Red Alert May 2018
sci-fact!
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Former Office star John Krasinski was in the running to play Captain America before Chris Evans won the shield.
DIRECTOR EXCLUSIVE
HUSH NOW
New survivalist horror A Quiet Place is silent but deadly
A Quiet Place has a simple, brilliant premise. One that sold director and star John Krasinski immediately. “Platinum Dunes had this script,” he tells Red Alert, “and they asked me, ‘Would you ever act in a genre movie?’ And I said, ‘I don’t actually watch a lot of scary movies, because I’m a total scaredy cat, but if the idea was cool, yeah, maybe I’d think about it.’ And they said, ‘It’s about a family that can’t talk and you have to figure out why.’ And I said, ‘Damn, that’s one of the best one-line pitches I’ve ever heard!’” Krasinski plays Lee Abbott, a father fiercely protecting his family – including real-life wife Emily Blunt – in a desolate, decimated world. Holed up in a farmhouse, they must evade a terrifying threat that hunts by sound. Even a whisper, a footfall, can mean life or death. “A creature has been introduced to the world that has done very bad things, and these people are some of the few remaining survivors,”
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Krasinski explains. “They are surviving for many reasons, but one of the main reasons is that one of their children is deaf, so they’ve been able to communicate in sign language for a long time. It gave them a leg up on the rest of the world as far as knowing that silence was the idea for survival.” Silence is key to the story – and Krasinski also used it as a filmmaking tool to build that crucial sense of dread. “The silence for me was most powerfully felt in the edit,” he says. “We started cutting on mute and it was so powerful that I said to my editor, ‘You know what, you’re not allowed to put any sound in until we have a cut of this movie. Until this movie makes sense to us we have to do it just by pictures. “Then, when you introduce sound back into the movie it’s super exciting, but it’s also super Rookie error one: never go scary because you now feel like, ‘Oh my God, into the crops. I’ve seen the power of stillness and silence.
Red Alert May 2018
SCI-FI Y M
The creatures could be lurking just outside...
aerial assault SCI-FI TV ROUND UP
don’t quote me
“Working on something like GI Joe was horrendous. I just wanted to cut my throat every day. And Thor? Just a gun in your mouth.”
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A Quiet Place is in cinemas on 6 April.
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“Never insult the first season of The Office in front of me.”
Let’s make sure we don’t add too much back.’ So many of those scenes are so much more scary without music. You’re just listening to people’s breath and you’re listening to footsteps. Things like that are really eerie.” The predatory creatures have been kept under wraps, but Krasinski offers a tantalising hint. “I wanted to find a way to visually portray a creature that can hear really well. And we came up with this cool, creepy idea that’s very clear when you see it. So months down the line, if you’re cooking something and watching it on TV, if it was on mute you’d still understand it. That was really important to me.” One test audience member paid the movie the ultimate compliment, Krasinski recalls, laughing. “A guy in the talkback raised his hand and said, ‘I want to say something – I brought a bag of Skittles to this screening. I’ve had them in my hand the entire movie. I never tore them open. I didn’t want to make a sound.” NS
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We started cutting the film on mute, and it was so powerful
Jon Favreau to create live-action Star Wars TV show for new Disney streaming service. Amazon working on TV adaptation of Iain M Banks’s first Culture novel, Consider Phlebas. Logan’s Dafne Keen to play Lyra Belacqua in BBC adaptation of His Dark Materials. Lin-Manuel Miranda to play Lee Scoresby, with The King’s Speech’s Tom Hooper lined up to direct. Parks And Recreation hero Nick Offerman to play Warlock’s dad in Good Omens. Black Mirror renewed for a fifth season, while Midnight, Texas gets a second. The Librarians cancelled after four years. “We’re just trying to work out how and when,” says Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor of a possible series XIII. He adds that co-creator Rob Grant, absent since series VI, “may want to return to Red Dwarf down the line”. Stephen King’s The Bone Church in development for TV.
