Just before our screening, Jennifer Kent stood at the front of the theatre and stated that this was the most challenging film for her to make, and crucially, she branded it as her most important (not like there was much to choose from, but okay?). And from the opening scenes, you sense that this is a Serious Film, with its 1.33:1 ratio and its dim (non-existent) colour palette recalling The Witch's aesthetic and its liberal usage of "cunt" and its…

This is what happens when your franchise suffers a decade's worth of technological stagnation and chronically inept characterisation. No matter who reunited, kissed, hugged or died, I didn't feel a thing. And on top of that, there's no understanding of how to inventively direct action. I simply cannot understand how Marvel, with all their money and power and all the people supposedly behind their ideas, consistently fail to get fight scenes right in an action movie franchise.

This movie is…