Patrick D’s review published on Letterboxd:
A spectacle. So much so that I forgive its storytelling flaws, most of which crop up in the second half of the film. The Star Wars comps are obviously there, but the fantasy franchise of my youth was Lord of the Rings, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the scale of this movie and how it reflects the way The Two Towers was a bigger and bolder movie than Fellowship. So, the stakes are high for the third installment.
Each time it cuts to a shot lit by a bright hot sun, a red band would flash at the top of the screen. Eventually I realized there was no red band, it was just an optical reaction to the scorching desert landscape in front of me. Definitely a “theater-only” type of effect. This is a powerful film. Speaking of effects, the scene where Zendaya shoots the guy with a rocket launcher made me say “whoa” aloud.
I wanted the Austin Butler-Florence Pugh-monarchical machinations element to be fleshed out more. Butler’s introduction is incredible. His scenes towards the end don’t match the expectations that have been set for his character. Pugh’s character gets crowded out and never matches our expectations for her stardom. The downside to a stacked cast.
But like I said, the sheer power this movie wields—as when Chalamet or Rebecca Ferguson shout in the “voice” and the whole theater shakes—allows it to sidestep (sandwalk?) some of its weaker choices in terms of narrative, exposition, and characterization. Was also just delighted that Walken sounds exactly like Walken even though he’s the emperor of a distant planet 8000 years into the future. There’s something hilarious about that.
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