While the July 17th opening of Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” is serving as a marker for the return of cinemas to full service worldwide (not to mention Disneyland), there’s another day proving almost as important.
Tomorrow, Friday June 12th, sees no less that three major new film releases across three of the biggest rival SVOD services launching – giving us a glimpse of what a cinema-free future could look like. Reviews for all three titles are also coming in and the verdict wildly differs.
Netflix is launching Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods,” Amazon has Judd Apatow’s “King of Staten Island” and Disney+ has Kenneth Branagh’s “Artemis Fowl” – the latter two films were originally slated for theatrical runs but were moved forward to SVOD premieres.
Coming out the best by far is “Da 5 Bloods” with Lee’s film scoring an 88% (7.86/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and an 81/100 on Metacritic. The film follows a group of black ex-Vietnam War soldiers who return to the country to find a hidden gold cache and confront the war’s lasting ravages.
Reviews across the board are mostly raves but of its criticism a common repeated complaint is length with the substantial 156 minute runtime being deemed too long. Otherwise its being dubbed powerful, fascinating and full of Lee’s usual energy.
Coming in next is “King of Staten Island” with 75% (7.05/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and a 68/100 on Metacritic. Reviews are strong for Davidson’s performance and the film’s earnest heart, but have slammed Apatow’s usual weaknesses of bloated runtime (136 minutes), unevenness, and scenes that go on far too long.
In last place, by a clear mile, is “Artemis Fowl”. Drawing just a 14% (4.01/10) on Rotten Tomatoes and a 32/100 on Metacritic, no-one seems to have much good to say about the film which is frequently being dubbed a mess on numerous levels.
All three films will be available globally from tomorrow in the countries those various services operate.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic
