"Actor: Kevin Bacon"

• National Lampoon's Animal House | DVD | (26/01/2004) from £4.94   |  Saving you £11.05 (223.68%)   |  RRP £15.99

  A groundbreaking screwball caper, 1978's National Lampoon's Animal House was in its own way a rite of passage for Hollywood. Set in 1962 at Faber College, it follows the riotous carryings-on of the Delta Fraternity, into which are initiated freshmen Tom Hulce and Stephen Furst. Among the established house members are Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert and the late John Belushi as Bluto, a belching, lecherous, Jack Daniels guzzling maniac. A debauched house of pranksters (culminating in the famous Deathmobile sequence), Delta stands as a fun alternative to the more strait-laced, crew-cut, unpleasantly repressive norm personified by Omega House. As cowriter the late Doug Kenney puts it, "better to be an animal than a vegetable". Animal House is deliberately set in the pre-JFK assassination, pre-Vietnam era, something not made much of here, but which would have been implicitly understood by its American audience. The film was an enormous success, a rude, liberating catharsis for the latter-day frathousers who watched it. However, decades on, a lot of the humour seems broad, predictable, boorish, oafishly sexist and less witty than Airplane!, made two years later in the same anarchic spirit. Indeed, although it launched the Hollywood careers of several of its players and makers, including Kevin Bacon, director John Landis, Harold Ramis and Tom Hulce, who went on to do fine things, it might well have been inadvertently responsible for the infantilisation of much subsequent Hollywood comedy. Still, there's an undeniable energy that gusts throughout the film and Belushi, whether eating garbage or trying to reinvoke the spirit of America "After the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour" is a joy. On the DVD: Animal House comes to disc in a good transfer, presented in 1.85:1. The main extra is a featurette in which director John Landis, writer Chris Miller and some of the actors talk about the making of the movie. Interestingly, 23 years on, most of those interviewed look better than they did back in 1978, especially Stephen "Flounder" Furst. --David Stubbs

• Mystic River | Blu Ray | (08/02/2010) from £8.49   |  Saving you £11.50 (177.20%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Clint Eastwood's story of three men whose dark, interwoven history forces them to come to terms with a brutal murder on the mean streets of Boston.

• Footloose (1984) 4K UHD Steelbook | Blu Ray | (12/02/2024) from £31.98   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Jumping with the spirit of freedom, dazzling dance numbers, and an electrifying '80s musical soundtrack, FOOTLOOSE comes to 4K ULTRA HD for its 40th Anniversary in this limited edition collectible SteelBook. Its the timeless struggle between innocent pleasure and rigid morality for city boy Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), newly moved to an uptight small town where dancing has been banned. Ren quickly makes a new best friend in Willard (Chris Penn) and falls fast for the minister's daughter (Lori Singer), but his love for music and dancing gets him into hot water equally as fast. Featuring a treasury of hit songs from Kenny Loggins, Shalamar, Deniece Williams, Bonnie Tyler, Quiet Riot, John Mellencamp, Foreigner, and more!

• Friday The 13th | DVD | (29/09/2003) from £7.19   |  Saving you £6.80 (94.58%)   |  RRP £13.99

  No matter how many sequels they've made or how big a hit it was in 1980, it's difficult to view the first Friday the 13th as anything but a quickie designed to cram in as many elements from horror movies that had been hits in the late 1970s--most obviously, Halloween and Carrie--while adding as little as possible to the formula. Director Sean S Cunningham has an archetypal plot at his disposal as a group of attractive, shallow teenagers out in the woods to reopen a once-cursed summer camp are murdered in manners designed to show off Tom Savini's gore effects. Kevin Bacon, killed early (arrow through the throat), is the only player who went on to have a career, and he hardly stands out from the strip-Monopoly-playing, goon-acting meat-on-the-hoof teens who fall prey to the mostly unseen murderer. That it's not a total write-off is down to a few neatly edited bits of classical suspense and, two decades on, a simmering nostalgia for a world of bouffant-haired bubbleheads in short shorts (and that's just the guys) observed by edgy subjective camera as the music hisses "kill kill kill". On the DVD: Friday the 13th may be the least worthy of all horror "classics", but it's still nice to have an edition that (unlike earlier video releases) offers a 16x9-enhanced 1.85:1 restored image and a healthy dose of extras. The hard-sell trailer gives away most of the big scares, and so should be sampled after the film. The making of the movie is covered by a 20-minute "Return to Crystal Lake" featurette and a commentary track with input from many of the creatives (Cunningham, composer Harry Manfredini, stars Adrienne King and Betsy Palmer, writer Victor Miller). Some anecdotes get repeated, but there's a lot of solid background material. --Kim Newman

