2nd movie review

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

More From Decider

'The Golden Bachelor' Stars Gerry Turner And Theresa Nist Divorcing Three...

'The View' Reacts To O.J. Simpson's Death: "The Tragedy Was The...

'The View' Forced To Evacuate Their Studio Before Wednesday's Show After...

'X-Men '97' Gives Gambit a Hero Moment You'll Never Forget

Holly Madison Says She “Tried” Exotic Dancing But Doesn’t Have...

'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' at 10: The Movie That Made (and...

Joy Behar Says She Was "Dragged Into" Controversy Over Beyoncé's 'Jolene'...

Guy Fieri Calls Drew Barrymore "Gangster" For Talking With Her "Mouth Full...

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to copy URL

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The 2nd’ On Netflix, Ryan Phillippe Rescues College Kids From Terrorists, Just Don’t Ask Why

Where to stream:.

• The 2nd (2020)
• Ryan Phillippe

5 Sexy Dark Academia Movies to Get Your 'Saltburn' Fix

Stream it or skip it: ‘miranda’s victim’ on hulu, a surprisingly absorbing and complex drama about the adoption of miranda rights, stream it or skip it: ‘american murderer’ on hulu, a scammer story that turns criminal and campy, stream it or skip it: ‘collide’ on hulu, a calamitous pile-up of dramatic clichés.

If you want to protect the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, sometimes you have no choice but to kidnap the daughter of one of the nine Supreme Court justices. It’s a foolproof plan, really. Unless you’re fooled into making your kidnapping attempt on an almost deserted college campus where the only other adult around is a Green Beret killing machine with a heart of gold whose son has a crush on the SCOTUS justice’s daughter. Or I could’ve just told you it’s Casper Van Dien vs. Ryan Phillippe, and you’ve watched everything else on Netflix.

THE 2ND : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: The actual plot makes less sense than what I described above, and most of it doesn’t really matter, actually.

I mean, it opens with a sequence in which Ryan Phillippe and another guy are Secret Service agents (I guess?) protecting a U.S. Senator played by William Katt, who is so far more than four decades removed from The Greatest American Hero that he’s leering at a woman (journalist? lobbyist?) who asks the senator about his presidential aspirations and the Second Amendment, but the agents whisk the senator away due to a bomb threat that’s actually a smokescreen to get the senator out in the open for an ambush by masked terrorists. In a rash of gunfire, Phillippe saves the senator but loses his partner. And none of this is mentioned or has any impact on the rest of the movie. Cue the credits!

The trailer is actually much better at delivering both the story and the goods? From that description: “ Phillippe plays Secret Service Agent Vic Davis, who finds himself single-handedly fighting to thwart a terrorist operation and the attempted kidnapping of a Supreme Court justice’s daughter from her college dorm.”

Casper Van Dien leads the terrorist contingent.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: You know how Die Hard is a Christmas movie ? Well, The 2nd is what happens when you want to re-create that movie magic without remembering what went into making Die Hard a great movie in the first place. You’ve still got Christmas decorations and holiday mentions, you’ve still got bad guys with multiple accents, and you’ve still got lots of gunfire.

Performance Worth Watching: The other recognizable face onscreen belongs to Richard Burgi ( Desperate Housewives , 24 , Hostel: Part II , The Sentinel and a veteran of several soap operas), who plays CIA Director Mike Phillips. He turns out to be the mastermind of this whole operation, for reasons that are never really outlined. Just know that the CIA Director believes one Supreme Court justice out of nine holds the swing vote on a court case that will do *something* to the Second Amendment that would be catastrophic enough to warrant kidnapping or perhaps killing the judge’s daughter.

But I’m more impressed that amid all that hullaballoo, Burgi’s CIA chief uses Ursula K. Le Guin’s short story from 1973, “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” as an allegory to explain his machinations.

Memorable Dialogue: A pulpy genre piece is gonna rely on some cliche and boilerplate dialogue.

A Russian baddie warns Shawn, Davis’s college-aged son, out of shooting him at the end of one fight in the dorm, saying: “Once you cross that line…there ain’t no going back.”

Since the baddies are working for the CIA, you get to hear one of them mid-fight say: “Believe it or not, we’re the good guys!”

After Davis improbably survives one shootout, his son exclaims: “We heard you were dead!” To which Davis replies: “Nah, they just gave me a workout.” A bit later, in a quiet moment between gunfights and fistfights, Davis out of nowhere says to his son: “Ya know, I’m thinking about retiring.”

Van Dien gets some choice lines, too. Among them:

• “Three people can keep a secret…if two of them are dead.”
• “Too bad we didn’t meet under different circumstances — we could’ve been friends.”
• “You think this ends here? I’m just the tip of the spear!”

My favorite line isn’t even spoken, though. It’s that scene shown above where Phillippe greets the SCOTUS judge, driving up to the scene of a burning car crash, holding a sign written in blood (his own? or that of one of the dead baddies?) that reads: “I’M HERE TO HELP.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: This is not a great movie by any measure.

But that’s not why you’re even thinking of watching this in the first place. In an earlier time, The 2nd would be one of those lone VHS boxes on the Blockbuster New Release shelves that you pick up based on the title just to see who’s in it, then you see it’s got Ryan Phillippe and Casper Van Dien, and you’re intrigued, but wonder why you don’t remember seeing it advertised or showing at your local cineplex. Straight-to-streaming has replaced straight-to-VHS and straight-to-DVD, and a new release on Netflix with a provocative title and stars you recognize can shoot up to the top of the Netflix charts easily thanks to your clicks, which then provokes more fascination by bored viewers such as you.

And Phillippe just showed up again in primetime on ABC’s Big Sky (available on Hulu), so he’s front of your mind. And this action-packed role in The 2nd might remind you how Phillippe recently starred for three seasons as a retired U.S. Marine Corps sniper in USA’s Shooter .

So your interest is piqued. Piqued enough for a B-movie with C- dialogue and an F for logic? The movie only begins to become self-aware in the final scene, cutting away from the ridiculousness it has just set up to roll the final credits. Anyone up for The 3rd? Nobody knows the Third Amendment, so the sequel would likely be The 2nd 2nd, I’m guessing.

Our Call: SKIP IT. The pandemic has made too many of us less discriminating in our streaming habits. Watch Phillippe in MacGruber instead. Or watch Van Dien in Starship Troopers . That’s some top-notch ridiculousness.

Should you stream or skip the Ryan Phillippe action movie #The2nd on @netflix ? #SIOSI — Decider (@decider) December 4, 2020

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper,  The Comic’s Comic ; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets  @thecomicscomic  and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories:  The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First .

Watch The 2nd on Netflix

• Stream It Or Skip It

Does 'Yellowstone' Return Tonight? Everything To Know About 'Yellowstone's Season 5, Part 2 Premiere Date

Dwayne Johnson Gets Into Verbal Altercation With WWE Fan: "Watch Your F**king Mouth"

'The View' Reacts To O.J. Simpson's Death: "The Tragedy Was The Injustice" 

Where To Watch 'When Calls The Heart' Season 11: Start Time, Streaming Info

Is Woody Allen's 'Coup de Chance' Streaming on Netflix or HBO Max?

R.I.P. Cole Brings Plenty: '1923' Actor Found Dead At 27 After Going Missing

The 2nd Ending, Explained

In ‘The 2nd’, director Brian Skiba (‘Rottentail’) brings together two of the biggest superstars of the 90s, Ryan Phillippe and Casper Van Dien. The film revolves around Major Vic Davis (Phillippe), a Green Beret, who must find a way to keep his son and the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice safe while battling a group of highly-trained antagonists.

When the film came out, it garnered mixed reviews, although Phillippe and Van Dien received considerable praise for their performances. The movie has an engaging plot and well-choreographed action sequences. All in all, it’s a fun B-film that does exactly what a movie is supposed to do, entertain its audience. SPOILERS AHEAD.

The 2nd Plot Synopsis

The film opens with Davis and his partner arriving at a US Senator’s office to move him to a secure location after an apparent terror outfit issues a bomb threat against him. This comes against the backdrop of an important Supreme Court vote on the Second Amendment. The senator, Bob Jeffers, is a staunch supporter of gun rights, and his elimination is a top priority for the shadowy outfit.

