October Movie Reviews (The Beasts, Totally Killer, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One)
This month so far, I’ve watched three new releases: a French movie you probably haven’t heard of, Amazon Prime’s newest horror film (just in time for Halloween), and Tom Cruise’s latest Mission: Impossible blockbuster. Are any of the three worthy of your allotted valuable movie-viewing hours?
The Beasts (2022)
Greenwich Entertainment, 138 minutes
The Beasts is a well-made, but far too slow paced French thriller. It’s definitely a film that could’ve benefited from being at least half an hour shorter. Plot-wise, this is basically a French “neighbors from Hell”-type story. The movie’s protagonist and his wife live on a beautiful organic farm that would be perfect if not for two awful brothers who live next door.
As tensions rise between the sets of neighbors and their bad interactions with one another continue to escalate, viewers are meant to feel suspense increase. And, while it does to an extent, everything just happens way too slowly and not enough happens overall to merit a runtime over two hours. I appreciate a slow-burn thriller as much as the next person, but The Beasts just needs more action/drama/excitement.
Despite this, everything in The Beasts is still well put together. The acting, in particular, is really first-rate, with the lead and the pair of brothers being extremely believable in their roles. I wish the story just had more to it that felt unique or held my interest more.
Grade: 5.5/10
Totally Killer (2023)
Amazon Studios, 103 minutes
There are a lot of new, creative horror movies that have been released over the past few years. Totally Killer, streaming on Amazon, is most certainly not one of them. This is a horror-comedy movie as soulless as the platform on which it was released. Absent are any true redeeming qualities or an ounce of anything interesting to say.
It would be nearly impossible for Totally Killer to feel more “totally produced” than it does. The film is stylized in a fake-feeling way that many major studios seem to have adopted. Our cast of high school teens (played, of course, by twenty-somethings) are also as cliché as they are boring.
Storywise, the film is incredibly generic. I often joke when scripts feel as if they could’ve been written by simply prompting ChatGPT with a few short lines of inspiration, but I would be zero percent surprised if that were the case with this film. Totally Killer is a movie that’s clearly intended to have wide-reaching appeal, but I doubt anyone who appreciates quality horror movies will enjoy it. Also, it’s supposed to be a horror comedy, but there are very few jokes in the movie that land; maybe a few chuckles here or there, but that’s it.
Grade: 3/10
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023)
Paramount Pictures, 163 minutes
If you’re in the mood for a solid, totally acceptable, summer blockbuster action flick, the latest Mission: Impossible film might be just what you’re looking for. This movie is basically as good as one could hope a “PG-13 type” action movie would turn out. (that’s less brutal/realistic than most R-rated action movies).
There’s absolutely nothing original in Dead Reckoning – we’ve seen it all before when it comes to action movies like this, but it still does everything well, even if it is jam-packed with clichés. The cast is good here. Tom Cruise, despite being nearly 100-years old, still holds up as an action-movie lead. (In reality, he’s 61.) The movie also has some great cinematography and is largely well shot.
My main complaint with Dead Reckoning is that it’s just way too long. There’s such a thing as “action fight scene fatigue” in films like this one, where you’re just watching fight after fight, and they may be well choreographed, but it becomes sort of boring since it’s just nonstop action. I don’t think a movie like this needs more of a story (what’s here in that department is fine), but being 45 minutes shorter would’ve resulted in me enjoying this movie much more than I did.
Grade: 7.5/10