The Covenant is Guy Richie’s new special forces film set in 2018. The movie follows John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal), the sergeant of a group tasked with finding explosives made by the Taliban. After an incident occurred they were forced to hire a new interpreter to accompany them as they move through Afghanistan. John quickly finds out that his new interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim) is more difficult to control than normal however, Ahmed demonstrates his strong instincts early along with his ability to hold his own. 

After a couple of missions, one ends up going horribly wrong. Ahmed and John end up on the run from the Taliban. John is seriously injured, so Ahmed has his work cut out for him as he has to ensure he and John survive. This is when the bond between the two becomes deeper as face death every day. 

Interpretation 

I felt as though this new guy Ritchie’s films are phenomenal. The score in particular stood out to me as it brought soul to the actions in the movie. The story demonstrates the unbreakable will of a man. The extremely harsh conditions in which humans can survive, and the physical limitations that we can break through. Fredrick Nietzsche said, “ He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how.” That’s what The covenant demonstrates. 

The meaning of covenant is an agreement or a bond which refers to John and Ahmed’s relationship. Those in the military are thrown into life-threatening situations and must rely on the man or woman beside them. Every soldier has a duty to have the back of whoever they stand behind and that is the covenant  

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The Ghost of Tsushima starts with an all-out battle between the Japanese Samurai and the Mongols. The battle begins with a dual where a Mongol throws alcohol on a samurai and then lights a match on him. This is the first demonstration of how dishonourable the opponent is. We follow a samurai named Jin Sakai who rushes into battle alongside his comrades. After a while, it’s clear that the Samurai are outnumbered, and failure is inevitable. Several arrows hit Jin and he falls unconscious as a result. We wake up later and discover that we were healed by a thief named Yuna. We learned that she saved us to use us to help free her brother who was captured by the Mongols. Jin offers to help Yuna and repay his debt, but they will need his uncle’s help. His Uncle, Lord Shimura, was also captured by the Mongols. Jin’s main desire is to free his uncle so that they can fight back the invaders of their island. Jin and Yuna infiltrate the compound that Lord Shimura is held in and Jin duals the grandson of Genghis Khan. Jin proves no match for his opponent. He luckily survives the encounter and realizes that he will need more help if he wishes to free his uncle. 

Jin is able to quickly get the help of Sensei Ishikawa and Lady Masako. They both of course have their own problems that require Jin’s help in exchange. Jin begins to help Yuna save her brother but has to resort to actions contrary to what he was taught as a Samurai. He had been always taught to kill with honour. However, the only way that he can have a fighting chance against the Mongols is to resort to dishonourable methods. With Yuna’s influence, Jin assassinates his enemies. Jin justifies this to himself by saying that he does what needs to be done to save the people of Tsushima. With flashbacks of Jin learning the way of the Samurai, we can see glimpses in Jin’s character of him reacting out of emotion. 

The subplot stories of Sensei Ishikawa and Lady Masako are variations of Jin’s journey. In order to defeat the Mongols Jin has to participate in actions that are contrary to what he was taught. He goes against his tradition, the code that the Samurai live by. In Sensei Ishikawa’s story, a student of Ishikawa has betrayed him and is using what he taught her to teach the Mongols. Lady Masako is out for revenge against the people who slaughtered her entire family. Whoever did it seem to be close to the family in some way? Both stories centre around betrayal, much like Jin’s own betrayal of tradition. 

Jin eventually meets up with an old friend, Ryuzo. Ryuzo now leads a group of Straw Hats and Jin offers to help them find food in exchange for their help in freeing Lord Shimura. The Straw Hats are a group of Ronins who are classless Samurai. After a dual that took place when the two were younger, Ryuzo was forced to live a life of a Ronin instead of being a Samurai like he always wanted. Ryuzo has held some contempt towards Jin for how vicious he was during their dual. When the time came to free Lord Shimura from the Mongols Ryuzo was nowhere to be found. Not only did he not show up to help but he appeared later with the intent of killing Jin to reap the rewards of the bounty placed on his head. This is another act of betrayal, one between once close friends. 

