There’s an odd sense of misguided chronicling in the film, which is strange considering it’s directed by Stephen Frears who has made rather lovely films like High Fidelity. The lack of irony, or satirical bite from his earlier film The Queen ultimately hurts Victoria and Abdul, more a missed opportunity than a piece of entertainment.

The ‘disposable’ nature of the film is ultimately frustrating because this is just another entry in a year dominated by a string of trashy forgettable movies

Pedro Pascal is surprise package of this strictly okay film…

The whole globe trotting hero assassin aspect seems more silly than fascinating here — making it feel like a trashy book you grab at an airport and throw it away when you land. Considering the film is based on a series of novels, that may be precisely what the filmmakers were going for — to make a forgettable film.

One can’t help but feel that Sandberg did this film as a favor to do the DC Shazam movie. In any case he’s one of the most exciting new filmmakers out there but any studio that works with him needs to give him better writers to back his vision and passion. The only interesting aspect of this film is the post credits scene featuring Valak from Conjuring 2 – let’s hope he gets a better spin-off than this.

The elements are all present — Theron as a super duper spy who can kick multiple asses simultaneously, action scenes with long takes and realistic punching and kicking, as well as moody cinematography and a ton of sex appeal. If only the story department worked a little harder to match up to the rest of the film.

Besson’s intention was no doubt to give you an immersive VR like experience, but the campiness and clinical, soulless execution makes you feel like you’re watching someone else play a video game that has pretty cut scenes but no challenging gameplay.

Wahlberg once again demonstrates he’s one of the worst actors who keeps grabbing starring roles in big films — his bored face making no attempt to hide the fact that he’s in these films for the quick paycheck. The other human characters are as irritating as him, and it really makes you wonder why these Transformers films are more about the humans than the awesomely designed robots. Bay claims to make films for 14-year-old boys, but even that demographic deserves better films than this. It’s about time we got back the Bay from The Rock instead of the boring and lazy filmmaker that he is today.

Another reboot, another attempt at building a giant cinematic universe, and another bland, tedious misfire.

The film’s tone is also a problem, it’s never clear whether the film is paying homage to the cheesy 80’s show, or making fun of it, or trying to recreate the campy nonsense. A big reason why the original show became so famous is that it came at a time when footage of naked ladies wasn’t immediately accessible for mainstream audiences.