Mortal Kombat entertaining despite total lack of plot

After several failed attempts, an entertaining version of Mortal Kombat is here, while Jason Statham is back to his bald, British, belligerent best.

Wrath of Man, starring Jason Statham.

After several failed attempts, an entertaining movie version of popular 80s video game Mortal Kombat is finally here, while Jason Statham is back to his bald, British, belligerent best. And Sam Claflin and a lazy Casey Affleck star in a trashy thriller.

WRATH OF MAN (MA15+)

Jason not reclining, off his rocker

US, 105 min

The best in the business at being bald, British, belligerent and barely acting at all remains the one and only Jason Statham. The ‘Stath’ dusts off his full repertoire of scowls, grimaces and bitter winces for a most enjoyable heist flick directed by his old mate Guy Ritchie (The Gentlemen). Statham’s character goes by the name of H. For reasons that will not be given until well into the second hour of the picture, H has just taken a job with an armoured truck firm that seems well beneath his standing as a standover man of very ill repute. There might be a bit – no, make that a lot – of unrequited revenge involved, but that hardly matters once this unapologetic B-movie gets busy flexing some A-grade muscle. Despite a chaptered structure where we will be offered multiple perspectives on what has gotten H’s goat, all narrative roads head for one cracking mega-robbery climax which will put a broad, dopey smile on the faces of all action fans. The only downside is that the picture lacks the self-confident wit and snarky wordplay of Ritchie’s better works.

VERDICT: ***

Olivia Colman and Anthony Hopkins in The Father.

THE FATHER (M)

Time waits for no man … and weights on all men

UK, 97 min

83-year-old Anthony (an astonishing Anthony Hopkins) would have the world believe he is quite capable of looking after himself. However, the world that Anthony believes to still exist has crumbled into ruins long ago. A brutally blunt, yet beautifully honest portrait of a life ending before it is actually over, The Father capitalises on a towering, Oscar-winning performance from Hopkins. While this decorated actor applies pinpoint precision to his role, he also generates great poignancy as he shows us fleeting glimpses of the man Anthony once was, and never will be again.

VERDICT: ****1/2

Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion in Mortal Kombat. Picture: Warner Bros

MORTAL KOMBAT (R18+)

Win now or lose forever

US-Australia, 103 min

It has taken a few tries, but the movies have finally worked out how to adapt the long-running video game Mortal Kombat in an effective and entertaining way. Don’t bother with the plot (in which Earth must win a fight tournament against a world from an alternate dimension) and focus instead on the full-on ferocity of the action sequences. Stars Lewis Tan, Josh Lawson, Jessica McNamee.

VERDICT: ***

Andra Day stars in The United States vs Billie Holiday. Picture: Takashi Seida

THE UNITED STATES VS. BILLIE HOLIDAY (MA15+)

A sad song signals a sad end

US, 115 min

Andra Day’s portrayal of the legendary African-American singer Billie Holiday is completely worthy of the Best Actress Oscar nomination that came her way recently. What a shame the movie gets in one heck of a tongue-twisting tangle in trying to convey Holiday’s significance as an artist of colour in the 1940s and 50s. The movie bearing her name settles for a bullet-pointed, sub-Wikipedia approach to Billie Holiday, a fascinating, complex and contradictory soul who was so far ahead of her time it truly boggles the mind.

VERDICT: **1/2

Casey Affleck and Sam Claflin in trashy thriller Every Breath You Take.

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE (M)

Sigh-once fiction

US, 104 min

One of those trashy thrillers that would deliver the goods if you dozily or tipsily tripped over it on late-night TV. However, when the price of a cinema ticket is involved, the movie quickly becomes mighty hard to fall for. A low-energy Casey Affleck stars as Phillip, a prominent psychologist whose reputation takes a hit after a new treatment technique is linked to the death of a patient. Enter the dead woman’s brother, James (Sam Claflin), who is not the grief-stricken sibling he seems. In fact, almost as soon as he has sneakily slunk inside Phillip’s family circle, James reveals a crazy streak that points towards a three-way collision between Robert De Niro from Cape Fear, Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction, and Eric Roberts from Stalked By My Doctor.

VERDICT: **

Demián Bichir and Robin Wright in Land. Picture: Focus Features

LAND (M)

She leaps before she looks

US, 88 min

The one abiding mystery at the heart of Land is enough to keep you watching intently throughout. Robin Wright plays Edee, a woman who has ditched everything to live off the grid in the mountains of Wyoming. Is this an act of self-discovery or self-erasure? The answer is never made clear for much of Land’s running time, but you mind will race with your own hot takes and cold conspiracy theories. While you wait for a graceful final ‘reveal’, Edee gets some much needed training in how to fend for herself from a kindly neighbouring frontiersman named Miguel (a wonderful Demian Bichir). If you admired Nomadland and that more movies that strayed from familiar storytelling paths more often, then Land is the movie for you.

VERDICT: ***1/2

Twist should be given a wide berth.

TWIST (M)

Please sir, we want no more

UK, 83 min

Run, don’t walk, from anywhere that happens to be housing this half-baked turkey. While not unwatchable, it is unfathomably bad considering the talent involved and the source material used. The movie grabs that ol’ Charles Dickens chestnut Oliver Twist and stomps on it with the jackboots that seem to fit only those filmmakers who think a modern updating of anything is a good idea. Raff Law (son of Jude) actually goes OK in the title role. Same can’t be said of a terrible Rita Ora as Dodge (a gender-flipped Artful Dodger, in case you were wondering) and an openly disinterested Michael Caine as Fagin (now a posh collectibles trader). A big no.

VERDICT: *