It is time for a round up of new films that I have seen on Netflix this month.
The Life List
After the death of her mother, Alex (Sofia Carson) revisits her childhood aspirations, aiming to achieve her old goals. I found this far too mushy, way too long and did not like Alex after she scoffed at the idea of having a DVD player!
Rating: 3 out of 10
Havoc
Tom Hardy stars as Walker, a detective, who must rescue a politician’s son after a drug deal gone wrong. Hardy is suitably intense and he has good chemistry with his partner Ellie (Jessie Mei Li). There is one terrific extended fight scene in a nightclub where he and witness Mia (Quelin Sepulveda) take on hundreds of bad guys. However, as I have come to expect from writer/director Gareth Evans, this is mostly style over substance, with a wafer thin, preposterous plot, over the top violence and dodgy CGI. I also did not buy Wales standing in for an American city.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
iHostage
This thriller is based on a true story of a gunman, Ammar Ajar (Soufiane Moussouli), entering an Apple Store in the heart of Amsterdam and taking a man, Ilian Petrov (Admir Sehovic) hostage. The police work to resolve the standoff and try to keep everyone alive. This is one of the best Netflix original movies this year. Director Bobby Boermans wastes no time taking the viewers into the heart of the action. The depictions of the police activity feels pretty realistic, and, aside from a brief lull an hour so in, he maintains an impressive level of tension, with a taut script co-written with Simon de Waal. Sehovic convinces as the terrified captive, Emmanuel Ohene Boafo is excellent as a store worker helping the police and Loes Haverkort is particularly believable as the hostage negotiator.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror
This documentary from Greg Tillman examines the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing, which was the worst domestic terror attack in US history. It is pretty comprehensive and has some good pre blast footage, but nothing distinguishes it from countless other similar docs on the platform.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Counterattack
An elite military team, lead by Captain Guerrero (Luis Alberti) operates in Mexico. After an incident with some Sicario operatives where Guerrero’s team rescue two girls that the bad guys are kidnapping, they are ambushed on the road. They survive but Guerrero and his team are forced to make their way to a checkpoint six hours away, on foot, in hostile territory. This is no frills stuff, a straightforward action move with plenty of gun fights and men being men! It is efficiently enough directed Chava Cartas who wraps things up in less than 90 minutes.
Rating: 6 out of 10