Survival is a CHOICE! (Escape Room 2019)

225.

Escape Room

 

 

 

6/10

 

Being a lover of going to an escape room or two and horror being a favourite genre of mine, it's interesting to find out what happens when the two cross over. This has the makings of a random horror that just acts as a filler, with a cast that I've never seen before and probably never will again and a storyline that I can imagine won't be going up for an Oscar, this movie will be one of those filler horror's that will be as entertained as maybe having the humour to carry it through. Will this leave me needing an escape plan half way through?
The storyline only needs a quick run through as we are introduced to some of the characters, each one their own person as we have a businessman, a trouble-making teen, a geeky, lonely teen girl and so on. Each one shows their flaws in their lives before being sent a mysterious box.

 On managing to open the puzzle book, they find it holds an invitation to a new kind of escape room with big prizes. On entering the first room, we are introduced to a couple of more players until they realise they are actually already in the game. It's a massive oven which is slowly cooking them alive. This is not an escape room that I'm used to.

The second room I even get the answer to the lock and as for the third, it claims the first victim. Now each escape room as a hidden meaning to them. It shows each participant's darker past, whether they were at fault for someone dying, were actually a killer or just simply got lucky enough to remain alive in a situation that no-one should have survived! Whoever created this escape rooms means for the players to try their luck once again. Obviously, some aren't making it but now our geeky girl has worked out that she can beat this game.

She starts smashing the cameras in a room that is now meant to poison the remaining four players, as one dies, two others move onto the next room and leave the girl behind. They are now head to head in a trippy room and they've been dosed up with some drugs. There is only one needle available to bring themselves back to reality and a fight to the death ensues as our teenage grumpy guy wins, leading into the final room. The room's walls as closing in and in the final moments, he absolutely flukes an escape. The girl on the other hand as faked passing out so that the runners of the game head in, which she attacks and heads out into the back area. She comes across a surveillance room that shows the true extent of what is going on. There is a game going on for the rich who are betting on who would remain alive. They believe that she is dead and now she is big-time under the radar. Her and the remaining guy are seen meeting up at the end of the movie, a short time in the future. She wants to take the fight to the man, finding out their headquarters and plan for the next game. The transformation of her character is astounding. It didn't take long to convince the fella and the audience is left wondering if there is enough meat left on the bone for some sort of sequel.
The film reminded me a lot of the Saw franchise. With the number of gruesome antics and deaths, past being brought up about the players and activities that need to be done to move on to the next task, it really did feel like another turn they made. This took a bit of the shine away from it as although getting the fad of escape rooms into the genre, it still felt like it's been done before, even a little recycled. The major talking point would definitely the transformation of the characters. Now that would mean them coming of age or actually going the other way. We have confident team players turning into selfish arseholes who do anything to survive. We have youngsters who are either innocent until death or turning from cowardly nervous experimenters into their own leader, fighting for survival and for the happy ending. The movie was enjoyable as a one time watch, even maybe twice so that you can take in anything that you may have missed the first time but it's far from going to go down as a classic. Does add a touch of escapism though. 

I do not standby in the presence of evil! (Alita: Battle Angel 2019)

 

 

 

224.

Alita: Battle Angel

 

 

 

7.5/10

 

 I decided to experience this movie in a new way. I was invited to watch the premiere at a nearby Odeon, which included watching the stars arrive live on a blue carpet, representing Odeon, interviews with the stars and even a pre-filmed questions and answers segment. All in all, I think I was at the cinema for around 4 hours. It was a pretty decent experience to gear the audience up for this. This film has been a long time coming and to put that into perspective, James Cameron had to choose between making this and turning his attention to Avatar. We know the choice he then made, moving this idea onto Robert Rodriguez, taking more of a backseat. This would be the last movie before 20th Century Fox merged with the Powerhouse of Disney. We are about to fitness a few familiar faces of Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, hot property Mahershala Ali and the lead role of Alita played by Rosa Salazar. Let's dip in and see if this was worth the wait from is transformation over from the Manga series.
The Earth is 300 years in the future and after a massive interplanetary way, the world is a complete shit hole. Dr. Dyson Ido, played by Waltz, is going through a scrap yard and after finding a broken down cyborg with an intact human brain, he takes it home, gives it a new body and names it Alita. Growing up, she is treated as a daughter, befriends a fella called Hugo, who isn't far from the love interest in this story and all of this is new as Alita has no memory of her past life.

