GODZILLA MINUS ONE TBC

Scale force…

★★★★★ OUT 15 DECEMBER CINEMAS

Separate from – and superior to – the MonsterVerse film series and its assorted TV spin-offs, the 30th live-action Godzilla film to be made in Japan is more or less a prequel to the Ishir ō Honda classic that started everything back in 1954. Set in the aftermath of World War Two, it’s a thunderous portrait of an archipelago under attack in which Godzilla itself represents nothing so much as a colossal case of collective PTSD.

But for ex-kamikaze pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki), the Big G is also something else: a chance to atone for the wartime actions that resulted in a host of his compatriots dying in his stead. So when the giant lizard appears out of the ocean and starts heading for the mainland, he joins a small band of maritime heroes whose race to halt the beast echoes Brody and co’s fight against the shark in Jaws.

A spectacular central set-piece sees ’Zilla remorselessly laying waste to a coastal city like a scaly wrecking ball, both paving the way for and upping the stakes of a second, climactic face-off on the high seas. The difference between Minus One and recent US takes on the titular beast can be found in the emotional resonance the confrontation acquires. Here, the true villain of the piece is a bone-deep national trauma that needs to be reckoned with before any healing can begin.

THE VERDICT A gargantuan and resonant epic that shows its Hollywood counterparts how it should be done.

‘Now might be a good time to leg it, peeps’

THE PEASANTS 15

★★★★★ OUT 8 DECEMBER CINEMAS

Gorgeous but clunkily melodramatic, this animated historical drama immerses you in the fierce, drawn-out passions of a 19th-century Polish village, where local beauty Jagna (Kamila Urzedowska) inflames a family feud. Directors D.K. and Hugh Welchman’s rotoscoping of live action into lush, luminous oil paintings was a perfect fit for their 2017 Van Gogh biopic Loving Vincent. But here, sumptuous renderings of peasant dances and blossom-choked orchards threaten to obscure Urzedowska’s defiant performance. The pretty pictures can’t paper over the plodding plot, either.

GENIE PG

★★★★★ OUT NOW SKY CINEMA/NOW

Despite a strong comic pedigree Melissa McCarthy stars, Richard Curtis scripts – this festive fantasy misses the mark. McCarthy plays a genie let loose on strungout Bernard (Paapa Essiedu), a man who allows work to invade his home life to the extent he misses his daughter’s birthday, much to wife Julie’s (Denée Benton) chagrin. Given endless wishes, Bernard endeavours to win his family over again. McCarthy, usually able to make the weakest material work, really struggles here. Essiedu is personable enough, but he and the rest of the cast deserve much better than this schmaltzy, cloying fare.

SWEET SUE 15

★★★★★ OUT 22 DECEMBER CINEMAS, CURZON HOME CINEMA

Focusing on 50-something Sue (Maggie O’Neill) and her relationship with Ron (Tony Pitts), the biker she meets at her brother’s funeral, Leo Leigh’s feature debut is a charming, eccentric character portrait. True, the film does carry strong echoes of dad Mike’s work, especially in its penchant for caricature: Ron’s vlogger son Anthony (The Bubble’s Harry Trevaldwyn) would feel right at home in Leigh Snr’s Life is Sweet. But O’Neill’s grounded turn, the empathetic depiction of a woman in her 50s and the humanity and humour make for an enjoyable watch.

THE WANDERING EARTH II 12

★★★★★ OUT NOW DVD, BD, DIGITAL 11 DECEMBER 4K UHD

EXTRAS ★★★★★ Featurettes

The 2019 original saw a league of nations attach fusion-powered engines to our planet to boost it away from the expanding sun. This sprawling prequel is somehow even more preposterous, lurching from one crisis to the next as those seeking digital immortality try to dismantle the propulsive project. Returning director Frant Gwo tones down the slo-mo and lens flare, jettisoning plot logic in favour of a string of entertainingly unhinged CG-powered set-pieces. Silly and mawkish, but undeniably spectacular.