While speaking to the operative who has been given the mission to detonate the bomb, his mysterious handler talks about a benefactor for whom neutralizing Jeffers is of utmost importance. The convoy is attacked on their way to a safehouse. Although the Senator remains unharmed, Davis’ partner is killed. Some time passes, and the movie finds Davis traveling to his son Sean’s (Jack Griffo) college to pick him up from there and then go camping together.

Davis and Sean have been somewhat estranged since the death of Davis’ wife in the hands of Iraqi militants, who came after his family for what he had done to them. At the same time, several operatives from the outfit arrive at the campus. Their leader poses as a Secret Service driver (Van Dien) for Erin Walton (Lexi Simonsen), the daughter of Justice Walton (Randy Charach). They quickly take out the campus security and are about to abduct their target when Davis intervenes.

What follows is a cat-and-mouse game between Davis and Driver. Davis tries to use the college as a fortress while trying to protect his son and Erin. On the other hand, Driver continues to send in his operatives to take him out and capture Erin. Davis soon learns that he is fighting a CIA ground team. At Erin’s home, Director Phillips (Richard Burgi) of the CIA shows up and tells Judge Walton that he has his daughter, warning him that if he doesn’t do what he tells him to do, Erin will get hurt.

The 2nd Ending

In the end, it is revealed that the bomber’s handler was Director Phillips himself. They both have the same codename, “Father.” Evidently, the CIA or at least one of its factions is trying to influence a domestic policy. Through Phillips’ retelling of Ursula K. Le Guin’s ‘The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,’ the film hints that the operatives and their enigmatic benefactor want the judge to give his opinion against the Second Amendment.

In doing that, they succeed. In Ursula K. Le Guin’s story, a child must live in perpetual impoverishment, so an entire city can thrive. Similarly, Phillips, Driver, and their accomplices try to abduct and later kill Erin because they believe that it is for the greater good.

How to Keep a Secret

As Driver says twice in the film, three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead. He survives the explosion after his fight with Davis, and when Phillips returns to his home, Driver is already there, waiting for him with a gun in his hand. Phillips tries to persuade him by telling him that Walton will never talk, nor will he change his judgment. He then implies that they will just hide what happened.

What Phillips fails to realize is that the decision to eliminate him has already been taken by their benefactor. He now poses a risk for their entire operation, being the CIA director who kidnapped the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice to force him to give his opinion against the Second Amendment. Driver sounds almost apologetic when he tells Phillips that history will not remember him kindly, implying that he will be used as a scapegoat. Later, he kills him.

The Possibility of a Sequel

The film’s ending is very open-ended. Davis overwhelmingly triumphs against the odds, defeating Driver, ensuring the safety of both his son and Erin, and reuniting the latter with her father. Sean is in the hospital because of the bullet wound and other injuries. Davis is there with him. The ordeal has clearly brought them closer. Sean learns that his father has been awarded the Medal of Honor.

Davis gives his son the watch that President Clinton gave him after realizing that there weren’t enough medals. As a battle-hardened soldier, he knows how killing another person affects someone and urges his son to focus on the people he saved instead. Erin arrives with a bottle of alcohol. It is quite apparent that she and Sean are romantically involved.

When Davis comes downstairs, he sees that his wife (Samaire Armstrong) has been taken hostage by a group of people whose accent sounds decidedly East European. The film ends as he begins fighting them. He lost his first wife when his past came for him, seeking vengeance. It seems like history is repeating itself. This is a clever way to set up for a sequel. With Driver surviving, he just might return in the future to make Davis pay his dues, just like the group of assailants does in the closing scenes of the film.

Read More: Where Was The 2nd Filmed?

SPONSORED LINKS

• Movie Explainers
• TV Explainers
• About The Cinemaholic

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Civil War Link to Civil War
• Monkey Man Link to Monkey Man
• The First Omen Link to The First Omen

New TV Tonight

• Fallout: Season 1
• Chucky: Season 3
• Mr Bates vs The Post Office: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Franklin: Season 1
• Dora: Season 1
• Good Times: Season 1
• Beacon 23: Season 2

Most Popular TV on RT

• Ripley: Season 1
• Parasyte: The Grey: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• X-Men '97: Season 1
• A Gentleman in Moscow: Season 1
• Palm Royale: Season 1
• The Gentlemen: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Fallout Link to Fallout
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

CinemaCon 2024: Day 3 – Disney Previews Deadpool & Wolverine , Moana 2 , Alien: Romulus , and More

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

• Trending on RT
• Play Movie Trivia

2018, Mystery & thriller/Drama, 1h 34m

You might also like

Where to watch the second.

Watch The Second with a subscription on Prime Video, rent on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, or buy on Apple TV, Fandango at Home.

Rate And Review

Super Reviewer

Rate this movie

Oof, that was Rotten.

Meh, it passed the time.

It’s good – I’d recommend it.

So Fresh: Absolute Must See!

What did you think of the movie? (optional)

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

Step 2 of 2

How did you buy your ticket?

Let's get your review verified..

AMCTheatres.com or AMC App New

Cinemark Coming Soon

We won’t be able to verify your ticket today, but it’s great to know for the future.

Regal Coming Soon

Theater box office or somewhere else

By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie.

You're almost there! Just confirm how you got your ticket.

The second videos, the second   photos.

The persona of a celebrated author is threatened when her best friend and muse reveals the dark secret behind her first novel's provenance, igniting an incendiary tale of sex, lies and betrayal.

Genre: Mystery & thriller, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Mairi Cameron

Producer: Stephen Lance , Leanne Tonkes

Writer: Stephen Lance

Release Date (Theaters): Dec 3, 2021  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 3, 2021

Runtime: 1h 34m

Distributor: Gravitas Ventures

Production Co: Screen Queensland, Second Films, Sense & Centsability

Cast & Crew

Rachael Blake

Susie Porter

Vince Colosimo

The Publisher

Martin Sacks

The Brother

Susan Prior

The Detective

The Daughter

Bridget Webb

The Favourite

The Senior Detective

Mairi Cameron

Stephen Lance

Screenwriter

Leanne Tonkes

Nick Forward

Executive Producer

Anne Hubbell

Mark Wareham

Cinematographer

Sue Schweikert

Film Editor

Original Music

Jon Dowding

Production Design

Chrissy Feld

Set Decoration

Vanessa Loh

Costume Designer

Ben Parkinson

Critic Reviews for The Second

Audience reviews for the second.

There are no featured audience reviews for The Second at this time.

Movie & TV guides

Play Daily Tomato Movie Trivia

Discover What to Watch

Rotten Tomatoes Podcasts

This New Ryan Phillippe Movie Just Hit #1 on Netflix & It’s Totally Worth the Watch

Move over, The Impossible . There's a new movie making its way to the top of Netflix 's charts. And it even stars one of our favorite actors, Ryan Phillippe .

Called The 2nd (referencing the second amendment of the United States Constitution), the 2020 film just made its way to the number one spot on the streaming service’s list of most-watched movies, surpassing The Christmas Chronicles 2 , Peppermint , The Grinch and Rust Creek . Keep reading for everything we know.

The 2nd follows secret-service agent, Vic Davis, on his way to pick up his estranged son, Sean, from his college campus when he finds himself in the middle of a high-stakes terrorist operation. Yikes. His son's friend Erin Walton (the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice) is the target, and this armed gang will stop at nothing to kidnap her and use her as leverage for a pending landmark legal case.

And while some reviews (we’re looking at you Rotten Tomatoes) were less than kind to the small-budget film, we were actually fairly impressed (and entertained). In fact, The 2nd feels like a true throwback to old-school action movies featuring never-ending fight scenes and explosions. Not to mention, watching Phillippe show off his fighting skills is an added plus.

In addition to Phillippe, the action-thriller also stars Casper Van Dien ( All American ), Jack Griffo ( Knight Squad ), Lexi Simonsen ( The Pyramid ), Richard Burgi ( General Hospital ) and William Katt ( The Unwanted ). The film was directed by Brian Skiba, and produced by Phillippe, Geoffrey James Clark, Kirk Shaw, Daniel Grodnik, James Shavick and Josh Tessier.

So, maybe take a break from all of the Christmas movie bingeing and opt for something a little more action-packed this evening.

