Gags, God and a very modern Messiah
THE Book Of Clarence (15, 129 mins, HHHII) begins with an exhilarating chariot chase, à la Ben-Hur; features a gladiator training school, à la Spartacus; and even references the helmet Maximus Decimus Meridius wore in Gladiator. But it has something those sword- and- sandal movies didn’t — a mostly black cast. And a sense of humour, too.
The Clarence of its title is the twin brother of Thomas, Jesus’s famously doubtful follower. But Clarence hasn’t gone into the apostlin’ trade — he’s a peddler of ‘unholy weed’ who spends most of his time dodging the Romans and local hoodlums. Until, that is, he has an idea: what if I became a messiah, too?
If that makes this sound like a merciless satire, it ain’t. It veers between stoner gags
and surprisingly heartfelt religiosity, before getting so wrapped up in its overlapping timelines and alternate histories that it can feel like a biblical Marvel movie.
That it doesn’t fall apart is largely down to the easy charm of Clarence — LaKeith Stanfield, one of the most brilliantly strange, charismatic leading men of this generation. He’s definitely worth following.
■ THEY got the gang together in the first film. Now, in Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver ( 12A, 122 mins, ★★★☆☆), they’ve got to repel the evil galactic empire that has designs on a peaceful farming planet.
It’s a Zack Snyder movie, so there’s a lot of earnest dialogue, so much musculature and tons of slooooow motion. Still, the guy can stage a fight. And given that this is basically one big fight (against Ed Skrein’s scene-stealing baddie, Atticus Noble), it’s altogether more successful than its predecessor.