I'm biased, as I wish I could be more positive about it, but the movie underwhelms. It certainly does so against the expectations set by its predecessors. It does so, however, even if you try to see it as a standalone picture. I believe the issue lies in the writing, where, despite the noble and intellectual intent of bringing in a humanistic theme - the one of illness and suffering and death - the narrative is losing out by having no dominant line but two competing ones, instead. Along with that, there are several unlikely courses of action that take away from the context-relative realism and add to the frustration. I did try to appreciate the inserts of psychedelic imagery and I did empathize with the dystopian refuge of the sane remaining humans in this northern land, as an analogy to what's happening to us today.
Rosalyn S. 8/25

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The top-notch cast does a wonderful job and Ana de Armas, in spite of her feminine aura, is credible in the stunning action scenes. In line with the John Wick series, those action scenes draw a fine line between reality and video games with scores of fancy killings, but remain entertaining through the end. However, what nearly killed it for me was (you guessed it) the usual, wily racial mixing you expect from the "owned" studios and their subordinates, which results in an offensive cacophony of people and places - and a dangerous one to the typical uneducated young viewer who's a prime subject for the gaslighting. The Ruska-Roma, an impenetrable community, have an African as a mentor. A clearly Germanic actor-character is made the father of an African girl, who's further supposed to pass as a gypsy. A similar blue-eyed actor is supposed to be a gipsy himself, and lead a whole such tribe who have their own, quaint European town named... Hallstatt. Pfeew. I regret giving my money to this, but I do wish I could pay those honest cast and crew directly. The ending is whole-rounded but underwhelms a little.
Kieran J. 8/25

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