RELATED 3 Netflix Movies I Thought I’d Hate But Ended Up Loving (OK, & One I Was Right About)

Home » Streaming Service

Two review – a mystery you won’t be able to tear yourself away from

This review of Netflix film Two does not contain spoilers.

Two follows David (Pablo Derqui) and Sara (Marina Gatell), a pair of strangers who wake up in a room with no clue of how they got there. What’s more bizarre, however, is the fact that both of their abdomens have been surgically attached to each other. Very quickly, what started off as a situation that may have caused both parties to have a few regrets snowballs into something far more sinister that there is no guarantee either of them will get out of.

Netflix film Two does not hang about in getting off the starting line. It drops you right into the thick of it, and you experience everything at the same time as the characters. An open mind helps in the opening ten minutes or so, and if you can get beyond the initial what-in-the-Human-Centipede-is-going-on-here shock of it all, you will have a very good time indeed. What I liked about the film was this idea that you couldn’t trust any part of what you were seeing. It was very much like you had woken up in the room with David and Sara, and whilst not quite the same life-or-death stakes that they were dealing with, to take anything at face value would surely prove to be a mistake.  

As things progressed, the mystery thickened. Two is a terrific display of what can be done within the confines of a very scaled-back set, and combined with all of the tiny breadcrumbs it constantly dropped it soon began to share a lot of the same qualities as an escape room, which is probably the best way to describe the overall vibe of the film. Of course, saying this implies that every detail plays a part, and that is absolutely the case. The frame composition was phenomenal, with almost everything becoming a clue. Nothing was in-shot by mistake; it was all very deliberate, and I must say, very effective.

Now, this is a film that gives the brain a bit of a workout. It is impossible not to sit there and try to work out what is actually going on, how David and Sara came to be trapped in this room, why they were treated in such a way, and so on. I will admit, I’m not always a huge lover of that kind of thing, but Two caused me to have the realisation that perhaps I’m just not always a fan because often the films that try it are too long. With a runtime of just 70 minutes, Two is a sprint rather than a marathon, and as such the constant mental gymnastics don;t exhaust but rather energize the viewer. I think not having to wait too long for all of the answers was magical, because it meant it didn’t have the chance to overcomplicate things, which in turn would have meant it had to do somersaults with its pay-off in order for it to feel worth it. I did mention at the start of this review that I had gone into this film with low expectations, but I think there is a lot to be said for the way that it continued to manage them throughout. It always under-promised and over-delivered, never the other way round.

The only thing I can complain about with Two is how suddenly it seemed to finish. Admittedly, given the runtime I’ve just praised it for, it may come across as a slightly confused criticism. It felt a bit like if I’d have blinked I might have missed it, it came together so quickly. In fairness, that is a very nit-picky comment to make, and if that’s the biggest issue that a film has, then you’ve not watched a bad one, but if it had taken its time a little bit more in wrapping things up, it could’ve been perfect.

Whilst I suspect it will be largely overlooked, Netflix’s Two is more than deserving of people’s attention. At first glance, it will be too weird for many, but sticking with it (ha) will see you reap all the rewards. It threatens body horror, but provides a solid little mystery, and I can’t think of anyone who doesn’t enjoy one of those.  

What did you think of Netflix film Two? Comment below. 

Article by Kira Comerford

Kira holds many talents, including photography, videography, events, and film & TV journalism. Joining Ready Steady Cut in July 2021, Kira has written over 90 published articles for the site. If you ever see Kira, you’ll probably find her holding a camera doing her latest film project.

Will a turf war erupt in Tokyo Vice Season 2 Episode 7?

Doctor Slump Season 1 Episode 4 Recap - Does Ha-neul get a new job?

This website cannot be displayed as your browser is extremely out of date.

Please update your browser to one of the following: Chrome , Firefox , Edge

Get news & reviews in your inbox

• Prime Video
• Documentary
• Producers Corner
• Watch Lists
• More Than A Movie Night
• It’s Dove Approved – Family Movie Trivia Game
• Dove Ratings
• Privacy Policy

2nd Greatest

Dove Review

“2nd Greatest” is an inspiring collection of true stories about a new pastor in the town of Golden who wants to help his neighbors and, in so doing, he inspires others to do the same. One of his focal points is a man named Joe Devin (Jude Moran), whose character is based on the true story of David Bolis, a former alcoholic who went into rehab and eventually helped others. His inspiring story led to the creation of “The Bolis Award.” The movie also features Officer Greg Knox (Scott Piper). He is based on the real-life police officer Glenn Moore, who served the community for more than 30 years before retiring in 2013. Heath Arthur plays Pastor Ben Cooper, and Kayla Bergholz plays his wife, Marie. Their roles are based on Pastor Dan and Jen Thoemke, who still live in Golden and pastor Hillside Community Church there. Billy Joe Patton also plays Ira Northrup the Third. All the actors are incredibly talented and nail their individual parts. Joe Devin and his brother Johnny were driving drunk one night, and Ira’s young daughter was hit and killed. Ira wants to rid the town of the homeless people, which includes Joe. Pastor Ben wants to help them, and he hopes to see forgiveness between Ira and Joe. Joe constantly drinks and causes disturbances, even in church, but Pastor Ben and Officer Knox eventually get through to him. When he enters rehab, he quickly becomes a new man. In fact, the change is amazing. The neighbors pitch in to repair other neighbors’ homes, people who are poor, and this element in the film is heartwarming.

This uplifting film is awarded our “Faith-Friendly” Seal for ages 12-plus. It soars in its presentation of hope against all the odds.

Dove Rating Details

Drunk man is handcuffed; man flees from cop but is taken down by another man, and then the police arrest the man who fled; bright lights hit a girl's face, and a truck is going to hit her; comment that a drunk man would pick fights; a couple argue loudly, and police arrive; officers break up a fight between two men.

Fool-1; Idiot-2; Moron-1 Cra*piest-1; "S*rew you," said to cop; "You bum"-1; "Son of a..." (not finished)-1; Shut up-1; Suck-1

An alcoholic drinks a lot, and his drinks include vodka; two young boys are drinking in a flashback scene of Joe and his brother, and one of the boys mentions that their dad says, "It will make a man out of you"; two brothers drinking and driving, and they strike and kill a girl walking in the road; other man drinks; man goes to church drunk and makes fun of the worship, as he dances and says, "Hallelujah" and "Amen," and says he doesn't need God.

Man's legs are visible from the side of his bed.

A few people want to "rid the town" of the homeless people; death and grief; tension between characters; drunk man acts up in church.

More Information

Film information, dove content.

Faith Film Producer DeVon Franklin Steps in Front of the Camera for ‘Jesus Revolution’

Cyrano: Love is a Verb

Redeeming Love: Grace Rising Up Out of the Dirt

Filmmakers Highlight the Hope and Heroism in “Gi...

Thanks For Rating

Reminder successfully set, select a city.

• Nashik Times
• Aurangabad Times
• Badlapur Times

You can change your city from here. We serve personalized stories based on the selected city

• Edit Profile
• Briefs Movies TV Web Series Lifestyle Trending Medithon Visual Stories Music Events Videos Theatre Photos Gaming

Pooja Batra: 'Virasat' changed my life; I want to make a comeback with a project that has a similar impact - Exclusive

Kamal Sadanah dismisses suicide theories about Divya Bharti's untimely death: 'I truly believe it was a slip'

From Arbaaz Khan celebrating first Eid with wife Shhura after marriage to Alia Bhatt turning peacemaker between Ranbir Kapoor and Salman Khan: TOP 5 entertainment news of the day

'Kalki 2898 AD', 'Singham Again', 'Kanguva': 7 most expensive upcoming movies in Indian cinema

Arun Govil reveals whether he will quit acting for politics, talks about his leaked pictures from Ramayana set

Rajinikanth's 2023 box office hit film 'Jailer' to get a sequel titled 'Hukum': Report

• Movie Reviews

Movie Listings

30 Hours Survival: Gau...

Detective Nysa

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan...

The Lost Girl

Ek Kori Prem Katha

​Nayanthara to Tabu, best photos of the week

Esha Kansara's resplendant clicks you can't miss

Navratri 2024, Day 4: Bollywood beauties dazzle in gorgeous green attires!

