Movie Review: God Is A Bullet (2023)

Genre: Action Thriller Drama  

Director: Nick Cassavetes  

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Maika Monroe, Jamie Foxx  

Running Time (as reviewed): 120 minutes. The original "Director's Cut" is 156 minutes  

Synopsis: Devil-worshipping thugs led by Cyrus (Karl Glusman) murder the wife of detective Bob Hightower (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and kidnap his young daughter Gabi into their cult. Bob teams up with Case (Maika Monroe), an escapee from the cult, to track down Cyrus and attempt to rescue Gabi. They receive help from the mysterious "Ferryman" (Jamie Foxx), who has precognitive and healing powers.

What Works Well: This is a dark, moody, and exceptionally gory dramatic thriller. An adaptation of a Boston Teran book and supposedly based on actual events, the drama wades into a human sewer where soulless depravity thrives in the absence of light. Director Nick Cassavetes embraces a pessimistic milieu and allows Case's earned cynicism to grind away at Bob's religious beliefs. Bursts of bloody action mingle with uncompromising character interactions, both the violence and the dialogue descending into depths of despair.

What Does Not Work As Well: The drama lacks a sense of place, and the absence of pursuit logic and logistics is disorienting. Cyrus and his gang of goons are confined to tattoo-dominated cartoonish representations, and their exhibitions of evil are eventually exhausting. Both Bob (introduced as a desk detective) and Case (a badly damaged victim of abuse) evolve into remarkably capable action heroes.

Key Quote:

Case: The Devil's only an idea, Bob, an excuse for evil, just as your God is an excuse for good. They're concepts.

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Movie Review: The Day We Died (2020)

Also Known As: Powder Keg; Krudttønden  

Genre: Terrorism Drama  

Director: Ole Christian Madsen  

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lars Brygmann, Albert Arthur Amiryan  

Running Time: 106 minutes  

Synopsis: In 2015, the world is shocked when Islamist terrorists attack the Paris offices of the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine. In Copenhagen, documentary filmmaker Finn (Lars Brygmann) struggles with the degradation of free speech. Aging SWAT squadron leader Rico (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is resisting the reality that his banged-up body means his career is ending. And unemployed Dan Uzan volunteers as a security guard at a local synagogue. Meanwhile, serial criminal Omar (Albert Arthur Amiryan) is released from prison, having been radicalized by ISIS propaganda. He starts plotting an attack inspired by the Paris atrocities.

What Works Well: Based on actual events, the methodical retracing of four lives destined to violently collide carries the intensity of normalcy heading towards disaster. Without resorting to melodrama, director Ole Christian Madsen delves into the personal and professional hopes and frustrations of Finn (artist butting heads with financiers); Rico (staring at the end of an illustrious career); and Dan (still living in hope despite failing to launch). Omar's journey is not shortchanged, from angry young man with no prospects to radicalized terrorist-in-the-making.

What Does Not Work As Well: The mood is relentlessly dour, cold, and detached. No one seems to ever smile or encounter any moments of joy, as if all the characters are already aware of the drama's end. 

Key Quote:

Rico: Can we preserve that which makes us human?

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Movie Review: Mama (2013)

A horror ghost movie, Mama delivers traditional scares through the story of an angry spirit unwilling to let go of children in her care.

Distraught businessman Jeffrey Desange murders office colleagues and his ex-wife, then abducts his two young daughters Victoria and Lily. At an abandoned cabin deep in the woods Jeffery is about to harm the girls when a malevolent spirit intervenes. Five years later, trackers hired by Jeffrey's brother Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) find the two girls miraculously still alive, living in a feral state. 

With support from child psychologist Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss (Daniel Kash), Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel (Jessica Chastain), a heavy metal band member, gain custody. The girls have difficulty readjusting to a domestic environment and make repeated references to Mama. Annabel and Lucas realize a jealous spirit has moved in with the girls, while Dreyfuss uncovers a story from the late 1800s of a mother who attempted to escape with her baby from a now-abandoned mental institution.

With Guillermo del Toro serving as executive producer, Mama is a well-mounted horror film featuring children interacting with a monster, a theme of motherhood, and a ghost appearing in all the right places: through the walls, in the closet, and at a spooky cabin. The special effects are spectral and scary, heightened by the young girls' untamed physical behaviour. The mix between thrills and plot is balanced, and the performances are above-par, with Jessica Chastain adding welcome star power.

Through the character of Annabel, director Andy Muschietti (who co-wrote the script with his sister Barbara) finds a defining arc. Annabel's first action is a sigh of relief at a negative pregnancy test, and she does not hide an initial lack of interest in anything motherly as Lucas brings his nieces into their life. Her attachment to Victoria and Lily grows slowly and underpins the evolving dynamic, with Mama assessing her ability to maintain control over two girls she saved from a sure death.

The scares are hosted in two settings. The cabin in the woods is dark, dank and dusty, surrounded by creepy woods and dangerous cliffs. Muschietti finds reasons for frequent visits to provide Mama with her rural playground. The more urban setting is the large house provided to Lucas and Annabel by Dr. Drefuss, and it's full of narrow hallways, stairs, and not enough lighting. The camerawork here is playful, Muschietti often showing two rooms at once to build sly tension.

For the most part characters survive or expire in accordance with horror movie expectations, with just enough plot leftovers to justify a sequel. Mama has her uniquely obstinate ways of expressing motherly love, but she gets the job done.



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