With Lord Shimura now being saved the legend of The Ghost was now spreading around the Island of Tsushima. Jin is now known as a ruthless and unique fighter who is Tsushima’s saviour. His methods of dealing with the enemy are heavily contested by Lord Shimura who believes that what he’s doing is unforgivable and blasphemous to the way of the samurai. Jin has no choice but to walk separate himself from his uncle and look to deal with the invading threat on his own. A threat that he can now handle since he is The Ghost of Tsushima. 

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First-generation Chinese immigrants Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) and Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) own a laundry mat under their apartment. They moved to America because of the love they have for one another and they have a daughter named Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Fast-forward to the present, where their laundry mat isn’t doing so well and the entire family is dysfunctional. Waymond is seeking a divorce and Joy feels unheard and unloved by her mother. 

Evelyn discovers that she can travel between alternate multi-verses and see the different lives she could’ve lived. Each small decision she’s made piggybacks on another, creating an entirely different universe. Another universes version of her husband Waymond has tasked her with defeating the multiverse jumper named Jobu Tupaki. 

Interpretation 

The movie does an outstanding job of introducing a complex, interesting idea, and grounding it with a broken family being put back together. Although the idea of a multiverse and travelling through universes has been done before (and well)this movie still brought a new refreshing take to it. Just really amazing writing and directing by both Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. It’s a tricky job, but it did feel like as the audience we experienced everything everywhere all at once.

Without spoiling, I want to talk about themes that are brought up in the movie. The film questions what truly matters. It goes on a tangent about how humans prove old theories wrong and thus showing what we once believed, we now know was stupid. This realization gives us the freedom to understand that every action we make may not be right, but we do the best with what we have or what we know. The ability to look at other universes, and how things could’ve panned out, is both a gift and a curse. At one end you can look at the life you could’ve lived and maybe want to live, but you also see the things you lack which can give you a new appreciation for the life you live now. Like I said earlier, each small decision can piggyback on another creating a whole new life for yourself. Since you never 100% know the consequences of your actions, the best you can do is do the best with what you have and move forward with good intentions.

This is how I interpreted the best movie of 2020, leave a comment down below and let me know what you think about it.

The post Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) first appeared on Burkeview.

This new instalment to the Avatar franchise has been heavily anticipated for 13 years. James Cameron finally brought the world another story on the beautiful planet Pandora, and he did not disappoint. A time gap is introduced where Jake Sully and his wife Neytiri have 4 children. They still get up to the same activities of protecting their home from the invaders of Earth. This time the invaders are focused on killing Jake particularly. This focused effort caused Jake to have to move his family far away from the land tribes and towards the tribes of the sea. 

Now the Sully’s live among the clan residing in the Pandorian ocean. After being accepted by the Metikayina Clan the Sully family begins to be taught the way of the water. Like the first Avatar, Jake and his family have to learn to adapt to their new habitat. 

Interpretation

Much like the first Avatar film the scenery is breathtaking, coupled with extraordinary cinematography. I experienced many of the same feelings of wonder and infatuation with the world that’s being introduced. James Cameron does an excellent job of immersing the audience in this world, you wish you could be a part of it. 

On the surface the Avatar movies are about the sky people (people from Earth) coming to Pandora in order to destroy their land and take what they want for back home. Although this is true on a deeper level the movies talk about colonialism, capitalism, and how human being treat environments. The Way of Water only double downed on these themes. This movie shows the entire process of them hunting and killing a valuable sea creature. The sequence only highlights the cruel nature of humans and how we prioritize profit off animals over preservation of animals. It truly was a heartbreaking scene but a necessary one for James Cameron to prove his point. 

Overall I really enjoyed the film. I feel as though it was similar to the last one in all the best ways and yet still felt new. I’m very excited to see what they bring for the next few Avatar movies and how they continue to build the franchise. 

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The beginning starts with an interesting concept. Batman (Robert Pattinson) is narrating what seems to be his journal of the journey of being Batman. It was interesting to get this perspective of Batman and how he viewed that he felt he wasn’t truly changing the city and insight into what the Bat signal meant to him and the city. The world-building in the movie was incredible and I found that most of the exposition was delivered properly and seemed organic to the flow of the story. Through his journal it was clear he has been batman for a while but he’s still just starting and is getting the hang of it. By the end of the first segment of the movie (which I would mark as the subway fight scene), I knew that we would have a good time with this story. The death of the mayor set the tone for the type of Batman movie that we are going to get. It’s gonna get gruesome and bloody and real. This was demonstrated from the get-go. 

