DON'T LET GO (15) Two stars
A grief-stricken homicide detective warps the linear flow of time to solve his brother's murder suicide in Jacob Aaron Estes's confidently executed thriller.
Bolted together with familiar genre tropes, Don't Let Go is anchored by compelling performances from Oxford-born David Oyelowo as the crusading cop and 16-year-old Storm Reid as his plucky niece, who is blissfully unaware of her grisly destiny.
Estes's script eschews deep, metaphysical discourse about fate to calmly explain every narrative twist, hand-holding the audience so no one gets left behind making sense of the film's gnarly logic.
The writer-director intentionally obscures key facts until a breathless final act when a mosaic of flashbacks and cross cuts between interconnected time frames neatly slots into place the pieces of the puzzle.
Cause and effect ripples a la Back To The Future are clearly telegraphed, propelling the emotionally bruised lead character to the brink of a nervous breakdown as he bears the burden of manipulating events in the near past.
Tension is curiously absent from the second half, given the perilously high stakes for the characters, and supporting cast including Alfred Molina are merely servants to a well-oiled plot.
On June 28, Los Angeles police detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo) receives a muffled telephone call from his teenage niece, Ashley (Reid).
The conversation is abruptly cut short and when Jack returns the call, he is diverted to her voicemail.
That night the cop pays an impromptu visit to Ashley and finds his brother Garret (Brian Tyree Henry), sister-in-law Susan (Shinelle Azoroh), his niece and the family's dog shot dead.
Evidence at the scene suggests Garret murdered the family in a drug-fuelled haze then turned the gun on himself.
"I pray to undo it," Jack whimpers to detective partner Bobby (Mykelti Williamson) after the funeral. "I pray God will give me a second chance."
The universe answers and Jack receives a call to his mobile a few days later from Ashley.
The voice on the other end of the line is apparently his niece and she is alive and well.
Jack fears he is suffering delusions and he takes temporary leave at the behest of his concerned boss (Molina).
However, Ashley's calls to his mobile continue and as Jack converses with the teenager, he surmises that she is talking to him from a few days before the massacre.
Without alarming his niece and tipping her off to her horrific near future, Jack makes Ashley an unwitting accomplice in his investigation.
Don't Let Go is a solid foray into sci-fi suspense that doesn't clearly distinguish itself from countless other mind-bending mysteries.
Oyelowo's befuddled hero remains a blank slate, apparently without a backstory or relatable personality traits other than being a slave to his police badge.
The luminous Reid tugs heartstrings in tear-stained close-up while Molina chews on meagre scraps in a perfunctory supporting role.
READY OR NOT (18)
THE GOLDFINCH (15)
TOMORROW (15)
Script supervisor Martha Pinson makes her feature film directorial debut with a drama about post-traumatic stress disorder for returning servicemen and women, which lists Martin Scorsese as an executive producer.
Penned by lead actors Sebastian Street and Stuart Brennan, Tomorrow centres on Tesla (Street), who is injured by an improvised explosive device during a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
He returns home to London, at the mercy of harrowing flashbacks to the incident which almost claimed his life.
In his darkest hour, Tesla meets fun-loving free spirit Sky (Brennan), whose exuberance and joy lifts the injured soldier out of his depression.
This burgeoning friendship gives Tesla the courage to pursue romance with Katie (Stephanie Leonidas) and prove that he can work in a wheelchair in the kitchen of head chef Milo (Paul Kaye).
Stephen Fry and Joss Stone co-star.
HOTEL MUMBAI (15)
The 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which resulted in more than 150 fatalities, provide an uncomfortable backdrop for a tense thriller directed and co-written by Anthony Maras.
On November 26, 10 terrorists coordinate attacks at multiple locations around Mumbai including the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
Local police call for urgent help from New Delhi as gunmen go on the rampage.
Waiter Arjun (Dev Patel) is trapped in the hotel's restaurant with head chef Hemant (Anupam Kher) and several guests including David (Armie Hammer) and his heiress wife Zahra (Nazanin Boniadi), whose infant son is being cared for in their room by a nanny (Tilda Cobham-Hervey).
She is unaware of the bloodshed unfolding close by and David is terrified of the consequences if the terrorists reach their bedroom.
David risks his life to sneak past the terrorists and shepherd Sally and his boy to safety.
Meanwhile, Arjun leads terrified guests to the sanctuary of a nearby lounge.
THE LAST TREE (15)
Eleven-year-old Femi (Tai Golding) is raised by foster mother Mary (Denise Black) in rural Lincolnshire, surrounded by colour-blind friends at school who help him to forget the neglect of the past.
This idyllic childhood is shattered when Femi's biological mother Yinka (Gbemisola Ikumelo) returns unannounced to reclaim her boy and spirits the lad to a cramped council flat on the mean streets of south London.
Far from the fresh air and open minds of the countryside, Femi struggles to fit in and he becomes an easy target for bullying classmates at school as the son of a Nigerian immigrant.
As years pass, teenager Femi (now played by Sam Adewumni) is hardened by his harsh environment and he retreats from a world that had previously nurtured him.
A local hard man called Mace (Demmy Ladipo) spots Femi and sets out to integrate the teenager into his criminal empire.
The temptation is great but schoolteacher Mr Williams (Nicholas Pinnock) vociferously encourages Femi to remain on a righteous and moral path.
FILM CHART
1. Downton Abbey
2. Ad Astra
3. It: Chapter Two
4. Rambo: Last Blood
5. Hustlers
6. The Lion King
7. Kaapaan
8. The Kitchen
9. Angel Has Fallen
10. Dora And The Lost City Of Gold
(Chart courtesy of Cineworld)
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