• Cop Car | DVD | (19/10/2015) from £7.98   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A pair of ten-year-olds find an abandoned cop car in a field but when they take it for a joyride it seems like they could kill themselves at any moment. But things only get worse when the small town sheriff goes looking for his missing car. The kids find themselves in the centre of a deadly game of cat and mouse they don’t understand and the only way out is to go as fast as their cop car can take them. Bonus Features: Cop Car Tour (20m 16s) Their First & Last Ride: The Making of Cop Car (2m 57s)

• The Following - Season 1 | DVD | (02/12/2013) from £4.98   |  Saving you £25.01 (502.21%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Kevin Bacon and UK's James Purefoy (Rome) star in this terrifying new thriller from Kevin Williamson (The Vampire Diaries Scream). When notorious serial killer Joe Carroll (Purefoy) escapes from death row and embarks on a new killing spree the FBI calls former agent Ryan Hardy (Bacon) a psychologically scarred veteran who captured Carroll nine years earlier after Carroll murdered 14 female students on a college campus where he taught literature. Knowing Carroll better than anyone and close with Carroll's ex-wife Claire Hardy works closely with an FBI team which includes no-nonsense agent Jennifer Mason and sharp upstart Mike Weston and soon discovers that Carroll was not only communicating with a network of killers in the outside world but has much more planned than just a prison escape - and there's no telling how many additional killers are out there. As Hardy and the FBI team are challenged by the ever-growing web of murder around them masterminded by the diabolical Carroll (who's writing a novel with Hardy as his protagonist) Hardy will not only get a second chance to capture Carroll but another shot at redemption as he's faced with not one but an entire cult of serial killers.

• Will And Grace: The Complete Will And Grace | DVD | (30/10/2017) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £39.31

  Hit American sitcom Will and Grace is as perky as Friends and as wittily urbane as Frasier. The premise concerns Will (Eric McCormack), a mildly uptight lawyer who agrees to have as a flatmate his best friend, interior designer Grace (Debra Messing). Their relationship has all the hallmarks of one between lovers--emotional dependency, little things that get on each other's nerves, strong mutual interests and volcanic arguments. The only snag is that while Grace is straight, Will is gay. Though not shy of poking sharp fun at that situation, Will and Grace is among sitcom's most potent and sophisticated antidotes to homophobia. Though initially a little too pleased with its own camp pertness, the show grows and grows on you with successive episodes, finally becoming indispensable. It also benefits from secondary characters Jack (Sean P Hayes) and Karen (Megan Mullally), also gay and straight respectively, both outrageously and hilariously irresponsible characters: he's a free spirit and freeloader, she's "working" as Grace's assistant even though she doesn't need the money, having married some. Despite its diamond and rapid-fire punch lines, Will and Grace conveys enough sense of the lovelorn predicament of the main characters to prevent it becoming too cute. --David Stubbs

