Amazeballs

The war film has always been something of a contract with the audience, a pact that says: come, and I’ll show you the heat of heroism, the terror behind the steel, the struggle of boys made old by violence. What Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland have dared, in Warfare, is to tear up that contract and write something new and starker in its place: this is what it feels like to be trapped in someone else’s war, to be battered by noise and confusion, to never quite know who your enemy is or why you’re here, beyond some abstract equation of duty and disaster.

Gareth Evans, the kinetic firebrand behind The Raid, lets the bullets spray and bones crackle once again in Havoc, his latest Netflix spectacle. There is, at times, something almost musical to his violence—an arrhythmic percussion of bodies against concrete—that has been his signature since he left rural Wales for the Indonesian underworld. Havoc is, if nothing else, a thundering proof that Evans hasn’t lost his taste for bloody spectacle, even if his hand trembles when it comes time to string all the terrific chaos together.

After the garish, exhaust-spewing spectacle of most “political” thrillers, Steven Spielberg’s Munich arrives like a shock to the moral system—a slow-burning fever of a film, where triumph is measured not by body counts but by the corrosion of souls. Released in the long winter shadow of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, Munich isn’t content with the easy uplift of righteous action. No, Spielberg has something far more unsettling in mind: he gives us the nightmare of retaliation—personal, national, and ultimately, existential—and then refuses to wake us up.

Tokyo Revengers 2: Bloody Halloween - Decisive Battle electrifies audiences with a rousing finale to the Bloody Halloween arc, standing as a testament to the series' evolution. Following the groundwork laid in Tokyo Revengers 2 Part 1: Bloody Halloween - Destiny, this installment raises the stakes dramatically and delivers a fusion of visceral action and deep emotional resonance. Director Tsutomu Hanabusa artfully weaves a narrative rich in personal stakes and consequences as Takemichi Hanagaki, again portrayed by the compelling Takumi Kitamura, plunges into a chaotic gang war with unwavering resolve. What unfolds is a gripping exploration of friendship, sacrifice, and the relentless pursuit of a brighter future against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Tokyo Revengers 2 Part 1: Bloody Halloween - Destiny marks the continuation of the beloved manga's cinematic journey and is now accessible on various platforms. While director Tsutomu Hanabusa takes significant strides in character development, this middle chapter struggles under the weight of exposition, often sidelining the pulse-pounding action that initially defined the series. The film explores themes of friendship, sacrifice, and the complexity of time travel, yet it risks losing its audience in a narrative bogged down by intricate details.

Nobody is a 2021 action thriller that spins the mundane into a spectacularly violent reboot of the action genre, with a surprising twist: Bob Odenkirk at the helm. I found myself revisiting this film after watching Novocaine, which features an almost similar plot centered around ordinary lives spiraling into chaos; the contrast and overlap piqued my curiosity.