ALSO SHOWING
POKÉMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU (PG) ★★★
TIM GOODMAN (Justice Smith) receives the sad news that his estranged father, Detective Harry Goodman, has been killed in a car accident in Ryme City. The orphaned 21-year-old travels to the futuristic metropolis, which was established by billionaire Howard Clifford (Bill Nighy) as the only place on Earth where humans and Pokémons co-exist in harmony.
Tim meets Ryme City police detective Yoshida (Ken Watanabe), who provides a set of keys to Harry’s apartment. Inside, Tim discovers his father’s Pokemon, Pikachu (voiced by Ryan Reynolds), pictured, who claims to be suffering amnesia.
Tim discovers a vial of a noxious purple liquid, which transforms docile Pokemon into crazed predators. Cub TV reporter Lucy Stevens (Kathryn Newton) is on the case and her finger of suspicion points to Howard Clifford’s son Roger (Chris Geere).
Rob Letterman ’s fast-paced, family-oriented film is a rollicking fantasy adventure.
THE HUSTLE (12A) ★
EXCRUCIATINGLY misconceived caper, which gender-swaps the con artists and victims of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
The feature film directorial debut of The Thick Of It’s Chris Addison sees skilled con woman Josephine Chesterfield (Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway, pictured) encounter undisciplined scam artist Penny Rust (Rebel Wilson). Josephine agrees to take Penny under her wing and polish the rough edges. Penny undergoes a regime of physical exercise and mental acrobatics so she can partner Josephine on high-stakes cons. Their duplicitous double-act’s first target is technology millionaire Thomas Westerburg (Alex Sharp).
Josephine and Penny spark a friendly rivalry to win Thomas’s affections and games of one-upwomanship gradually spiral out of control.
THE CORRUPTED (18) ★★★
GRITTY crime thriller based on true events. In 2002, crime syndicate boss Clifford Cullen (Timothy Spall) gets a tip off that London will be bidding for the Olympic Games in 2012.
Cullen forcibly purchases land in East London including a plot belonging to father-of-two Eamonn McDonagh (Sean Dooley). As soon as Eamonn puts pen to paper in exchange for a duffel bag of cash, his death is staged as a suicide.
Seventeen years later, Eamonn’s wayward son Liam (Sam Claflin, pictured) emerges from prison.
He returns to Stratford with brother Sean ( Joe Claflin). Liam is drawn into the tangled web spun by Cullen, who is now CEO of a housing consortium with politicians and police officers on its payroll. Liam’s fate also becomes entwined with idealistic police detective Neil Beckett (Noel Clarke) and his partner Grace Connelly (Charlie Murphy), who intend to eradicate corruption from the force.
The Corrupted is a slickly engineered and satisfyingly tangled conspiracy.