• Tremors | Blu Ray | (31/05/2021) from £17.05   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  A pulse-pounding love letter to 1950s creature features that delivers horror and humour in equal measure, Tremors is a bonafide cult classic that has grabbed audiences' affections ever since its release and spawned a successful franchise that continues to this day. Good-ol'-boy handymen Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are sick of their dead-end jobs in one-horse desert town Perfection, Nevada (population: 14). Just as they're about to escape Perfection forever, however, things start to get really weird: half-eaten corpses litter the road out of town; the phone lines stop working; and a plucky young scientist shows evidence of unusually strong seismic activity in the area. Something is coming for the citizens of Perfection and it's under the goddamn ground! Bursting with indelible characters, quotable dialogue and jaw-dropping special effects, Tremors is back and bigger than ever in this 4K-restored and fully loaded special edition. Special Features New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Films, approved by director Ron Underwood and director of photography Alexander Gruszynski 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) Restored DTS-HD MA original theatrical 2.0 stereo, 4.0 surround, and remixed 5.1 surround audio options Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing New audio commentary by director Ron Underwood and writers/producers Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson New audio commentary by Jonathan Melville, author of Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors Making Perfection, a brand new documentary by Universal Pictures interviewing key cast and crew from the franchise (including Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross, Ariana Richards, Ron Underwood, Brent Maddock & S.S. Wilson, among many others) and revisiting the original locations The Truth About Tremors, a newly filmed interview with co-producer Nancy Roberts on the film's rocky road to the screen Bad Vibrations, a newly filmed interview with director of photography Alexander Gruszynski Aftershocks and Other Rumblings, newly filmed on-set stories from associate producer Ellen Collett Digging in the Dirt, a new featurette interviewing the crews behind the film's extensive visual effects Music for Graboids, a new featurette on the film's music with composers Ernest Troost and Robert Folk Pardon My French!, a newly assembled compilation of overdubs from the edited-for-television version The Making of Tremors, an archive documentary from 1995 by Laurent Bouzereau, interviewing the filmmakers and special effects teams Creature Featurette, an archive compilation of on-set camcorder footage showing the making of the Graboids Electronic press kit featurette and interviews with Kevin Bacon, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire Deleted scenes, including the original opening scene Theatrical trailers, TV and radio spots for the original film as well as trailers for the entire Tremors franchise Comprehensive image galleries, including rare behind-the-scenes stills, storyboards and two different drafts of the screenplay Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Frank

• A Few Good Men | Blu Ray | (01/07/2019) from £19.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Rob Reiner directs this drama starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee (Cruise) is a Navy lawyer assigned to defend two men who accidentally killed a soldier by strangling him with a towel. Initially working out a quick and easy plea bargain with the prosecuting lawyer (Kevin Bacon), Kaffee is persuaded to investigate the case further by a determined colleague (Demi Moore). Together they take on the might of the army establishment, as the trail of evidence leads to the accused's commanding officer (Nicholson).

• Footloose (1984) / Footloose (2011) Double Pack | DVD | (15/10/2012) from £5.99   |  Saving you £7.00 (116.86%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Footloose (1984): Footloose jumps with spirit, dazzling dance numbers and an electrifying musical score. It portrays the timeless struggle between innocent pleasure and rigid morality, when city-boy Ren McCormick (Kevin Bacon) finds himself in an uptight Midwestern town where dancing - and therefore all youthful joy - has been banned. Ren revolts with best friend Willard (Chris Penn) and the minister's daughter (Lori Singer). Footloose (2011): Get ready to cut loose! Boston tee...

• Apollo 13 | DVD | (11/04/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  ""Houston we have a problem"". Stranded 205 000 miles from Earth in a crippled spacecraft astronauts Jim Lovell (Hanks) Fred Haise (Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Bacon) fight a desperate battle to survive. Meanwhile at Mission Control astronaut Ken Mattingly (Sinise) flight director Gene Kranz (Harris) and a heroic ground crew race against time and the odds to bring them home. It's a breathtaking adventure that tells a story of courage faith and ingenuity that is all the more re

• A Few Good Men | Blu Ray | (03/12/2007) from £7.00   |  Saving you £12.99 (185.57%)   |  RRP £19.99

  One man is dead. Two men are accused of his murder. The entire Marines Corps is on trial. And 'A Few Good Men' are about to ignite the most explosive episode in US military history. Universally acclaimed A Few Good Men unites the big screen's biggest stars as Hollywood heavyweights Jack Nicholson Tom Cruise and Demi Moore lead an all star cast in director Rob Reiner's powerful account of corruption cover-up and a relentless quest for justice within the sacred corridors of the US Navy. With powerful performances from Kevin Bacon and Kiefer Sutherland A Few Good Men makes its mark as the major movie triumph of the decade.

