Knock off Scorccesse no. 2678. Look, I like Ben Affleck, but he bit off more than he could chew here. It looks gorgeous, from the sets to the cinematography; it's all brilliant. But all that good work is built on sand because the narrative is simultaneously doing too much and too little. It wants to be an American epic  commenting on everything from corruption to race to the development of capitalism. But it doesn't have the weight to back any…

A big improvement on the first entry, but it's still a mixed bag. Like, the decision to get rid of its delusion of a meaningful plot was a good one. Let’s be honest, we're here to see people get cut in half, so let's get straight to it.

I mean, I have no attachment to the series, but through cultural osmosis, I like Johnny Cage, but I wasn't a fan of Urban's performance here, which is pretty stiff. The CGI…

It's a collective failing of society that we allowed this to bomb. Granted, it looks fairly generic, which is a curse that seems destined to afflict every Hemsworth star vehicle, but both he and the film are actually great. Mann is firing on all cylinders with his direction; the zoom into the motherboard as the virus attacks, the harsh digitality of the images, Hemsworth filling the frame as the camera bobs and weaves, it all combines to reinforce its theme…

As much as I want to be a prick, this is an amazing technical feat and a testament to Lucas's creativity. I've no idea how it works, with Saturday morning cartoon vibe and a style that verges on garish, but it all comes together with its inspirations to form a tapestry greater than the sum of its parts. But Lucas owes an incalculable debt to Ford, because without his nudge-and-wink performance, it'd be populated by total Boy Scouts, like Luke,…