Firebird (2021)

Firebird (2021). Firebird: Directed by Peeter Rebane. With Tom Prior, Nicholas Woodeson, Oleg Zagorodnii, Diana Pozharskaya. At the height of the Cold War, a troubled soldier forms a forbidden love triangle with a daring fighter pilot and his female comrade amid the dangerous surroundings of a Soviet Air Force Base.

“Unlike the two cheesy B slasher flicks from 1995 and 1999, the new Candyman is a direct sequel to the 1992 original, set at the same place and even featuring some of the same characters. It also serves as a prequel, since there are a few scenes taking place before the original film, with the purpose to expand the backstory of the titular villain. The new Candyman also takes on the political overtones from the original, though one could say that this aspect is controversial and greatly exaggerated, with too many u0026quot;stick it to the Manu0026quot; moments. Anyhow, the first Candyman movie of the 21st century is much more of a blunt social critique than a horror movie. The kill count is astronomically high, but most of the deaths are off-screen, and itu0026#39;s like the whole movie merely tries to be as exaggerated and over-the-top as possible while not being scary at all. In fact, there are some scenes that go beyond the normal suspension of belief by just how absurd they are, and near the ending it seems like the movie has u0026quot;jumped the sharku0026quot; due to how over-the-top the finale is. All of the characters are very forgettable, and most of them serve no other purpose other than to get killed. The thing I personally dislike the most are the annoying flashing lights featured heavily in one scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, the flashback scenes done in shadow puppetry are excellent and mesmerizing. The last scene with shadow puppets accompanies the end credits, and it might even be the best scene of the whole movie.”