• The River Wild (Blu Ray) | Blu Ray | (21/05/2018) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep turns her hand to action films in this white-water knuckle-biter. Having decided to heal some family rifts, expert rafter Gail (Streep) takes her husband and their young son for a day out on the river. But the pleasant family adventure takes a turn for the worse when they encounter a couple of armed bank robbers (Kevin Bacon and John C. Reilly) who hijack the raft and take them into seemingly impassable rapids. It's now up to Gail to save the day and return them to safer waters.

• Hollow Man | DVD | (26/03/2001) from £5.13   |  Saving you £14.86 (289.67%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In Paul Verhoeven's appropriately shallow Hollow Man, Kevin Bacon plays a bad-boy egotistical scientist who heads up a double-secret government team experimenting with turning life-forms invisible. How do we know he's a bad boy? Because he (a) wears a leather overcoat, (b) compares himself to God, (c) drives a sports car and (d) spies on his comely next-door neighbour while eating Twinkies. Sadly, this is the most character development anyone gets in this undernourished action/sci-fi thriller, which boasts some phenomenal, seamless and Oscar-worthy computer effects and some amazingly ridiculous plot twists. After experimenting rather ruthlessly on a menagerie of lab animals, Bacon finally cracks the code that will turn the invisible gorillas, dogs and so on back into their visible forms, and promptly volunteers as a human guinea pig. Sure enough he is rendered invisible, organ by organ, vein by vein, and then proceeds to spy on his female co-workers in the bathroom and molest his comely next-door neighbour. Soon, Bacon is thoroughly psychotic, and it's up to Elisabeth Shue (Bacon's co-worker and ex-girlfriend) and hunky Josh Brolin (her current snuggle bunny) to defeat the invisible man, who's picking off the science team one by one. You'd think this would be a prime opportunity for copious amounts of cheesy sex and aggressive violence--which Verhoeven served up so well and so exuberantly in Starship Troopers and Basic Instinct--but if anything, the director seems to tone down the proceedings, and really, who wants a muted Paul Verhoeven movie? --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com On the DVD: In the audio commentary with director Paul Verhoeven and star Kevin Bacon, Hollow Man scriptwriter Andrew Marlowe reveals that the story had been in development for some nine years before it got made, and that he had worked on it for "a number of years". An amazing revelation, given that the main attraction of this DVD is surely the cutting-edge special effects and the fascinating behind-the-scenes deconstruction of them. The DVD viewer cannot help but wonder how anyone could have spent years on a script that looks like it was cobbled together over a weekend as an excuse to play around with some really neat CGI effects. The various documentary features on the disc break down all the key FX scenes in exhaustive detail, showing the creative blend of live action and CGI and all the painstaking methods by which it was achieved. Director Verhoeven is appropriately profiled as "Hollywood's Mad Scientist" in the "Anatomy of a Thriller" featurette (in the commentary he makes a comparison with Hitchcock's Rear Window that only serves to underline the gulf between his ambitious vision and its execution). Elsewhere, legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith provides a commentary to his music, which gives hope to fans that he will now do the same for some of his better scores. There are deleted scenes, trailers, storyboards and a really neat menu interface to round off an enjoyable DVD package. Anamorphic picture and sound quality are impeccable. --Mark Walker

• The Following - Season 2 | DVD | (29/09/2014) from £2.84   |  Saving you £28.41 (1,798.10%)   |  RRP £29.99