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DAN FOGLER
The Fantastic Beasts star and graphic novel writer on his genre loves Favourite SF/Fantasy Movies I grew up in the ’80s in the middle of all the Spielberg and Lucas deliciousness, so my favourite films from then are a tie between The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Throw in Blade Runner, and those three movies shaped my love of sci-fi and fantasy. Indiana Jones spoke to me because he was just a regular guy, and it was the same with Han Solo – he’s a great pilot and a great shot, but he’s not a Jedi. I think they’re the bravest characters because they’re running into the chaos with just their wits and skills. More recently, the first Matrix movie was mind-blowing. I was convinced it was going to be the Star Wars of our generation. Favourite SF/Fantasy TV I grew up on Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories, The Twilight Zone and Tales From The Crypt. I don’t have a lot of time now – I got two little kids running around – but the last thing I was able to binge was Lost. And I’m getting into Stranger Things – I love how it’s so Spielbergy and wonderful. Favourite SF/Fantasy Comics The first comic I took off the shelf was Heavy Metal magazine – I was 10 and shouldn’t have been looking at it, but that explains a lot about me! I was one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans. I was drawing Raphael on my notebook before anyone knew who the hell that was. I love Batman – The Killing Joke blew my mind. And I always loved Wolverine and Punisher beating the shit out of each other! I’m enjoying Saga. As a parent, there’s no other book that will have you weeping at the end of an issue. RE Brooklyn Gladiator, Dan Fogler’s new graphic novel, is out on 11 April.
Christopher Eccleston doesn’t love all his acting gigs… May 2018 | sfx magazine |
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lost in space
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lost in space
The Jupiter 2 is flying again – but can Lost In Space work in 2018? Ian Berriman visits the set of the new Netflix revival
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There’s a revolution happening in Westworld season two. Tara Bennett talks morality and murder with showrunner Jonathan Nolan
westworld
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westworld
the big questions Answer these, season two!
How many parks are there? The Westworld and Shogun World parks exist but we’d love to know how many different experiences customers can pay to immerse themselves within. What’s the creepy white figure behind Bernard in the trailer, and alluded to in Ford’s secret basement workshop? Is it a next level Host, or a future leader for the Hosts provided by their deceased maker?
Where are Delos’s head of security, Stubbs, and programmer, Elsie? Stubbs was tracking her phone in the park when the Ghost Nation Hosts got him. She’s been missing since she went snooping with Bernard. Will Logan appear in the future? We were served up the big twist that William is the young version of the Man in Black. Does that mean young William’s awful colleague will also show up as his older self?
What secrets are inside of Peter Abernathy? Dolores’ father holds a lot of important information inside his code. Will it come out now that Ford is dead? How will he impact Dolores’ revolution if he gets back into the park?
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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR NEXT TV BINGE
How to choose your next big TV binge Words Dave Golder, Richard Edwards
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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR NEXT TV BINGE
Marvel’s Netflix Shows Seasons 8 Episodes 99* Time to catch up 89* hours Where to watch Netflix (UK), Netflix (US) Meet the Avengers’ down-and-dirty, street-level cousins Highlights Daredevil season one’s mould-breaking fight scenes; Krysten Ritter’s pissed, cynical Jessica Jones; Mike Colter’s effortlessly cool Luke Cage; the Punisher storyline in Daredevil season two; Rosario Dawson’s Claire Temple in (nearly) everything. Lowlights The disappointingly generic and slow Iron Fist; The Defenders crossover never quite kicking into gear. Jumps the shark? With Iron Fist but it jumped back. Worth the effort? View Without Fear. * Including Jessica Jones season 2
the good place Seasons 2 Episodes 26 Time to catch up 9.5 hours Where to watch Netflix (UK), NBC.com (US) Self-obsessed woman finds herself in heaven after a clerical error… or does she? Highlights The central quirky concept of this show is irresistible (even if it keeps twisting in mind-boggling ways), and the gags come thick and fast, but it’s the exquisite cast – including Ted Danson as a heavenly middle-management suit and Veronica Mars’s Kristen Bell – that really make this unmissable. Lowlights One episode in season two isn’t utterly brilliant. Jumps the shark? Fork no. Worth the effort? Proves there’s laughs after death.
t’s arguably the biggest problem facing the human race in 2018 – with hundreds of TV shows out there (and loads of them brilliant), how do you choose what you’re going to watch next? Fear not, however, because SFX has assembled a handy guide to help you select your next TV binge. What kind of time investment do you need to make to catch up? Does the show jump the shark? Is the time you spend going to be worthwhile? We’ve looked at 20 active TV sci-fi and fantasy series (y’know, the ones that have given us new episodes in 2018) to assemble the ultimate guide to planning your viewing life. Because even if the world’s going to pot outside your door, you might as well be watching good telly… Doctor Who is not included because bingeing 54 ½ years of TV can’t be good for your health, your family or your career.
