Zero (R)
Directed by Jean Luc Herbulot
★★★

HERE is the gist: two (North) Americans played with some self-deprecating charm by Hus Miller (co-writer) and Cameron McHarg wake up in separate places in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, with suicide explosives belts strapped to them.

To their unpleasant surprise, the bombs appear synchronised and immune to disabling or removal.

A voice in their mobiles, relayed from an overhead drone, tasks them with four jobs they will be required to discharge, in quick succession, before being freed.

The attached timers give them nine hours, so a frantic and largely nonsensical race against time ensues as each task requires them to plant a concealed explosive device on designated human targets.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this is an elaborate farce, as the over-the-top comedic “bad acting” is immersed in feverish and chaotic action reminiscent of Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd.

But sadly it isn’t, and not just because humour or irony are absent, but because by the second murder the film director’s poor effort at fashioning a political thriller becomes undone by the anarchic nihilism, and excessively pretentious political discourse.

The omnipresent, almost programmatic, machismo that permeates this “flick” may reflect realities on the ground but only succeeds in extending the gender tone-deafness, with women as peripheral backdrop.

Admittedly, the cinematography is impressively delivered, but the exhausting visual style is one of video games — perhaps in a deliberate effort to capture gaming audiences familiar with such constructs.

The “executed” are all prominent Islamists, which sparks a mass rebellion by the masses (illustrated by a liberally used newsreal material of the June 2023 Dakar riots) fuelled by anti-US imperialism’s sentiment of the “great Satan.” Preaching to the converted, but fair enough.

The concluding self-congratulatory pontifications by the “drone voice,” making the final “political points,” border on the imbecilic and patronising, the risk you run when overindulging or taking yourself too seriously.

For one of the critics, Zero was also the sum total of the entertainment value on offer, describing it as a “dreadful dud” and it is hard to disagree.

Give it a try if you’re a gamer… for the rest may it suffice to say that a Costa Gavras it ain’t and much less Pontecorvo.

MB

In cinemas, July 24 and digital platforms from August 11.

Bring Her Back (18)
Directed by Danny and Michael Philippou
★★★★

THREE years after their critically acclaimed debut film Talk To Me, the Philippou brothers are back with a deliciously chilling supernatural body horror which shows they are not a one-hit wonder.

This slow-burning, complex and extremely gory thriller, set in South Australia, follows Andy (Billy Barratt) and his partially sighted stepsister Piper (remarkable newcomer Sora Wong) who are placed into care following their father’s death. They are sent to live with Laura (Sally Hawkins), a foster mother and former counsellor, who also fosters a young mute boy Oliver (an impressive Jonah Wren Phillips) with a ravenous appetite.

Laura appears very loving and caring until the siblings uncover a frightening ritual at their new and secluded home.  

Hawkins has an innate ability to humanise obsessive and extreme characters and, in this case, an unhinged one. She gives a terrifying tour-de-force performance, while Barratt, another Brit playing Australian, is a total revelation holding his own opposite her. 

Once the tension begins to rack up, exponentially it becomes a heart stopping, edge of your seat, bone chilling horror. Again this isn’t for the faint hearted. 

MD

In cinemas July 26.

Gazer (15)
Directed by Ryan J Sloan
★★★

THIS atmospheric and almost dreamlike tense mystery thriller with Hitchcockian overtones is an impressive debut feature from electrician turned film-maker Ryan J Sloan, and is a testament to independent film-making.

Shot over two-and-a-half years, guerilla-style, on a shoestring budget and on 16mm, Sloan directed, produced, edited and co-wrote it with Ariella Mastroianni who also produced. She also stars as Frankie, a young single mother with degenerative dyschronometria, a rare condition which means she struggles to perceive the passage of time. She uses cassette tapes to stop zoning out and losing time. In order to support her young daughter, being cared for by her paternal grandmother, she takes a risky high-paid job from a mysterious woman (Renee Gagner) which leads her awry. 

With a standout central performance by Mastroianni, and gorgeous visuals, this haunting and surreal homage to film noir punches well above its weight. Like Frankie it is difficult to determine what is real and what is imagined as the film explores paranoia, taking you down a rabbit hole. 

The enigmatic ending leaves you as discombobulated as Frankie.

MD

In cinemas July 25.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (12A)
Directed by Matt Shakman
★★★★

THEY say third time’s a charm and that is certainly the case for this remake of The Fantastic Four with its ingenious and sumptuous retro visuals and its engaging superheroes. 

Set in an alternate Earth in the futuristic looking early 1960s, it is four years since Marvel’s First Family were transformed and are now beloved by everyone. 

Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) are now married and about to become parents and live with Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) in a high-tech pad reminiscent of The Jetsons. 

Filmed in IMAX, the attention to comic-book detail is impressive and looks absolutely stunning as The Fantastic Four take on the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) and Galactus (Ralph Ineson). 

It is both funny and poignant and, finally, a reboot of the Fantastic Four that is worth watching. 

MD

In cinemas now.