Disha Patani raises the glam bar with her latest look in a stunning pastel pink mini dress

Priyanka-Karan to Emraan-Mallika: Celebs who kissed and made up after huge feuds

Shruti Haasan's Unique Take on Red and Brown Saree Style is Unmissable

Aayushi Tiwari's stunning pics in lehenga

​Avika Gor radiates effortless beauty​

Sonalee Kulkarni's Best Looks

Samantha Ruth Prabhu looks racy in her pant-suit photoshoot!

Amar Singh Chamkila

30 Hours Survival: Gaur...

Bade Miyan Chote Miyan

The Defective Detective...

Bengal 1947

City Hunter The Movie: ...

The First Omen

Love Lies Bleeding

Knox Goes Away

Godzilla x Kong: The Ne...

Chabak: Night Of Murder...

Arthur The King

Double Tuckerr

Oru Thavaru Seidhal

Boomer Uncle

Veppam Kulir Mazhai

Varshangalkku Shesham

The Goat Life

Jananam 1947 Pranayam T...

Manjummel Boys

Anweshippin Kandethum

Avatara Purusha 2

Chow Chow Bath

Hide And Seek

Somu Sound Engineer

Bonbibi: Widows Of The ...

Pariah Volume 1: Every ...

Shri Swapankumarer Bada...

Manush: Child of Destin...

Bogla Mama Jug Jug Jiyo

Sarabha: Cry For Freedo...

Zindagi Zindabaad

Maujaan Hi Maujaan

Chidiyan Da Chamba

White Punjab

Any How Mitti Pao

Gaddi Jaandi Ae Chalaan...

Buhe Bariyan

Alibaba Aani Chalishita...

Aata Vel Zaali

Shivrayancha Chhava

Delivery Boy

Sridevi Prasanna

Sur Lagu De

Chhatrapati Sambhaji

Devra Pe Manva Dole

Dil Ta Pagal Hola

Ittaa Kittaa

Jaishree Krishh

Bushirt T-shirt

Shubh Yatra

• Hit : The Second Case

Your Rating

Write a review (optional).

• Movie Reviews /

Hit: The 2nd Case A

Would you like to review this movie?

Cast & Crew

Hit : The Second Case Movie Review : Delivers when it comes to gore but not the rest

• Times Of India

Hit: The 2nd Case - Official Trailer

Hit 2 | Song Promo - Urike Urike

Hit 2 | Song - Urike Urike

Users' Reviews

Refrain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks, name calling or inciting hatred against any community. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines by marking them offensive . Let's work together to keep the conversation civil.

Surya Manupati 24 404 days ago

Should have been a bit longer. Otherwise all good. And should have had vishwak sen cameo.

deepu rockzz 5 444 days ago

The movie is a superb suspense thriller, and the climax twist was literally shocking

suhas jinka 180 452 days ago

shiva dhanu 118 457 days ago

yesterday only saw this movie.. very average... not intellectual n felt artificial..

Agnivia Energy 174 461 days ago

Nice thriller movie...

Visual Stories

Entertainment

All times when Disha Patani's wardrobe was serious fashion business

Baisakhi 2024: 10 traditional Punjabi dishes to celebrate the festival

C-section healing: Expert tips for recovery

9 fruits and vegetables rich in vitamin B that can be grown in a kitchen garden

Style lessons from Janhvi Kapoor on how to be the summer fashion muse

Meet internet's new crush: Stylish Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

14 unique Vedic names for baby boys

9 reasons to marry a man

These tips will help you be a better version of yourself

News - Hit: The 2nd Case

'I don't want to break the beautiful bond between my co...

Adivi Sesh's 'HIT: The Second Case' gets an OTT release...

Hindi version of Adivi Sesh's 'Hit: The Second Case' to...

'HIT 2' box office: Adivi Sesh starrer garners $1 milli...

Adivi Sesh can't keep calm after having a fanboy moment...

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Get reviews of the latest theatrical releases every week, right in your inbox every Friday.

Thanks for subscribing.

Please Click Here to subscribe other newsletters that may interest you, and you'll always find stories you want to read in your inbox.

Popular Movie Reviews

Tillu Square

Family Star

Ooru Peru Bhairavakona

Om Bheem Bush

• What To Watch Next?

When a Delta Force soldier realises that his son's friend is on the verge of being kidnapped, he takes on the CIA to save her life in The 2nd. A truly awful movie that should never have been made.

I love a good shoot 'em up action movie. Those one-man hero movies that made the likes of Die Hard so good to watch are right up my street. And I also like Ryan Philippe as an actor and really got into his Netflix show Shooter . So when The 2nd popped up I settled in for what I hoped would be another great flick. Oh how wrong I was.

Despite the premise actually being quite decent, the execution of this film borders on the ridiculous. I would go so far as to say “you couldn't make this sh*t up” but clearly somebody did. So it goes like this…

Shawn Davis (Jack Griffo) and Erin Walton (Lexi Simonsen) are the only two students left on an entire college campus as it breaks for the holidays. Erin's father is a Supreme Court Justice and as such she has her own protective detail. Shawn is waiting for his father, Major Vic Davis (Phillipe) and when both are being picked up at the same time Vic notices something fishy about the guys collecting Erin. It quickly becomes apparent that they are trying to kidnap her. So flexing his Delta Force muscles he takes on the entire group of kidnappers by himself.

But why are they trying to kidnap her I hear you ask? Well, that's a rather convoluted story. There is clearly a challenge to The 2nd amendment in the works. Erin's father has what looks like the deciding vote. So in order to influence him, the plan is to kidnap his daughter until he provides the correct response. The problem is his daughter is so infuriatingly juvenile and spoilt that you could be forgiven for hoping the bad guys actually do succeed!

The acting is atrocious. And I mean ATROCIOUS. It's like they pulled wooden planks off the street and give them a script. The action scenes are hilarious and even those left for dead miraculously bounce back to continue torturing us as the movie rolls on. If I could have stopped watching and spared myself 93 minutes I would have. Sadly, I had to write this review so I reluctantly plowed on. The upside is that I might just save you an evening of misery!

• The Premise Is Decent
• Trailer Sums Up The Whole Movie
• Awful Script
• Even Worse Acting
• Can't Get Back The 93 Minutes Spent Watching It

Related Items

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

WE VALUE YOUR PRIVACY

Privacy overview.

Advertisement

Supported by

Critic’s Pick

‘Food, Inc. 2’ Review: A Second Course

Directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, the sequel about food production in the U.S. is, in some ways, a more hopeful film.

• Share full article

By Ben Kenigsberg

How many gory details about groceries can any moviegoer digest? The 2009 documentary “Food, Inc.” drew on the muckraking of Michael Pollan ( “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” ) and Eric Schlosser ( “Fast Food Nation” ) to reveal major problems with industrialized food production. The system, it argued, may keep supermarkets well-stocked, but most people have scant insight into how that food is made — and what it does to our health.

“Food, Inc. 2,” directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, doesn’t merely regurgitate those ideas, although it begins by describing how the last few years have shown the risks of letting a small number of mega-suppliers dominate the market. The baby formula shortage ? Cramped meatpacking plants that became Covid-19 hot spots ? An industry less prone to gigantism might have avoided those horrors.

In some ways, the sequel is a more hopeful film. Pollan, who, along with Schlosser, is among the producers, notes the proliferation of farmers’ markets and grass-fed beef since the last movie’s release. (The credits list separate articles that the authors wrote in 2020 as inspiration.) “Food, Inc. 2” is also wonkier than the original: Its proposed solutions don’t simply boil down to finding better sources, but also enforcing antitrust policy, supporting fair-labor practices and finding new ways to return to time-tested farming methods .

Pollan visits sites where meat alternatives are manufactured and explains how those products present their own trade-offs. Elsewhere, experts testify to how foods can confuse our brains’ reward systems and how U.S. companies, faced with a food supply that provides more calories than anyone needs, have an incentive to make consumers eat more. You might devour less after watching “Food, Inc. 2,” and what you eat will probably be healthier.

Food, Inc. 2 Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 34 minutes. Rent or buy on most major platforms .

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America with Texas and California as allies .

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

“Fallout,” TV’s latest big-ticket video game adaptation, takes a satirical, self-aware approach to the End Times .

