★★
Something to do with a horse, a whip and a screaming woman. That’s just about it when it comes to motivating a psychopath in the world of Bad Samaritan, a Hitchcock-lite, cat and mouse thriller from Dean Devlin. After the preposterous bombast of the director’s first film – Geostorm – this sophomore effort is oddly innocuous.
★★★★
Albert Hughes’ first solo venture – finally apart from his brother and usual co-director Allen after a couple of false starts – is a remarkable cinematic achievement. Visually stunning from open to close, Alpha sees Hughes weave three familiar tales together – a son trying to appease his father, the bonding of boy and canine and the quest to journey home – into a captivating whole.
★★★
An illness has killed ninety per cent of the world’s children. Only a special few remain. Sound familiar? The Darkest Minds is a new entry into the lineage of dystopian teen adventures to be adapted from a successful young adult novel. It is a could-be franchise that probably won’t be, due to talented cast and crew not quite managing to stand out in the cluttered dystopian field.
The Film Blog 