Will Poulter

REVIEW: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Still reeling from the loss (and sort of reappearance) of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peter Quill (Chris Prtt) rallies the team to save the universe and one of their own as the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji) sends out mercenaries including Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) to retrieve one of his past experiments – Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper).

The Guardians of the Galaxy films and characters have always been a bit of a mixed bag for me. Some characters I really like, others I find annoying and the films themselves don’t always work for me with the kind of humour they have running through it. So, I was very pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That James Gunn-humour is still there, and while I heard other people in the cinema laugh out loud a lot, I don’t think I did once but would still regularly grin a joke. Unlike in other MCU films where a joke undercuts any dramatic or emotional tension, Vol. 3 didn’t really have that and actually let some more dark and serious moments settle with you.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 delves into Rocket’s backstory and his connection with the High Evolutionary. It is almost hard to watch all the animal experimentation going on even though they’re all computer-generated and it definitely skirts the edges of body horror at times. The High Evolutionary is also one of those kind of old-school villains in the sense there’s no tragic backstory and instead they are just a horrible, manipulative person who does evil things to innocent people and you want to see get them get their comeuppance. It’s kind of nice to have a villain that’s there to be awful and for the audience to hate without being like “well they kind of have a point to an extent”. The High Evolutionary has a huge ego and a god-complex and does horrendous things because of it and thinks he’s right. He’s just the sort of villain you want to see beaten. (more…)

REVIEW: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) return to Narnia with their annoying cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) reluctantly in tow. There they reunite with Caspian (Ben Barnes) aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader and join him on his quest to find seven missing Lords.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the Narnia film I’ve seen the least. In fact, I think I’ve only seen it once before this viewing and that was not long after it was released on DVD so watching it now was almost like the first time I remembered that little about it.

Having the adventure set at sea with the heroes travelling from island to island, with each island being different and having their own mystery or problem to solve, keeps the film interesting and it evolves the world of Narnia. However, this island hoping is a double-edged sword as none of the places or creatures they discover feel fully developed, and a lot of them feel like checkpoints as they travel to their final destination.

The special effects creating sea creatures and dragons are great, but it’s a shame some of the practical effects and make up used to bring creatures like minotaurs to life in previous films, is swapped out for computer wizardry. Having watched the Narnia films back to back, little things like that stand out.

Perhaps another thing that’s more obvious as I’ve watched all the Narnia films in row, is that some of the characterisation is a bit off. Edmund seems to have picked up some of his brother’s traits of feeling more entitled about being royalty – both in his own world and in Narnia – when previously he’d been more accepting of what had happened to him. This leads to conflict between Edmund and Caspian, conflict that’s exacerbated by outside forces, and neither of them talk about it again or apologise which felt weird and wrong for both their characters.

Eustace is not a nice person when he arrives in Narnia. He’s a tattletale, spoilt and complains about everything, so naturally his time in Narnia offers him a chance to grow up and become a better person. The script and Will Poulter’s performance both do a good job at actually making you care about Eustace, as he is really annoying to begin with. He goes from being a character that’s entertaining to dislike, to one that actually has some redeeming qualities and surprisingly is one you find yourself liking.

It is a shame the powers that be never continued with this film series. Well, there’s supposed to be an adaptation of The Silver Chair but who knows if that’ll ever come to fruition. While the setting of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a lot different to the previous outings in Narnia, a lot of the heart and charm is still there. 3/5.

REVIEW: Detroit (2017)

Amidst the chaos of the Detroit Rebellion in the summer of 1967, gunshots are heard from the direction of the Algiers Motel. When the police and the National Guard arrive, tensions rise and three young African American men are murdered.

Detroit is based on true events and, as the film states at the end, has been put together from first-hand accounts and what limited official documents there are from the time meaning that some of the events depicted are dramatized. Detroit uses archive news footage and photos to help show what the violence and chaos on the city streets was really like and makes it all feel more real.

The whole cast gives phenomenal performances. Will Poulter as racist police officer Krauss is equal parts terrifying and mesmerising. You end up feeling you can’t take your eyes off him for a second as you don’t know what he’ll do next. John Boyega as security guard Dismukes feels underused at times but that’s mainly because he’s almost like a spectator to these events. That being said, when there’s moments for him to show more than restrained horror and the fear begins to register, Boyega nails it.

The violence the police officers inflict on this group of young people is tough to watch. The psychological torture tactics they use is sickening and the camera never really wavers from it either so you as the viewer, like men like Larry (Algee Smith) and Fred (Jacob Latimore) are forced to watch what others are going through.

At almost two and half hours Detroit is a long film and you can start to feel that towards the end of it. the last third is really quite drawn out as you don’t just get the usually text on screen, telling you what happened to these people next, instead you get to see it. This makes their grief and anger hard to take but in a way, it makes it feel like the film is prolonging the people’s pain and the viewers.

Detroit is a tense and powerful film that often makes for uncomfortable viewing. It’s shocking that not only did these events take place 50 years ago, but that no one with any real power to change things has learnt from them as events of police brutality is still prevalent today. 4/5.