David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Ralph Ineson’

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.

To Catch a Killer

Director: Damian Szifron

Cast: Shailene Woodley , Ben Mendelsohn, Ralph Ineson, Jovan Adepo, Jason Cavalier, Rosemary Dunsmore, Mark Camacho

Running Time: 1 hour and 59 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

PLEASE NOTE THIS FILM MIGHT ALSO BE KNOWN AS MISANTHROPE

IN OTHER WORLD TERRITORIES.

Argentinian Oscar winning director of Wild Tales, Damian Szifron directs his first English Language film: a murky and bloody detective story, To Catch a Killer starring Golden Globe nominee Shailene Woodley (The Descendants, Big Little Lies) as a rookie cop Eleanor Falco in Baltimore, Maryland who teams up with veteran FBI investigator Lamar, brilliantly played with a maverick style flair by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom, The Dark Knight Rises).

The pair team up with an arsonist investigator Mackenzie played by Babylon star Jovan Adepo when a lone marksman shoots 29 people dead in various Baltimore skyscrapers on New Year’s Eve.

The Trio upon increasing pressure from the FBI and city authorities are racing against time to find the perpetrator before another massacre occurs. That happens very soon in a city shopping mall, whereby the suspected killer is cornered in a food court and resorts to extreme violence to escape.

To Catch a Killer is a relevant film to watch at the time when America is experiencing its worse wave of gun violence in US history, with mass killings happening on a weekly basis in almost every state of the country. This film asks relevant questions. Why should individuals with severe mental illness or disabilities be allowed to carry heavy guns and deadly rifles? Why aren’t the laws in America strict enough? It’s a complex issue for a country of that size whereby the gun laws differ from state to state.

As a film, Szifron keeps the cinematic palette dark and saturated with murky colours adding a sombre ambience to a film about death and mass killings. Fortunately both Shailene Woodley and Ben Mendelsohn are talented actors to keep this distressing detective film engaging and thrilling. The best scenes in the film are between the two main leads.

Woodley is superb as the recovering drug addict turned investigator and Mendelsohn is excellent as the flamboyant lead detective on a prolific case which ultimately consumes his personal and professional life.

To Catch a Killer has enough plot twists to keep audiences guessing and when the killer is finally revealed, his blandness and ordinary status as an ex-abattoir worker makes his final confession even more chilling and psychopathic. In this case, the banality of evil is done for its own sake without any moral justification or redemption.

This film highlights the epidemic of gun violence currently sweeping America, the role that the media plays in this and the devastating personal cost which happens to the victims who are senselessly murdered and to the survivors that are traumatically left behind.

As Lamar says to Eleanor at the film’s beginning, “Opinions never caught anyone, but good detective works does”.

To Catch a Killer is an exciting but bleak look at gun violence, microscopic detective work and the toll that mass killings takes on a society. The film gets a rating of 7 out of 10 and will appeal to audiences that enjoy a gritty American detective story.