David R. Walker

Archive for July, 2025

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Director: Matt Shakman

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Gatiss, Sarah Niles

Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

It’s the third time lucky for the Fantastic Four franchise, with two previous remakes in 2005 and 2015 and now in 2025, director Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is the flashy remake that Marvel needs to reboot itself for the next five years.

Reuniting Pedro Pascal with his Gladiator II co-star, Joseph Quinn, Fantastic Four: First Steps also stars Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) as Reed Richards wife Susan Storm along with The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bacharach as Ben Grimm making up the superhero quartet.

What makes this Fantastic Four: First Steps so brilliant, is that the entire production design by Kasra Farahani is comfortably nestled in a 1960’s nostalgia, down to the sleek cars and retro décor as the city of New York and the wider world is threatened by a malevolent celestial being called Galactus voiced by Ralph Ineson whose rapacious hunger turns to the destruction of Earth.

Naturally the inhabitants of New York turn to The Fantastic Four for salvation from utter annihilation. However in order to save the earth the Fantastic Four or more specifically the love child of Reed Richards and Susan Storm has to be offered up as sacrifice.

Fortunately the onscreen chemistry of these four actors that make up The Fantastic Four is superb particularly the two lead stars, Pedro Pascal, the it man of the moment in Hollywood who made his famous debut in HBO’s Game of Thrones and British star Vanessa Kirby who rose to fame in the hit Netflix series The Crown.

With great acting from both stars, Kirby and Pascal are comfortably compatible together while Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are perfectly suited as the goofy uncles. Audiences should look out for cameo roles by TV star Natasha Lyonne as Ben Grimm’s love interest and Julia Garner (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as the intergalactic silver surfer Shalla-Bal who brings news to earth of the planet’s imminent destruction.

Other cameos include Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell, Cruella, BlackKKlansman) as the underground leader Harvey Elder along with Mark Gatiss as the talk show host who helps to create media hype about the blue clad Fantastic Four.

With retro 1960’s costumes perfectly designed by Oscar winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and visually arresting special effects, Fantastic Four: First Steps is a thrilling galactic adventure about the power of family and the resilience of unity amidst impending doom, as the Fantastic Four all stick together to save earth and the baby boy, whose cuteness factor rivals Krypto in Superman.

From directing episodes of great TV shows like Succession, Game of Thrones and Billions, director Matt Shakman effortlessly transfers his talents to the big screen with this highly successful 2025 version of Fantastic Four: First Steps.

As Joseph Quinn’s character Johnny Storm says to the silver surfer, I am just trying to save my world, Fantastic Four: First Steps saves the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reinvents it for the arrival of the Avengers. This fantasy adventure features a focused cast, fabulous production and costume design, astonishing visual effects and a clean retro set narrative filled with rejuvenation and hope.

Fantastic Four: First Steps gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is by far the best film of the 2025 American summer blockbuster season. See it now in cinemas.

God’s Work

Director: Michael James

Cast: Thobani Nzuza, Mbulelo Radebe, Zenzo Msomi, Omega Mncube, Aaron McIroy, Nduduzo Khowa

Running Time: 2 hours and 7 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Festival: Durban International Film Festival  – https://ccadiff.ukzn.ac.za/

Please note this film has not been rated yet

Durban based film director Michael James expertly and inventively shines a light on the plight of the city’s homeless population or the unhoused in his debut full length feature film entitled God’s Work which had its glittering and packed South African premiere at the 46^th Durban International Film Festival on Sunday 20^th July 2025 at Durban’s Suncoast Casino and Entertainment Complex.

Often as urban dwellers we simply drive past the homeless population in Durban or just ignore them. Durban like many cities around South Africa and the world has a growing homeless situation and James creates a self–reflexive tale about a group of homeless men lead by the haunted drug addict Simphiwe played by Thobani Nzuza along with fellow actors Mbulelo Radebe, Omega Mncube, Siya Xaba, Zenzo Msomi and Nduduzo Khowa who star in supporting roles.

God’s Work bravely explores the plight of homelessness in a mockumentary style film which is both poignant, uncomfortable and shocking.

Shot around Durban’s inner city, the story also written by Michael James follows Simphiwe and his friends as they are initially approached by a film director to make a documentary about homelessness and then the group’s struggle with drug addiction, extreme poverty and harassment by less than savoury law enforcement officers. Some of the films scenes did go on too long and needed to be edited for the sake of brevity.

God’s Work is at time very funny and also quite shocking as it explores the misadventures of Simphiwe and his friends as they attempt to rob a shady drug dealer named Biko, run into a crazy political activist featuring a great cameo by Durban comedian Aaron McIroy (Spud, Spud 2: The Madness Continues, Spud 3: Learning to Fly) and also deal with the impending political march of a militant political party determined to recruit them.

