Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

Hanging around in the much darker side of the cave, The Batman (2022), co-written and directed by Matt Reeves, follows in the same playing card suit as the 2019 psychological thriller Joker, further showing off the more dilapidated, delinquent strewn streets of Gotham and its equally as sinister and Machiavellian criminals/political landscape. Feeling a tad closer to an Indie produced marauding neo-noir than your prototypical comic book movie, this iteration of the Caped Crusader is not your more traditional Bruce Wayne/Batman (Robert Pattinson – Tenet; The Lighthouse), in fact

This is not the first time this is being said here... but there is no denying that the James Bond franchise, which is one of my favourites, has been outplayed by other action franchises over the past few decades. With No Time To Die (2021), a glorious door opened wide with Ana De Armas... after a twelve minute cameo from the actress as Paloma got the fandom going crazy – a perfect avenue for a female spinoff as fans were clamoring for more. Outmaneuvered once again, it was not the Bond producers that speedily green lit a new production, but one of their main rivals who signed the actress up for an action saga with: From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025), directed by Len Wiseman and co-written by action guru scribe Derek Kolstad (who has been involved with the first three John Wick’s, as well as the sole penman of Nobody). The other writing credit goes to Shay Hatten (who helped with parts three and four of Wick).

How do you wrap up a franchise like Mission: Impossible? That is, if this even is the final installment... as they’ve made it sound (while at the same time, stars not named ‘Tom Cruise’ pipe up and suggest that might not be so). It has been twenty-nine years, with different writers and visionary directors – from twisty Brian De Palma and the action hair stylings of John Woo, to the lens flares of J.J. Abrams and animation expert Brad Bird, it was only about ten years ago that the franchise decided to opt for The Usual Suspects scribe Christopher McQuarrie for the final four. To return to that opening question once more, you could end with a Sopranos’ style cliffhanger, simply make another entertaining movie like the many before – like Everybody Loves Raymond did it with its final episode, or try to tie everything up in a neat little bow by bringing everything together as the Daniel Craig era did with James Bond. Well, it is definitely more along the lines of the latter example, with some distinct differences.

Re-teaming together in short order after the success of 2024's The Beekeeper, director David Ayer and star Jason Statham return just one year later with A Working Man (2025)... if the former oozed an unbeatable action hero more along the lines of a John Wick, this newer effort clearly takes some inspiration from the Taken model of hustle and bustle. Actually taking its genesis from a 2014 Chuck Dixon novel entitled “Levon’s Trade”, it was Sylvester Stallone who snapped up its rights... originally adapting it for television through his Balboa Productions. Long story short, it was adjusted to become a movie, Stallone stepped away from starring in it (due to age constraints and a busy schedule with his series Tulsa King), with Ayer soon joining the production, making some additions to the script before directing.

Following in the recent action craze launched by John Wick, fusing it with The World is Not Enough Bond villain’s inability to feel pain, adding in some of the sadism found in Home Alone and its sequel, and throwing in some rough and tumble comedy to boot, Novocaine (2025), co-directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, holds no punches, or perhaps packs quite the punch if you’d prefer. Not for the weak of heart... an early warning to the wise – if you don’t like R rated violence then this movie is likely not for you, as it does not hold back in any which way. Though it does contain action, comedy, and romance, don’t let those last two genres suggest that this is a light date night foray for couples.

In 2025, dare I say that it’s nice to be highlighting a film made for mature audiences. Avoiding the pratfalls of sequels, remakes, comic book movies, and overly costly bombast, Black Bag, written by David Koepp (Mission: Impossible) and directed by Steven Soderbergh (Traffic), is most easily described as an old school spycraft feature. Opening with an extended tracking shot of spy George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) making his way through a happening nightclub in London, his contact soon informs him that there is a rat leaking some sort of tech software named Severus from within the agency. If there is one thing Woodhouse despises, it’s a liar, so he invites all of the suspects to a dinner party to try to get to the bottom of it.