Author Archives: Keith Garlington

REVIEW: “Without Blood” (2026)

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Angelina Jolie returns to the director’s chair with her latest feature, “Without Blood”. It’s the first film she has directed since her brilliant and in some ways underrated “First They Killed My Father”. That 2017 Khmer-language biographical thriller told the true story of a five-year-old boy who was seized and forced to train as a child soldier during the Khmer Rouge’s violent reign. It was a powerful and sobering film that deserved more recognition than it got.

Now Jolie takes on a much different project yet one with a similar sense of timeliness and urgency. Based on Alessandro Baricco’s 2002 novel of the same name, “Without Blood” had its world premiere in 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival but is just getting a United States release. It tells a story about war, but not from the battlefield. Instead, the reckoning we witness happens in a restaurant, as two people sit at a table and bring the past to life.

Jolie begins her film with a harrowing sequence set in the aftermath of an anonymous war. Three armed men approach the home of a doctor named Roca (Alfredo Herrera). The doctor hides his young daughter under the floorboards and orders his teenage son to get out sight. The three men are led by Salinas (Juan Minujín), an embittered, vengeance-driven soldier who is still fighting the war in his mind. Salinas holds the doctor responsible for his brother’s death and he has brought along the brutish El Gurre (Mario Zaragoza) and 17-year-old Tito (Ariel Perez Lima) to ensure he has his revenge.

The ripple effect of that opening sequence can be felt throughout the entire film. And it culminates in a second confrontation of a much different kind. Many years later we’re introduced to Nina (Salma Hayek Pinault). She was the little girl hiding under the floorboards who witnessed a horror she would never forget. We meet her as she approaches a newspaper kiosk where a man (Demián Bichir) sells newspapers and lottery tickets. We learn that man is Tito, and Nina has come to meet him face-to-face.

The two make their way to a quiet table in the back of a restaurant where Nina reveals her identity to the surprisingly composed Tito. Nina calmly yet methodically shares how the actions of that fateful day forever altered her life. She talks about her difficult time at a girl’s school, her adoption by a pharmacist with a gambling problem, and her time in the custody of a wealthy yet corrupt count, who raised her till she was 14 and then married her.

The bulk of the movie takes place at that small warmly lit table with Jolie sometimes breaking away to tell Nina’s backstory via flashbacks. We see how she has existed in a world of powerful and violent men. Yet her strength and resilience has led her to this day. But Jolie also shines an interesting light on Tito, showing that the past events have left their marks on him as well. Their dynamic opens up some of the movie’s deepest themes including the very nature of trauma.

With “Without Blood”, Angelina Jolie once again tackles heavy subject matter with emotional honesty and keen sense of craft. She also smartly leans on Hayek and Bichir, two committed and capable actors working in just the right tenor. There’s a part of me that wishes Jolie had gone deeper. But at the same time it’s hard not to admire her restraint, which helps ground this visually arresting and emotionally layered meditation on war, trauma, and revenge.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Operation Kabul” (2026)

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With “Operation Kabul”, Hungarian director Zsombor Dyga offers a striking point-of-view on the disastrous 2021 United States-led NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan. The events resulted in the collapse of the Afghan government and military followed by a chaotic mass exodus of civilian non-combatants. The Taliban swooped in and immediately took control of the city of Kabul while NATO coalition forces stationed at the nearby airport frantically scrambled to evacuate their citizens and allies.

“Operation Kabul” is an absorbing war thriller inspired by real-life events from August 2021. It follows a specials ops unit from the Hungarian Defense Forces who are flown into the Kabul airport for a two-day retrieval operation. Their mission is to pickup and extract a group of 200 civilians from a list given to them by their State Department and transport them to safety in Uzbekistan. But as they arrive, the situation has already turned chaotic as over 10,000 desperate refugees converge on the airport in hopes of getting a flight out.

Image Courtesy of Well Go USA

The story (written for the screen by Áron Horváth) follows the unit’s efforts to navigate the chaos at the airport, where they join numerous other allied nations in locating their people amid the masses crowding the gates. It’s a powder keg scenario that’s rooted in authentic tension. The soldiers are forced to turn away men, women, and children which only agitates the crowd. Meanwhile the looming threat of violence from hostile insurgent forces ratchets up as the situation intensifies.

