What films are out in UK cinemas this week? Reviews from Mortal Kombat II to The Sheep Detectives
Your weekly round-up of all the films currently showing in UK cinemas.
The murder mystery genre has been a staple of the big screen for a very long time – but it's not very often you get a whodunnit where the sleuths are farm animals.
But that's the case in star-studded new family film The Sheep Detectives, which says a flock band together to aid the authorities when their beloved farmer is found murdered.
If that doesn't sound like one for you, you might be more inclined to check out Mortal Kombat II – the latest entry in the video game adaptation franchise – or Japanese historical drama Kokuho, which is the all-time highest-grossing live-action film in the country's history.
Meanwhile, there are also two major music films available in cinemas from today. First there's Iron Maiden: Burning ambition, a new documentary based around the iconic heavy metal band's 50th anniversary, while there's also Billie Eilish concert film Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour.
We don't have a review for that latter film, but you can find our verdicts for all the week's other new releases below, while you can also discover our lowdown on the other major movies released in UK cinemas in recent weeks, including hit sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2 and divisive biopic Michael.
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Read on for your weekly round-up of all the films currently showing in UK cinemas.
What films are released in UK cinemas this week? 8 - 14 May
Mortal Kombat II
The fate of the world hangs in the balance in this humdrum sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat. Inspired by the video-game series in which opponents fight each other with trademark moves and special powers, the story continues as Shao Kahn (Martyn Ford), ruthless leader of the Outworld, looks to conquer Earthrealm.
Stopping him is an intrepid bunch of fighters including Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Cole Young (Lewis Tan), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) and Jax (Mehcad Brooks), all returning from the original movie. This group is joined by fan favourite character Johnny Cage (Karl Urban, excellent), a washed-up action star who must learn to channel his "fake" movie fighting skills into something more deadly.
Also bringing the one-liners is returnee Kano (Josh Lawson), but even this unctuous Aussie is not enough to aid director Simon McQuoid into evolving this sequel beyond an intergalactic smackdown, as characters weaponise everything from hand fans to hats. It all remains a largely tedious mix of solemn sci-fi, flippant pop culture nods and gory cartoonish violence. – James Mottram
The Sheep Detectives
This 'baa-rmy' whodunnit, based on Leonie Swann's novel Three Bags Full, turns the 'cosy crime' trend fully woolly as it pairs Babe-style talking animals with the backstabbers of Knives Out. The film finds a flock of murder mystery-loving sheep (voiced by the likes of Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston) investigating the poisoning of their beloved shepherd (Hugh Jackman), frustrated with the incompetence of the local police officer (a hilarious Nicholas Braun).
Emma Thompson steals the show as a no-nonsense lawyer, with Molly Gordon, Nicholas Galitzine and Hong Chau among the suspects. The simple story and sunny outlook are unlikely to satisfy die-hard mystery fans, but this works as a neat introduction for younger viewers to the conventions of the genre, with the scary stuff omitted.
Directed by Kyle Balda (Minions) and scripted by Craig Mazin (TV's Chernobyl and The Last of Us), the film overcomes an uncertain start and settles nicely into its quirky groove, buoyed by game performances. It’s plenty of fun for the whole flock, and the more it leans into its wackiness the more it succeeds. – Emma Simmonds
Kokuho
Talent versus birthright is the question posed by this lavishly realised, decade-straddling epic from Japan. It follows the orphaned son of a yakuza as he works his way up the rankings as one of the onnagata – the men who play women in Japan’s highly ritualised kabuki theatre. What emerges is an almost biblical tale of friendship and rivalry between gifted outsider Kikuo (Ryô Yoshizawa) and Shunsuke (Ryûsei Yokohama), the cosseted son of the kabuki master (Ken Watanabe) who first recognises Kikuo’s ability and takes him on.
As the action shifts from the 1960s to the 2010s, Sang-il Lee’s film presents its dramatic plot turns in stylised fashion, taking its cue from kabuki and cooling down what might otherwise be overcooked melodrama. It may be too restrained for some, but there are spectacular visuals and gorgeous costumes to feast the eyes on. It’s also a useful introduction to the glorious realm of kabuki, in which maidens are always expiring on stage, but look how stylishly they go! – Steve Morrissey
Iron Maiden: Burning Ambition
Iron Maiden’s 50th anniversary provides the backdrop for this detail-packed and fast-paced documentary portrait of the British heavy metal veterans. The story begins in the mid-1970s, when street sweeper turned bassist Steve Harris refused punk’s allure to form Maiden. After two albums with singer Paul Di’Anno, the band's success accelerated upon his replacement with live-wire singer Bruce Dickinson.
Glory followed throughout the 1980s, and while exhaustion led to Dickinson’s departure in 1993, a reunion in 1999 gave Maiden an impressively stadium-filling second life. Mixing tributes from stars (including Chuck D and Javier Bardem) with deluges of archive footage, director Malcolm Venville hurtles through the group’s highs, lows and USPs.
Band mascot Eddie, Dickinson’s dramatic lyrics and the satanic panic era are explored, with drummer Nicko McBrain’s retirement in 2024 adding a touching note. There isn’t much room for critical or contextual analysis in what is, essentially, an unabashed celebration. But, as fans admit to weeping to live performances of all-in-this-together anthem Blood Brothers, Burning Ambition shows how steadfastly these rock stalwarts have earned that affection. – Kevin Harley
Best of the rest still showing in UK cinemas
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Anna Hathaway’s Andy Sachs returns to the elite fashion magazine she left two decades ago in this sharp-witted, if slightly indulgent, sequel to The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Made redundant from the paper that employed her as an investigative reporter, Andy finds herself back at Runway, still overseen by Meryl Streep’s scary editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly.