  Heading into its intense spellbinding second season the hit psychological thriller catches up with a healthy and healed Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) a year after the tragic events of last season. Following a horrific new murder spree the FBI calls on Ryan and Mike Weston (Shawn Ashmore) to speak with the lone survivor Lily Gray (Connie Nielsen) in order to help them solve the case. Having worked tirelessly to rehabilitate his life Ryan is reluctant to re-engage with the FBI. Instead he proceeds with his own investigation behind closed doors and finds a valuable ally in his niece Max Hardy (Jessica Stroup) an NYPD cop working in the Intel Division. Throughout the season Ryan will cross paths with several complicated individuals including Mandy Lang (Tiffany Boone) and the enigmatic Luke (Sam Underwood) which furthers his suspicion that Joe Carroll's (James Purefoy) reign of terror is far from over. Episodes Comprise: Resurrection For Joe Trust Me Family Affair Reflection Fly Away Sacrifice The Messenger Unmasked Teacher's Pet Freedom Betrayal Special Features: View From the Machine: 24 Hours Behind Person of Interest Finale Commentary Gag Reel

• Planes, Trains & Automobiles | Blu Ray | (26/09/2011) from £8.69   |  Saving you £11.30 (130.04%)   |  RRP £19.99

  An advertising executive who just wants to fly home to spend Thanksgiving with his family is stuck with a loud but loveable salesman during an unbelievable succession of blizzards, transfers, strikes and delays.Two businessmen travelling from New York to Chicago get sidetracked in a public transportation nightmare. Neal is a stuffy ad executive who doesn't get along with people like the portly, gregarious salesman who sits next to him on the plane to Chicago.But when their flight is rerouted, the unlikely duo becomes entangled in a series of hilarious misadventures as they attempt to get home before Thanksgiving. They have to deal with sleazy motels, run-down rent-a-cars and... more crazy cabbies. It's enough to make them swear off travel forever!

• Tremors Anthology | Blu Ray | (17/10/2016) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.98

  All five films in the sci-fi horror franchise. In ˜Tremors' (1990) handymen Val McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Basset (Fred Ward) are preparing to leave Perfection, Nevada, when their departure is halted by strange rumblings beneath the earth. When seismology student Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) then reveals that the tremors have been caused by giant underground monsters, the unlikely trio soon find themselves in a battle to survive. In ˜Tremors 2 Aftershocks' (1995) Earl and Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) reunite to combat the burrowing monsters once again. Teaming up with scientist Kate Reilly (Helen Shaver), the group attempt to track down and destroy the killer worms in the oil fields of Mexico. In ˜Tremors 3 Back to Perfection' (2001) Burt returns to his hometown of Perfection to face down a group of corrupt property developers. However, things soon go from bad to worse when a third mutated strain of monsters makes its presence felt. ˜Tremors 4 The Legend Begins' (2004) is the prequel to ˜Tremors' (1990). When workers in the remote mining town of Rejection, Nevada, fall victim to an unseen predator, the mine's owner, Hiram Gummer (Gross), hires a mercenary to destroy the carnivorous creatures before they swallow his profits. Finally, in ˜Tremors 5 Bloodlines' (2015), hardened survivalist Burt returns as he hunts down a supposedly isolated subterranean monster in the South African wilderness. However, the hunters soon become the hunted when Burt and the rest of his crew, including wildlife reserve worker Travis Welker (Jamie Kennedy), discover what they're really up against

