What if JOHN WICK (the movie, not the character) hated you? That’s POLAR. There’s no killer’s code in this tale of hitmen (and women) offing each other and humanity is shown to be pretty much done for on a moral level. You get all the ultraviolet carnage you might expect, but our grizzled protagonist Duncan’s (Mads Mikkelsen) opponents are cartoony to the point of parody. Grief, guilt and horrible torture are handled absolutely straight, but you’ve also got an opening singalong and Mads taking on a gang of assassins in the buff, only assisted by clever camera angles. It’s tonal whiplash that’ll leave you reeling. Then there’s Matt Lucas playing a Bond Villain by way of LITTLE BRITAIN, which is so bizarre a choice I still haven’t decided whether it kills the film or not. It likely depends whether the filmmakers are in on their own jokes. SSP
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Sam Sewell-Peterson
I'm not paid to write about film - I do it because I love it. Favourite filmmakers include Bong Joon-ho, Danny Boyle, the Coen Brothers, Nicolas Winding Refn, Clio Barnard, Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Verhoeven, Taika Waititi and Edgar Wright. All reviews and articles are original works written and owned by me. They represent one man's opinion, and I'm more than happy to engage in civilised debate if you disagree.
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