As Simphiwe’s journey is both emotional and physically exhausting, he confronts his turbulent relationship with his absent alcoholic mother in a confessional scene in St Emmanuel’s Cathedral in central Durban, after which he and his friends get arrested for vagrancy and deported out of the city to a distant rural location.

God’s Work highlights both the tenacity of the unhoused and also their determination to survive in gruelling conditions on poverty stricken streets while battling addiction and harassment.

Director Michael James wants the audience to feel uncomfortable watching this film, which makes the film relevant and difficult to watch.

While the humour is appreciated, the film’s tone is unrelentingly sombre, which serves its purpose of highlighting the dire circumstances of the unhoused in the face of government, social and economic indifference.

God’s Work is a creative and social journey into the unwanted areas of urban society, a brave and fearless tale of hope, loss and survival.

This film is not for everyone, but it will strike a chord with the socially conscious and will definitely serve as a talking point for deeper conversations about complex urban problems which many cities face.

For sheer inventiveness and bravery, God’s Work gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is recommending viewing for those that enjoy gritty urban cinema.  

Four Letters of Love

Director: Polly Steele

Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter, Gabriel Byrne, Donal Finn, Fionn O’Shea, Ann Skelly, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo

Running Time: 2 hours and 5 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

British director Polly Steele directs a magic realist love story set in Ireland in the early 1970’s in the film adaptation of the novel by Niall Williams entitled Four Letters of Love.

This quirky Irish film has a solid supporting cast including Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter (The Wings of a Dove, The King’s Speech), Pierce Brosnan and Gabriel Byrne but it is the young stars who shine in this uneven tale of forgotten chances, artistic temperaments, mistakes and miracles.

Four Letters of Love focuses on the lives of two young people, Nicholas Coughlin played by the dashing star Fionn O’Shea and the headstrong Isabel Gore wonderfully played by Ann Skelly.

As Nicholas and Isabel’s lives almost cross on a bus one afternoon, it is their families that force fate to intervene and eventually the two meet at the home of Isobel’s eccentric parents beautifully played by Helena Bonham Carter and her father the poet played by Gabriel Byrne.

Nicholas’s family circumstances are somewhat more complex as his father William Coughlin well played by Pierce Brosnan decides to chuck in his work as a civil servant to rather go painting in the West of Ireland leaving Nicholas’s mother to have a nervous breakdown and the young man to fend for himself. Soon Nicholas follows his father to the remote part of Western Ireland and the artistic temperaments earn his father a formidable painting which is put up as first prize in a community poetry competition ironically won by Isabel’s father Muiris Gore.

Gabriel Byrne is perfect as the brooding poet who is angry with God for allowing his young strapping son to have a stroke and is battling to deal with his headstrong daughter. Isabel defies the nuns and soon meets a wastrel of a young man Peader played by Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (CODA, Sing Street).

Four Letters of Love only takes off in the second half of the film and while the odd touches of magic realism in the story generally confuse the narrative as opposed to clarifying it, director Polly Steele allows some scenes to linger too long and only realizes that she has such a talented actress as Helena Bonham Carter in her film, breathing life into her character only towards the end.

As Nicholas accidentally meets Isabel and her poet father and crafty mother, Four Letters of Love is a bizarre Irish film which is both charming and confusing at times.

Unfortunately this Irish film is not a touch on the Oscar nominated Banshees of Inisherin but it is worth seeing. Four Letters of Love is a quirky romantic drama held together by two strong performances by Fionn O’Shea and Ann Skelly.

Four Letters of Love gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended viewing for those that enjoy obscure Irish cinema. Good to see Pierce Brosnan in so many films again.

Superman

Director: James Gunn

Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Alan Tudyk, Nicholas Hoult, Bradley Cooper, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Rooker, Wendell Pierce, Nathan Fillion, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Frank Grillo, Skyler Gisondo, Edi Gathegi, William Reeve, Milly Alcock

Running Time: 2 hours and 9 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

If it wasn’t for clever casting of the two main leads for Superman this film would have collapsed. In actual fact at some point the narrative caved in on itself in a horrific pastiche of social media, aliens, technology and monkeys on keyboards that for a moment I thought I wasn’t watching a superhero film.

Director James Gunn went from Guardians of the Galaxy to bringing his bizarre off beat style to Superman which in some parts of this film were just terrible and in other scenes just like a CGI car crash overtaken by malevolent artificial intelligence.

