Jurassic World Rebirth director Gareth Edwards says the new film is a return to what he loved about Jurassic Park
There’s a new entry in the Jurassic Park / Jurassic World franchise heading our way, with Jurassic World Rebirth set to reach theatres on July 2, 2025 – and during an interview with Empire, director Gareth Edwards said that the new movie goes back to what he loved about the original Jurassic Park.
News of the new Jurassic World movie first hit back in January, when it was revealed that the screenplay – by original Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, returning to the franchise for the first time since The Lost World: Jurassic Park – had already been written. The project was assembled in a mad scramble after that, with Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards ending up at the helm. This new Jurassic World movie won’t be featuring any returning lead characters from the previous Jurassic Park / Jurassic World movies, so describing it as a “Rebirth” could be accurate. The characters played by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern are out, as are the ones played by Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard. The new characters are played by the likes of Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jonathan Bailey (Bridgerton), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Rupert Friend (Obi-Wan Kenobi), and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer) – all of whom had their roles directly offered to them. Luna Blaise (Manifest), on the other hand, had to (according to Deadline) “beat out a number of actors” to land her role. David Iacono of The Summer I Turned Pretty, child actress Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge (Station Eleven), Ed Skrein (Deadpool), and Béchir Sylvain (Diarra from Detroit) are also in the cast… along with a bunch of hungry dinosaurs.
Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick) was also offered a role, but he turned it down because he felt his presence in the movie wouldn’t help it. He did say that the script is great, though.
Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley are producing the film for Kennedy/Marshall. Steven Spielberg is executive producing through Amblin Entertainment. Universal’s executive vp of production development Sara Scott and creative executive Jacqueline Garell are overseeing the project for the studio.
Here’s what we know about the plot now: Jurassic World Rebirth sees an intrepid team racing to secure DNA samples from the three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air. Five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion, the planet’s ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures within that tropical biosphere hold the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind.
Johansson’s character is Zora Bennett, “a skilled covert operations expert contracted to lead a team on a top-secret mission to secure genetic material from the world’s three most massive dinosaurs. When Zora’s operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on an island where they come face-to-face with a sinister, shocking discovery that’s been hidden from the world for decades.” Bailey is playing paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis, with Ali as Zora’s most trusted team leader, Duncan Kincaid.
Edwards told Empire, “It goes back to what I loved about the original, with an embarrassment of riches of different set-piece-type scenarios and tense, fun action moments. There were a lot of opportunities as a filmmaker to have a lot of fun and try and play games with the audience.” The movie will be packed with the dinosaurs movie-goers are hoping to see, as “there are certain dinosaurs it would be a crime against cinema not to include.” And the director also took the opportunity to build up Johansson’s character, saying, “She’s looking for meaning in her life after leaving the military, and this opportunity comes along where [after it] basically she’d never have to work again. But through that journey, she starts to question the ethical rights and wrongs of what they’re doing.“
Are you looking forward to watching Jurassic World Rebirth next year? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Sex Education star Emma MacKay joins the cast of J.J. Abrams’ mystery movie alongside Glen Powell and Jenna Ortega.
Emma MacKay is set to star alongside Glen Powell (The Running Man) and Jenna Ortega (Wednesday) in the new mystery box movie from J.J. Abrams. The actress is best known for starring in Netflix’s Sex Education, which wrapped up its four-season run last year.
Plot details are being kept under wraps (big surprise). It was previously speculated that the film would involve time travel, but sources have said that’s not the case. Damn you, mystery box! The project is expected to kick off production next year with Abrams directing from a script he wrote. He will also produce through his Bad Robot banner. This will mark Abrams’ first feature film since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which was released in 2019.
Since breaking onto the scene with Sex Education, MacKay has appeared in Death on the Nile, played Emily Brontë in Frances O’Conno’s Emily, and was featured as Physicist Barbie in Barbie, the billion-dollar behemoth.