“Sasquatch Sunset” follows the creatures as they go about their lives. We had so many questions. The film’s cast and crew had answers .

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, beethoven's 2nd.

Now streaming on:

There is a scene in "Beethoven's 2nd" in which Beethoven, who is a large St. Bernard dog, takes his girlfriend, Missy, also a large St. Bernard, to a drive-in theater for the movies. They sit on a hill above the parking lot, where they have a good view of the screen.

This much I was prepared to believe. Some dogs are very clever. But when Beethoven came back with a box of popcorn for Missy, I realized these were not ordinary dogs but two of amazing intelligence, and when it was revealed that Missy got pregnant later that night, I found myself asking if they'd never heard of taking precautions.

In due time, Missy's four puppies are born into a world filled with human problems. The central tragedy is that Beethoven and his lady love have been separated. Beethoven, of course, lives with a large and loving family, the Newtons. But Missy has been dognapped from her loving owner by his bitter estranged wife, a woman who in appearance and behavior resembles the witch in "Snow White." The three Newton kids manage to rescue and cherish the puppies, after winning over their dad (the priceless Charles Grodin , who must have charged a high one for appearing in this). Mom (merryfaced Bonnie Hunt ), of course, loves the pups at first sight.

And then the screenplay provides a vacation trip to a lake, where Missy's evil dognapper ( Debi Mazar ) and her goon boyfriend ( Chris Penn ) are also visiting.

That sets up the entirely predictable ending, in which the evil villains attempt a puppynapping. It also sets up a scene so unsavory that it has no place in a movie rated PG. The oldest Newton girl, Ryce ( Nicholle Tom ) is trapped in a locked bedroom by a slick boy she knows from the city. "Ummm," he says, dangling the keys and advancing on her, "this is gonna be great!" Luckily, Beethoven saves the day before a sexual assault takes place, but were the filmmakers so desperate they could think of no scene more appropriate for a family movie? The dogs, of course, are cute. All St. Bernards are cute. But their best features are not their eyes, which tend to be small, red and runny - something director Rod Daniel should have considered before shooting so many soulful closeups of Beethoven, who looks like he needs doggy Visine.

One of the film's genuine blessings is that we do not hear the dog's thoughts, although we do get several songs on the soundtrack that reflect their thinking. Missy and Beethoven are first smitten with one another while Dolly Parton and James Ingram sing "The Day I Fall in Love," and I'm telling you, there wasn't a dry face on the screen, mostly because the dogs were licking each other.

This movie has one clear reason for being: The success of the original " Beethoven ," which grossed something like $70 million.

That film was no masterpiece, but it made good use of the adorable Beethoven, and in Charles Grodin it had a splendid comic actor who made the most of his role as a grumpy dad who didn't want a dog causing havoc around the house. This time, with Grodin elevated to an innocuous role and Mazar acting as if she were being paid by the snarl, it's up to the dogs. You know you're in trouble when the heroes of a comedy spend more time swapping spit than one-liners.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

American Dreamer

Carla renata.

We Were the Lucky Ones

Robert daniels.

Dad & Step-Dad

Carlos aguilar.

The Animal Kingdom

Monica castillo.

Mary & George

Cristina escobar, film credits.

Beethoven's 2nd (1993)

Charles Grodin as George Newton

Nicholle Tom as Ryce

Directed by

Latest blog posts.

O.J. Simpson Dies: The Rise & Fall of A Superstar

Which Cannes Film Will Win the Palme d’Or? Let’s Rank Their Chances

Second Sight Drops 4K Releases for Excellent Films by Brandon Cronenberg, Jeremy Saulnier, and Alexandre Aja

Wagner Moura Is Still Holding On To Hope

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• March Madness
• AP Top 25 Poll
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Movie Review: ‘Food, Inc. 2’ revisits food system, sees reason for frustration and (a little) hope

This image released by Magnolia Pictures shows a scene from the documentary “Food, Inc. 2.” (River Road/Participant/Magnolia Pictures via AP)

• Copy Link copied

The makers of the influential 2008 documentary “Food, Inc.” never planned to make a sequel. They figured they’d said it all in their harrowing look at a broken, unsustainable food system — a system led, they argued, by a few multinational corporations whose monopoly squeezes out local farmers, mistreats animals, workers and the soil itself, and makes all of us less healthy.

But 16 years after that Oscar-nominated film, they’re back with “Food, Inc. 2.” What happened? Well, first of all, the pandemic — an event that both strained our food system and revealed its precariousness, they say.

Also, the filmmakers suggest, it was perhaps naive to assume that informed, ethical shoppers could alone reverse such an entrenched narrative. “You can change the world with every bite,” the first film had argued, urging consumers to buy local and organic, patronize farmer’s markets, demand healthy school lunches and most of all, read labels and understand what they’re eating.

Now, much of that is happening. But some problems have worsened, and new ones have emerged. “We really thought we could change the system one bite at a time,” says investigative author and producer Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”), who’s back with frequent commentary along with fellow author/producer Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”). “As important as that is, it’s not enough.”

Directed by Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo, the new film begins, as did the first, with an inspiring image out of a painting — here, a tractor gliding along a field of crops under a glistening sun. If you’ve seen the original, you’ll know such a scene will soon yield to images of unsavory assembly lines, “kill floors” at slaughterhouses, or workers earning pennies in fields.

A lot has happened since 2008. More people are interested in what they’re eating and where it’s from. Farmer’s markets are everywhere, and supermarkets carry organic and GMO-free food, because consumers want it.

But, Pollan reminds us, the industry is still dominated “by a handful of very large and very powerful companies.” In normal times this power is invisible, but when the pandemic hit, the curtain was peeled back, he says. We see images of countless hogs euthanized because they couldn’t be processed, and farms disposing of perfectly good milk. At the same time, many supermarket shelves were empty, and people lined up in their cars, hungry. This, the film argues, is what happens when only a few companies are in charge. Some babies don’t get their formula, for example.

As with the first film — the style is very much the same — we’re taken across the country (and beyond), listening to a stream of voices: organizers, workers, farmers, nutritionists, politicians, entrepreneurs, scientists. (Occasionally we don’t know who’s talking for a few seconds, which can be confusing.)

In Immokalee, Florida, lifelong farmworker (and labor leader) Gerardo Reyes Chavez explains how immigrant workers — mostly Latino and Haitians — are both relied upon and mistreated. “The industry wants immigrant workers because they feel they can take advantage of us,” he says. If we’re eating fruits and vegetables, Schlosser and Pollan tell us, we’re part of a chain of exploitation.

With flashy, colorful and user-friendly graphics, the film traces industry consolidation: the few companies who have 70% of the carbonated drinks market, for example, or 80% of the baby food market. Such realities violate the spirit of antitrust legislation, they argue.

We meet people like Wisconsin dairy farmer Sarah Lloyd, whose 450-cow farm feels huge to her, but other farms have 5,000 or 10,000 or 20,000 cows. How can she compete?

Marion Nestle, biologist and nutritionist at New York University, looks back a few decades and marvels at how food has has become something available anytime, anywhere: “You go into a clothing store and there are candy bars at the checkout counter.” She especially marvels at the escalating portion size over the years, a thought illustrated by a stack of pancakes that keeps on growing.

A professor in Brazil, Carlos Monteiro, posits that “ultra-processed” foods are a key factor in diabetes. His ideas are borne out by an experiment at the National Institutes of Health that shows people who eat such highly processed foods consume a whopping 500 more calories per day. Mark Schatzker (“The Dorito Effect”) talks about artificial flavors and how they trick the body into eating more.

Are there solutions to all this? The filmmakers consider a bunch, approving of some more than others. Everyone’s coming up with “plant-based” substitutes (fake chicken wings, honey without bees.) But Pollan worries consumers might think “plant-based” means healthy food — often, it’s nothing of the kind. One promising idea: An ocean farmer, Bren Smith, is farming kelp, and a chef is using it in her restaurant.

The most emotional moment concerns Taco Bell, but not the food there. Fran Marion, a Taco Bell worker (and activist) has a tear streaming down her face as she describes the challenge of feeding her children and avoiding living out of her car. She does not get health care or sick leave, she says, and as an adult has never been able to afford seeing a doctor. She speaks of working all day with food and coming home to hear her son’s stomach growl.