Fortunately James Gunn had two superb lead actors to take on the iconic role of Superman and Lois Lane in the form of the highly talented duo David Corenswet (Twisters) and Rachel Brosnhan (The Amateur). The towering and smouldering David Corenswet was brilliant as Superman and his journalist alter ego Clark Kent as he tries to save Metropolis from the evil grip of the megalomaniac and lethal Lex Luthor this time underplayed by Nicholas Hoult whose villain was just not villainous enough. In the scenes between Superman and Lex Luthor, it just comes off as two grown men fighting over a dog.

That’s the other good thing about the film which kids will absolutely adore. Krypto the dog steals the show as Superman’s canine companion. Who doesn’t love a hunk in a cape with a misbehaving dog?

Superman as a storyline was all over the charts, with strange allegorical conflicts happening elsewhere along with additional superheroes arriving as a back up army to assist the Man of Steel. The action at some point just reveal a vortex of chaos, saved only by some really beautiful scenes between Lois and Superman.

The onscreen chemistry between David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan is exact and endearing however the rest of the storyline is a chaotic mess. If they do a sequel to this film, please employ a decent scriptwriter.

The backstory of Superman as Clark Kent growing up in rural Kansas is only briefly touched upon in one sparkling pastoral scene between Clark and his adopted father Pa Kent played by Pruitt Taylor Vince (Constantine, Monster).  

Nicholas Hoult who was so brilliant in such art house films as Yorgos Lanthimos’s Oscar winning The Favourite is slightly lacklustre as a frustrated tech billionaire who will stop at nothing to destroy Metropolis and take over the world. Hoult must have got his villain inspiration from a younger version of Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill, except that Walken made audiences believe he was a psychopath. It’s all in the eyes.

Superman is going to make lots of money at the box office and while it is not a bad film, it is not brilliant either and with expectations so high, unfortunately the chaotic scenes outweigh the shining moments.

See Superman for David Corenswet and his dog. The cinema experience rests shakily on a shambolic screenplay which will appeal to some but not many. Audiences should look out for former Superman star Christopher Reeve’s son William Reeve as a TV reporter.

Superman gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and has its moments and it’s definitely not as good as Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel. The best part about this cloaked drama is the ending.

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Director: Gareth Edwards

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Rupert Friend, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Manuel Garcia-Ruflo, Ed Skrein, Bechir Sylvain, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda

Running Time: 2 hours and 13 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Rogue One and Godzilla director Gareth Edwards returns to the big screen with the latest instalment of the Jurassic franchise in the impressive new chapter, Jurassic World: Rebirth.

Unlike 2022’s explosive and character heavy Jurassic World: Dominion, Jurassic World: Rebirth has a much tighter narrative and centres on the stories of four characters.

Rupert Friend (Canary Black, Asteroid City, The French Dispatch) plays slimy and well suited pharmaceutical executive Martin Krebs who hires operations expert Zora Bennett wonderfully played by Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson (JoJo Rabbit, Marriage Story) to lead an expedition to the equator to extract DNA from three species of dinosaurs living on a remote tropical island in a bid to find the ingredients for a new drug to prevent cardiac arrests in humans. Zora Bennett is joined by palaeontologist Dr Henry Loomis expertly played by Jonathan Bailey (Wicked, Testament of Youth) as they head to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The trio are joined by boat captain Duncan Kincaid played by two time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Green Book) as they head to into the unknown to an island so treacherous that only heroes are left alive.

Parallel to their expedition, is a father sailing across the Atlantic with his two daughters, Reuben Delgado played by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Magnificent Seven, Murder on the Orient Express) whose beautiful yacht is capsized by a monstrous prehistoric sea creature

Reuben and his daughters are rescued by Zora’s expedition but soon things go horribly wrong just before they reach the island.

The storyline of Jurassic World: Rebirth resembles more of a horror thriller than an adventure narrative as the human contingent are slowly decimated by a T Rex and a couple more nefarious dinosaurs. This film is part a disaster movie and a survival tale but what makes it so much fun are the exciting sequences in which the characters try to outwit these prehistoric menaces, particularly the scene with the inflatable boat on the murky river and the end sequence in an abandoned DNA testing station complete with an eerie backup generator.

From falling off cliffs to river rafting, from escaping burning boats to dodging dangerous dinosaurs, Jurassic World: Rebirth delivers on the entertainment front with an enthusiastic cast that keeps the survival narrative thrilling and edgy. The production design and stunts are amazing assisted by a great cast held together by Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali in a film expertly directed by Gareth Edwards who keeps the pacing this side of panicky and that side of enthralling. The audience won’t be disappointed.

Jurassic World: Rebirth gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is fine entertainment for those that love the Jurassic franchise and are fans of vicious monster films. Highly recommended viewing. See it on the big screen.