Queer review: Daniel Craig’s drastic mission to kill off his Bond image will leave you shaken, writes LARUSHKA IVAN-ZADEH
Strange (18, 136 min)
Verdict: Say never again
Shaken Bond fans may need a large Martini to brave Queer.
Daniel Craig is clearly on a drastic mission to destroy his 007 image as he takes on the role of a needy, alcoholic, heroin-addicted, predatory gay man who frequents bars for young men and then engages them in eye-popping explicit sex .
Let’s just say, it’s not something to watch with the family on Christmas Day.
Slavishly based on William S. Burroughs’ Beat-era novella — though without the most repulsive parts — Queer is a sordid tale of fear and self-loathing in 1950s Mexico City (even though it was clearly shot on a studio lot in Italy).
Here, American ex-pat Lee (Craig) becomes obsessed with an emotionally distant young ex-US Navy soldier (a beautiful but blank Drew Starkey).
Is the boy strange? Lee doesn’t know, but he’s determined to find out. Then the two men alternate between getting drunk and having sex, or getting drunk and not having sex, ad nauseam.
Jason Schwartzman provides welcome warmth and comic relief as a jovial, suited (I thought that was no longer allowed?) homosexual who is repeatedly robbed by the strangers he has sex with.
Daniel Craig is clearly on a drastic mission to destroy his 007 image as he takes on the role of a needy, alcoholic, heroin-addicted, predatory gay man who frequents bars for young men and then engages them in eye-popping explicit sex .
The entire plotless enterprise goes nowhere, however, until a bizarre third act begins, in which the duo take a bizarre journey into the South American jungle, motivated by Lee’s interest in telepathy, encounter Lesley Manville with a gun, wrestle with a venomous snake and crawl into each other’s skin.
To be fair, Craig has some wonderful moments.
The highlight is an award-worthy scene in which Lee injects heroin and stares painfully and poignantly into the camera.
And Burroughs would be extremely flattered to see his alter ego embodied by such a steak. Craig’s physique speaks more of a man built on kale smoothies and bench presses than cigarettes, hard drugs and tequila.
Slavishly based on William S. Burroughs’ Beat-era novella—though without the most repulsive parts—Queer is a sordid tale of fear and self-loathing in 1950s Mexico City (even if it’s obviously shot on a studio lot in Italy)
Director Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me By Your Name) is a master at exploring power play and desire.
But I’m struggling to see what he means here, other than the fact that Lee is a man who longs for intimacy and is tragically incapable of it.
And yet, despite Craig’s committed performance, you don’t feel Lee’s pain.
Guadagnino is a daring author and there are a few flashes of true beauty in this sweaty, soulless misfire.
But as a means of putting Craig Bond to bed and reestablishing himself as a serious actor, mission accomplished.
From Roger Moore With Love (12A, 79 minutes
Verdict: License to sensationalize
If you’re looking for a Bond fix, my recommendation is By Roger Moore With Love.
This festive portrait entertainingly reflects its subject: self-deprecating and irresistibly charming, if a tad one-dimensional. I loved it.
If you’re looking for a Bond fix, my recommendation is By Roger Moore With Love. Pictured: Sir Roger Moore
Told with one eyebrow raised, it explains how The Saint star first created his iconic, warm-hearted persona; went on to play it to perfection throughout his life, on and off screen.
“He just had it,” says ex-Bond girl Jane Seymour, one of several “dear friends” interviewed, including Joan Collins and Pierce Brosnan.
No one has a bad word to say about the man and, unlike Mr Craig, Moore happily played 007 until the age when his newest Bond girl told him he reminded her of her father.
A lover of fast cars, luxurious homes and beautiful women, he died with no regrets in life and enjoyed every golden moment. How refreshing.
Kraven de Jager (15, 127 min)
Verdict: Supervillain Turkey
On track to become the latest flop in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe franchise, following Madame Web and Morbius, Kraven The Hunter is the origin story of comic book villain Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who starts life as Sergei, the kind eldest son of an annoying Russian drug lord (Russell Crowe with Dodgeski accent).
Kraven The Hunter is the origin story of comic book villain Kraven (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, pictured), who starts life as Sergei, nice eldest son of a nasty Russian drug lord (Russell Crowe with Dodgeski accent)
Dad instructs his boys, “We are predators. They are prey.”
When Sergei is mauled by a lion on safari, through a series of unlikely events he gains ill-defined superpowers and starts hunting down bad guys who kill big game animals, or something. It’s hard to tell you more because the plot has more holes than a moth-eaten rug.
There is an enemy called ‘The Rhino’ (Alessandro Nivola), an assassin, ‘The Foreigner’ (Christopher Abbott), and a symbolic strong female character, Calypso (Ariana DeBose), who is a tarot card reading ‘investigative lawyer’ with a mysterious secret.
She can keep it.
The CGI is poor and the script so awful that it made me giggle at my press screening. Don’t hold your breath for Kraven 2.