MacKay has several projects coming up, including Ella McKay from director James L. Brooks. She stars as the title character, an idealistic young politician who juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor, the state’s longtime incumbent governor. The film also stars Woody Harrelson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ayo Edebiri, Albert Brooks, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Hall, and more.
She’s also starring in Hot Milk, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel of the same name. The film follows Rose (Fiona Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (MacKay) as they travel to a seaside resort in Spain to consult with a physician who may hold the cure to Rose’s mystery illness. However, “in the sultry atmosphere of this sun-bleached town, Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveller Ingrid (Vicky Krieps). Sofia’s increased freedom becomes too much for her controlling mother, and as the hot sun beats down, their relationship simmers with pent-up resentments and bitterness, threatening to tear the fragile threads that hold them together, and leading them to a dramatic conclusion.“
DC’s James Gunn says the entire first season of Peacemaker is canon to the new DCU, with one notable exception.
The DC Universe will officially kick off with the release of Creature Commandos next month, but as certain elements and actors from previous DCEU projects are returning, fans have been confused about what is canon and what isn’t in the new universe. While speaking with IGN, DC Studios co-head James Gunn said almost all of the first season of Peacemaker is canon, with one big exception.
“Now in Creature Commandos, you’ll hear them talk about things that happened in [The] Suicide Squad or Peacemaker. Well then, those things automatically become canon,” Gunn said. “The truth is almost all of Peacemaker is canon with the exception of Justice League… which we will kind of deal with in the next season of Peacemaker.” The finale of Peacemaker‘s first season involved the Justice League (with Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ezra Miller as Flash) showing up late to the party, with Peacemaker (John Cena) and friends having already saved the day.
I still believe the DCU should have started from scratch. New actors. New stories. Bringing in actors from the DCEU just feels like it will be confusing to general audiences. However, I do have faith that Gunn will be able to pull it off. That said, some fans have questioned why the elements which have made the cut happen to be from Gunn’s own projects.
When asked why he didn’t make a different show instead of risking confusion with Peacemaker season 2, Gunn has promised that the shift from DCEU to DCU will work out just fine. “Because it’s my favorite thing to do, it’s the biggest original Max show ever, and I have a way in,” Gunn said. “It won’t be confusing.” Peacemaker season 2 will debut on Max in August 2025.
Creature Commandos features the voices of Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr., David Harbour as Eric Frankenstein, Indira Varma as The Bride, Maria Bakalova as Princess Ilana Rostovic, Alan Tudyk as Doctor Phosphorus, Zoe Chao as Nina Mazursky, and Steve Agee as John Economos, and Sean Gunn as Weasel. The series tracks a secret team of incarcerated monsters recruited for missions deemed too dangerous for humans. When all else fails… they’re your last, worst option. Creature Commandos will debut on December 5th on Max, with Superman hitting theaters on July 11, 2025.
Do you think Peacemaker season 1 should be canon to the new DCU?
Lioness star Genesis Rodriguez is in talks to join season 3 of The Night Agent, the hit action thriller series on Netflix.
The Night Agent received an early season 3 renewal last month, and the cast is already coming together. Genesis Rodriguez is now in talks to join the new season of The Night Agent in a series regular role.
Details on her role are being kept under wraps, but The Night Agent season 3 is slated to start shooting in Istanbul at the end of the year and continue in New York in early 2025. Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent is “a sophisticated, character-based, action-thriller centering on a low level FBI Agent who works in the basement of the White House, manning a phone that never rings — until the night that it does, propelling him into a fast moving and dangerous conspiracy that ultimately leads all the way to the Oval Office.” The series stars Gabriel Basso, Luciane Buchanan, Hong Chau, D.B. Woodside, Eve Harlow, Sarah Desjardins, and more.
The Night Agent won’t be Rodriguez’s first experience with an action spy thriller, as she’s currently starring in the second season of Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness. The Paramount+ series stars Zoe Saldaña as Joe, an agent who leads undercover CIA operations in the war on terror by enlisting women operatives that are known as Lionesses. Rodriguez plays Captain Josephina Carrillo in the second season, a US Army Apache pilot who is recruited into the Lioness program.
