As bad as I was warned it would be. Netflix put up 200M USD to construct a new Bond-like franchise, hoping that the Russo brothers would work the commercial magic of their Marvel efforts. I guess they are the new Michael Bay (making this their Pearl Harbour?). Briefly Ryan Gosling is an invincible CIA dark agent who's charged with the custody of a MacGuffin by somewhat less invincible CIA dark agent Callan Mulvey (dial familiar from The Turning and possibly other things). Cue the darkly-lit spaghetti action scenes, poor CGI and fetishised closeups of torture! Good work guys. The stakes were so low that I was hoping all of them would get bumped off. I'd like to think that, in the days before scandal, Armie Hammer would’ve got the Chris Evans role of an an intermediately invincible CIA dark agent with psychotic tendencies who enthusiastically enjoys his work. Ana de Armas is the new Scarlett Johansson, albeit one who comes off worse more often. Overall it's a ludicrous, humourless, unironic antispoof of Team America. Even Arnie's worst action flicks were better than this. Everyone should've stayed home.
Somewhat prompted by Jason Di Rosso's interview with the Russo brothers. (He didn't endorse it but some of the exchange made me curious about where all the money went.) Dana Stevens apparently loved it. Amy Nicholson: I almost missed that clever bit on the tram.