The film ends where the last one did: with a call to action. “Join us in transforming our food system,” it says, providing a website where viewers can get involved. The danger is the same, they say, as it was back in 2008: “Monopoly power is a threat to our freedom.”

“Food, Inc. 2,” a Magnolia Pictures release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association. Running time: 94 minutes. Three stars out of four.

• Newsletters
• Account Activating this button will toggle the display of additional content Account Sign out

Civil War Plays Like a Nightmare. You Should Still See It.

A24’s most expensive movie to date is borderline incoherent. that doesn’t mean it’s not important..

The year is unspecified—it could be a few years into some alternate future, or it could be right now. The president, a clean-cut establishment type played by Nick Offerman, is unnamed, his party and political affiliations unclear (though his rhetoric in an address to the nation sounds disturbingly authoritarian). And the precise nature of the domestic conflict that has torn the United States apart and turned the nation’s major cities into zones of open warfare is unexplained. In Civil War , the provocative fourth feature from Alex Garland ( Ex Machina , Annihilation , Men ), the details about why and how America collapsed into violent chaos are immaterial. What Garland wants is to drop us into the middle of that violent chaos as it unfolds, to make us see our familiar surroundings—ordinary blocks lined with chain drugstores and clothing boutiques—recast as active battlegrounds, with snipers on rooftops and local militias enforcing their own sadistic versions of the law.

One thing Garland’s at times frustratingly opaque script does go out of its way to clarify is that the ideological fissures in this alternate version of America occur along different fault lines than the ones that remain from the country’s actual civil war. The main threat to what we’ll call the Offerman administration is the secessionist group the Western Forces, a Texas-California alliance that’s intentionally impossible to extrapolate from our current red state–blue state split. There is also a separate rebel movement of some kind based in Florida, but above all, there is unchecked street violence and general social disorder. One early exchange of dialogue suggests that the war has been going on for some 14 months, which seems like too short a time for the country to have fallen into the advanced state of dystopia in which we find it: highways choked with empty cars, most of the population in hiding, the internet all but nonfunctional except in a few urban centers. But again, the point is less plausibility than viscerality. Garland got his start writing a zombie movie, Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later , and he has also co-written an award-winning action video game. Civil War , A24’s most expensive movie to date, sometimes plays like a mashup of those two genres, with the viewer as first-person player and our armed fellow citizens as the zombies.

As the film begins, Lee Smith (Kirsten Dunst), a veteran war photographer,  is in New York City, holed up at a hotel that doubles as a makeshift command center for the press. Knowing that the Western Forces are on the verge of taking the capital, Lee and her longtime professional partner, a wire-service reporter named Joel (Wagner Moura), are planning a perilous road trip from New York to D.C. in the unlikely hope of landing an interview with the embattled president. Lee’s longtime mentor, news editor Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), warns them that the plan is sheer madness—then asks if, despite his age and limited mobility, he can get in on the action.

As they’re preparing to leave, they’re joined, despite Lee’s protests, by Jessie ( Priscilla ’s Cailee Spaeny), an aspiring photojournalist in her early 20s who idolizes Lee’s work but has no experience in war zones. Bringing along the stowaway Lee disparages as a “kindergartner” will only, she argues, put all of them in even more danger. These doubts turn out to be justified: The presence of Jessie, a live wire with a penchant for unnecessary risk-taking, makes the journey to D.C. even more perilous, while forcing Lee to confront how jaded she’s become after years of compartmentalizing her most scarring memories. On the way to the capital, this multigenerational foursome encounters gas-station vigilantes, a shootout at an abandoned Christmas-themed amusement park, and a gut-churning encounter with a racist militant played by Dunst’s real-life husband, Jesse Plemons.

In its vision of journalism as a form of amoral adventure-seeking, Civil War belongs to a long tradition of films about hardened war correspondents in far-flung places, movies like A Private War and The Year of Living Dangerously . But the fact that the carnage these reporters are documenting is homegrown shifts the inflection significantly. Suddenly it’s impossible to exoticize or otherwise alienate ourselves from the bloodshed onscreen, which makes us ask ourselves what we were doing exoticizing it in the first place. This effect of moral immediacy is Civil War ’s greatest strength, and the reason it feels like an important movie of its moment even if it isn’t a wholly coherent or consistently insightful one.

Garland’s idea of throwing us in medias res during a civil war in progress is a bold gambit, and his cinematic instincts—his sense of where to put a camera and how long to draw out a moment of suspense—are often keen. The horrible realities he makes us look at—intra-civilian combat, physical and psychological torture, the everyday depths of human depravity—are summoned powerfully enough that Civil War remains emotionally and physically affecting even as the ideas it seeks to explore remain fuzzy. Is this a critique of contemporary journalism or a salute to the courage of reporters on the front lines? If it’s meant to be suspended somewhere in between, how does the filmmaker position himself on that line, and how should we, the audience, feel about the protagonists’ sometimes dubious choices?

Even as they document street battles and point-blank executions, adrenaline junkies Jessie and Joel occasionally exchange devilish grins. Meanwhile, Lee is all but incapable of normal human relationships because of her unacknowledged PTSD. A late sequence finds them unofficially embedded with an especially ruthless death squad; it would seem important to establish whether this alignment is meant to signify their ultimate journalistic corruption or a necessary compromise for the survival of the Fourth Estate. Even on the level of plot logic, the movie poses a question that the script’s curiously thin worldbuilding never answers: If the internet and most of the nation’s industrial infrastructure are in ruins, how are ordinary people reading Joel’s articles and looking at the photos that Lee herself struggles for hours to upload? If it is intended in part as a satire of journalistic opportunism, Civil War should be more specific about the conditions of 21 st -century media in wartime, especially given that it’s coming out at a moment when front-line reporters face more physical danger than at any time in recent memory.

All we learn of Lee’s background is that, like Jessie, she is from a farm town in the interior of the U.S., with parents who are in stubborn denial about the crumbling of the republic. But because Kirsten Dunst is a remarkable artist, she makes this somewhat underwritten character, who on paper could have been a stoic “badass” stereotype, into a complex and indelible presence. Dunst also, perhaps for the first time, loses the girlish quality she has brought even to middle-aged characters: Lee Smith is a plain, scowling woman with a glum, even abrasive mien. She’s a person whose perspective on life has narrowed down to the size of a camera lens, yet she’s also a committed journalist and a fiercely loyal colleague. As the other three sort-of protagonists, Moura, Henderson, and Spaeny all turn in finely tuned performances that bring a depth to their characters beyond what the script provides, but it’s Dunst whose thousand-yard stare and deep-buried grief will stay with me.

“What kind of American are you?” Plemons’ fatigues-and-pink-sunglasses-clad character asks the journalists one by one as he terrorizes them at gunpoint in the movie’s scariest and most successful sequence. (Not for nothing, it’s also the moment that suggests the most strongly that the vaguely defined conflict in this fictive America has everything to do with race.) That may be the screenplay’s smartest single line, in that it dispenses with the metaphorical quality of Civil War ’s imagined political dystopia and presents us with the real question many Americans are asking each other and themselves right now, sometimes in a self-reflective mode, sometimes in a contentious or overtly threatening one. As the unfolding of that encounter with Plemons makes clear, as soon as the question is asked with a weapon in your hand, it becomes a trick question, posed not to start a conversation but to set a trap. Civil War often leaves the audience feeling trapped in an all-too-realistic waking nightmare, but when it finally lets us go, mercifully short of the two-hour mark, it sends us out of the theater talking.

Screen Rant

The long game review: a high-energy sports movie that is a tribute to texas, golf, & friendship.

Following the true story of a Mexican-American Texas golf team in the 1950s, The Long Game uplifts the audience but doesn't shy away from reality.

• The Long Game truthfully portrays the camaraderie of young Mexican-American golfers in 1950s Del Rio.
• The film's fast-paced narrative keeps the story moving, although character relationships are not fully explored.
• While lacking in character depth, The Long Game balances serious themes of racism with the joy of golf and friendship.

The Long Game has the difficult job of maintaining the integrity of true events and people while creating a concise and well-balanced narrative. It takes place 1950s Del Rio, Texas and follows a group of young Mexican-American highschoolers who form a golf team and compete against the all-white teams that dominated the sport at the time. At the heart of the story is JB Peña, a World War II veteran and school superintendent who will stop at nothing to get the boys and himself recognized and respected as part of the golf community.