The first season of The Night Agent was hugely popular upon release, with 98.2M views in its first 91 days. It currently occupies the #7 spot on Netflix’s Top 10 Most Popular (English) TV Shows of all time, standing alongside Netflix heavyweights such as Stranger Things, Bridgerton, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and Wednesday. The official synopsis of the upcoming second season reads: “Based on the novel by Matthew Quirk, The Night Agent is a sophisticated, character-based, action-thriller centering on a low level FBI Agent , Peter Sutherland, whose efforts to save The President in Season 1 earn him an opportunity to become a Night Agent in Season 2. But working in the secretive organization of Night Action will propel Peter into a world where danger is everywhere and trust is in short supply.“
The Night Agent season 2 will debut on Netflix on January 23, 2025.
The acclaimed actor stars as “respected former U.S. President George Mullen, who, as head of the Zero Day Commission, is charged with finding the perpetrators of a devastating cyber attack that has caused chaos around the country and thousands of fatalities. As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambition of power brokers in technology, Wall Street, and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.“
In addition to De Niro, the six-episode series stars Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, Dan Stevens, and Matthew Modine. Guest stars include Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann, Clark Gregg, and McKinley Belcher III. That’s quite the cast, and I’m very curious to see what De Niro’s first major TV series looks like.
Zero Day is created by Eric Newman (Narcos) and Noah Oppenheim (The Maze Runner). “Zero Day is about the aftermath of a devastating cyberattack that kills thousands of people and threatens to push a nation already on the precipice over the edge,” said Newman. Oppenheim added that “the show also looks at the cost of power for those who are asked to take on these enormous challenges — what it means for them personally, and what it means for their families.” Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland) will direct all six episodes of the series and is also an executive producer.
As well as starring in the series, De Niro is also involved as a producer. “[De Niro] very much became our partner in this process — very hands-on, very involved, read everything at every stage, and it’s been an incredible honor and privilege,” said Newman. “You can count on one hand the actors and actresses in history who bring this level of gravitas, pedigree, and talent to their work.”
Peter Friedlander, Vice President of Scripted Series on Netflix, added, “Zero Day is a shrewd, heart-pounding conspiracy thriller that will keep audiences at the edge of their seat. What an honor to have this A-list caliber of talent assembled, led by the iconic Robert De Niro and brought to life by the unrivaled talents of Eric Newman, Noah Oppenheim, Lesli Linka Glatter and Michael S. Schmidt.“
Robert Eggers’ upcoming Nosferatu remake has earned an R rating from the Motion Picture Association ratings board
The Witch, The Lighthouse, and The Northman writer/director Robert Eggers‘ remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu (watch it HERE) is set to reach theatres on Wednesday, December 25th – and with that date just one month away, the Motion Picture Association ratings board has revealed that they’ve given the film an R rating. Nosferatu earned that rating with its bloody violent content, graphic nudity, and some sexual content.
An unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the original Nosferatu has the following synopsis: In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok’s servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home. Werner Herzog directed his own remake of the film in 1979.
Eggers’ take on Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman in 19th century Germany and the ancient Transylvanian vampire who stalks her, bringing untold horror with him.
The cast includes Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as crazy vampire hunter Von Franz, Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol) as Ellen Hutter and Nicholas Hoult (Renfield) as her husband Thomas – a role Skarsgard was going to play at one point. Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Bullet Train) is in there as Thomas’s friend Friedrich Harding, with Emma Corrin (The Crown) as Friedrich’s wife Anna, Ralph Ineson (The Witch) as Von Franz’s cohort Dr. Wilhelm Sievers, and Simon McBurney (The Conjuring 2) in an unspecified role. Bill Skarsgard (It) is the title character and has said that playing Nosferatu / Count Orlok was like “conjuring pure evil. It took a while for me to shake off the demon that had been conjured inside of me. … I do not think people are gonna recognize me in it.“
The first reactions to the film recently made their way online, and they were very positive.
