Another summer, another excuse to escape the heat in a dark, cool cinema. With so many cinematic releases to look forward to over the summer months, The Edge writers talk about what we’re excited for and why.
Transformers: The Last Knight (22nd June)
While you may be losing track of how many Tranformers movies you have seen advertised in the past few years, Transformers: The Last Knight will be the fifth instalment in the franchise. A war has commenced between the human race and the Transformers, and in the absence of Optimus Prime, the fate of the world falls upon an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), Bumblebee, an English Lord (Anthony Hopkins) and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock). This group must learn why the Transformers keep coming back to earth. Directed by Michael Bay, actors Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci will reprise their roles from 2014’s Age of Extinction. With a surprisingly exciting trailer that gives us a lot to look forward to, the Transformers sequel anticipation doesn’t end there, as Michael Bay has suggested that there are at least 14 more Transformers film ideas that could come to fruition. Yes, fourteen. Transformers may well be exceeding The Fast and the Furious franchise record of sequels in the foreseeable future.
Words by Hollie Geraghty
Baby Driver (28th June)
Edgar Wright returns to the director’s chair this summer, for the first time in four years, with this intriguing and hilarious-looking crime-caper. Baby Driver follows Baby (Ansel Elgort), a talented getaway driver, as he is forced into taking part in a heist for a notorious kingpin (Kevin Spacey) in order to afford a better life for himself and his girlfriend, Deborah (Lily James). According to Wright, this project has been in development since 1994, and is partly based on the music video for Mint Royale’s “Blue Song”, which Wright directed himself. Packed with an all-star cast including John Hamm, Jamie Fox and Jon Bernthal, Wright’s long-awaited return to the big screen should prove to be an enthralling ride!
Words by Jack Sheppard
Spider-Man: Homecoming (5th July)
I must admit: when it comes to superhero films, I’m by no means an expert. However, there is something about Spider-Man that I have always loved. Swinging around New York City with webs shooting out of your hands has to be the coolest superpower by far. This newest reboot of the franchise, seeing the return of Civil War’s Tom Holland as the man himself, is definitely something to look forward to this summer. Taking place after the events of Civil War, the film follows Peter Parker as he tries to find a balance between his regular life and saving New York. With a focus on Peter being in high school, Homecoming indicates we will be seeing a fresh take on the young, enthusiastic Spider-Man we all know and love. After Marvel’s long line of box-office successes, this is certainly a film to get excited for.
Words by Abi Cutler
War for the Planet of the Apes (11th July)
The rebooted Planet of the Apes franchise has surpassed any and every expectation moviegoers had of it. 2011’s Rise was a smaller scale examination of intelligence, ethics and equality, 2014’s Dawn took these themes and escalated them, delivering arguably one of the finest and most intelligent sci-fi movies of the 21st century. This time round it’s another collection of themes but it’s also something much bigger – it’s war, a war between human and ape. Franchise lead Caesar (Andy Serkis) is a complex character, brought to life in one of cinema’s greatest modern technological achievements and played fantastically by Serkis. Whilst Dawn’s Koba (Toby Kebbel) was a vicious and terrifying villain, War’s Colonel (Woody Harrelson) looks to be a whole different ball game for Caesar and the apes; a human who has power, authority and a seemingly genetic superiority complex, War for the Planet of the Apes looks to be a stunning conclusion to Caesar’s story. Apes thus far has set the bar for blockbuster filmmaking, look for War for the Planet of the Apes to raise it.
Words by David Mitchell- Baker
Dunkirk (21st July)
Dunkirk will no doubt be one of this summer’s biggest films. Not only does it have an all-star cast including the likes of Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy, but it’s also been written and directed by the now renowned Christopher Nolan. Nolan seems to deliver time and time again so it’s unsurprising that expectations are high. The trailers and promotional material have been excellent so far and it looks as if Nolan’s latest film will be an accurate look at one of the most interesting stories of WWII. This will be a new kind of film for Nolan as it is a complete genre shift from the likes of critical successes Interstellar and Inception. It promises to be an explosive yet tense epic that will surely pull the crowds in come its release in late July.
Words by Tom Wilmot
The Dark Tower (18th August)
Stephen King’s eight-part series is finally hitting the big screen this summer. After roughly 10 years of pushbacks, alterations, rewriting, and cast and crew hopping on and off the project, The Dark Tower is ready for cinemas on the 4th of August. With Idris Elba in the main role of the gunslinger and Matthew McConaughey as the mysterious and malicious Man in Black, the fantasy epic is stirring up excitement for long-time fans and new comers to the series alike.
Starting in modern day New York and spanning multiple time frames and dimensions, the western-come-sci-fi centres around a tower that supports the universe that we inhabit, and many more in the process. Young Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) must team up with ‘The Gunslinger’, a weapons expert and all-round good guy, to stop the extinction of life as we know it – but evil sorcerer McConaughey has other plans in store. Set to be an explosive action hit with plenty of genre bending along the way, The Dark Tower hopes to be a blockbuster like we’ve never seen before.
Words by Ashleigh Millman
