This Labor Day weekend, get ready for a series of films hitting theaters and streaming. This roundup includes a thriller sequel, a South Korean alien-invasion movie, a buddy comedy, a ticking-clock thriller, a serial-killer drama, and a NY drama. The following features reviews for Fall 2: Deadpoint, Hope, Mayday, The Runner, The Whisper Man, and Late Fame.
Fall 2: Deadpoint: 3 out of 10
The Setup: After Shiloh Hunter’s death, her sister Jax (Harriet Slater) agrees to a tribute proposed by Shiloh’s daring friend, Luce (Arsema Thomas). The two travel to Thailand to conquer a treacherous plank walk on Mount Kwan, but a sudden rockslide leaves them trapped at a terrifying height of 3,000 feet, forcing the duo to push their limits and cooperate to stay alive.
Review: While a bit too ambitious for its budget, overlong, and featuring one melodramatic twist too many, 2022’s Fall was a solid enough thriller that, at its best, provided the vertigo-inducing thrills intended for a minimalist thriller. The worst sin Fall 2: Deadpoint (a subtitle with no real meaning beyond differentiating the two) makes is failing to even recreate the thrill of being impossibly high with dangerously little to keep one secure. Yes, this is a dreadful follow-up that continues to hurt my esteem for The Spierig Brothers, who seemed so promising after Daybreakers and Predestination, only to deliver miss after miss since.
Problems start instantly when you realize the film is going to try to top itself by inserting some sort of crime subplot into the proceedings. From there, the movie only doubles down on silly ideas by connecting itself very directly to the first film, thinking that the dramatic weight will lead to a stronger story. It doesn’t. Instead, we get a poorly conceived plot, weak performances that say little about the charismatic leads from the previous film (both seen briefly here), and a real lack of stakes. The key component should be the film’s centerpiece involving an impossible situation, but the scenario presented never feels like there’s much peril from a visceral standpoint until the characters voluntarily push themselves into certain scenarios. Even then, not even a first-person camera does much to elicit visual fright. With a second sequel already being developed, I can only hope it isn’t as steep a fall as what we have here.
Where To Watch: Now playing in theaters.
Hope: 7 out of 10
The Setup: A police chief (Hwang Jung-min) and deputy (Hoyeon) investigate a monstrous incursion into their remote village near the Korea Demilitarized Zone, as a headstrong local (Zo In-sung) musters a hunting party to root out the threat.
Review: Director Na Hong-jin started off his filmmaking career with action-thrillers like The Chaser, before delivering the more horror-focused and very deliberately paced ghostly mystery that was The Wailing. Hope feels like an epic compilation of what he has been working toward, and it may be just the beginning. Supposedly the highest budgeted film ever made for South Korea, what would appear to be a monster movie is possibly the start of an original horror-sci-fi-action series, but that’s getting ahead of myself.
The real joy comes from seeing this film build on what it sets up and deliver some wild set pieces, accompanied by a good amount of humor to keep things fun. An initial hour is all about putting characters in the right place at the wrong time, as we see some monstrous force face off against eager hunters and police who don’t quite know what to expect. For a time after this, the film settles into both explaining a lot of things and building a different kind of terror. However, the final section of the film suddenly goes full Road Warrior, as we watch a wild car chase, among other attacks, unfold, with a conclusion that opens things up in a way that will leave audiences wanting more.
Where To Watch: Opening in theaters on September 9, 2026.
Mayday: 6 out of 10
The Setup: In 1987, while flying a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird on a mission over Soviet Russia, a US Air Force Pilot (Ryan Reynolds) is forced to eject from his plane to survive a mid-air collision with a MiG-29. In the Russian wilderness, he meets and befriends a Russian ex-KGB carpenter (Kenneth Branagh) who agrees to help him escape enemy territory.
Review: A good pairing can go a long way when it comes to buddy action comedies. Reynolds and Branagh are not one I saw coming, but they prove to be a fun enough duo. That said, this film is a bit of an odd duck. It wants to be an 80s nostalgia piece that lets us have fun with Branagh (once again showing off his Russian accent) as a U.S.-loving ex-KGB carpenter with exceptional fighting skills, while also reminding us that, while it may be the Cold War, not all Russians are bad. Meanwhile, Reynolds is just Reynolds with slightly less of a motor mouth. Okay, fine.