JB Peña and his wife moved to the small town of Del Rio, TX. When JB is rejected by a country club on the basis of his skin color, he's devastated. But his world soon collides with a group of young Latino golf caddies who work there, and JB is inspired by the handmade course the boys built to teach themselves golf.

• The Long Game truthfully tells its story
• The film's strengths lies in the camaraderie of JB and his friends
• The Long Game tells a well-balanced story
• The character relationships aren't fully explored
• There's an overall lack of character development

Julio Quintana helms the film as the director, and there's never any doubt that he has a clear vision for the film's trajectory.

Like many of the best sports movies based on real-life events , The Long Game is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of its genre. There is heavy material woven through the story, and the serious instances of violence and racism are treated delicately. However, The Long Game has no intentions of being a morality tale and is most concerned with the hard work and joy the characters find through each other and the game of golf. Julio Quintana helms the film as the director, and there's never any doubt that he has a clear vision for the film's trajectory.

Fast Pacing & High Energy Keeps The Long Game's Story Moving

The film rarely drags or lingers on a scene.

From the first shot, The Long Game jumps off the screen, practically begging us to leap off the couch and join in on the fun. The central group of boys is boisterous, though they have a deep affection for each other. Their dynamic, in the beginning, is endearing, and this sense of friendship and belonging within their group is an enduring aspect of the movie. Quintana understands youthful exuberance well, but the subdued resignation of JB (Jay Hernandez) is just as compelling. From the start, the audience understands that golf is more than a game to JB, it's acceptance.

While the movie is about much more than golf, the story misses the opportunity to use the game to its fullest potential as a metaphor.

Golf might be some people's favorite sport, but for many, the nuances of the game and the skills demonstrated onscreen will be lost on them. However, The Long Game grasps this and uses it to its advantage. Almost every tournament is portrayed through montage, with the film only slowing down to show particularly pivotal moments. This has its pros and cons, as it means the game of golf never has the chance to be viewed as boring by the audience, but also that none of the games carry enormous weight within the narrative.

While the movie is about much more than golf, the story misses the opportunity to use the game to its fullest potential as a metaphor. There are scenes that The Long Game gives ample time to while whizzing through dramatic climaxes between central characters. Character motivations can get lost in the story's pace, namely with Joe (Julian Works) and Frank (Dennis Quaid), the two characters who serve as foils to JB and round out the narrative. They're strong-willed and compelling men, but their internal struggles aren't clear enough. Not to mention that Joe's friends and teammates are overlooked.

The Long Game (2024)

There is an undercurrent of patriotism and militaristic pride throughout the film. While The Long Game actively grapples with what it means to be Mexican-American and how Mexicans were and still are treated as second-class citizens simply because they're not white, there is a sense that every character is proud of their country and to be American. The film is decidedly apolitical, and there's ultimately no requirement for the movie to take a stance. It's not the job of The Long Game to make a statement, and the parallels between the military and team sports mirror each other nicely.

10 Movies About The Home Front In World War II

Though the characters are underdeveloped, the emotional impact is strong, few of the characters are fully explored, but the ending provides an uplifting climax.

Though The Long Game is just under two hours, we never get the opportunity to fully know the characters. There are hints of deeper issues that signal the characters have fully formed lives, but these moments never get more than a scene or two to develop. Some of the most egregious omissions of character development are in Lucy Peña (Jaina Lee Ortiz), JB's wife, and Daniela Torres (Paulina Chávez), Joe's girlfriend. They have definitive traits and independent desires, but they are viewed only through their connection to the men in their lives.

From the first shot, The Long Game jumps off the screen, practically begging us to leap off the couch and join in on the fun.

The three characters who are given the most time to evolve and grow, Joe, JB, and Frank, are still relative mysteries by the end of the film. One of the most compelling dynamics is that between Joe and his father, but it's explored very little onscreen. This illustrates the biggest issue with The Long Game; it attempts to tackle too much and loses strong character work in the process. In this way, the momentum of the film betrays itself. Though some energy might have been lost in exploring these relationships, it would have benefited the story.

However, the inherent universality of the narrative gives the plot strong highs and lows despite not knowing too much about the characters. If anything, it's a testament to what the film accomplishes that there's a desire to spend more time with the story. Similar to the lack of character development, questions about generational divides and assimilation are only mildly touched upon. In this way, The Long Game doesn’t push itself far enough, but ultimately, it successfully and truthfully tells the story it set out to tell and has fun along the way.

The First Omen Review

You have been warned: the prequel is great..

More moviegoers in 2024 may know The Omen by reputation than from firsthand experience. It’s not that the 1976 horror classic about a little boy who turns out to be the antichrist isn’t a great movie, but despite spawning multiple sequels and revival attempts , it just hasn’t had the same pop-culture resonance or staying power as, say, its contemporary The Exorcist . So the prospect of an in-canon prequel to the original film feels a bit strange – and yet that prequel, The First Omen, works, thanks to a clear directorial vision, a strong central performance, and some gnarly visuals.

This is one hell of a calling card (pun intended) for director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson, who makes her feature debut chronicling the harrowing ordeal that befalls young American novitiate Margaret (Nell Tiger Free) in a Roman orphanage. The film goes all in on its dark storyline and imagery as Margaret forges a connection with the teenage Carlita (Nicole Sorace), a particularly troubled orphan who’s prone to violence, reminding her newfound protector of her own turbulent childhood. As ominous signs and strange behavior swirl around Carlita, Stevenson and cinematographer Aaron Morton provide a technical flair that evokes the cinema of The First Omen’s 1970s period setting. But they don’t try to mimic that style from start to finish – though obliged to lay the groundwork for 50 years of movies and TV shows about the sinister Damien Thorn, Stevenson’s movie is, thankfully, allowed to have its own identity.

The First Omen Gallery

It’s evident in the standout sequence where Margaret joins her roommate, Luz (Maria Caballero), for a night of rather un-nun-like behavior. Stevenson and Morton stylishly capture Margaret’s buzzed point of view and state of mind in the midst of a busy Italian club whose atmosphere grows menacing and unsettling. It's a welcome escalation in a story that begins sluggishly but picks up momentum in its second half. The First Omen can also be a rough watch at points, delving even deeper into motifs and analogies of bodily autonomy than the recently released, similarly themed Immaculate . Yet Stevenson’s depiction of a woman’s body being controlled and invaded by others doesn’t feel exploitative as much as it is forthright about the horror of Margaret and Carlita’s predicament.

There are also fun and effective jump scares and memorable, suitably creepy moments throughout, plus one shot so graphic that Stevenson says it nearly led to an NC-17 rating. (You’ll know it when you see it – it garnered incredulous applause both times I’ve seen the movie.) The First Omen leans into the franchise’s proto- Final Destination legacy: People who get too close to stopping Damien in these movies tend to meet intricately grisly ends – either by “accident” or their own hand – and that remains true even before the spooky little kid is born. This string of often grimly funny and macabre deaths kicks off in the very first scene, which deftly sets up a big, dangerous object that will quickly turn lethal. It’s great that The First Omen keeps this tradition alive, even if its callback to The Omen’s iconic “It’s all for you” sequence feels a bit forced. (Though, since it’s a prequel, does that make it a call-forward?)

What's your favorite religious horror movie?

The cast are all very good, but this is an especially terrific spotlight for Free. The Game of Thrones and Servant alum is excellent here, in a role that asks quite a lot of her. Margaret is a woman of faith, doing her best to lead a pious existence despite some curiosity about a more conventional path in life. The events of The First Omen put her through the wringer, both emotionally and physically, and Free skillfully conveys all of these challenges and how Margaret changes to meet them. Veteran actors Sônia Braga and Bill Nighy (the latter popping in and out of the movie at random) exude expected gravitas as church leaders, and Caballero brings the right edgy-yet-likable vibe to Luz, who is determined to push the boundaries of novitiate behavior. Sorace manages to combine the unsettling yet vulnerable traits that help Margaret connect with Carlita while Ralph Ineson also brings some great frenetic energy as Father Brennan, who has quite a bit of important information for Margaret about what is occurring and why.