 

 

 This is always going to lead somewhere deeper and darker because they made the point of the forgotten memory really early on. In the meantime, Hugo's way of taking Alita's mind off things is to introduce her to Motorball, which is a battle royal tournament, played up in the wealthy sky city of Zalem. Thing is Hugo a little bit of a prick. He steals parts from cyborgs for the tournament owner named Vector, played by Ali.
Now one night, Alita becomes a little too curious and follows Ido as he creeps about, she thinks he is the one stealing cyborg parts. Once she sees he is being attacked, she instinctively fights back to protect him, kicked ass and making one retreat underground. Ido reveals himself to be a 'Hunter-Warrior'. Altia believes that if she carries on fighting, it may help her remember who is actually is. The cyborg that retreated heads off to Vector's place to be fixed by Dr. Chiren, the estranged wife of Ido. Keeping up? Alita can't help but wander off and in a crashed ship, finds a crazy cool cyborg body that she wants to use. Ido recognizes this as a berserker body, an army trooper from Mars during the great war. Just as a standard spoilt brat, Alita storms off and takes matters into her own hands. She signs up to be a Hunter-Warrior, then moves onto recruit people in a seedy bar to attack the Cyborg from earlier. Zapan, another bounty hunter, provokes Alita and she kicks the shit out of him. Before she knows it, the cyborg she's been looking to fight shows up, upgraded and ready for battle. She ends up being cut into pieces but not before putting up a fight and even with just a torso, one arm and a plucky attitude, she still manages to get a decent blow to the guys head.

 

 

 With an 'F Bomb' and stab to the eye, she is quickly helped by Ido and Hugo, along with a fellow hunter she is carried out, with Ido apologising for putting her into the situation and finally putting her body into the berserker armour.
Having now fallen in love with Hugo, Alita wants to earn the money to be able to send him up to Zalem. She has a trial in Motorball, hoping for the prize money but things don't go to plan. With Hugo having seconds thoughts about his secret job, he decides to quit but Zapan is back, killing the cyborg stealers and the cyborg, framing Hugo along the way. Now Zapan is being sent by a higher power than Vector. Someone called Nova fleets in and out of peoples bodies. He seems a very high society figure from Zalem, but we are yet to meet them in person. With Hugo begging Alita for help, she leaves mid-battle and goes to save him from Zapan. This evil cyborg mortally wounds the boy but Dr. Chiren appears from nowhere and offers to attach Hugo's head to Alita's life support. Zapan is watching on a sees through the trick and still attempts to stop Alita. He wants the bounty that has been placed on Hugo but he guards stop him, leading to Alita stealing his blade that she has long wanted and slicing off half of his face.

 

Hugo was always promised by Vector that he would get him up to Zalem. Ido, who has now attached Hugo to a cyborg body, reveals that this was always a lie. Most of the background and stories in this move tends to be a lie. The only way to get up to Zalem is too be a Motorball champion. On finding this out, Alita loses her shit once again and heads to the factory owned by Vector to confront his lies. By this time, Chiren is in a few cases as she has been harvested for her organs. Vector summons that everlasting Cyborg from the beginning named Grewishka but Alita's new body now makes easy work of him. She forces Nova to come to her through Vector and after this superior figure threatens her family and friends, she fatally stabs Vector.
Returning home, Hugo has left to climb one of the cargo tubes to Zalem and after a quick chat, Alita convinces him to come back. This doesn't exactly go to plan though. Defense rings slice the boy in half. She tries to grab him as he falls but his arm starts to break off and after a thank you, he slips below the clouds.
The movie ends after moving months into the future. Alita is now the star of Motorball, looking to make her way up to Zalem the only way she knows how. She wins the latest race, pointing her sword towards Zalem. Above, we finally get a glimpse of the onlooking Nova and with a smirk on his face, we see it's, surely it's not, yep that's Edward fucking Norton. Where'd he come from?!

