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The Fanatic (2019)
Every nice thing I can say about this movie comes with a caveat.
The Fanatic boasts committed performances from John Travolta and Devon Sawa and a fairly decent director in Fred Durst, but they're buried under bad writing, clashing tones, and a transparent lack of research into Autism. As someone with Autism, that last one is especially painful to watch.
Travolta is good, but his portrayal of ASD is so basic and stereotypical that I guarantee the extent of their research was Googling "Symptoms of Autism". One of the first ones listed is saying inappropriate things, and Travolta's first line is "I can't talk very long, I have to poo."
This is not an authentic portrayal of Autism, this is a caricature of it.
Sawa is good, and I was genuinely interested in his character, but he's clearly playing second fiddle to Travolta, and his character's story is underdeveloped and leaves a lot to be desired.
Fred Durst makes a surprisingly decent director, but even he couldn't save this movie.
The New Mutants (2020)
Headline.
Back when this movie was scheduled for a 2019 release, I predicted that it would be better than Dark Phoenix, but Dark Phoenix would make more money. I was right about the first part, and I guarantee I'll be right about the second part.
The New Mutants is a perfect example of an above average yet flawed movie that is elevated by its characters. The cinematography and editing are good, the writing and musical score are very good, and the effects are great. Blu Hunt, Maisie Williams, Charlie Heaton, Henry Zaga, and Alice Braga are great, and Anya Taylor-Joy is fantastic. Magik is by far the most interesting character, and Taylor-Joy does a solid Russian accent, at least to my barely-trained ears. Also, Charlie Heaton does a very good Kentucky accent. The characters' relationships develop naturally, and Blu Hunt and Maisie Williams are adorable together. The story moves along at a nice steady pace, never feeling rushed or stretched.
The New Mutants isn't perfect, but it's definitely one of the better X-Men movies.
Hanna (2019)
My reviews of Seasons 1 & 2.
Season 1:
I've now seen the 2011 film Hanna, and the show is a near-perfect blend of faithfulness and new ideas.
Hanna's plot elements are, for the most part, nothing we haven't seen before. We have a teenage assassin living in isolation because they were made to be a superhuman killer and the government wants them back. We have a teenager who has spent their whole life in isolation discovering a normal life and wanting more of it. We have an overprotective parental figure who keeps the teenage assassin's true origin a secret because they're afraid of how the teenage assassin might react to the truth and they want to protect the teenage assassin from anything and everything. We have a high-level government agent who has committed horrible atrocities and learned to live with them discovering that those same atrocities, along with even worse ones, are being committed without their knowledge. All of these are things we've seen many times before, both better and worse. Thankfully, Hanna at least uses and executes these plot points well, and it has some fairly original plot points mixed in with the more generic ones.
Esme Creed-Miles is truly outstanding. She is very natural, and her performance alone is enough to carry the show, though thankfully it doesn't have to. Joel Kinnaman has never been a great actor in my opinion, but his performance in this show is very good. Mireille Enos is fantastic, and her performance the second best of the series after Creed-Miles. Rhianne Barreto and Khalid Abdalla are both great as well. Additionally, the show borrows a page from Inglourious Bastards (2009) by having all the characters speak the proper languages and use the proper accents of the country they're from, and the show benefits greatly from this.
On the technical side of things, the cinematography in the show is better than most action/thriller shows. The editing, while nothing exceptional, is very good. The musical score is great, and the original song Anti-Lullaby by Karen O is beautiful, melancholy, and perfectly sums up the show's themes and tone.
On top of all that, the action is well-choreographed without it being obvious that it's choreographed, and while it does have some quick cuts, they're not overused and the action is fairly easy to follow.
As a whole, Hanna has a familiar but well-written plot, a somewhat slow pace, above-average action, acting that ranges from good to phenomenal, and high enough stakes to keep audiences engaged.
My rating: 7/10
Season 2:
With the events of the 2011 film covered in Season 1, Season 2 of Hanna is free to take the story in whatever direction it wants, and the result is a natural progression of both characters and plot.
Esme Creed-Miles is fantastic, playing Hanna with a perfect blend of strength and vulnerability - and portraying her differently enough from Saoirse Ronan to stand on her own. Mireille Enos is great, and she has strong chemistry with new addition Dermot Mulroney. Yasmin Monet Prince, Áine Rose Daly, Cherrelle Skeete, Anthony Welsh, Gianna Kiehl, and Angela Sari are all good if not great.
The story delves more into the conspiracies, secrets, cover-ups, lies, etc, established in both the film and Season 1, and it explores them to a satisfying extent while also doing some more world building. The plot is full of ideas and scenarios that have been done before in other spy thrillers and character dramas, but each one feels like a natural progression of the story, and the writers never sacrifice character consistency for the sake of moving things along. Fortunately, they add enough new ideas to keep viewers guessing. The story also explores characters on all sides of the board, fleshing them out and developing them into realistic and believable people.
The action has improved slightly, though there are a couple fights that are confusing to follow. As in Season 1, the European setting allows the show to explore a variety of interesting locations, and the visual aesthetic is never boring. The pacing, while still slow, is more balanced than Season 1, making for a slightly more enjoyable viewing experience.
Overall, Hanna Season 2 is an improvement on Season 1, setting up more while still answering enough questions to satisfy most viewers.
My rating: 8/10