Are you looking forward to the Nosferatu remake? What do you think of the film’s R rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II is a solid, faithful sequel to the original and contains a standout performance by Denzel Washington.
Last Updated on November 12, 2024
PLOT: Sixteen years after the death of Maximus in the Coliseum, the now-grown Lucius (Paul Mescal), who is secretly the heir to the Roman Empire, finds himself enslaved and forced to fight in the Coliseum while Rome crumbles under the leadership of two tyrannical brothers, Emperor Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Emperor Caracalla (Fred Hechinger).
REVIEW: In my estimation, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is one of the best historical dramas ever made. When it came out in 2000, it was immediately hailed as a classic, making star Russell Crowe a household name. In the twenty-four years since its release, it’s been often imitated but never equaled. Now, Ridley Scott is back for a lavish sequel, which is being rightly acclaimed as one of his best films in the last twenty years.
While Gladiator II isn’t the instant classic the original was, it’s nonetheless a highly entertaining, faithful sequel, jam-packed with action and spectacle. There hasn’t been a lavish, action-driven historical drama done on this scale in some time, with Scott, despite his advancing age, as energetic and kinetic a director as ever.
One thing that surprised me about Gladiator II is how directly it follows the original (as opposed to early sequel concepts – which were more out there). Given the intervening years, one might have assumed Ridley Scott would have made it more of a standalone entry, but instead, it demands that audiences be very familiar with the original. The animated opening credits portray several of the original film’s classic sequences to refresh the audience’s memory. Still, Scott and writer David Scarpa clearly expect audience members to remember the original quite well.
It would be interesting to watch them back to back, as Scott’s done his best to recapture the flavour and style of the first film. He even repurposes a few minutes of Hans Zimmer’s original score despite the composer passing on composing duties to Harry Gregson-Williams. This gives the film a nice sense of continuity, as does the fact that the movies also share the same DP, John Mathieson, while some of the original cast members, including Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi, are back.
One key difference between the two movies is that Gladiator II is less of a hero’s journey for Paul Mescal’s Lucius, with the film not anchored on him like the original was on Crowe. He’s more part of an ensemble here, with Lucius’s journey from family man to slave to Gladiator seeming to take place over a matter of months rather than the years Maximus toiled in the arena.
Mescal’s gotten himself into amazing shape here and really excels in the action scenes, with one hand-to-hand battle early on, which takes place in the home of a Roman senator, especially good. If anything, Gladiator II is even more action-heavy than the original, with Scott opting for wilder set pieces meant to evoke Rome’s growing depravity. Mescal fights everything from rhinos to sharks to baboons this time, although the issue with the bigger set pieces is that Lucius starts to come off as almost a superhero, as opposed to the very mortal Maximus.
Much of the film focuses on Denzel Washington’s Macrinus, a former slave who, over the course of the film, uses his wealth and power in a Machiavellian scheme to take over Rome. Washington, playing a rare villain, seems like he’s having the time of his life as the constantly scheming former slave. Yet, Washington never makes him a cartoon character, with him kind of the other side of the coin compared to Richard Harris’s Marcus Areulius in the first film, with the two sharing a vision for a new Rome, even if the latter’s is more apocalyptic.
Pedro Pascal also has a good role as the new husband of Nielsen’s Lucilla, a sympathetic Roman general who, through a twist of fate, finds himself marked for death by Lucius, with their climactic battle in the arena being an inevitability. Pascal fits nicely into the period epic milieu and could likely lead a film like this on his own, with him doing a good job depicting the character’s torn loyalties. Finally, Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger have fun as the two depraved emperors who make Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus seem reasonable by comparison.
While Gladiator II doesn’t quite gain the instant classic status it aspires to, it’s still a brilliantly made historical epic with a superb ensemble cast and some amazing action. The 150-minute running time blazes by (perhaps too quickly – I hope there’s a longer cut someday) and leaves the door open for a third film, which might do a nice job rounding out what could be a great trilogy about the fall of the Roman Empire. As it is, this is one of the most purely entertaining films of the year and a must-see for fans of the original.