 

 

This movie had many good points but it didn't go without some bad features too. From the first trailer, the graphics and idea of this movie had drawn me in. It looked beautiful and sometimes this means that the rest of the movie suffers if all of the eggs are chucked into one basket. It lived up to all expectations and watching the movie in 3D only enhanced this. The story itself was intriguing and stayed that way until the end. There were a couple of twists and turns and even if you could guess that characters were going to switch sides for one reason or another, it was still cool when this came to fruition. A major downfall was that it seemed to be too much of a story. There was a lot of fit into two hours and this felt rushed at times, with too many side stories taking place. If you missed one thing by taking a toilet break, you may have been buggered to catch up for the next scene. Finally the acting, we know Waltz is going to be cracking and this was no different. Playing the protective father role before knowing this was a lost girl who needed answers. Moving onto Salazar, mind the pun but the acting was a little robotic. Now I don't know if this was intentional and I'd like to think it was, otherwise it was a little awkward. The movie ends with the potential of a sequel but with the underwhelming success of the first installment, unfortunately, I don't know if it will happen. The movie made a decent wedge of cash but will the outcry be there from the fans?

You have the boldness to doubt my judgement! (Mary Queen of Scots 2018)

 

 

 

223.

Mary Queen of Scots

 

 
 
 

5/10

 

Looks like I'm about to get a history lesson in the British monarchy. With Saoirse Ronan as Mary and Margot Robbie as Queen Lizzie the first, the trailer shows us them in their period pieces, sometimes looking unrecognisable. The movie did take my interest with some possibility of some in-field action hitting the screen, it gave me a  bit of hope that this wasn't just going to be about the politics of the situation. Oh, how I was wrong, in so many ways. I only know the history of this in what I learnt at school and what I remember, this movie was far from correct.
The movie begins with us watching Mary walking through a crowd of people wanting to witness her beheading. As she lays her head, we are sent back in time to when she arrived from France, wanting to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I.

 

 Both experience their own struggles as Elizabeth has contracted smallpox and has started to turn a little less attractive and is clearly feeling it. As for Mary, she has gotten married to fella who turns out for enjoy the male company instead. She forces him to impregnant her and claims the baby as the heir to Scotland and England, even asking her cousin to be the Godmother. Because Lizzie doesn't have a child, a deal is sticken that if it stays this way, Mary's kid James shall become the King. This is confirmed by text at the end of the movie, which heads back to Mary on the block waiting for the chop. Lizze had caught Mary for betraying her and jailed her, she would look after her until she found evidence that the Scot conspired with the enemy so has no choice to seperate her head from her body.

 

This movie didnt exactly follow history step by step and I'm so disappointed if movies are caving in in this way. I'm for diversity but history would show that black men as nobles were not a thing for the time. There was too much focus on the sexuality and homosexuality in this movie and I was half expecting to see a guy roll up in a wheelchair, no offence meant by this. History shows that Mary and Elizabeth never met, this movie has more than one meeting between the two.

 

 

The historical fiction in this movie could confuse may a viewer. The scenes and cinematography didn't need much tampering as a lot took place in the beautiful countryside and the acting wasn't too bad either. Seeing Robbie as this flapping Queen who remained a virgin and cunning intellect, whilst up north, Mary was seeing the hard times. Having her baby ripped from her, her lover being killed in front of her and constantly being questioned, simply for being a woman, Ronan kept her shit together on the screen very well. I left the cinema thinking that is was nothing more than average and even one epic battle scene would have helped it one it's way, even if there wasn't one in this moment of history, add one! They added some other shit that didn't happen.

Mother Ginger wants to rule the realms! (The Nutcracker and the Four Realms 2018)

 

 

 

222.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

 

 

5/10

I'm not one for Christmas and if I'm going to be honest, I close to hate it. The moment I know I have to watch a Christmas, it doesn't exactly fill me with excitement. Disney has decided to bundle together Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Morgan Freeman, who are the most recognisable, to tell the story of this famous ballet and movie which already has a number of 'cracks' at the big screen. The trailer did hardly anything for me, although the CGI and animation did look pretty fun but I think this could be mostly based at the young female market. Let's find out whether this will drive me nuts of crack me up.
The story is going to follow on a young lady named Clara, who on Christmas eve received a gift from her father as per her dying mother's wish. This gift is pure crap a sit's an egg-shaped box which she cannot even open. A note states that the box contains everything that she will ever need. The whole family then head off to a ball, hosted by their godfather who is played by Freeman. Clara knows he is a decent engineer, so seeks him down for help to unlock the egg. He was the one who created it, giving it to the mum, who now wants to pass this onto her daughter. Back at the ball, the Dad kicks off that Clara hasn't been social and she walks off. I can imagine that the story will end with these to reconciling. After a while and after a game in which the kids find their presents, Clara wonders off for her own, leading her into a parallel world full of excitement and Christmas.

