Beast review – down-and-out MMA fighter film is predictable but still lands punches

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Directed by Tyler Atkins and co-written by Russell Crowe, this Australian feature follows a familiar playbook – but you’ll find yourself surprisingly invested Ah, yes: the promising fighter who could’ve been a contender, could’ve been a champion. But then life intervened: bad decisions were made, promises broken, the wrong paths taken. But what if the past came knocking on his door? What if our long-in-the-tooth hero could have another crack, set things right, get in the ring one more time? To say that Tyler Atkins’ Australian martial arts drama Beast plucks moves from a well-worn playbook is putting it lightly. This is one of those genre films in which nothing surprises in broad terms; it’s the small pivots and deviations that matter. Given the ring of familiarity surrounding everything, I was surprised to find myself as invested in the film as I was, particularly because so many chest-thumping sports movies are already out there, many of which I find about as intellectually engaging ...
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Control review: Kevin Spacey’s sarky GPS wants to kill the Home Secretary for sleeping with the PM

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Spacey’s first film since he was cleared for sexual assault makes effective use of his silken voice, but that’s not enough to rescue this wooden and occasionally deranged sci-fi thriller

Kevin Spacey’s redemptive journey of uncancelling steps another millimetre forwards, or sideways, with his somewhat bizarre new role in this low-budget British indie in which, as a disembodied voice, he plays the implacable punisher of other people’s sexual misdemeanours.

It’s actually a decent idea for a single location cat-and-mouse thriller set in a car – similar to, actually maybe better than the idea behind the recent Liam Neeson thriller Retribution. And it was a smart entrepreneurial idea to create a role which Spacey could conveniently record in a studio anywhere in the world. Spacey’s silky, sulky voice saves the film from disaster, just slightly, although there’s nothing he can do about the terribly clunky direction and torpid line-readings from other people.

We are apparently in a future world where tech and AI have made great strides. A besuited man described by other characters as the “British Prime Minister David Addams” gives a speech in a weirdly inexpensive looking function room to a group of people who look as if they have just appeared in The Office Christmas Special. His theme is the overwhelming importance of privacy and afterwards with some bafflingly indiscreet and explicit dialogue makes it very clear to anyone within earshot that he is having a passionate affair with someone described as “the Home Secretary” – whose name is Stella Simmons.

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