At the story level, this is a success. Unfortunately, it fails at most other levels.

Sometimes, I felt like I got it. Sometimes, I was puzzled. Yet I was always intrigued.

Fast-moving and smart, it is a message movie where the message does not come at the expense of entertainment.

I sort of enjoyed Renfield, even though the individual pieces tell me I should have loved it.

Ben Affleck and screenwriter Alex Convery have done something pretty remarkable here: they have made this story consistently entertaining.

The strategy this time is to mix the D&D mythology with the durable Marvel formula to produce something very familiar.

The result is thoroughly okay and instantly forgettable.

The movie’s charm is partially due to the goofy set-pieces. But it is predominantly due to the idea of a bear doing lots of cocaine.

The comedy here feels out of place considering that our heroes are facing an enemy who could lead to the end of all life.

The result does not even come close to living up to the quality of previous Marlowe adventures, turning out to be one of his lesser cases,