I’ve tried to watch 3 new movies today – **Vanquish (2021), Nobody (2021), The Courier (2021)**. They have one thing in common - we're (back) in the very familiar political era where Russians are again the biggest and most amoral, vicious, evil ever. Here is the formula - _(A[Popular character actor]) + (B[Video game plot]) + (C[Russian villains)_ = 2021 Hollywood movies. These movies offset the eyeroll-worthy ugliness of a 2021 film being about an American gleefully slaughtering a bunch of Russians. A heinous laundering of American liberal chauvinism. They cater to a single demographic, and relies on unoriginal content to cover up the fact they are way too masturbatory that nobody outside of the target audience can relate. But this is the future of American cinema, we are just going to constantly recycle the same themes and topics over and over again until the end of time.

**Nobody (2021)** and **Vanquish (2021)** are basically the same movie. RIP Mexican (or other Latin American) drug lords, you no longer exist in Hollywood world because you might hurt sensitive American feelings. Now it’s all about Russian mafia. The only difference is that in **Vanquish (2021)**, the American murderer is a woman. Oh, ~~ diversity. I wish studios would stop trying to make Ruby Rose happen.

Slow-mo fighting scenes with background music - that's the movie. No context or explanation. Just scene, after scene, after scene that all make no sense.

I'm reminded of Dziga Vertov's comment on Western Cinema from 99 years ago.
> _“To the American adventure film with its showy dynamism and to the dramatizations of the American Pinkertons the Kinoks say thanks for the rapid shot changes and the close-ups. Good…but disorderly, not based on a precise study of movement…still lacking a foundation. **A cliche**.”_

I actually like Ruby Rose, not a great actress for sure but can be entertaining but she seemed to have quickly devolved into direct-to-video territory with this and her previous film, The Doorman, neither would've gotten a theatrical release even without COVID-19. Anyway, this one could've been passably entertaining if not for the terrible editing, atrocious photography (not sure what was with the green tint or over-saturation of colors in other scenes.

Also doesn't help it was predictable. Oh, and Morgan Freeman takes another paycheck, this one spending his entire time in a wheelchair and pretty much in one location. **2.0/5**

This was one of the most painful movies to watch in recent memory, and I watch ALOT of movies. It was more like watching a school film project- from high school. The dialogue consisted of short one-line exchanges, the action and tension were non-existent, the acting is amateurish, the plot paper-thin and overly-convoluted. In fact, the photography and atmosphere were so overly-styled, that they clearly spent FAR more time and money worrying how it was going to look than on the actual story/screenplay. Looong scenes of motorcycle riding, so there's that for any enthusiasts. So much time spent on it, that the short and pointless scenes with people in them seemed to be there just as a jump point to another motorcycle scene. Any vaguely interesting moment was put in the trailer, so if you're still interested, you could probably just watch that and save 1 hour and 31 minutes of your life that you'll definitely want back.

I know that a lot of films require you to suspend reality and accept that what you are watching could happen. I'm fine with doing that IF the film at least tries to convince me with a story that has details which support the events it portrays. This film falls far short of even trying. I enjoy Mr. Freeman's work and gave this one a shot to see what it had in store. Not only does the film not work hard to convince me that the story is possible, the character played by Ms. Rose has such a lack of desire to really resolve her dilemma that it's almost comical. There are multiple violent scenes of people being shot and killed, a lot of time devoted to a motorcycle traveling in and around the city by Ms. Rose's character and the "haunting" portrayal of her daughter calling for her to help her - but it had nothing to do with the story !! The acting was not very convincing at all and left me sorry for watching the entire film just to see if it got any better later on. It didn't. Would not recommend this unless you have nothing better to do.