 

 

 On a tree, she sees her key but before she can grab it, it's snatched by a mouse. Chasing it through the forest, coming up against some dangers, Clara finally finds her way to the Realms and it turns out that her mother was the Queen there. She is greeted by Sugarplum, Shiver and Hawthrone, each a regent of different areas. Sugarplum is Knightley's character and she is pretty hyper and high-pitched, probably from all that sugar. One thing I know is that she is pretty annoying.

 

 

 They all settled down to a ballet about their world's history. Clara's mom created a machine that could turn toys into real people. Sugarplum wants to use it to protect the realms against a fourth run by Mother Ginger. They are at war with her and want to protect themselves but the machine needs a key, the same key that the egg box needs. The mouse runs into the fourth realm so, off we go to visit Mother Ginger. Getting the key, all we find is a music box instead of something cool or useful inside the egg.
The story takes a turn as Sugarplum gets her hands on the key, makes an army and want to take the fight to Mother Ginger, who is revealed to be no threat at all.

 

 

 Clara, the Nutcracker and the other Regents are imprisoned and Sugarplum is ready to rule. Looking at the music box again, Clara notices that there is a mirror in the lid and looking at her reflection, she realises that her mother meant the only thing she needs is herself. With a new level of self-belief, she sets everyone their own tasks to bring down Sugarplum and triumphs as she uses the machine she longed for against her. After restoring peace, Clara promises to visit them all in the future before heading back to London. Time runs at a tiny fraction back home compared to in the realms so she is back at the party, acknowledging how hard everything has been for him and simply asks him to dance. Opening her music box, it plays the first song that her mum and dad ever danced too and the camera pans out of them dancing, finish the movie there and then.

 

First question, was there even a Nutcracker? Seriously, the introduction was ok and his character was on the screen a lot but for this movie to be called 'The Nutcracker' is far from earned. This movie really was looking toward the younger market and mainly towards the females, I would say. The little light humour that was present, didn't really take much thinking about and there was far from a lot of violence present in terms of a great war we started movie towards. The CGI was truly great and each land had it's own charm and colour but that's as far as I enjoyed personally. I'm not saying it's a terrible movie but I simply don't enjoy much along the theme of Christmas. There was a level of predictability about it and it was nice then to see the turn of Sugarplum as the villain and the villain we were looking towards turned out to help our main character. I can definitely live without seeing this movie again and Disney with their live actions right now are not filling me with a lot of joy!

You're too good, Newt. You never met a monster you couldn't love. (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald 2018)

 

 

 

221.
Fantastic Beast: The Crimes of Grindelwald

 

 

7/10

 

We are thrust back into the world of wizardry as the second movie in the Fantastic Beast franchise hits our screens. The Crimes of Grindelwald carries on from our last installment and once again looks a beautiful spectacle. I have heard some views that the movie actually doesn't move the story one in a significant way and is somewhat of a filler movie. There is only one way to find out that's by watching Eddie Redmayne, Dan Fogler and Johnny Depp back as their characters. Could this turn out to be just as magical as the Harry Potter series or are we really just looking at a money spinner here?
As we know, this is set in the past, 1927 to be exact and Grindelwald is straight on our screen, being transported ahead of being tried for his crimes and we know what's about to come.

 

 

 BINGO, he's escaped and now we will either spend our time looking for him or he won't return for a little while. We jump three months later and Newt, played by Redmayne, is in London bumping into his ex who is now engaged to his brother. He is being asked by the ministry to track down Credence, a character from the first story. He needs to be sent to Paris, which he rejects and another Auror is sent in his place. Not long after, Jude Law pops up as Dumbledore, persuading Newt to actually take the job in Paris because after all, he is the main reason as to why the events in the first movie transpired.
In Paris, Newt bumps into a couple of more characters from the first movie, Queenie and Jacob. We could tell from the ending of the first, that Jacob was receiving his memories back and this is confirmed straight away. The pair have followed Queenie's sister to Paris and Tina is also on the trail for Credence. Newt and Tina had a little touch of romance from the first and I wonder if the writers will decide to step this up a little in this movie. Credence is around, with a new friend name Nagini, as they search for his family and their new lead is killed by the Auror Grimmson who is secretly working for Grindelwald. Word is that he is part of the Lestrange family, with his own step-brother on his trail to kill him off.

