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Abigail Movie Review: When pirouettes turn perilous

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Abigail Movie Review: When pirouettes turn perilous
Story: After abducting the ballerina daughter of a crime lord, a band of criminals seek refuge in a secluded mansion, oblivious to the truth behind the child they’ve trapped.

Review: Set against the eerie backdrop of a sprawling mansion, the film introduces us to a seemingly straightforward scenario: a group of disparate criminals abduct a young girl in the hopes of a big payout. However, as the story unfolds, it reveals a layered and darker narrative: the apparent victim, a young girl named Abigail, is anything but helpless. Directed by the duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, ‘Abigail’ reinvigorates the horror-thriller genre with a compelling twist on the classic kidnapping plot. The film would arguably be far more effective if the twist were hidden from its marketing, but ‘Abigail’ is still a compelling watch.

A lot of that is credited to the ‘little girl’ Abigail. Alisha Weir delivers a standout performance, masterfully oscillating between angelic innocence and chilling malevolence. Her balletic movements, which transition into deadly attacks, add a hauntingly beautiful dimension to her character’s ferocity. Dan Stevens excels as the mercurial ex-cop Frank, whose unpredictable nature keeps the audience on edge. Melissa Barrera’s nuanced performance as a tough yet motherly Joey adds emotional depth, portraying a conflicted figure who forms a surprising bond with Abigail. The rest of the cast also enriches the film’s dynamic by bringing their own complexities and secrets into play. The chemistry among the cast amplifies the energy, with each actor drawing on their strengths to elevate the narrative’s intensity and unpredictability.

While ‘Abigail’ excels in pushing boundaries with its graphic violence and rapid narrative shifts, these elements sometimes hamper the film’s pacing and coherence, especially in the third act. The visual style, marked by a gritty and dark aesthetic, intends to enhance the ambience but occasionally makes it difficult to appreciate the meticulous special effects and fight choreography that is central to the film. Despite these critiques, ‘Abigail’ tactfully combines character-driven storytelling without the usual trappings of a horror thriller. It meshes sharp, witty dialogue with brutal action to keep the audience engaged and guessing. This film not only pays homage to classic horror but also carves out its niche with a blend of gore and humour that turns a clichéd premise on its head.

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Movie Reviews

Movie Review | Ryan Gosling shines in sloppy slice of summer fun

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Movie Review | Ryan Gosling shines in sloppy slice of summer fun

Surely, Elísabet Ronaldsdóttir has had easier gigs.

Watching “The Fall Guy” — the big-screen take on the 1980s TV fave about a Hollywood stuntman who worked on the side as a bounty hunter that this week kicks off the summer movie season — you can’t help but think of its editor.

“The Fall Guy” is many things: an homage to the show; a romance; a vehicle for stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt; a large-scale action flick; and a love letter to stunt performers — those who do the dangerous work or, as the movie suggests early on, get to do “the cool stuff.”

It is big, and it is messy, but Ronaldsdóttir has helped mold it into something that, while lumpy and misshapen, is more entertaining than not.

This isn’t her first cinematic rodeo with director David Leitch, having collaborated with him on hit movies including such winners as 2017’s “Atomic Blonde” and 2018’s “Deadpool 2,” so she surely knew what she was signing up for.

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It is, of course, entirely fitting that Leitch sat in the director’s chair for “The Fall Guy,” as he once was a stuntman himself. Famously, he was Brad Pitt’s stunt double on 1999’s “Fight Club.”

Here, the stuntman is Gosling’s Colt Seaver, the movie borrowing the name of Lee Majors’ hero from the TV series, which ran from 1981 to ’86.

When we meet Colt, he’s at the top of his game, specializing in being the stunt double for Hollywood megastar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Leitch’s “Bullet Train”). On the set of a big movie — Leitch and another frequent collaborator, director of photography Jonathan Sela, appear to take great pleasure in showing off the scale of such a shoot with a couple of elaborate shots — Colt is about to perform a huge fall.

On the way up to his starting point, he flirts via walkie-talkie with camera operator Jody Moreno (Blunt), the two talking about how, after the movie wraps, they could grab a couple of swimsuits — or, as a Brit such as herself would say, “swimming costumes” — hit a beach somewhere and enjoy a few margaritas, as well as the bad decisions to which they lead.

The fall goes badly.

