action

It was today I realised that this and The Other Guys are different films. Cleverly written, sharply directed, and Gosling is, as ever, a delight. Keith David and Kim Basinger perhaps a little wasted.

Most of Riz Ahmed’s acting happens through his eyes—Ash barely speaks aloud, his lines passed through a telephone relay operator. That constraint sharpens everything, and it’s all gruff exchanges, mailed packages and payphone protocols. Then the ending arrives, and it crumbles. A script this fastidious about process shouldn’t ask you to swallow quite that much.

The sketch-to-feature problem is real (you can feel the last twenty minutes stretching), but the hit rate on individual gags is high enough to carry it. Impressively stupid, in the most complimentary sense.

There is absolutely no need for either Damon or Affleck to be in this, although they do improve it.

I clicked on this expecting some unfunny Stranger Things parody and instead I got Scott Pilgrim + The Warriors + every Tarantino film. Based on those expectations, it was surprisingly good, even if it’s all been done a thousand times before.

I had exceedingly low expectations and it just about surpassed them.