Friday's film reviews & trailers

This week, Bridesmaids’ Melissa McCarthy stars in action-packed comedy caper Spy, the spooks and scares return in horror prequel Insidious: Chapter 3 and Pierce Brosnan and Milla Jovovich discover no one can be trusted in Survivor.

Friday's film reviews & trailers

Spy

Spy sees Melissa McCarthy reunite with Bridesmaids writer-director Paul Feig for an action-packed mission, which would leave James Bond decidedly shaken and stirred by its unorthodox approach to 21st-century espionage.

Punctuated by thrilling chases and a frenetic knife fight in a restaurant kitchen, it’s a terrifically entertaining caper, jam-packed with belly laughs and foul-mouthed outbursts.

The hijinks are underpinned by another winning performance from McCarthy as a deskbound analyst at the CIA, who is championed for her moist homemade cakes rather than her sharp intellect.

Brains arm-wrestles brawn in Feig’s politically incorrect and uproarious script, including an amusing cameo from rapper 50 Cent as himself and a juicy supporting role for Miranda Hart.

Jason Statham lampoons his tough guy screen image as a CIA operative, who was clearly last in line when God was doling out intelligence.

Opening with an extended action sequence and Saul Bass-inspired opening titles replete with a Bond-esque thunderous ballad, Spy is a rip-roaring treat.

McCarthy throws herself into her role with gusto.

Hart essentially plays herself, but she’s a snug fit amidst a strong Anglo-American cast, who deliver Feig’s zinging one-liners with tongues wedged firmly in cheek.

The spirit of 007 pervades every glossy frame, but with old-school chauvinism turned on its head to affirm a message of female independence.

Star Rating: 4/5

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 94%

Insidious: Chapter 3

Set a few years before the Lambert haunting in the first Insidious, Leigh Whannell’s sporadically scary prequel reaches into the grab bag of old tricks to jolt the audience out of their seats.

But most scares are telegraphed: when the beleaguered heroine tentatively moves to look under her bed, we know her curiosity will be her undoing.

Whannell, who makes his directorial debut with this third chapter, does achieve one moment of delicious skin-crawling terror in the pivotal scene - sometimes, stark simplicity can make the spine tingle.

Insidious: Chapter 3 is an effective standalone thriller, anchored by strong performances from Shaye and Scott.

Shocks are predictable, tapping into universal fears of the dark, and Sampson and Whannell offer light comic relief to distract from Mulroney, who is as wooden as the furniture in the Brenner apartment.

The script incorporates nods and winks to other films in the series including the reappearance of Elise’s spectral tormentor, the murderous Bride In Black.

Unsurprisingly, writer-director Whannell leaves the cellar door ajar for a potential fourth descent into the ghoulish gloom.

Star Rating: 3/5

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 61%

Survivor

Pierce Brosnan’s glory days as suave secret agent James Bond are a distant memory, which grows fonder with each improbable twist and turn in Survivor.

Originally entitled Alchemy, James McTeigue’s explosive-laden spy thriller uses the posrt-911 covert war on terrorism as a wobbly framework for a predictable game of cat-and-mouse between a fearless US agent and a sadistic London assassin.

Brosnan sheds his nice-guy persona to play the sharp-shooting villain, who “has had so much reconstructive surgery, nobody knows what he looks like”.

It’s a throwaway line of dialogue to casually explain why the striking Irish actor can swan around the city, while statuesque co-star Milla Jovovich is tracked by almost every CCTV camera.

Her ability to emerge unscathed from a hail of bullets is one of many perplexing questions that remain unanswered by Philip Shelby’s flimsy script.

Survivor is a generic battle of patriotic Americans versus nasty foreigners that casts Jovovich in her familiar role as a one-woman killing machine.

Brosnan’s performance is lacklustre, while Frances de la Tour fleshes out a thankless supporting role as a technowizard, who affirms Kate’s innocence.

Set pieces are solid if unremarkable, including bruising fistfights between the two leads.

The picture’s 48-hour timeframe and a threat of six-digit casualties should generate a far greater sense of urgency than McTeigue accomplishes.

Star Rating: 2/5

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 0%

In Selected Cinemas…

Shooting for Socrates

In 1986 Belfast, nine-year-old Tommy (Art Parkinson) lives in the shadow of sectarian violence.

He is inspired to follow his dreams by his loving father Arthur (Richard Dormer), who has twin passions: Greek philosophy and football.

Father and son watch with pride as the Northern Ireland football team heads to Mexico for the World Cup, where they are in the same group as the mighty Brazil, managed by Socrates de Souza (Sergio Mur).

Northern Ireland manager Billy Bingham (John Hannah) hopes to inspire his squad to greatness and give the chasing media pack, including veteran reporter Jackie Fullerton (Conleth Hill), something to write about.

When the day of reckoning arrives, the players face seemingly insurmountable odds to advance past the group stages and prove to young fans like Tommy that anything is possible.

RottenTomatoes.com Rating: 40%

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