David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Joseph Quinn’

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.

Gladiator II

Director: Ridley Scott

Cast: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Quinn, Derek Jacobi, Fred Hechinger, Rory McCann, Matt Lucas, Tim McInnerny

Running Time: 2 hours and 28 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

PLEASE NOTE THIS FILM IS EXTREMELY VIOLENT AND NOT SUITABLE FOR SENSITIVE VIEWERS

Sir Ridley Scott excels himself in the much anticipated sequel to the 2000 hit film Gladiator, Gladiator II assembling an international cast with Danish actress Connie Nielsen reprising her role as Lucilla and newcomer Oscar nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) taking on the role of Lucius, the forgotten son of Lucilla who is captured in Africa in 200 AD and returned to Rome. Pedro Pascal (The Great Wall, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) plays the Roman army general Marcus Acacius, tough and strategic but unwillingly to continue serving at the whim of tyrant twin emperors.

Lucius soon becomes the property of the wily and politically astute gladiator trader and confidant to the twin emperors Macrinus superbly played with wit and brutality by double Oscar winner Denzel Washington (Training Day, Glory). Denzel Washington is superb in this role and deserves a 3^rd Oscar presenting his character to Lucius as a friend who needs to use Lucius as his blunt instrument as he secretly devises a coup to get rid of the crazy twin emperors and make a power grab.

Rome in 200 AD is a heady, extravagant and brutal city, ruled by twin brothers Emperor Geta played by Joseph Quinn (A Quiet Place Day One) and Emperor Caracalla played by Fred Hechinger. Young men, covered with makeup, mischief and a malevolence as they lust for watching gladiators being viciously executed in the Coliseum, Rome’s temple to the blood lust. The Emperors are unhinged in a seriously bad way and the Romans are beginning to realize that the twins supposedly raised by wolves are not the most ideal political leaders. Macrinus is aware of their shortcomings.

Gladiator II is a vast and ambitious film, expertly directed by Ridley Scott who fantastically captures the grandeur of the Roman capital, the lavishness of the city and the brutality of the population increasingly hungry for more tyranny and madness. The Gladiators have to fight Rhinos and in a particularly bizarre scene have to re-enact a naval battle scene between the Praetorian Guard and surly Gladiators amidst a coliseum flooded with shark infested waters.

With electrifying screen presence, Paul Mescal whose international stardom will be cemented in Gladiator II is the central muscular hero of a film, whose brilliant elocution of lines and classical good looks with Mescal’s icy blue eyes portraying a vulnerability suppressed by his brute strength and desire for violence and vengeance.

Mescal’s Lucius is a complex man, torn by a classical past but thrust into a decadent world filled with revenge and hatred. Lucius demands a just and unified Rome as dreamt up by his grandfather Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

With a beautiful score by Harry Gregson-Williams and a surprising script by David Scarpa, whose labyrinthine tale will deliver enough shocks and twists, ensuring that Gladiator II is a fascinating and brittle tale of how vanity and power corrupts a once noble empire. In this Roman epic, one man’s destiny can only be salvaged at the expense of another man’s demise.

There are lots of plot twists in Gladiator II but overall the film is superb, an epic Roman tale about greed, power and the collapse of tyranny.

Ridley Scott outdoes himself and Gladiator II should be recognized at the 2025 Oscars for Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and of course Best Actor for Paul Mescal and Supporting Actor for Denzel Washington. Both Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington are brilliant in this lavish epic. Be dazzled and see it in cinemas on the biggest screen possible.

Gladiator II gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10, stunning, sumptuous and filled with shocking scenes that will both repel and fascinate the viewer held together by two excellent performances. It’s a bloody entertaining epic and recommended viewing especially for history buffs.