I love the fact that it is a good ole fashion detective story. The riddler (Paul Dano) is proven to be a formidable antagonist from the beginning. I didn’t find him to be distant from Batman and be the type of behind-the-scenes antagonist. His presence was very much felt. The riddles of course were good, but I think they were all solved too easily. I was tryna figure them out too but Batman beat me every time. I’m just gonna chalk it up to him just being Batman.

The first interaction between Bruce and Alfred (Andy Serkis) was one I wasn’t particularly fond of. I found Bruce to be acting like an emo kid acting out toward Alfred. He seemed so immature it slightly turned me off from the character. After a while however, as more dimensions of him started to get exposed I began to be more empathetic. A great scene to expand this point would be when Batman was at the mayor’s crime scene and he’s on his way out. On his way out he saw the son of the mayor sitting down distraught because he was the one who found his father murdered. Bruce shined over Batman at that moment as Bruce stood there staring at the kid for longer than he was welcomed to. At that moment finding the killer became personal to him. The whole reason he became Batman is to stop people from doing the type of thing that happened to him when he was younger. Also, earlier in that scene Batman is walking through the crowd of officers on his way to the crime scene. Before he gets to the scene an officer stops him from entering. At this moment I saw Batman look almost vulnerable. It was weird, but I could see that side of him for a second. Something that we see later on in the film when Bruce is confronting Alfred about the news of his father. This is a new and necessary side of Batman and Bruce Wayne. As far as a logical plot goes it had good pacing and I found it to be a masterclass in an escalating plot. As more time went on the stakes were rising. The more we learned about the corruption of Gotham the more people were impacted by the new knowledge. The antagonist (Riddler) is similar to Joker from the Dark Knight in the sense that his actions, however bad, helped Batman clear up the streets of Gotham. The big difference would be the end plan of flooding Gotham this seemed a little incoherent in relation to his main goal of exposing all lies of Gotham. 

Now the relationship between the Bat and the Cat (Zoë Kravitz) was a big highlight of the movie for me. Anytime they shared the screen it was amazing. I love how the Cat was her own character that shared goals with the Bat at times but when she didn’t she would abandon him and go her own way without a second thought. The scene of the Cat explaining her entire background was a bit of a problem for me because there are other ways to do that but it was the only scene between them that wasn’t as good so I’ll give it a pass.  It seemed they gave the Cat a type of arc when she didn’t kill Falcone but it wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been. If there was a moment earlier in the film where the Cat killed someone without hesitation in the name of Justice and through the interactions with the Bat she then didn’t with Falcone then her arc would’ve been more felt by the audience. 

 Gordon’s (Jeffrey Wright) and Batman’s relationship was also greatly depicted in the movie. I like that it was like they only had each other to make it through the riddles. Gordon can’t trust anyone in the Police department and Batman only has a relationship with Gordan out of all of the cops. It was a kind of duo cop team that occasionally supplied some good comedy.

I wish that they introduced the court of owls into the conspiracy of Gotham. I think it would’ve been nice and a good way to set up conflict for the next Batman film. I like where the characters left off specifically Batman and Catwoman. We don’t know what Alfred’s status is but it’s 100% likely that he’ll make it out of the hospital fine. We also didn’t get a glimpse of the situation with Gordon, normally we would’ve gotten a small scene where he’s appointed as the commissioner but I guess it’s too early in their journeys. Even the Riddler had a somewhat final destination going to prison seemed like that’s it for him, for now. Then they did something interesting when they introduced what I think might be Joker. It’s impossible to be sure but it’s likely to be him. He said the word “clown” and began laughing hysterically with Riddler. The arc of Batman was well done. He now sees the value of his presence in Gotham and now knows that he can make a difference in the city.

The post The Batman (2022) first appeared on Burkeview.

