Brave Citizen (2024) [Fantasia Film Festival 2024]

Deep down there’s a great movie within “Brave Citizen.” The South Korean film by Park jin-pyo has a great premise, and a great cause to fight for that could serve as a catalyst for an interesting superhero tale. Instead “Brave Citizen” is bogged down in so much exposition and sub-plots and commentary that is loses sight of its original intent. There’s no reason a movie like “Brave Citizen” should be so long, and I say that as someone that almost never cares about run time.

But Park jin-pyo and the writers take so long to get to the actual point that by the time we do get an idea what they’re aiming in the realm of superheroes meets bringing down the affluent, the movie has already worn out its welcome.

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Trap (2024)

M. Night Shyamalan sets the stage for a thriller that surprisingly is about as straight forward as you can imagine. He hooks audiences in mainly for the concept of “Trap” where a serial killer has been snagged in his most vulnerable spot and has to look for a way out. Any other time, a movie like “Trap” could not have worked too well, but Shyamalan pulls it off well thanks to the leading performance from Josh Hartnett. Star Hartnett as Cooper Adams is the primary reason to see “Trap” as he not only creates this conniving, clever, and vindictive villain, but he seems to have a lot of fun portraying him.

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