A key member of the unit is Lieutenant Bálint Kerekes (Gábor Jászberényi), a seasoned soldier who was last in Afghanistan two years earlier. A series of flashbacks follow Bálint’s previous tour, where he met and assisted a Hungarian physician named Eszter (Blanka Mészáros). The two gained a strong mutual respect for each other before Bálint headed back home. Now he’s back and Eszter’s name is on his extraction list. But when word gets back that she has been abducted in Kabul, Bálint leads a team of riflemen on a daring rescue.

Image Courtesy of Well Go USA

To their credit, Dyga and Horváth mostly steer clear of the political nonsense, keeping their focus on the boots on the ground. The film impressively conveys the weight of their circumstances and the impossible dilemmas they face. Several scenes boost the tension to near visceral levels while simultaneously remaining firmly grounded. This is especially true with the combat sequences. They’re fierce and harrowing yet authentic through the lens of DP Tamás Dobos’ camera.

“Operation Kabul” (titled “Dragons over Kabul” in its native Hungary) is a riveting new entry into the war thriller catalog. It’s one that embraces many of the elements we have come to expect from the genre. Yet it also offers a unique perspective on the events of August 2021. Some of the characters could use more depth, and certain events happen without much explanation. But the filmmakers nail what matters most. They effectively immerse us in a harrowing situation, rooting it in reality while never forgetting to entertain us.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Street Fighter” (2026)

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With “Mortal Kombat” already rebooted for the big screen, I guess it’s no surprise that its long-time fighting game rival “Street Fighter” would try and do the same thing. Both wildly popular video game franchises already had movie adaptations in the mid 1990s. Now they’re both back at it with mixed results at best. “Mortal Kombat” started decent with its 2021 reboot but fell off dramatically with its 2026 sequel. “Street Fighter” gets off to a much shakier start.

Directed by Kitao Sakurai, “Street Fighter” is the epitome of a mixed bag. And unfortunately in its case, the negatives too often overpower the positives. It’s a movie brimming with 1990’s energy, nostalgic callbacks, and enjoyable fan service for those of us who have had a part in the “Street Fighter” craze. But it’s also a loud, hollow, and borderline maddening mess of a movie that forgets some of the most basic tenets of filmmaking and storytelling.

In fairness to “Street Fighter”, no one should go into it expecting a high-minded and/or thought-provoking experience. From the very beginning, Sakurai is very honest about the kind of film he’s making. It embraces the absurdity to a near comical level. It also knows what die-hard fans are anticipating. They expect to see a ton of characters, over-the-top fighting sequences, and a ton of Easter eggs aimed squarely at them. To its credit, the movies delivers those things with varying degrees of success.

Image Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

What it doesn’t deliver is anything resembling an entertaining story. For starters, it is ridiculously overstuffed yet somehow astonishingly shallow. A big reason is the clunky, chaotic plotting that begins with a crazy cartoonish charm only to lose it amid waves of unfunny humor, conflicting tones, incredibly dumb dialogue, and several generic backstories that don’t do their well-established characters any favors. Even a handful of stylish anime vignettes can’t liven up the story or make us care.

The setup goes something like this. In 1987, martial artist Ryu (Andrew Koji) wins the first ever World Warrior Tournament. In the process, a demon warrior named Akuma (Roman Reigns) is awakened. Ryu taps into a mysterious dark energy that enables him to fend off Akuma. But not before the demon kills Ryu’s mentor and teacher, Gouken. Their master’s death drives a wedge between Ryu and his childhood friend and training partner, Ken (Noah Centineo).

Six years pass. Ryu has disappeared off the grid while Ken has become a fame-obsessed entertainer driven by merch sales, endorsement deals, and deep resentment of Ryu. Elsewhere, a despot named M. Bison (David Dastmalchian) announces the second World Warrior tournament. Chun-Li (Callina Liang) goes out on Bison’s behalf to recruit the best fighters from around the world. Among them is Ken, who sees winning the tournament as a way to escape from his former best friend’s shadow.

But in reality, Bison is using the tournament as bait to lure out Ryu. His plan is to capture Ryu and siphon his fighting power for himself. At first Ryu resists. But after hearing Ken has entered and fearing the return of a vengeful Akuma, he re-emerges and enters the tourney himself in hopes of saving Ken’s life. Little does he know, he’s playing right into the comically nefarious Bison’s hands. Meanwhile Chun-Li is revealed to be an undercover Interpol agent with her own personal (and obvious) stakes in the tournament.

The movie spends a lot of time building up the eight-fighter tournament, with popular characters from the video games gathering from around the globe to compete. Yet the competition itself is wildly underwhelming, with several eliminations happening off screen and a couple of lame forfeits. We get more screeching from Eric André’s obnoxious MC than actual combat in the ring. And the characters are showcased more in a bar fight than in the actual tourney.

Image Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Yes, the tourney an ultimately a decoy for Bison, and that would be fine if the rest of the story packed a punch. Instead it clumsily bounces around from one point to the next, wedging in characters and doing nothing with them. It becomes a checklist movie that may tickle the fancies of fans in the moment, but that offers nothing for them to invest in. And it’s not helped by the film’s sham of an ending that’s more interested in setting up a second movie than finishing this one.

But despite all of those criticisms, “Street Fighter” has a certain self-awareness that gives it some appeal. The film is firmly-rooted in the 1990s as evident by its style, the nostalgia, and a plethora of cool needle-drops. Then you have the characters. While some woefully fall flat due to the writing (sorry Cody Rhodes and Jason Momoa), they all impress with their looks, fighting styles, and special moves which instantly hearkens back to their 2D roots. And some are just fun to watch. Vidyut Jammwal’s Dhalsim is a blast. And business certainly picks up once Reigns’ Akuma inevitably comes back around.

So again, “Street Fighter” is very much a mixed bag. It’s hard to call it a good movie when so much of the storytelling is wasted on nonsense and it constantly gets sidetracked checking boxes. At the same time, it’s full of over-the-top energy and satisfying callbacks that will have hardcore fans pointing at their screens with big smiles on their faces. Some cool visuals and a pulse-pounding electronic score from Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson is icing on the cake. In the end, “Street Fighter” could have been something pretty amazing. But it’s hard to overcome a script this bad, even when you get so much else right.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Whalefall” (2026)

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If you have ever wondered what it was like to be swallowed by a whale, boy do I have the movie for you. With “Whalefall”, director Brian Duffield tackles that very predicament. But here’s the thing – no matter how silly and outrageous it sounds, “Whalefall” manages to surprise in several interesting ways. Whether it’s the wild survival scenario or the deeper emotional resonance, the movie repeatedly finds ways to exceed every expectation.

Written for the screen by Duffield and Daniel Kraus, the story is an adaptation of Kraus’ 2023 novel of the same name. It revolves around Jay Gardiner (Austin Abrams), a scuba diver who’s wrestling with the shadow of his late father, Mitt (wonderfully played in flashbacks by Josh Brolin). Mitt was a diving legend who was loved by the locals. But at home he was a stern and harsh father to Jay which drove a wedge between him and his son. Because of it, Jay ends up leaving Monastery Beach in California to attend college in Iowa.

Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

The film kicks off one year after a terminally ill Mitt commits suicide in the very ocean he loves. His body was never found. Jay returns home to spend time with his mother Zara (Elisabeth Shue) and his two older sisters, Eva (Jane Levy) and Nan (Emily Rudd). As the family reminisces about their lost patriarch, a conflicted Jay struggles with his own returning memories.

Early the next morning, with everyone still asleep, Jay loads up his father’s old scuba gear and slips away to the bay where Mitt killed himself. His plan is to search for his dad’s remains, believing that finding just one bone would help bring him some much-needed closure. “I don’t know why. I just know I have to do this.” But while well off the coast, near the rim of a deep underwater canyon, the unthinkable happens. Jay is accidentally swallowed by an enormous sperm whale as it’s hunting a giant squid.

“Whalefall” immediately turns into a claustrophobic survival thriller, with Duffield thrusting both Jay and us into the belly of the beast. While it sounds preposterous, Duffield delivers a harrowing experience unlike anything I’ve seen. He moves Jay through the various chambers of the whale’s digestive system, using creative production design, killer visual effects, and intense cinematography to immerse us in every new danger he faces. The survival elements are mostly effective and the few dashes of body horror earned some audible gasps from my audience.

Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

But the biggest surprise is found in the father-son story that lies at the heart of “Whalefall”. Duffield breaks up Jay’s suffocating fight for his life with flashbacks that better develop his strained relationship with his father. Brolin is especially good in these scenes, unambiguously revealing his character’s flaws. And while the movie never fully absolve’s Mitt, it gives us a clearer picture of his mindset. At the same time, Jay’s situation forces him to reckon with his feelings about his father. And as he does, he begins recalling the lessons he learned from Mitt, using them in his efforts to escape.