Taylor Sheridan’s drama series returns to answer questions as it heads towards the series finale.
Plot: Yellowstone chronicles the Dutton family who controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States. Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect – the ranch is in constant conflict with those it borders – an expanding town, an Indian reservation, and America’s first national park.
Review (SPOILER WARNING): In the almost two years since the eighth episode of Yellowstone‘s fifth season premiered, fans have waited to learn the fate of John Dutton. Kevin Costner entered a very publicized feud with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, which was tied to his salary and time away from the series to direct his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga. The first part of that film has come and gone from theaters, but we have still been waiting to see how the second part of Yellowstone‘s fifth and final season would address Costner’s departure. Last night, we finally found out. Simulcast on Paramount Network, Logo, TV Land, and MTV, Yellowstone‘s mid-season premiere revealed that John Dutton, the Governor of Montana, is dead. While Costner’s face is not seen, Sheridan makes it abundantly clear that the patriarch of the Dutton clan will not be returning to wrap up the series’ final run.
As with the final season of Game of Thrones, advanced screeners were not made available for the premiere episode of Yellowstone, titled “Desire is All You Need.” What is noticeable when watching the episode is the accommodations made to the plot to fit in with the lack of Costner’s involvement in these episodes. The episode opens with Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce (Luke Grimes) arriving at the Governor’s residence to a slew of police cars with a cordon to the building. Using his badge as Livestock Commissioner, Kayce and Beth enter to find their father’s body, positioned to make it look like a suicide. Of course, we also see Jamie (West Bentley) receive a phone call confirming the death of his adoptive father. The emotional response from Bentley and Reilly is jarringly realistic and shows how close this cast has become over their years working together. Beth, of course, has an instinct that Jamie is behind the assassination, which sets in motion what is bound to be a massive showdown in the final episodes.
But that is pretty much all we get of substance in this episode. Outside of the opening and closing minutes, the mid-season premiere of Yellowstone flashes back six weeks before the point where the previous episode left off. We follow Rip (Cole Hauser) and his crew heading to Texas for their temporary relocation. The shift to Texas allows for an appearance from Jimmy (Jefferson White) and crew from the 6666 Ranch, another no-so-subtle reminder that a spin-off set there is still in the works from Taylor Sheridan. The Texas plot spends time showcasing the stark geographic difference between the southern state and the mountains of Montana. It allows Rip to wax philosophically on the fading life of cowboys and ranchers. It is a sad moment when he talks about solar farms and importing beef from Brazil, but it also feels a bit like filler after the lengthy wait to visit these characters again. We see Beth get out of community service by drinking and smoking her usual way, but this episode is about it for Beth and Rip.
We get a brief scene with Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Kayce relocating to a remote ranch on the Dutton property, which features an ominous visit from a wolf in the distance. We also see Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) scouting the future location of a pipeline through the reservation. The little moments show the quiet on the Dutton Ranch as Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) looks for things to keep the remaining cowboys busy. At the same time, Rip is in Texas pads the episode before the big sequence featuring Sara Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) meeting with a mysterious man named Grant (Matt Gerald), where they orchestrated the death of John Dutton. It is an intriguingly complex meeting that shows the cutthroat nature of Atwood before it revisits the present day as she meets with Jamie while dressed in lingerie. Jamie reveals that he did not think she would have his father killed, but she convinces him it is for the best. Her cold-blooded nature continues to make Atwood a formidable foe for Beth, but I would not want to be in the middle of that showdown.