• Flatliners BD | Blu Ray | (01/08/2022) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  SOME LINES SHOULDN'T BE CROSSED. Known for his impressively eclectic filmography and for helping to launch the careers of several young Hollywood stars of the 80s and 90s, Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys, St. Elmo's Fire) tackles the existential question that, at one time or another, haunts us all: what awaits us after we die? At the University Hospital School of Medicine, five ambitious students subject themselves to a daring experiment: to temporarily induce their own deaths, hoping to glimpse the afterlife before being brought back to life. But as competition within the group intensifies and their visions of the world beyond increasingly bleed into their waking lives, they're about to learn that the greatest threat comes not from the spirit world but from the long-suppressed secrets of their own pasts Stylishly photographed by Jan de Bont (Basic Instinct) and featuring a cast of Hollywood's hottest talent including Kiefer Sutherland (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me), Julia Roberts (Secret in their Eyes) and Kevin Bacon (Wild Things) Flatliners is the ultimate life-and-death thrill ride. Product Features Brand new 4K restoration from the original negative, approved by director of photography Jan de Bont High Definition Blu-ray™ (1080p) presentation Lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 surround soundtracks Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing Brand new audio commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry The Conquest of our Generation, a brand new video interview with screenwriter Peter Filardi Visions of Light, a brand new video interview with director of photography Jan de Bont and chief lighting technician Edward Ayer Hereafter, a brand new video interview with first assistant director John Kretchmer Restoration, a brand new video interview with production designer Eugenio Zanetti and art director Larry Lundy Atonement, a brand new video interview with composer James Newton Howard and orchestrator Chris Boardman Dressing for Character, a brand new interview with costume designer Susan Becker Theatrical trailer Image gallery Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Amanda Reyes and Peter Tonguette

• Mystic River 20th Anniversary Steelbook | Blu Ray | (16/10/2023) from £17.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Clint Eastwood gritty Academy Award-winning drama, based on the novel by Dennis Lehane, turns 20 years old. Set in the Irish community of Boston, it tells the story of three childhood friends who have drifted apart over the years owing to a violent and disturbing experience they shared as children, and are forcibly reunited many years later following another tragic event. When ex-con Jimmy Markum's (Sean Penn) 19-year-old daughter Katie is murdered, the homicide detectives assigned to the case are Whitney Powers (Laurence Fishburne) and Jimmy's old friend Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon). Behind the scenes, Jimmy asks two of his relatives, the Savage brothers, to mount their own investigation, and the finger of suspicion begins to point to the final person in the childhood trio, Dave Boyle (Tim Robbins), who is now a broken man. Product Features Commentary by Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon Dennis Lehane Tours the Boston Neighbourhood Setting of His Novel in Mystic River: Beneath the Surface Featurette Mystic River: From Page to Screen The Charlie Rose Show Interviews with Clint Eastwood, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon Theatrical Trailers

• X-Men: Beginnings Trilogy | Blu Ray | (10/07/2017) from £5.98   |  Saving you £7.36 (184.46%)   |  RRP £11.35

  Although the superhero comic book has been a duopoly since the early 1960s, only DC's flagship characters, Superman and Batman (who originated in the late 1930s) have established themselves as big-screen franchises. Until now--this is the first runaway hit film version of the alternative superhero X-Men universe created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others. It's a rare comic-book movie that doesn't fall over its cape introducing all the characters, and this is the exception. X-Men drops us into a world that is closer to our own than Batman's Gotham City, but it's still home to super-powered goodies and baddies. Opening in high seriousness with paranormal activity in a WW2 concentration camp and a senatorial inquiry into the growing "mutant problem", Bryan Singer's film sets up a complex background with economy and establishes vivid, strange characters well before we get to the fun. There's Halle Berry flying and summoning snowstorms, James Marsden zapping people with his "optic beams", Rebecca Romijn-Stamos shape-shifting her blue naked form, and Ray Park lashing out with his Toad-tongue. The big conflict is between Patrick Stewart's Professor X and Ian McKellen's Magneto, super-powerful mutants who disagree about their relationship with ordinary humans, but the characters we're meant to identify with are Hugh Jackman's Wolverine (who has retractable claws and amnesia), and Anna Paquin's Rogue (who sucks the life and superpowers out of anyone she touches). The plot has to do with a big gizmo that will wreak havoc at a gathering of world leaders, but the film is more interested in setting up a tangle of bizarre relationships between even more bizarre people, with solid pros such as Stewart and McKellen relishing their sly dialogue and the newcomers strutting their stuff in cool leather outfits. There are in-jokes enough to keep comics' fans engaged, but it feels more like a science fiction movie than a superhero picture. --Kim Newman