While its themes aren’t new and its metaphorical meaning is easy to pick up on, “Whalefall” is still a wildly unique experience that finds a near perfect balance between white-knuckle thrills and heartfelt emotion. It features some stunning underwater photography and effects work that pops on the big screen. And then there’s Austin Abrams, who anchors this affecting story of regret, remorse, and reconciliation while spending most of his time in the stomach of a whale. He’s central in making “Whalefall” one of the year’s biggest surprises.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “The Beast” (2026)

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In “The Beast”, Samuel L. Jackson plays the President of the United States if he were Samuel L. Jackson. He has a different name and certainly a different job title. But otherwise this is Samuel L. Jackson playing the screen version of himself that we’ve all come to know over his fifty-plus-year career. There’s even a joke thrown in about the star’s very loud and very specific was of enunciating a certain profanity.

That may make “The Beast” sound like a comedy but it’s far from it. instead it’s the latest action film from director Renny Harlin. Amazingly, this is Harlin’s third film this year and his seventh in the last four years. There are both good and bad ways of viewing those numbers. On one hand, it shows he’s an incredibly hard worker who is able to get his movies over the finish line. On the other hand, it makes you wonder what he could do if he put a little more time into each project.

Image Courtesy of Aura Entertainment

Either way, “The Beast” is as straightforward as action movies get. It’s a propulsive and pulpy genre movie mostly built around a single conceit. It checks a ton of boxes, makes absolutely no sense at times, and has plot holes galore. At the same time, it possesses a certain B-movie energy and charm that fuels the action and keeps things entertaining, no matter how absurd it gets.

As mentioned, Jackson plays the President of the United States who the film only addresses as Mr. President or by his first name, Oscar. Harlin wastes no time, kicking things off with the President attending a summit in an unnamed foreign city with other heads of state. Chaos erupts when terrorists attack in what turns out to be a series of coordinated hits around the globe.

Oscar manages to get himself and a seriously wounded Secret Service agent named Taft (Joel Kinnaman) into his presidential limousine – a state-of-the-art, heavily armored, and heavily armed rolling fortress dubbed “The Beast”. With his driver dead, the commander-in-chief takes the wheel and speeds towards a rendezvous point. As he frantically drives, he is guided by the generic central command (voiced by Eoin Macken) who is just as confused as he is.

The majority of the movie takes place in and around the Beast as the President endures furious attacks along routes that have been compromised by the thinly sketched enemy coalition. Meanwhile Taft is bleeding out in the backseat, adding to the already established sense of urgency. It’s a simple premise with a clear and concise trajectory. It occasionally veers from that trajectory with scenes meant to add more humanity. But it’s never long before we’re thrown right back into the action.

Image Courtesy of Aura Entertainment

Harlin doesn’t let the confinement of the story’s single-setting slow things down. He creatively utilizes the Beast in a number of thrilling ways, artfully using the camera inside the car and out. And the further we go, the more bloody the violence gets. At the same time, screenwriter Umair Aleem works hard to ensure the movie has a heartbeat. We see it in Oscar’s deep concern for his wife Rosa and in his PTSD from the Vietnam War. These are good touches that give a human pulse to an otherwise silly movie.

But even with its strengths, “The Beast” can’t quite overcome its shortcomings. On the action side, some of the attacks get noticeably repetitive, and several of the scenarios are just too goofy to get past. Even worse, they open up some gaping holes in the story to go along with the ambiguous setting and the ambiguous enemy. Ultimately Jackson carries the load in a movie that’s tailored to the seasoned 77-year-old’s strengths and weaknesses. But he can only carry it so far.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

First Glance: “The Exorcist: Martyrs” First Trailer

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While the original “The Exorcist” is widely considered to be a horror movie classic, the six movies that followed it haven’t developed into a franchise I’ve been all that interested in. But that changed with the first trailer for “The Exorcist: Martyrs”. While it still proudly sports the Exorcist name, “Martyrs” offers a radically fresh spin on the series. It has a strong cast which the trailer smartly shows off. But perhaps most exciting is Mike Flanagan serving as director, writer, and producer.

Our first dip into the world Flanagan creates is truly chilling. “Martyrs” looks like a mix of David Fincher’s dark and brutal serial killer classic “Se7en” and the established possession genre. Scarlett Johansson plays Julie Miller, an NYPD homicide detective who is drawn into a diabolical case involving a copycat serial killer. She’s joined by a former prison chaplain, Father William (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and her rookie partner, Gina Restrepo (Sasha Calle). But the investigation takes a wicked turn once the supernatural elements kick in. Simply put, I love the looks of this.

“The Exorcist: Martyrs” hits theaters March 12, 2027. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.