Brennan is also notable as the one major character connection to the original Omen, where Patrick Troughton played the role of the priest who desperately tries to warn Gregory Peck’s Robert Thorn that, whoops, he’d adopted the antichrist. In that regard, the end of The First Omen is both amusing and also slightly eye-roll inducing. It looks to both seamlessly lead into the original’s events and set up further entries in the franchise, all without contradicting the earlier films. There’s definitely some silliness at play in how these elements are intertwined, but there’s also something entertaining in the realization that of course Disney and 20th Century Studios wouldn’t go through all the trouble of reviving The Omen without plans for making more of them.

The First Omen manages to serve as a well made prequel as well as an unsettling and creepy horror film in its own right. It takes awhile to get going, and the very end bends backwards pretty far to create setup for potential follow-ups, but the brunt of the movie is very strong, with lead Nell Tiger Free and director Arkasha Stevenson both cementing themselves as stars on the rise.

In This Article

More Reviews by Eric Goldman

Ign recommends.

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House. A journey across a dystopian future America, following a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach DC before rebel factions descend upon the White House.

• Alex Garland
• Nick Offerman
• Kirsten Dunst
• Wagner Moura
• 91 User reviews
• 105 Critic reviews
• 77 Metascore
• 1 nomination

• American Soldier (Middle East)

• Checkpoint Soldier

• Hanging Captive
• Commercial Soldier Mike

• Commercial Corporal

• Commercial Soldier #1

• Aid Worker Refugee Camp
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

'Civil War' Director Alex Garland Reflects on His Career

More like this.

Did you know

• Trivia One of several stories behind why Missouri is known as the "Show-Me State" suggests that the nickname originated in the mining camps of Leadville, Colorado. Due to an extended miner's strike in the area during the mid-1890s, Missourian miners from the lead districts of southwest Missouri had been imported to take the places of the strikers. The Joplin miners were unfamiliar with Colorado mining methods and required frequent instructions. Pit bosses began saying, "That man is from Missouri. You'll have to show him."

Joel : I need a quote.

President : Don't let them kill me.

Joel : Yeah, that'll do.

• Connections Featured in Nerdrotic: Woke Hollywood's Civil WAR? Disney DESTROYS Hasbro - Nerdrotic Nooner 388 with Chris Gore (2023)

User reviews 91

• Apr 8, 2024
• How long will Civil War be? Powered by Alexa
• April 12, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• United Kingdom
• Ngày Tàn Của Đế Quốc
• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $50,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• IMAX 6-Track

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

‘Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy’ Review: A Scary Look at the Potential Soldiers of a Second Trump Reign

The followers of Christian Nationalism want a theocracy. Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones's chilling film suggests that another Trump presidency could help them get it.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

• ‘Sting’ Review: A Giant Spider Grows in Brooklyn in a Knowingly Cheeseball Indie Horror Trifle 18 hours ago
• ‘Back to Black’ Review: Marisa Abela Nails Amy Winehouse in Every Look, Mood and Note in a Biopic at Once Forthright and Forbidding 3 days ago
• ‘The People’s Joker’ Is a Comic-Book Fantasia More Authentic Than Just About Any Comic-Book Movie 6 days ago

Popular on Variety

The alliance between Trump and Christian Nationalism is a profound one. Progressives tend to be focused, to the point of obsession, on the hypocrisy of the alliance — the idea that men and women who are supposedly devoted to the teachings of Jesus Christ could rally behind a sinner and law-breaker like Trump, who seems the incarnation of everything they should be against. The documentary fills in their longstanding justification: that Trump is seen as a modern-day version of King Cyrus, a pagan who God used as a tool to help the people. According to this mode of opportunistic logic, Trump doesn’t need to be a pious Christian; his very recklessness makes him part of a grander design. The Christian Nationalists view Trump much as his disgruntled base of working-class nihilist supporters have always viewed him — as a kind of holy wrecking ball.    

But, of course, that’s just the rationalization. “Bad Faith” captures the intricacy with which Trump, like certain Republicans before him, has struck a deal with the Christian Right that benefits both parties. In exchange for their support in 2016, he agreed to back a slate of judicial appointees to their liking, and to come over to their side on abortion. Trump’s victory in 2016, like Reagan’s in 1980, was sealed by the support of the Christian Right. But what he’s promising them this time is the very destruction of the American system that they have long sought.   

The most chilling aspect of “Bad Faith” is that, in tracing the roots of the Christian Right, the movie colors in how the dream of theocracy has been the movement’s underlying motivation from almost the start. In 1980, when the so-called Moral Majority came into existence, its leader, Jerry Falwell, got all the attention. (A corrupt quirk of the movement is that as televangelists like Falwell, Pat Robertson, and, later on, Joel Osteen became rich and famous, their wealth was presented as evidence that God had chosen them to lead.) But Falwell, despite the headlines he grabbed, wasn’t the visionary organizer of the Moral Majority.

That was Paul Weyrich, the owlish conservative religious activist who founded the hugely influential Council for National Policy, which spearheaded the structural fusion of Christianity and right-wing politics. He’s the one who went to Falwell and Robertson and collated their lists of supporters into a Christian political machine that could become larger than the sum of its parts. The machine encompassed a network of 72,000 preachers, it employed sophisticated methods of micro-targeting, and its impetus was to transform Evangelical Christianity into a movement that was fundamentally political. The G.O.P. became “God’s own party,” and the election of Reagan was the Evangelicals’ first victory. We see a clip of Reagan saying how he plans to “make America great again,” which is the tip of the iceberg of how much the Trump playbook got from him.

Randall Balmer, the Ivy League historian of American religion who wrote the book “Bad Faith,” is interviewed in the documentary, and he makes a fascinating point: that there’s a mythology that the Christian Right was first galvanized, in 1973, by Roe v. Wade — but that, in fact, that’s not true. Jerry Falwell didn’t deliver his first anti-abortion sermon until 1978. According to Balmer, the moment that galvanized the Christian Right was the 1971 lower-court ruling on school desegregation that held that any institution that engages in racial discrimination or segregation is not, by definition, a charitable institution, and therefore has no claim to tax-exempt status.

This had an incendiary effect. Churches like Jerry Falwell’s were not integrated and didn’t want to be; yet they also wanted their tax-exempt status. It was this law that touched off the anti-government underpinnings of the Christian Right, much as the sieges of Ruby Ridge and Waco became the seeds of the alt-right. And it sealed the notion that Christian Nationalism and White Nationalism were joined at the hip, a union that went back to the historical fusion of the two in the Ku Klux Klan’s brand of Christian terrorism.

“Bad Faith” makes a powerful case that Christian Nationalism is built on a lie: the shibboleth that America was originally established as a “Christian nation.” It’s true to say that the Founders drew on the moral traditions of Judeo-Christian culture. Yet the freedom of religion in the First Amendment was put there precisely as a guard against religious tyranny. It was, at the time, a radical idea: that the people would determine how — and what God — they wanted to worship. In truth, Christian Nationalism undermines not only the freedoms enshrined by the Constitution but the very concept of free will that’s at the heart of Christian theology. You can’t choose to be a follower of Christ if that belief is imposed on you.

Reviewed online, April 2, 2024. Running time: 88 MIN.

• Production: A Heretical Reason Productions, Panarea production. Producers: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones. Executive producers: Peter D. Graves, John Ptak, Mike Steed, Todd Stiefel.
• Crew: Directors: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones. Screenplay: Stephen Ujlaki, Chris Jones, Alec Baer. Camera: Bill Yates, Pilar Timpane, Trevor May. Editor: Alec Baer, Chris Jones. Music: Lili Haydn, Jeremy Grody.
• With: Peter Coyote, Elizabeth Neumann, Randall Balmer, Ken Peters, Eboo Patel, Katherine Stewart, Samuel Perry, Russell Moore, Rev. William Barber II, Linda Gordon, Jim Wallis, Lisa Sharon Harper, Jonathan Wilson Hartgrove, Anne Nelson, Brent Allpress, John Marty.

More From Our Brands

Future and metro boomin tap j. cole for ‘we still don’t trust you’ despite apparent diss, home of the week: this $33 million home resides in rolls-royce’s former london headquarters, diamond’s request for extension in bankruptcy rankles nba, nhl, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, the talk ending with season 15 at cbs, verify it's you, please log in.