 

 

As the movie progresses and tensions between the non-magic folk and wizards begin to grow, even making Queenie question her own loyalties as she is struggling to find her sister and is actually convinced to turn up at Grindelwald's hideout. He convinces her that he has the true power of freedom, one which means that she can marry Jacob in the future without it being frowned upon.
Back to Newt and Tina, who are breaking into the French Ministry in order to find out Credence's true identity and the reason that he is so popular for the wrong reasons. During this time, Newt feels that he needs to tell Tina that him and his ex, who is also a Lestrange, were never engaged to be married, which really falls short of the mark and isn't the true mission. They are lead to the Lestrange tomb with their new information but it turns out that Credence isn't this long lost kid as Newt's ex, Leta Lestrange killed that little bugger when she was only young. They are all led to this rally, including Credence, where Grindelwald is spouting some hate.

 

 

 Even Queenie is there, much to Jacob's surprise. Within the speech, Grindelwald shows some future images of World War II. This is until the Aurors turn up, led my Newt's brother but as they are ready to stop what's going on, Grindelwald sets up a diversion before sending his followers across Europe to spread his new message. He cast a blue flame to separate his followers from their enemies as Credence and Queenie step through the flame to join him, much to everyone's surprise. Leta sacrifices herself by attack Grindelwald, which allows everyone else to escape and as they do so, our remaining heroes link up to battle that blue flame, which has no become a massive dragon because why the hell not. Newt now realises that he needs to get involved in some capacity.

 

 

We end the movie looking at Hogwarts. Newt has gone to meet Dumbledore with a vial that he stole from Grindelwald which holds the bold of both the villain and Dumbledore. This is the reason that Dumbledore cannot move on the villain but trying to destroy it, may mean that this can happen. Meanwhile, In Austria, Grindelwald has set up a camp and it's revealed that Credence is actually a Dumbledore, he's the future Headmaster's long lost brother and the bird he is caring for is a Pheonix, the bird we have seen in the older movies with the Headmaster. This is the end of the movie that could be classified as a little bit of a cliffhanger.
I don't truly understand those that said nothing really happened in this movie. Did they just want it to fail? Characters switching sides, the Villains gaining his army, Newt finally stepping up and bringing Dumbledore into the fold along with the revelation fo who Credence really is. These are plenty of talking points and a lot more than other movies that have been around recently. The acting was once again top notch from certain people. Redmayne gives a great performance as a bumbling wizard but I really want to see his true potential if he does need to take more action. Depp does creepy so well. Between his look and mannerisms, who can truly take in his adaptation of a villain, which I've seen him play far from often. The plot was a mismatch and jumble at times, which did make some of this confusing, maybe even focusing too much on the CGI but as always in the Wizarding World, the special effects, settings and beasts that come along with this type of movie were truly beautiful. It may not have shown us the true crimes of Grindelwald and there may have only been a handful of fantastic beasts but I'm really looking forward to the third in the series.

Welcome to the search bar, what can I help you with today? (Ralph breaks the internet 2018)

 

 

 

220.

Ralph breaks the internet

 

 

 

6/10

 

 

 

Disney decided on a sequel rather than digging up the past and giving us a rehash of an animation. John C. Reilly returns to voice a loveable computer game villain, turned good and along with Sarah Silverman and Gal Gadot, we head into the world of the internet which looks nothing more than watching the Emoji Movie once more. This has a Disney logo on it though so surely everyone will look past that and call it a masterpiece?
The arcade is about to get an internet router, which will open up a whole new world for our characters and when the steering wheel on Vanellope's game breaks, we have to head to eBay to find a new one.

 

 

This is a great time for Disney to flex their muscle as they show off their Princesses, movies, Tv shows and anything else they can, along with different websites. After getting to eBay and winning the auction, they find out that they actually need money to pay for the bastard thing. As always, the internet gives some promises in a pop-up and earning some easy money is one of them. One of these is an online racing game. They must steal a valuable car and sell it onwards for the money that they need. The owner of that car is Gal Gadot's character, Shank. At the end of the race, Vanellope is commended for her racing style by Shank, who doesn't give them the car but does send them in the direction of an algorithm named Yesss.