preacher Seasons 2 Episodes 23 Time to catch up 17.5 hours Where to watch Amazon (UK), AMC (US) A super-powered priest, his feisty ex and a vampire search for God. Literally Highlights Season one is deliciously odd, with some outrageously gross and funny set-pieces. The bonkers supporting cast – especially two repeatedly resurrecting angels – is full of gems too. Lowlights While showing moments of warped genius, season two, with Jesse and co searching for God in New Orleans, really drags in places. Jumps the shark? A very silly Hitler escapes Hell. Worth the effort? Jesse could compel you to.
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Season two of The Handmaid’s Tale is here. Tara Bennett discovers why it’s still TV’s most terrifyingly relevant future 56 | sfx magazine | may 2018
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the handmaid’s tale
the handmaid’s tale
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legion
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legion
Head-frying mutant drama Legion is about to get “stranger and weirder�, says star Dan Stevens. Tara Bennett wonders how this is possible
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avengers: infinity war
the
Avengers: Infinity War is about to rock the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. Nick Setchfield explores the secrets of the biggest superhero blockbuster yet
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avengers: infinity war
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bill and ted’s excellent adventure
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It was the teen comedy that made history totally bodacious. Simon Bland hops into the phone box don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this before but when I first got the script, I just totally did not get it – at all!” laughs Alex Winter remembering the first time he crossed paths with Bill S Preston, Esq. Together with Keanu Reeves’ Ted “Theodore” Logan, the slacker duo brought peace to the universe and successfully survived high school in 1989’s totally non-heinous teen comedy Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure. “The language was so beautiful and hilarious and ornate and I just didn’t get it. It wasn’t until I started auditioning for it and I met the writers Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, and director Steve Herek that I realised how infectiously fun it was to say that dialogue and I immediately wanted the part. I got really excited about it.”
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Matheson and Solomon, on the other hand, never had any shortage of excitement for Bill and Ted. As comedy writers and best buds, their airhead teen counterparts had been living with them for some time before production on Excellent Adventure ever even began. “We would rent a little theatre every Sunday night and play around with ideas,” Matheson tells SFX. “The suggestion was two teenage boys talking about world affairs. It was me and Ed and I would say, ‘How’s it going, Bill?’ and he’d say, ‘How’s it going, Ted?’ and we just launched into these characters,” he recalls, effortlessly slipping into a pitch-perfect impression of the San Dimas duo. “Almost from the beginning they were just really fun to do. At the end of that evening we went out to a coffee shop and
bill AND ted’s excellent adventure
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Reviews
Get sci-fi news, reviews and features at gamesradar.com/sfx
cinema
Tomb Raider Not a Lara, Lara laughs released OUT NOW!
12A | 118 minutes Director Roar Uthaug Cast Alicia Vikander, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Dominic West, Kristin Scott Thomas
Remember how our first look at Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft generated copious pisstaking because her neck looked stretched and weird? Whether it was a Photoshop faux-pas, the shot being taken from a weird angle or just the fact that Vikander has a lanky old neck (not that she has), it made us chuckle. Now hold onto the memory of that chuckle, because there’s nothing – absolutely nothing – to laugh about in the actual movie. This new flesh-and-blood Lara Croft angsts. She cries. She gets injured. She has wounds stitched up without drugs. She screams, croaky-voiced, in rage or pain. She’s on a mission to find her long-lost father (Dominic West) on a mysterious, possibly supernatural island, and she’s bloody miserable about it. Let’s face it, you would be too if you were her: during the course of the movie she survives gunfire, falling boulders, a horrific shipwreck...
It was such a bad time to get sweaty hands.
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we can’t go on for spoiler reasons, but it’s fair to say that the moment she leaves her London home to search for daddy dearest everything wants to kill her. The whole experience looks gritty and unpleasant, a far cry from watching the nimble, perky-boobed Lara Croft completing cartoonish missions on our consoles as kids. Vikander’s take is also light years from the sly, quip-tastic Angelina Jolie version of the cheesy 2001 flick – the script has this Lara so distraught most of the time that there’s simply no room for jokes. Which is a shame, as some humour might have leavened the grimness, and the more outlandish, tomb-set explorations of the final act could really have benefitted from some knowing one-liners. Don’t get us wrong, though. This Tomb Raider is serious, but we don’t want to paint it as though it’s The Revenant or something – there are too many fun, Indiana Jones-style discoveries for that. It simply tries to follow the vibe of the earthy 2013 game that reinvented Lara for a new generation, with the script attempting to keep things as real as possible given the franchise’s admittedly daft parameters.