The mid-season premiere was written by Taylor Sheridan, who manages the smaller, quieter elements that have always made Yellowstone intriguing to watch between murder scenes, backstabbing, and intrigue. For anyone who does not work on a ranch or in the wide expanses of America, there is a romantic element of cowboy life that Yellowstone beautifully displays. Taylor Sheridan also never lets us forget that the privilege of living the way most Americans do comes on the backs of men like Rip, Lloyd, and the others who work the Dutton Ranch. This monumental episode was directed by Christine Alexandra Voros, who helmed eight other episodes of Yellowstone, as well as entries in 1883 and Lawmen: Bass Reeves. Sheridan has confidence in Voros’ ability to capture the somber in equal measure with the dramatic, which they pull off to great effect with this episode.
The death of John Dutton, which most of us knew was a foregone conclusion, was still handled with a dramatic grace that kept it a shocking moment in Yellowstone history. I had hoped we would see Kevin Costner back in some capacity, but his departure made that impossible. Compared to other series that have handled killing off the main character, like Roseanne and House of Cards, Yellowstone makes it a vital and central part of the plot without ignoring the elephant in the room. Kudos to Taylor Sheridan for making the death feel like it would always happen, even if it did crop up sooner than expected. It is tough to tell how the remaining episodes of this season will compare to this one, but at least Yellowstone is back to keep our Sundays exciting.
As we honor the men and women of the Armed Forces on Veteran’s Day in the United States, Tom Cruise, Paramount Pictures, and Skydance Entertainment are keeping audiences entertained with a thrilling teaser trailer and poster for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The action-packed trailer features Ethan Hunt (Cruise) in his most dangerous mission yet, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance as he defies gravity, embraces the unknown, and saves the world.
Paramount’s teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning returns us to some of Ethan Hunt’s most nail-biting assignments, reminding us that he’ll stop at nothing to outsmart evil and ensure we wake up in the morning with the world intact. The teaser features plenty of underwater antics as Ethan explores a submarine under frozen waters, where everything that can go wrong does. In true Mission: Impossible fashion, the teaser explodes with a montage of action set pieces, each more elaborate than the next. With time running out, Ethan performs the impossible to bring down those who would see our world in ruin.
Christopher McQuarrie directs Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning from a script he co-wrote with Erik Jendresen. Tom Cruise reprises his role as Ethan Hunt, with Angela Bassett back as CIA Director Erika Sloane. The stacked cast also includes Esai Moreles, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Henry Czerny, Greg Tarzan Davis, Mariela Garriga, and Indira Varma. Newcomers to the franchise include Hannah Waddingham, Janet McTeer, Holt McCallany, Katy O’Brian, Nick Offerman, and Tramell Tillman.
In addition to debuting a teaser trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Paramount shared a poster for the film featuring a close-up of Cruise’s Ethan Hunt. The follow-up to Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning arrives in theaters on May 23, 2025, after a significant delay due to the pandemic and SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike.
What do you think about our first honest-to-goodness glimpse at Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning? Is this Cruise’s last time playing Ethan Hunt, or is this a misdirect? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
About the Author
Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.
Revenge movies have been a popular feature in mainstream Hollywood for decades, and it’s a genre that has often never shied away from controversy. There have been countless horror movies where a seemingly normal guy, or a full blown creep, lures an unsuspecting female victim back to his place (which is often a creepy lair, or a dungeon, naturally). The genre has seen movies emerge from both the small underground scene to big budget Hollywood pictures. However, some of the most intriguing and memorable revenge films have been the entries that subvert the usual man-tortures-woman traditions of the slasher genre. Over the decades we’ve seen movies such as 1995’s Boy Meets Girl, Lady Vengeance from 2005, 1999’s superb Audition, with its wince inducing torture scenes wonderfully subverting what at first starts as a gentle romance, in a way. Of course, we also have the likes of Kill Bill 1 & 2 and even cult classics like Russ Meyer’s 1965 exploitation flick Faster Pussycat Kill Kill has elements of revenge in its tale of three dancers going on a killing spree in California. However, it’s a movie from 2005 that we’re focusing on in this episode, which features themes of online safety for young people that are an increasing concern nowadays; the well received and thought provoking Hard Candy, directed by David Slade. The film follows a 32-year-old photographer, Jeff, who welcomes 14-year-old Hayley, with whom he has been seductively chatting online, into his house. However, she believes that he’s a pedophile and intends to punish him. Online safety was something the media frequently discussed in the early noughties, so it was only a matter of time before a movie was made that dived into the subject. It’s not an easy subject matter to take on, so had director Slade managed to create a horror movie that managed to entertain, shock and provoke thought among audiences when it was released? Let’s find out here on WTF happened to Hard Candy.