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Eighteen months later, Colt, perhaps more psychologically damaged than physically so, is out of the stunt game, making a living by parking cars for a Mexican restaurant. And, having long ago pushed away a caring Jody, he is a walking pile of regret.

When old producer friend Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham of “Ted Lasso”) calls, asking him to be a last-minute fill-in on a set in Sydney, Australia, he declines. She then tells him it’s for Jody’s directorial debut and that his old flame requested him.

He says he’ll need an aisle seat.

Upon arriving at the shoot and set to do a car stunt known as a cannon roll, he complains about the sand on which he’ll be driving on — it’s, um, not dense enough — to another old pal, stunt coordinator Dan Tucker (Winston Duke of “Black Panther”), who coaxes him into the car.

The stunt goes well, save for Colt destroying a camera tracking his car, but Jody is shocked to learn he is behind the wheel. She did NOT, in fact, request him.

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Unable to kick him off the project, she instead sets him on fire repeatedly for one scene. Between these hot takes, her frustration via bullhorn over what happened in their relationship under the thinly veiled guise of talking about the lead characters in her epic science-fiction romance flick, “Metalstorm.’

At the end of the day, Colt gets into a truck, cranks a Taylor Swift song, thinks about their time together and cries — at least until Jody catches him. They talk, and while it’s clear feelings still exist between them, they agree to keep things very “profesh.”

Colt soon has bigger problems than Jody, as Gail has secretly recruited him to find the movie’s missing star, the aforementioned Tom Ryder. She convinces Colt that to save Jodie’s movie, the cops must be kept out of it, and he agrees to take on the task.

From here, “The Fall Guy” keeps things really loose, Leitch and writer Drew Pearce (“Iron Man 3,” Leitch’s “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”) prioritizing action and gags over clear storytelling. (Hey, it’s now summer at the movies — what did you expect?)

As Colt works to uncover the mystery of Tom’s disappearance, Gosling does a lot of the heavy lifting to keep “The Fall Guy” from falling apart. He brings some leftover “Ken”-ergy from the cultural event that was last year’s “Barbie,” for which he earned a well-deserved nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He nails every important line read with great Kenfidence, er, confidence.

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One of the movie’s issues is that Jody becomes a glorified background player, not the best use of the talents of Blunt, a four-time Oscar nominee including for her work in the other half 2023’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, “Oppenheimer.” “The Fall Guy” would have benefited from a setup that gave more time with its leads together. (One of the movie’s many meta moments has them talking via split-screen as Jody talks about its potential use in her movie, Leitch deciding to educate us on that filmmaking choice and others.)

So, OK, “The Fall Guy” leaves you wanting a bit more, but it succeeds as a two-hour excuse to shove buttery popcorn into your mouth.

And those hoping for a nod to the show beyond the initial offering of closing credits, which feature the “Unknown Stuntman” theme song from the show, should stick around for an extra treat.

Yes, “The Fall Guy” makes a bit of a mess of things, but it sure has fun doing it.

“The Fall Guy” is rated PG-13 for action and violence, drug content and some strong language. Runtime: 2 hours, 6 minutes.

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Movie Reviews

The Fall Guy review: The Ryanaissance continues, while Emily Blunt shines in this screwball comedy

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The Fall Guy review: The Ryanaissance continues, while Emily Blunt shines in this screwball comedy

In cinemas; Cert 12A

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in ‘The Fall Guy’

Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) was the best stuntman in the business before a nasty accident derailed his career. There is always a way back and, after a tetchy film producer reaches out, Colt agrees to dust off his jumpsuit for a big-budget sci-fi epic directed by his ex-girlfriend, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).

An awkward situation, and it gets weirder: the film’s leading man, Tom Ryder (Aaron ­Taylor-Johnson) is missing, and its producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham) thinks he may have fallen in with the wrong crowd. It’s up to Colt, then, to track him down, save the movie and win back the girl of his dreams.

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Loosely inspired by the Lee ­Majors TV series, The Fall Guy makes a lot of noise, some of it not entirely unpleasant. Come for the fist-fights, the explosions, and the self-aware punchlines; stay for a classy screwball comedy about a broken-hearted filmmaker and her bumbling stunt performer.

The Ryanaissance continues, and Gosling is having the time of his life here. Blunt, meanwhile, is the beating heart of this daft presentation. David Leitch’s film is far too pleased with itself, but our handsome leads make it work.

Three stars

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Movie Reviews

Movie Reviews: ‘Challengers’

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Movie Reviews: ‘Challengers’

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