (15)
Two stars
Adapted from Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, The Goldfinch bears the hallmarks of another serious awards contender. Director John Crowley’s previous film was the heartrending rites-of-passage drama Brooklyn, screenwriter Peter Straughan was Oscar-nominated for his elegant distillation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Devon-born cinematographer Roger Deakins won last year for Blade Runner 2049, the cast includes Nicole Kidman concealed beneath ageing make-up and prosthetics, and the running time clocks in at a worthy two-and-a-half hours.
Alas, appearances are deceiving because Tartt’s compelling prose and artful storytelling have been hopelessly lost in a translation that marries a chronologically fractured narrative with unsympathetic characters who fail to make a palpable emotional impact on each other, let alone touch us.
Crowley’s picture is a beautifully crafted mess that keeps us at arm’s length as bamboozled and frustrated observers.
HOTEL MUMBAI (15)
Three stars
The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which resulted in more than 150 fatalities, provide an uncomfortable backdrop for a tense thriller directed and co-written by Anthony Maras. On November 26, 10 terrorists coordinate attacks at multiple locations around Mumbai including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
Local police call for urgent help from New Delhi as gunmen go on the rampage.Waiter Arjun (Dev Patel) is trapped in the hotel’s restaurant with head chef Hemant and several guests including David (Armie Hammer) and his heiress wife Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi), whose infant son is being cared for in their room by a nanny.
She is unaware of the bloodshed unfolding close by and David is terrified of the consequences if the terrorists reach their bedroom. David risks his life to sneak past the terrorists and shepherd Sally and his boy to safety.
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