The plot is inconsequential, as these two just have to keep from getting shot long enough for the end credits to start. Any real innovation comes from writer/director duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who are following up their pretty damn good Dungeons & Dragons movie with this direct-to-streaming effort that at least shows these guys aren’t content to let the camera do nothing. Much like Game Night, these are filmmakers with an eye on making their shots look interesting to some degree, even if these choices sometimes call too much attention to themselves. That said, I’d rather this than another bland mockbuster, and the team-up allows for more than a few fun sequences.
Where To Watch: Streaming on Apple TV starting September 4, 2026.
The Runner: 4 out of 10
The Setup: A successful London-based attorney (Gal Gadot) is thrust into a tense and dangerous chase across the city after her son is abducted. Forced to obey a series of cryptic commands from a mysterious Caller (Damian Lewis), she races against time through a web of secrets and threats in a desperate bid to save her son.
Review: My eyes perked up a bit when I saw Kevin Macdonald was directing this one. The filmmaker/documentarian doesn’t always land strong efforts. Still, he delivers when he’s in thriller mode, and this high concept would work in the right hands. The problem is, even while trying to suspend disbelief, the movie keeps finding absurd ways to keep the plot alive, and that’s before getting to whether or not Gadot is capable of carrying this movie with her performance.
Premise-wise, think Phone Booth, but our lead has to constantly be jogging while a mysterious caller gives her instructions she must follow, or else. Not a bad way to handle things, even to the point of keeping things modern enough for AI to be taken into consideration in the plot (not hurting are the views some involved in this film have on the actual use of AI in reality, but that’s besides the point here). All of this said, for a film that is constantly on the move, even with solid cinematography by the great Anthony Dod Mantle, I never felt too worried about Gadot ending up with a dead son on her hands. It’s not for a lack of trying, as I did believe Gadot when she acted at her most desperate. However, even though it was designed to feel light on its feet, the results were still too slight.
Where To Watch: Now streaming on Prime Video.
The Whisper Man: 4 out of 10
The Setup: When his 8-year-old son is abducted, a widowed crime writer (Adam Scott) looks to his estranged father (Robert De Niro), a retired police detective, for help. He soon discovers a connection to the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer known as the Whisper Man.
Review: I know I shouldn’t lean on this as a problem, but it was already hard to take seriously a grim dark feature starring De Niro when the main antagonist is known as “The Whisper Man.” It’s about as wild as putting an English pronunciation on Harry Hole from The Snowman, and still asking us to go along with what amounts to a below-average serial killer thriller/police procedural. Yes, there’s a lift in quality thanks to the mere presence of De Niro, let alone Scott, Michelle Monaghan, and at least one other especially big name I won’t reveal here. However, engaging story this really isn’t.
While director James Ashcroft managed to get under my skin with his absurd but creepy film The Rule of Jenny Pen, The Whisper Man feels more akin to something like The Bone Collector, a film with good pieces, but still desperately wants to enter the big leagues with the likes of Silence of the Lambs and Seven, without having nearly enough of the skill to pull it off. So, as a result, outside of some tense sequences, this is a fairly rote plot without much in the way of a good mystery, let alone much entertainment value to suggest there’s any real reason to ever return to what’s being offered here. So, the film essentially comes and goes like a whisper in the Netflix crowd.
Where To Watch: Now streaming on Netflix.
Late Fame: 7 out of 10
The Setup: Legendary New York poet Ed Saxberger’s (Willem Dafoe) forgotten works captivate an eccentric group of young creatives, reigniting his artistic passion. Their intrigue intertwines with the bewitching presence of actress Gloria (Greta Lee).
Review: The real joy here is getting to see Dafoe in a lead role. Sure, the actor seems ever-present, given how many movies he shows up in each year, but it’s rare to see him not portraying a mentor figure or a quirky side character. Even in The Florida Project, as wonderfully human as Dafoe’s Bobby is, he’s still a supporting player. In this film from director Kent Jones and writer Samy Burtch (whose Coyote vs. Acme just also hit theaters), Dafoe plays a relatable older character swept up in the sudden intrigue others have for his work.
That’s enough for a small slice-of-life New York movie, one of several I’ve seen this year. While its plotting eventually boils down to some ideas that aren’t the most engrossing, there’s still plenty of good work here from Dafoe, as well as Lee, to make for a very watchable drama. Set in the bohemian art scene, there’s fun to be had in assessing how this crowd stands out and whether Dafoe’s Ed can match their energy enough to satisfy. Again, it only amounts to so much, but it’s good work.
Where To Watch: Now playing in select theaters.