Alicia Vikander briefly thought she was making a Tarzan movie. And sometimes, particularly during the often excellent action sequences, this works. Said action is directed with a flair for the frenetic by Norwegian Roar Uthaug, who also handles Hong Kong parkour, the aforementioned deeply impressive shipwreck, a hold-your-breath experience on a plane and many more set-pieces like a total pro. Given that this is his first big-budget Hollywood movie, he’s done a fine job on many other counts, too, such as assembling an excellent cast. Walton Goggins is particularly good, hamming it up
This Lara feels more like a real person than any before as the leader of the mysterious Trinity organisation sent to thwart Lara’s quest to find her dear pa. So the film has more realism than you’d expect, an excellent lead (Vikander convinces whether
Reviews mind
probe
DANIEL WU Lu Ren in Tomb Raider
How does your character relate to Lara? I think Lu Ren has a parallel path story to Lara. Both their fathers went missing and they never got closure on that. But the difference is that he’s become really cynical about it, because he never really respected his father. Lara always respected hers, she just didn’t know what he did, and then he disappeared and left a lot of questions for her. Lu Ren always thought his father was a deadbeat. When Lara says, “Hey, let’s go look for our fathers,” he’s like, “I don’t give a shit about him.” Finally she convinces me. I think subconsciously Lu wants to know. He wants closure.
recently on The Graham Norton Show, “aren’t as pointy” as computer-Lara’s. Unlike the rebooted game, there’s no vague, possible threat of sexual violence against her, either. In fact, the nearest thing to an indication of sexism comes when someone pointedly says, “Ladies first.” Which all adds up to something rather important: this Lara, to everybody’s credit, feels more like a real person than any that have gone before. She’s tough and she’s resourceful, possessed of skills most of us slobs can only dream of (boxing, archery, being able to
dangle from things time and again without letting go). This Lara has left the computer games behind, and she’s got more dimensions than Jolie’s pneumatic version. Most of all, she’s proof that a tough woman can hold her own in a movie without having to thrust her chest at us – even if, sadly, she seems to have lost her sense of humour along the way. But who knows? Maybe she’ll acquire one if there’s a sequel. Jayne Nelson Emily Carey – young Lara – also played the young Diana Prince in Wonder Woman. Batgirl next, maybe?!
What impressed you about Alicia? As Lara she’s vulnerable, she’s very human, so she’s not the perfect Tomb Raider we saw Angelina Jolie play. And she was really a powerhouse, for someone who’s never really done action before. When I came in she’d been training for three months already. She was jacked!
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she’s crying or punching, which is no mean feat), a great cast and all the recognition of the Tomb Raider brand. What it doesn’t have, thankfully, is any of the casual sexism that’s pervaded the franchise since day one. (This bodes well for the upcoming Captain Marvel, by the way, which shares a screenwriter in Geneva Robertson-Dworet). Sure, Lara’s still more or less the only female character, and the script spectacularly fails the Bechdel Test. But there are no gratuitous, lingering shots of her arse or boobs, which, as Vikander said
Did you have input into the fight scenes? It was just a matter of coming up with cool ideas. He gets shot, so he loses his left arm. And so he has to fight these guys with one arm! I had to get the dexterity for that.
Nick Setchfield
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Reviews
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home entertainment
JUSTICE LEAGUE
There is an S in team released OUT NOW!
2017 | 12 | Blu-ray (4K/3D/standard)/ DVD/download Director Zack Snyder Cast Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher
Turns out Wonder Woman was a bit of a false dawn. Just as we dared to believe that DC might have discovered the formula for making a fun superhero movie, the soulless, by-the-numbers Justice League suggests that the Amazon’s solo outing was just a glorious blip. Why Bruce Wayne assembles a bunch of metahumans is less important than the fact he does it – it is, of course, Justice League’s key selling point – but for what it’s worth, Earth’s finest join forces to fight off Big Bad Steppenwolf, an alien who wants to conquer the planet. And is, er, tall. Sadly, the process of bringing the gang together isn’t much fun. Everyone signs up without much resistance, there’s little chemistry when they are together and – aside from some entertaining moments with Ezra Miller’s Flash – we’d seen the best banter in the trailers.
With Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman effectively making their movie debuts here, half the team are strangers, and the otherwise admirably lean two-hour running time gives us little chance to get to know them. Meanwhile, with most of the heroes near-as-damnit immortal – the closest thing to fallibility is Flash’s tendency to trip up from time to time – there’s never any sense of danger. Then there’s that Kryptonian elephant in the room… Despite Warner’s “Shhh” pre-release marketing campaign (you know, the one that tried to make us forget that Superman was in the first Justice League promo photo), it’s no spoiler to say that the last son of Krypton is very much present. In fact the film could do with more of him, because third time out Henry Cavill gets closer to capturing the heroic, boy scout side of the Man of Steel than he has before. (It’s not a great sign, though, when the most exhilarating Super moment in the movie is a few bars of John Williams’s 40-year-old Superman theme.) Ultimately, however, Justice League fails spectacularly as an action blockbuster. Not one
“This is fine.”
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As shiny and as boring as mannequins in a shop window. set-piece has genuine wow factor – can we please put an immediate ban on giant alien tentacles in final acts? – while the CG is woefully bad. Steppenwolf and Cyborg are both enemies of photorealism, while the infamous digital removal of Cavill’s Mission: Impossible ’tache is laughable. It would have been less disconcerting if he popped up with mysterious face fuzz in random scenes. Among the storytelling chaos, there are a few nice character beats: the reunion of Clark Kent and Amy Adams’s Lois Lane is sweet, and Diana Prince confiding
Not one set-piece has genuine wow factor in Wayne about her 100-year-old grief for Steve Trevor is one of the film’s few emotional anchors. But you could write entire essays about the reasons Avengers Assemble worked while Justice League does not. Hiring Joss Whedon to complete the movie
Reviews “THE OLD GODS DIED!” Just what is Jack
Kirby’s Fourth World? S upercomputers built from the mysterious Element X, Justice League’s Mother Boxes are a core part of Fourth World mythology. C reated by Jack Kirby in 1970, the saga of the Fourth World was told over four DC titles: The New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. A n epic sprawl of Thorstyle world-building and hippie-era freakiness, it’s the tale of two rival worlds, New Genesis and Apokolips, remnants of a planet blown in half.
T he villainous Darkseid seeks the Anti-Life Equation, which will give him mastery over the thoughts of everyone in the universe.
when original director Zack Snyder had to depart for personal reasons felt like a good idea on paper, but maybe they should have gone further by grabbing Whedon’s Avengers script and doing a find and replace throughout, substituting DC characters for Marvel ones. Because despite Justice League being a mega superhero team-up, Wonder Woman still stands alone. Extras While there’s not much here about the movie’s storytelling choices, there is plenty on the more technical elements – four “Scene Studies” (15 minutes total) gather
designers, effects artists, cast and stunt coordinators to discuss key moments, while two featurettes dissect the tech (eight minutes) and costume design (10 minutes). The best bits are the histories of the League members – they might be a bit entry-level, but it’s great to see DC luminaries Geoff Johns, Jim Lee, Dan DiDio, Marv Wolfman, Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison offer their two cents. “The New Heroes” (12 minutes), where Ray “Cyborg” Fisher introduces Cyborg, Flash and Aquaman, is a tad cheesy, while “Steppenwolf: The Conqueror”
(three minutes) skirts over Jack Kirby’s Fourth World creations. “Road To Justice” (14 minutes) and “Heart Of Justice” (12 minutes), meanwhile, celebrate the League and the Superman/Batman/ Wonder Woman trinity – the latter even has a good stab at justifying mortal Bruce Wayne’s presence among a bunch of living gods. If you buy a HD version you also get a couple of brief deleted scenes featuring Clark Kent’s return to the fold. Richard Edwards
O pposing him is his son, Orion. Some say George Lucas mirrored this dynamic in Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader – while Kirby’s concept of the Source, the metaphysical energy behind the Fourth World, may also have inspired the Force! J ustice League Big Bad Steppenwolf is Darkseid’s uncle, and leader of the Apokolips military.
Look out for members of Green Lantern Corps in the flashback to Earth’s first war with Steppenwolf and his Parademons.
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