The movie begins with Ironhead (Charlie Hunnam) talking to a bunch of military guys. He tells them about a time he choked a guy so badly that he was pissing himself and nearly killed him. This was at a grocery store and he did it because the man skipped him in a line. This touches on the popular theme that is in movies about war veterans. It’s extremely hard for them to fit back into society. Throughout the movie, this same sentiment is echoed. Later we see an operation take place with several soldiers trying to subdue a base. After they accomplished that we learned that the goal of this mission is to gain information as to where Lorea may be. Lorea is a man of wide influence and is apparently a very bad man that has control over Pope’s (Oscar Issac) country. The mission was successful when Pope’s informant tells him where he can find Lorea. Pope’s been looking for him for years. With this news, Pope goes to his old war buddies to complete a mission to go after Lorea. While recruiting we see the many different ways war veterans are trying to live in society. Each one of them is trying to find a new way of living but it’s clear that their lives are all lacking in a way by not being in the army. The money that they will get from this one mission should set them all up for life. The money and thrill of doing what they love again caused everyone Pope wanted to join his mission. The group consists of Pope, Ironhead, Redfly (Ben Affleck), Catfish (Pedro Pascal), and Ben (Garrett Hedlund). 

When they first get to Lorea’s compound and do a bit of reconnaissance. Redfly is able to immediately asses the situation and figure out what they would need to do to have a successful mission. After the reconnaissance, the team finds out that Pope has been lying to them about the funding of the mission. Instead of the corporation that Pope works for, it’s really Pope himself that paid their salary and resources for the mission. This causes everyone to pause but they eventually become convinced that they are the best men for the job. They see the window of opportunity and see this as a very doable job. The operation is soon underway and everything is going well so far. They are able to infiltrate the compound and eliminate all immediate threats. There were two early problems: there was no sign of Lorea and no idea where the money is. Pope realized that the room smells like paint and that’s when they broke open the wall to find stacks of cash. Lorea came out of a secret entrance where he was able to get Ironhead on his side before he himself was killed. 

The sequence of packing up the money is when the first sign of unease within the group made itself evident. They already had more than enough bags and yet Redfly wanted them to keep going because they had enough time. The rest of them thought regardless of the time they should still leave now. Redfly having a tactically brilliant mind causes him to feel a different weight when thinking of all the mistakes he’s made. This shows in every decision he makes throughout the movie. This, among him having a family, is what really gave his character more life than the rest of them. Catfish is the least developed in the movie. After leaving the compounds with those bags of money things only went downhill. They had a getaway plane and on their escape, they didn’t account for the weight of all the money which limited how high the plane can rise. They had to crash land in a farmer’s village. The locals flocked to the money and it caused a debate between the two parties. Tension was raised to a point where Redfly felt no choice but to shoot at the locals, killing several. Pope was able to bargain with the village elder. Giving him a significant amount of money for the lives of the people Redfly killed on top of paying for donkeys. After that, the group continued to make their escape. 

They go across and up the mountains until they are fired at. It was the youth from the same village they came from. Their attack was successful as they were able to kill Redfly before they themselves died. With Redfly gone the group’s main concern was to get his body back home and take as much money as they can home. Mostly all of the money was thrown down a cave. They had to make one last push through a city on the coast with hopes of making it on a boat that’ll take them to safety. After accomplishing that we would next see everyone in a board room where we learn that they walked out with just over 5 million dollars. Which is split 5 ways. When given the decision everyone decides to give their piece of the money to Redfly’s family. But hope is still there when Ironhead leaves Pope with the coordinates of where they threw the money into the cave. 

Interpretation 

Overall this was a good film. The themes were definitely evident early and constantly reoccurring throughout the film. I was happy with the cast of characters and the different stories that followed this very specific framework. Normally most of a movie like this consists of the planning of the big operation with the entire third act being the job itself. This movie focused mostly on the escape from the job and all the complications that come with that. For that reason, this movie followed a different pace which was new and refreshing. A lot of times throughout the film the morality of the characters was put into question. Very often they either did or had strong reasons to do immoral things to get the job done. This involves killing the informant before she ever left for Australia or killing the village people to protect their money. These tough decisions that the character had to face gave the movie more life and depth to the characters as a whole. Leaving all the money with Redfly’s family really left most of their efforts with nothing to show for it. But that revelation can be changed if Pope somehow finds a way to retrieve the buried money. 

