MADAME WEB 12A

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

Sony Pictures’ quest to extend their live-action Spider-verse beyond the MCU continues with this spin-off starring Dakota Johnson as clairvoyant ambulance driver Cassandra Webb, who becomes entangled with three teens (Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor and Sydney Sweeney) and their would-be killer (Tahar Rahim). Rather than kicking off a new universe of heroes, Madame Web feels more like a failed TV pilot, complete with sluggish action and cheap-looking costumes. Further bogged down by egregious product placement, it’s a big disappointment – but we all saw it coming…

ORIGIN 12A

★★★★★ OUT 8 MARCH CINEMAS

Ava DuVernay’s (Selma) biographical drama delves into the creation of Isabel Wilkerson’s 2020 non-fiction bestseller Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. During her voyage of discovery, Wilkerson (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) experiences a series of devastating personal losses that give her mission greater meaning. The result is a film that works as both a broad educational tool and a tender portrait of grief. It may ultimately feel too simplistic for those who’ve read the book - and too scholastic in places for those who haven’t - but it remains a powerful conversation-starter.

AMERICAN STAR 15

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS, DIGITAL

Ageing hitman Wilson (Ian McShane) lands in the Canary Islands for one last job that starts to feel more like a retirement holiday. But then trouble arrives in the form of Adam Nagaitis’ younger assassin, and the nature of Wilson’s brief is belatedly revealed. Until the inevitable violent climax, Gonzalo López-Gallego’s film is a beguilingly languid mood piece, distinguishing itself via the twin landscapes of McShane’s rugged features and the similarly handsome Fuerteventura scenery. There’s fine support, too, from Nora Arnezeder as impetuous expat Gloria.

THE DELINQUENTS 12A

★★★★★ OUT 22 MARCH CINEMAS

Unfolding in Buenos Aires and the bucolic Cordoban countryside, this leisurely existential fable from Argentinian writer/director Rodrigo Moreno begins in heist-movie territory. Middleaged bank clerk Moran (Daniel Elias) plans to steal $600,000 from his employers, relying on his colleague Roman (Esteban Bigliardi) to stash the money, all while he serves a three-year jail sentence. Awash with playful doublings and contrasts, Moreno’s movie refuses to be boxed in by genre conventions, heading off instead on all manner of unexpected and entertaining digressions.

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE 12A

There’s a lot to jam in…

★★★★★ OUT NOW CINEMAS

Britain’s Kingsley Ben-Adir was highly praised for playing Malcolm X in One Night in Miami, and made a decent Barack Obama in Showtime’s The Comey Rule. Mimicry alone, alas, does not ignite the ganja in a reverential homage to the Jamaican reggae icon that is lacking his blazing charisma.

Reinaldo Marcus Green’s film begins in 1976 with Bob and wife Rita (Lashana Lynch) almost being slain by gunmen at their Kingston home: a nerve-jangling brush with death that marks the film’s most dramatic and emotional episode. Green and his three co-writers frame this as a misfortune Bob shrugged off triumphantly by recording his landmark album Exodus. The film, in contrast, never quite manages to move on, remaining in a muted funk for much of its running time.

King Richard director Green tries to vary the mood by whisking Bob to London and then across Europe on a whirlwind tour. For all the terrific music we are treated to en route, however, it’s all a bit glum.

Ben-Adir diligently duplicates Marley’s distinctive patois and jerky on-stage movements. But there’s no alchemical amalgam between artiste and thespian like there was in Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman. Fans have been waiting a while for an authorised Marley biopic; now it’s arrived, every little thing is not all right.

THE VERDICT Capturing Marley’s essence proves an impossible task in a biopic that nears hagiography.