Producer David Higgins first had the idea for the movie when he saw a news story on the American television newsmagazine 20/20, about Japanese girls who lured older businessmen to a specific location, with the promise of meaningful conversation, only to then assault and mug them with a gang of other girls. This led Higgins to ponder the question, “What if the person you expect to be the predator is not who you expect it to be? What if it’s the other person?”. Audiences love movies that are able to subvert their expectations, and with the idea gradually becoming something that could work in a mainstream marketplace, Higgins approached writer Brian Nelson to fast-track a treatment, followed by the finished script.
The pair then approached David Slade to take on the directing hot-seat, and he made his debut with the movie. Like a lot of successful directors, Slade forged a career in filmmaking by directing some cool music videos for the likes of Fatboy Slim, Stone Temple Pilots, Tori Amos, Muse, Stereophonics and System of a Down. The only other official project he’d worked on before Hard Candy, that wasn’t a music video, was a short film called Do Geese See God. I would imagine…they probably don’t. So, it was maybe a slightly risky move to trust a movie with such a controversial narrative, to a director with little to no experience of making mainstream theatrical movies. However, Slade was onboard, and he had the opportunity to show that he could successfully make the difficult transition from music video director, to a more mainstream filmmaker.
With the script not requiring too many elaborate set-ups, the movie was shot in just eighteen days, mostly in sequence and largely by using a soundstage. There was also more of an emphasis on telling the story through creative sound and production design. The soundtrack only features nine minutes of music in its 104 minute runtime, with heavy breathing and other, more atmospheric ambient sounds, making up the bulk of the diegetic audio in the movie. There was also very little dubbing required, with only a handful of lines modified in post-production.
One of the most striking images that’s used in the movie’s marketing campaign is the red, hooded sweatshirt that Elliot Page’s character, Hayley, wears while standing in a giant bear trap. Surprisingly, this wasn’t a deliberate creative choice by the production team, despite it being perfect imagery to sell the movie. It was actually a serendipitous wardrobe choice by the creative team, who only realized how fitting it was later on in the process of marketing the movie. Naturally the international marketing made the most of the fortuitous wardrobe choice, and a great example is the tagline on the Japanese site for the film which reads: “Red Hood traps the Wolf in his own game.” The title of the movie also went through several different incarnations before Hard Candy was ultimately chosen. Writer Nelson’s early working title ideas during the scriptwriting process were Vendetta and another, which would have had guys the world over wincing; Snip Snip. Producer Higgins asked for a title with a “sugar and spice combination and a mixture of harsh roughness, innocence, and vulnerability”. So, Hard Candy it was!
Casting in any movie is always absolutely key, and because of the nature of Hard Candy’s narrative, finding protagonists who could successfully be convincing as a possible paedophile, and the young girl looking to punish him, was potentially very tricky. For the role of Hayley, the production team turned to Ellen Page, who is now Elliot Page of course, and, as I’ll discuss in the review, it’s a great piece of casting. Equally difficult to cast was the character of Jeff which went to the excellent Patrick Wilson. The actor had already featured in a handful of TV shows and movies, including the likes of Angels in America, The Alamo and The Phantom of the Opera, but he was still a relative newcomer to mainstream audiences. It was perhaps a risk then, to take on the role of a guy who had been accused of some truly terrible crimes. Rounding out the cast is the superb character actor, Sandra Oh as Judy Tokuda, plus Jennifer Holmes as Janelle Rogers.