The post Triple Frontier (2019) first appeared on Burkeview.

The movie begins with Six (Ryan Gosling) being detained and Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) recruiting him to be a part of his operation. At the same time that he would be in prison, he would instead be an agent specializing in assassination. Two decades into being an agent, a special kill is assigned to him and has to take out his own. This is where he learns that the people supplying this op are dirty and he might be next on the hit list. Six goes ghost after this, and the people who hired him are now trying to kill him. They hired a sociopath to do it, by the name of Lloyd Hansen (Chris Evans). The closest person to Six is the man that recruited him. This leads Lloyd right to him and as a result, Lloyd abducts his granddaughter (Julia Butters). The movie transitions from an escape mission to a rescue mission. Lloyd also puts a bounty on Six’s head. Luckily, Six has the help of Dani (Ana de Arms), someone he previously had an op with. 

Interpretation 

After completing the film its themes were not self-evident to me and that can mean that it has a certain depth that I haven’t yet reached or it means that there’s not much beyond the surface. I had a great time watching the film the action scenes were intense and unique. Also, the character dynamics seemed realistic along with everyone’s actions. Apart from Lloyd choosing to continue to hold Claire hostage. As soon as he got to the maze he should’ve let her go to escape but instead, he wanted to fight it out with Six. The relationship between Six and Claire would be the strongest one in the movie. This is because of the time they spent while Six had to guard her. Six’s only family is Fitzroy and the same for Claire so they kinda become family in that aspect. I think Six views his relationship with Claire as an opportunity to be a better guardian than the one he had. There’s a scene with Claire and Six where Claire asks what his tattoo is and he responds by saying it’s the name of a greek man trying to get up a hill. This is Sisyphus which is the story of a man endlessly pushing a rock up a hill. I believe this is supposed to represent the life of The Gray Man. Six’s life is full of endless effort just to find himself in the same place he was yesterday. I believe this cyclical nature to his life changed after he found people in his life that he cared for like Fitzroy and Claire. 

The post The Gray Man (2022) first appeared on Burkeview.

The Northman follows a Nordic prince named Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) who seeks to avenge his father’s death, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke). His father’s killer is his uncle named Fjölnir (Claes Bang). Fjölnir took his brother’s life and dragged the screaming mother of Amleth away. The Northman is based on the Norse legend of Amleth. The same Norse tale that inspired William Shakespeare to write Hamlet. 

Years after his father’s death we are joined back to Amleth where we see him still engulfed in his rage toward Fjölnir. Amleth becomes a slave of his uncle with his ultimate goal in mind. Along the way, he meets a woman named Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy). Their fates seemed intertwined as Olga helps him reek chaos on everyone close to Fjölnir. Amleth would repeat a mantra to himself, “I will avenge you father, I will save you mother, I will kill you Fjölnir,” but after his encounter with his mother his plans change. 

His mother reveals herself to be a part of the plot to kill King Aurvandill. This puts Amleth into a place of confusion about what to do. Amleth and Olga have the opportunity to escape to Amleth’s kinsmen. However, Amleth discovers that his legacy will continue through Olga and the children she will bear. This causes him to return to Fjölnir so that his children will not be hunted. He was told that he would have to choose between being kind to his kinsman or hate for his enemies and by eliminating this threat he will have chosen both. 

Now back to finish Fjölnir, Amleth kills both his mother and Fjölnir’s son. Fjölnir challenges him to a dual at the gates of hel. There, Fjölnir meets his end but so does Amleth causing him to finally rest. 

Interpretation

This movie constantly speaks about destiny and how Amleth’s fate is tied to the killing of Fjölnir. Amleth has an opportunity to walk in the opposite direction of his faith but chooses not to in order to protect his new family. This poses the question of whether we can truly move away from what has been destined for us. By how the movie ended seems to tell us that we are bound to follow whatever thread is connected to us. In the movie’s case, this gives hope to the children of Amleth as they are seen wearing royal garments. It seems that our own destiny awaits us. 

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