“Jungle Cruise” (Adventure/Action: 2 hours, 7 minutes)

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt and Jack Whitehall

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra

Rated: PG-13 (Violence)

Movie Review: Based on Disneyland’s theme park ride, Dwayne Johnson is quickly becoming associated with the jungle. His last big outing in the jungle was “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017). 

Think of “Jungle Cruise” as a mix of “Jumanji” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981). While “Jungle Cruise” is interesting, Johnson appears a more athletic Popeye and Blunt a feminine Indiana Jones. That alone is entertaining when mixed.

Frank Wolff (Johnson) is a small riverboat operator. He takes tourists through a jungle filled with dangers. Wolff’s life changes when Dr. Lily Houghton (Blunt) and her fashion-conscious brother, MacGregor Houghton (Whitehall), hire the riverboat captain to help them find a rare flower. 

Legend states the plant is a miracle cure-all. Their voyage will not be an easy one. Multiple dangers, including supernatural forces, are prevalent everywhere.

Jaume Collet-Serra (“Orphan,” 2009; “The Commuter,” 2018) directs this adventure. He and Johnson will also work together again for “Black Adam” (2022). Collet-Serra and several writers create an energetic screenplay but this movie feels like several people wrote it.

The movie is eclectic, an excess of multiple subplots and computer-generated imagery. It tries to include too much, including several themes seen in other movies that appear to evolve as the story does. This evolution does not appear a natural occurrence as this movie appears the sequel to previous movies of this type.

However, “Jungle Cruise” provides likable stars. Johnson and Blunt are a nice team bordering on a middling romantic venture. They and other characters provide enough humor and action sequences that this movie entertains enough to overlook some of its flaws.

Grade: C+ (A familiar cruise offers fun.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Stillwater” (Drama: 2 hours, 19 minutes)

Starring: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin and Lilou Siauvaud

Director: Tom McCarthy

Rated: R (Profanity, sensuality and violence)

Movie Review: The Amanda Knox story immediately came to mind when hearing of this screenplay. The movie feels very much like her story also. However, Matt Damon and Camille Cottin lead a solid cast. The performances and sub-stories for these characters are better than the main story. 

Bill Baker travels from Stillwater, Okla., to Marseille, France, to prove his estranged daughter, Allison (Breslin), is innocent. She is in prison for the murder of her roommate, who is also her lover. 

As Bill maneuvers around Marseille, language and cultural barriers and the French legal system impede his inquiries. This changes when he meets French actress Virginie (Cottin), and her 8-year-old daughter, Maya (Siauvaud). Virginie helps Bill pursue an investigation to free Allison and their goal brings them closer together romantically.

Tom McCarthy directs this movie that looks like another Liam Neeson’s “Taken” (2008) from the previews. It is not. “Stillwater” is a nicely paced drama that works because of the fine performances of its four main characters. Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin and Lilou Siauvaud gratifyingly play their onscreen personas.

The relationship Damon’s Bill has with Breslin’s Allison is edgy and off-putting, although the performances are good. These two individuals have a bad history and Allison does appear to appreciate what her father is doing for her. Damon and Breslin play this estranged pairing nicely. 

However, it is Bill’s relationship with the mother-daughter pair played convincingly by Cottin and Siauvaud, that is most engaging. The relationship shows Bill has some redeemable qualities, despite his biological daughter’s ill disposition towards him.

Despite being like the Amanda Knox story in Italy and a lack of character development originally, “Stillwater” manages to be a good drama. The cast provides good performances. This sustains the movie and makes it engaging when the story goes wayward.

Grade: B- (Still, fine performances deliver.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“The Green Knight” (Adventure/Fantasy: 2 hours, 10 minutes)

Starring: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Sean Harris and Joel Edgerton

Director: David Lowery

Rated: R (Violence, gore, sexuality and nudity)

Movie Review: As artful as a movie can be sometimes, one must call it weird when the adjective applies. “The Green Knight” is an artsy photoplay, but it is weird. 

It is like a beautiful abstract painting, yet its story is a series of chapters fantastically entertaining as they are disjointedly perplexing.

A fantasy adaptation of the medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight based on the Arthurian legend, “The Green Knight” chronicles a mission of Sir Gawain (Patel). He is the impulsive nephew of King Arthur (Harris). 

Honoring an oath, Gawain embarks on a perilous quest to confront the Green Knight, a green outsider and the tester of men. Gawain travels with a fox and faces ghosts, giants, thieves and wealthy people with ulterior motives. Gawain is determined to prove his worth and bravery so he can sit as a knight of the round table.

Director-writer David Lowery is a creative filmmaker. “A Ghost Story,” his 2017 dramatic romance, is an example of his creativity. He makes an equally artistic effort with “Green Knight.”

This Arthurian tale is not a usual King Arthur story. King Arthur, portrayed by Sean Harris, is a frail, aged monarch. His kingdom is a dark one, dimly lit rooms where witchcraft and pagan symbols and rituals are present. Even more, the movie is about a lesser-known relative of King Arthur.

Gawain is the character front and center, splendidly played by Dev Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire,” 2008). Gawain is not a complex character but his venture to find The Green Knight is.

Gawain’s adventure is a visual masterpiece. The scenic views are eye candy. Well-crafted characters accompany the visuals. Divided in several chapters, the imagery and cast change as the character gets closer to achieving his goal. Scenes go from dark scenery to sunny scenes outside. This is one of the nifty parts of this fantasy.

“Green Knight” is reminiscent of the nicely done “Excalibur” (1981) in that they are both adult-themed films. They both revel in good cinematography, good use of mise en scene, the design and arrangement of actors and everything within the environment of a scene.

This is an arthouse film. It is meant for those who want to see a movie as art more than entertainment.

Many will find this movie queer. It is, but that does not mean it is not good art. Audiences may not feel it is inspirational, but one wants to touch it nonetheless.

Grade: B (Go Green.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has been reviewing movies for more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.