 

 

 Now Yesss is in charge of a site called Buzzzfeed, which even to the untrained eye, is pretty much YouTube. Ralph is going to make all his money from playing on the latest trends and videoing himself doing so. This gives him love and likes in an attempt to be the next viral sensation. Everything that is becoming wrong with the internet and this movie is exploiting that even more. Vaneloope is starting to feel a little useless but Ralph doesn't want her falling into the crowd at Slaughter Race with Shank.
After finally getting the money, Ralph gets butt dialed by Vanelloe who is with Shank, telling her that she wants to stay there and leave the arcade for good. This leads Ralph to track down the dark-web, way to advertise this Disney, to get a virus to make Slaughter Race boring and hopefully making Vanellope lose interest. Obviously, it backfires, spreads through the internet, causing carnage and manifests into all of Ralph's insecurities, creating mini Ralph's which cause chaos. They all band together and kidnap Vanellope and the only way for Ralph to defeat the newly formed giant Ralph for its possessiveness of the girl. He realises that letting her stay in Slaughter Race and letting her go does not mean that their friendship would come to an end. Finally getting over his own insecurities, breaks down the virus and sets Vanellope free.
The internet is now saved from the virus and Vanellope does indeed choose to stay in Slaughter Race. The two friends now keep in touch through video chat, as they continue on their own journeys. We are treated to two scenes within the credits, one as the friends play a game we seen in the trailers and the post-credits is a mini teaser for Frozen 2, only for Ralph to crash the party.

 

This movie was a far cry from the first. It didn't feel fresh on ideas and instead played of some of the social anxieties that have been too common within social media. Giving the chase for love online and the need to be accepted for money was a little uneasy to watch as our character trailed around the internet like the Emoji Movie that came before it. It had its moments with some humor and piss taking of things like eBay and the Disney Princesses fates within their respective movies. The movie itself looked really clean and crisp too, very visually pleasing. The bad points can keep coming though and in the form of character development. Ralph who just wanted to be accepted has now turned into a selfish character who won't let someone else move on. This goes for Vanellope too. She was just the same and now she is ready to cast aside, a friend who wanted to help to repair her game after helping her to her true potential and now she's ready to move on already. By the second half of the movie, you had totally forgotten that this adventure was even taking place on the internet. Even typing this, I can still feel the disappointment that this movie far from lived up to its potential and instead felt very cliché.

 

 



No-one thinks we have the balls to pull this off (Widows 2018)

219.

Widows

 

 

 7/10

 

 

Widows is a heist movie that I was actually looking forward too. The trailer gave the main plot away as a group of men meet their end, only to leave their partners in some sort of debt in the local crime lord. The cast is huge and highly recognisable, bringing together Liam Neeson, Viola Davis, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodrigez and Jon Bernthal to name but a few. The move looks a lot darker than the likes of Ocean's Eleven and other heist movies, with a lot for gun action and explosions. I'm just hoping this doesn't take the simple route and holds plenty of twists that I can enjoy.
The movie begins by introducing us quickly to all of the main characters and their relationships with each other. Davis and Neeson's characters are married and seem pretty damn happy about it too. The story quickly moves on to the four main men completing their heist, being chased by the cops and as they attempt to exit their safe house they are shot in their van, causing it to explode and kill them all. I am instantly wondering what the hell was in that truck or what bullets were they using! Veronica, played by Viola Davis is now alone. As we cross over to a little side storyline, we follow Farrell's character named Jack Mulligan, who is running for a political position as his dad once did. The stories begin to cross as Viola is laying her husband to rest and Jack is at the funeral.

 There is also another at the funeral A man named Jamal is claiming that Neeson's character Harry, stole two million dollars from him, which is the money he needs for his own political campaign. He shows he isn't messing as he grabs the pet dog by its neck and chucking about the threats. She has two weeks to get the money back and she better had. I want to see nothing happy to a dog for their mistakes!
The other women have now fallen on hard times with the losses of their husbands so a team is put together after Veronica finds one of Harrys' big heist plans. Each woman will bring their unique talents to this heist and even with plenty of nervousness and sometimes disagreements, they start to get their plan in motion. Everything is starting to overlap some more as this Jamal fella has found out about Harry's plan and heist book that Veronica has, so he's back to ask more questions. After she lies about selling the book, the story of the ladies progresses and another lady joins the gang after she gets caught up in seeing her hairdressing job's owner having to give over a wad of money to Jack Mulligan's men in order to keep the shop open. Things do actually fall apart a little though, which always happens in this kind of flick. One pays too much of the van and can't even drive, another has problems buying guns without documents but this is soon rectified.