Is it possible for any movie to create sympathy for a guy in his 30s who spends his spare time trolling around the internet looking for underage girls? Plus, more importantly and more to the point – should it really be trying to? Well, they’re the questions being asked of the audience by Hard Candy, a tightly crafted and effective horror movie that attempts to evoke sympathy for both predator and prey. The movie opens with an image of a computer screen showing an instant-message conversation between Patrick Wilson’s Jeff and Elliot Page’s Hayley, who have been flirting online. We next see them meeting face-to-face for the first time in a coffee shop where their conversation continues to be as flirtatious as it is secretly coded, with hidden meaning behind every carefully written sentence in Brian Nelson’s script. They eventually end up back at Jeff’s place where it’s revealed he’s a photographer with an unnerving interest in young girls, as proven by the photos of what seem to be underrage, semi-clothed girls hanging on his walls. However, before Jeff can take their relationship any further, Hayley turns the tables on him that sets both Jeff, and the viewer up for a very uncomfortable experience.
I won’t spoil exactly what the rest of the movie delivers in terms of Hayley’s retribution, her motives and also the exact nature of what she plans to do to Jeff, because if you’ve managed to stay spoiler free from the movie it’s worth going in cold and letting it all unfold. Suffice it to say that the guys watching the movie will be the ones squirming in their seats when the third act kicks in. Director Slade ratchets up the tension expertly, with just a hint of the torture Jeff is enduring and by the end of the sequence it almost makes the viewer wonder whether his actions deserve the punishment he’s enduring. Hard Candy isn’t a pleasant or an easy movie to watch but it’s a very accomplished horror / thriller in its own right. Page is excellent as the vengeful Hayley; going from flirty, innocent and curious towards the beginning of the movie, to cold and calculating towards the end. There are some character decisions that don’t entirely make sense, plus some of the dialogue could have been clunky in the wrong hands, but these are minor complaints. Also, the movie loses some of its tension and becomes a little less scary once Hayley’s true motivations become clear, but for the most part, revisiting Hard Candy has been highly rewarding, albeit in a very uncomfortable way.
The movie premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with a midnight screening, however audiences had to wait until the site’s failing Dolby Surround system was repaired before it began. It was given a limited release in two theaters in Los Angeles and New York on April 14th, 2006 and achieved the highest per-screen average in the top 50 with almost $30 million per theater. The movie also had an international release and by the end of its run it had grossed a reported total of $8.3 million. The movie also managed to snag some awards recognition, with Page, who was presenting as female at the time, picking up Best Actress at the Austin Film Critics Association Awards, while it also won best film, director, actress and cinematography at the Malaga Film Festival in 2006.
Critically, the movie was met with a largely positive response. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 147 critic reviews are positive, and the average rating is 6.4/10. The critics consensus reads: “Disturbing, controversial, but entirely engrossing, Hard Candy is well written with strong lead performances, especially that of newcomer Elliot Page. A movie that stays with the viewer long after leaving the theater.” Roger Ebert rated the film 3.5/4 stars, writing “There is undeniable fascination in the situation as it unfolds…Seen as a film, seen as acting and direction, seen as just exactly how it unfolds on the screen, Hard Candy is impressive and effective.” The UK’s Empire Magazine called it a “cracking little thriller” and Variety praised Page’s performance. However, The Chicago Reader’s Jonathan Rosenbaum wasn’t too keen on the themes of torture and mutilation, saying that, “I’d rather have this movie obliterated from my memory”.
At the end of the day, Hard Candy isn’t a movie to be enjoyed necessarily, at least not in the traditional sense. It’s certainly a difficult watch in places, but it does a great job of highlighting an issue that was more than just an increasing concern at the time, and is certainly a prominent issue in today’s more modern digital world. However, the most important opinion we always love to hear is from YOU guys, so what’s your take on Hard Candy? Did the filmmakers create a horror / slash thriller that raises important questions about online safety? Or was it just a touch too uncomfortable to sit through for the most part? Let me know in the comments and I’ll see you wonderful gore-hounds next time. Thanks for watching!
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