So here’s a little fact about me. I used to write screenplays when I was younger. They were mostly just action or horror stories, but I would read the screenplays to some of my favourite films to get a sense of how to structure them. I mostly did it for fun, but I had the hope that one day I’d be able to bring them to life, despite the more cynical (or realistic) people in my life very bluntly telling…

Most of my reviews are just me verbally vomitting up my thoughts. For this one I thought I’d attempt something a little more structured. I still might not be able to help a bit of gushing off on a tangent here and there so please excuse me if I start to sound a bit incoherent.

This movie is peak cinematic escapism. It’s being transported to this fantasical, invented universe, forming connections with it’s vast array of characters and relationships, and…

Lots about this movie is very technically impressive, the grand, lavish sets, the costumes, the epic scale of set pieces with hundreds of choreographed extras. If nothing else it’s a spectacle. But that only does so much when the fundamentals are this shallow and the story is this heavy handed and dated. Charles Huston is presented as this Christ-like saviour whose influence the locals would fall apart without, while Lawrence Oliver, aside from, y’know, is played like a cartoon villain.…