Alice ends up getting some extra cash through escorting and one guy she sees is actually a real estate exec who notices the blueprints for the plans and knows instantly that they are to the Mulligan's home. Veronica also meets the final wife who hasn't joined the heist so far. She apologises for this and puts it down to the fact that she has a new-born and with this information, Veronica decides not to tell her the plan and get her involved in any way. Another hiccup though as Jamal's men have visited their driver and Harry's old driver and kill him, leaving the team searching for a new one and using that hairdresser. In order to find some help with Jamal, Veronica turns to Jack who isn't too helpful. He believes that it sounds like a Harry problem that now Veronica is left to deal with. This isn't Veronica's main reason for being around though and the other girls aren't too far away. They are inside and outside, scoping out the area ready for their heist to take place.
A couple of days later, Veronica and the dog head to visit Amanda, the wife with new-born. At first, she doesn't answer the door, putting it down to the baby but they all head inside and the dog starts to act a little weird. Running off and barking at a door, it wakes up the baby and Amanda heads off to shut it up. Veronica notices a flask in the kitchen, one that looks like her late husbands and as the dog is still going at that door, she heads to the handle, ready to open it, hoping that her thoughts are wrong. Instead, she picks up the dog and leaves. God damn you woman, we all know what was behind that door! She drives off in tears as Amanda opens the door and we see Harry sitting on the edge of the bed. We are then treated to a flashback of him setting up his men in the truck and firing a shot to make sure the police fire back. He then sets off the explosives, killing his team and escaping. I knew there was too much explosion there for just some bullets! He then heads to meet Jack Mulligan who had ordered Harry to steal the money from Jamal, who he s running against. The flashbacks carry on further, showing his strained marriage and the fact that his young son as killed by a police officer in a mistake killing.
Now it's time for the heist. The girls have found some dodgy pictures that the local security guy had lying about and using this to blackmail him, they manage to bypass security and even getting the code for Mulligan's safe. With devices that disguise their voices, masks put on, they work their way through the house and begin to make their way back out again. One door opens and out pops the Mulligan's father. He shoots Alice and Linda ends up shooting him and killing him. They leg it out to the van, only to find their drive held at gunpoint by one of Jamal's men. He's here for the money and steals the van but with the ladies giving chase and turning complete badass, they cause a crash, killing the guy and getting their loot back. Next, they need to finally drop Alice off at a hospital before she bleeds out.

Veronica is the first to make it back to the ladies hideaway. There, Harry is sitting, ready to give an explanation for his actions and Veronica breaks down. He admits that he was looking after his new family of Amanda and the baby and as he turns to kill his widow, she shoots first, killing him and leaves the gun in his hand, along with leaving the money with him. The movie continues to close as Jack wins the election with a sympathy vote for his old man's death. The salon owner opens the shop to a big bag of money, Alice is starting her own business, whilst Linda buys back the shop that she lost with her husband no longer bring in the doe. Veronica is later seen at a restaurant with a random fella who she gives a load of money to, to build a new library and name it after her late son. Alice sees her from another table and the two embrace outside not long after.
I really enjoyed this heist movie because it went against the grain to an extent. Now it does have the normal falling out and stumbling that comes from the team but this time it was a little darker. There were actually bullets flying and hitting their targets, death and a deeper underlying story, whether that was from the main twist at the end of the movie or the corrupted political story. Each lady had their own ambitions for the money and an agreement to go their separate ways afterward, another scenario we never really see. This meant that each actress and even the actors involved managed to bring something different to the main screen. Between the nervous bumbling lady to the fierce leader, each base was covered. Viola Davis keeps upping the game right now but my main stand out in this movie was someone I haven't even mentioned was in the movie. Carrying on from the great display in Get Out, Daniel Kaluuya plays Jamal's brother and 'action man', getting killed off at the end but to see this guy in a villainous role made me feel like the guy has been doing it for years. Definitely my stand out star of this movie. If we look at a little of the bad, there did seem to be too many messages trying to be told. Racist cops, black power, corrupt politicians, abusive husbands and women power all filled into only a couple of hours confused the situation at times. The woman power aspect of this though didn't feel forced. It wasn't one of those franchises that have already been successful that got a spin-off and recasting such as with Ghostbusters or Oceans 11, which made this more enjoyable as it really wasn't over-compensating and trying to be something that it wasn't.