Queer review: Daniel Craig puts in an excellent performance in this film but the laughs are zero

QUEER

(18) 135mins

★★☆☆☆

SINCE hanging up his Bond tuxedo, Daniel Craig has certainly changed direction – and he is clearly distancing himself from the 007 brand.

He couldn’t get any further than here, playing a drug-addled, promiscuous homosexual man obsessed with a younger guy.

The film is set in 1950s Mexico City, shown as a haven for gay men to live their lives openly with little judgement or concern.

And it gets off to an explosive start, with American writer William Lee (Craig) — who spends his days downing shots of tequila and seeking any company to simply not be alone — spotting a handsome young man, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey).

To a soundtrack of Nirvana’s Come As You Are, William is watching a cockfight in the street when he is suddenly hypnotised by Eugene’s good looks and expression that gives little away.

When the pair meet again in a bar, William’s infatuation only grows.

And this infatuation is played out in a desperate and sometimes sad way.

So far, so fascinating — and very watchable.

But then the film suddenly jerks with a complete change of pace.

William and Eugene, now in an unhealthy, unloving relationship, leave Mexico City as William decides he wants to go to the jungles of Ecuador to hunt for psychedelic drug ayahuasca.

He believes it will unlock his ability to be telepathic.

Their search for the drug builds at a painfully slow speed and involves a strange performance by Lesley Manville as a plant expert tribeswoman

An entire section where William and Eugene are tripping in the jungle is so disjointed and separate from part one, it could be an entirely different film.

Craig puts in an excellent performance as the lonely, vulnerable and unlikeable William, who conceals his loneliness with booze, drugs and a bad temper.

Oh, and sex. Lots of sex. The scenes are pretty explicit and Craig is entirely confident in the role.

There’s a very nice comic performance from , but apart from that the laughs are zero and there’s little to hold on to in the form of empathy for anyone.

After director Luca Guadagnino’s success with 2017 gay romance Call Me By Your Name, it’s a great shame this does not have the same heart or direction.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM

(12A) 134mins

★★☆☆☆

MIDDLE Earth is drawn on screen in this latest outing for the Lord Of The Rings franchise, but fans expecting to see animated versions of Gandalf, Frodo and the gang will be left disappointed.

The tenuous plot is taken from small footnotes in Tolkien’s main trilogy of tales and is set in the kingdom of Rohan, two hundred years before anyone had heard of a Hobbit or started scrapping over a ring.

The land is ruled over by Helm Hammerhand (a booming Brian Cox).

And the introductory narration from Eowyn (Miranda Otto) swerves any questions over the validity of this by telling us his daughter Hera (voiced by Gaia Wise) has a story that does not exist in any written records. That’s handy.

Hera is a long-tressed tomboy type who could ride before she could walk.

Now her job is to save her family’s stronghold from attack by Dunlending Lord Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), who is also annoyed that she had refused to marry him.

Directed by Kenji Kamiyama, the Japanese-style anime is beautiful, but the wizard-free action lacks magic.

By Laura Stott

KRAVEN THE HUNTER

(15) 127mins

★★☆☆☆

AFTER 2022 film Morbius spawned hilarious internet memes for its clunky dialogue and dodgy premise, Sony needed a lifeline.

Enter Kraven The Hunter, the studio’s bid to save its crumbling Marvel Universe.

With James Bond contender Aaron Taylor-Johnson stepping into the ferocious role of Sergei “Kraven” Kravinoff, hopes were high at first.

But sadly, it looks like this franchise is headed for the graveyard even sooner than expected.

The film centres on Sergei’s tangled relationship with dad Nikolai, a violent Russian mob boss played with all the finesse of a bulldozer by Russell Crowe.

Driven by pure fury and a hunger for revenge against those who seek to harm him and his younger brother Dmitri (Gladiator II star Fred Hechinger), Sergei enlists the help of savvy lawyer Calypso Ezili (a criminally under-used Ariana DeBose) to help defeat his enemies.

There are flashes of brilliance, thanks to some adequately choreographed action set pieces, but often they are quickly overshadowed by cringeworthy dialogue and a disjointed plot.

It is a real shame to see such talent squandered on this incoherent mess.

By Linda Marric