This doesn't waste any time getting going, with the first 20 minutes just being an impressive action-packed car chase around Florence, albeit with cheesy dialogue that doesn't get much better the deeper we get into the movie. As the chase progresses, we are introduced to the characters. It feels a bit like an ensemble Superhero flick. Ryan Reynolds is Batman, and the rest are members of the Justice League, each with their own skills, however, for most of them, these get less distinguishable after the opening. The Driver dies at the start, which is probably a good thing because he wouldn't have had much to do for the rest of the movie. The opening aside, the other major action sequences are located across Hong Kong skyscrapers and on a cruise ship, with magnets being a feature making for some nice set-pieces. Between the action, we are largely informed of some details about the characters and their relationships with one another. You never spend enough time with, or learn a helluva lot about each main character either, to really make you care about them. Like most Bay movies, it's action-packed and some of the action is great, but it overstays its welcome by 20-odd minutes and isn't a film you'll be thinking about the next day. 2.5-3.

This is much better than I thought it would be. I remember seeing the trailer and thinking that it looked horrendous. While like most superhero films the plot is fairly generic - supervillain needs to kill the good guy to obtain his power - there are some slight differences thanks to the superhero being a teenager and the life we're thrown into. The family of foster kids, that Billy/Shazam gets sent to, offers some laughs and cuteness. Mark Strong, (yes, that's not his real name), born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia, also works well as the villain, Dr. Thaddeus Sivana, and is a highlight. For what is tagged as a family film, it has some fairly strong elements of horror and violence at times, particularly that boardroom scene! One of the main problems I had with this was that Billy/Shazam do not seem like the same person. The actor who plays Billy, Asher Angel, is already 17 years of age, so there is the looks thing, he isn't going to change that much, but more so it's how he acts. They needed to do more groundwork to get them to be closer to each other's behaviour. It almost always just seems like two different personalities. There is also a story bubbling under the surface for most of the film about Billy trying to find his mother. It has holes and the fact that she didn't want him isn't a surprise, because what else could it have been? As I have mentioned in other reviews of superhero movies, there is also the issue of the hero/villain being seemingly invincible. While the hero almost never dies in any form of this genre, as a viewer I need to know their weaknesses, that there is that possibility. I didn't get that. Even with the villain, it's not until the end that you learn about the eye. 3-2.5.

This was an easy 3.5/5 until the last act. It had me asking questions, wondering what was going on, what was going to happen and worrying about the lead character's family. At the end though, he puts his ex-wife and daughter in unnecessary danger and I don't know what his plan was if his daughter actually did what he said and left. I kind of feel bad for not giving it a higher mark based on how much I was enjoying the majority of the movie, but the end put a large damper on my enjoyment.

This starts off a tad slow but it doesn't take too long to get into the swing of things with Lara refusing to believe her father is dead, leading her to make a dangerous journey to an island where he was last believed to have been, seven years prior. There are some flashbacks that let us know how close Lara is/was with her father but the background to Lara's skills and strengths, are not explained in as much detail as other origin tales. I mean, she could be an Olympic long jumper or gymnast with her power and strength. All it really shows us is that she practised archery as a child/teen. Later in life, in one of the earliest scenes we see Lara training for mixed martial arts, however, she loses, to a female, of her weight. Which has relevance to a scene later on, when she holds down a muscular male who is twice her size. I mean, Ronda Rousey tips the scales at just over 60kg, and could no doubt take down a lot of men, but it still seems unlikely. While the plot is simple, and has parallels between the great video game reboot in 2013, the action scenes and set pieces, throughout the early-middle stages of the film particularly, are entertaining and beautifully set. Along with Alicia, there are also some fantastic picturesque scenes here providing eye candy from the lush environments. As mentioned, the plot is simple, the action is well done, without feeling like a CGI fest, there are some great actors featured, and until they start raiding the dark tomb in the final third or so of the film, it's a great film to look at. More enjoyable than the previous Tomb Raider films in my opinion. Some have commented that at times Lara takes a back seat in this to other characters, and while I don't completely agree with that, hopefully it gets a sequel and we see Lara play a larger role regarding the clue finding and gun-totting, which the closing scene hints at, as she purchases the iconic duel pistols she has had by her side in most of her games since 1996.

A major problem with this is Anthony Anderson's character. The guy acts like a clown and wouldn't be employed by any serious organisation. The comedy is over the top and isn't balanced well enough to make you care about the more dramatic moments as it is intended that you do. I don't quite see how comedy isn't a genre for this film.