With the magazine failing, Andy is desperate to sprinkle some journalistic integrity onto a title now driven by clicks – but can she rise to the challenge? Directed again by David Frankel, the film's main plus point is the reunion of its cast, with welcome returns for Stanley Tucci’s debonair stylist Nigel and the catty Emily (Emily Blunt), Andy’s tormentor in the original and now an exec at Dior. Simone Ashley (Bridgerton) is also a worthy addition as Miranda’s latest assistant.
Not everything sings, with a subplot about Andy's love life adding little, and there are a few too many self-satisfied cameos. However, the production looks divine as it pings from New York to Milan, and the script boasts some real zingers. A thoroughly enjoyable retread of a modern popcorn favourite, this is just like catching up with old fashion friends. – James Mottram
Hokum
This deliciously ominous tale of a tetchy, emotionally stilted writer staying at a remote hotel with a cursed past certainly has echoes of The Shining. However, director Damian McCarthy plays around with that premise with his slow-burning folk horror, which sees Adam Scott's American novelist Ohm Bauman checking in at the rural Irish inn where his late parents spent their honeymoon, ostensibly to scatter their ashes.
After meeting banjaxed vagrant Jerry (a scene-stealing David Wilmot) in the woods, Bauman finds his curiosity piqued by the legend of a witch, and is only drawn in further following news of a disappearance at Halloween. Could the answers lie in the padlocked, haunted honeymoon suite?
What unfurls is a marvellous melange of murder mystery, supernatural eeriness and confined-space terror, nimbly marshalled by a director comfortably at home with all things horror. The claustrophobic tension is maintained throughout, with plenty of left-field plot turns and jump scares thrown in for good measure. Meanwhile, Scott shines as a not especially likeable character, whose hellish descent into the unknown nevertheless remains utterly compelling. – Jeremy Aspinall
Wild Foxes
An award-winner at Cannes, director Valery Carnoy’s beguiling feature debut charts the coming-of-age growing pains of a teenage prodigy at a prestigious sports academy in rural France. Camille (played by Samuel Kircher) is riding high as the school’s top boxer, his ring craft promising a glittering future. That is, until a near-fatal accident upends his world.
Although his physical injuries are not career-ending, the psychological scars soon cause Camille to doubt his abilities and to question the brutality of the sport, much to the frustration of best friend Matteo (Faycal Anaflous) and their brash, unsympathetic teammates.
Kircher gives a beautifully gauged performance, whether displaying dynamic fight skills (deftly shot by Arnaud Guez) or vulnerability – such as when he befriends Yas (Anna Heckel), a fellow student happy to ditch taekwondo in favour of practising her trumpet in the woods. But Carnoy teases wonderfully naturalistic turns from the whole cast, many of them first-timers, in an exploration of friendship and masculinity that really hits home. – Jeremy Aspinall
Mother Mary
Anne Hathaway is spellbinding as a pop-star fusion of Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift in this surreal drama from David Lowery (The Green Knight). It follows the events that occur after Hathaway's titular musician reunites with her estranged ex-friend, fashion designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel), following an emotional crisis — Mother Mary is desperate for a dress to wear for what may very well be her final performance. Their reopening of old wounds is explored in a dialogue-heavy character piece that aims to reveal exactly what lies inside of “MM".
Working in his usual heightened style, Lowery constructs a dense amalgamation of ideas that dissects the psyche of the professional performer. While this succeeds in its first hour, the second falls into an overly avant-garde, allegorical clutter that never quite lands despite some glorious musical sequences, a great wardrobe and an atmospheric soundtrack. Hathaway and Coel are magnificent in a film that so relies on their chemistry, with most of the 112 minutes playing out in a countryside barn-turned-studio. Unfortunately, their performances far outpace Lowery's uneven screenplay and highlight the shortcomings in an admirable examination of love and loathing that simply needed some finer tuning. – Chezelle Bingham
Michael
Superstar Michael Jackson’s rise to global fame is played out in an underwhelming biopic which charts personal and professional hurdles but brings the curtain down before reaching the scandals and controversies of the singer’s later years. The King of Pop is played by Jaafar Jackson, the real-life son of Michael’s older brother Jermaine.
He’s in constant conflict with a volatile father (Colman Domingo) but is determined to control his own career while spreading the message of peace, love and understanding through music. Not an especially strong actor, Jaafar is tasked with portraying his late uncle as a good-hearted but often misunderstood soul, in a mawkish screenplay that frames its subject as a saint-like figure who can do no wrong.
Domingo does what he can in a villainous role that’s largely written in clichés, but the remainder of the supporting characters, be they family members or music industry figures, are woefully under-represented. Well-staged musical numbers, replicating videos and TV appearances, are the film’s only saving grace. – Terry Staunton
Rose on Nevada
A Cornish fisherman discovers that all is not as it seems in this distinctive, playful and haunting work. It opens as the titular ship, previously thought lost at sea, reappears at the docks of a small fishing village.
Crewing it up is Nick (George MacKay) and party boy Liam (Callum Turner), under the command of a flinty sea dog (Francis Magee). But after one voyage, their return brings them back not to the present, but to 1993 – where they’re mistaken for the crew that vanished.
Writer/director Mark Jenkin, who also edits the film and composes the score, has made his mark with eerie folk stories set in Cornwall, his previous features being Bait (2019) and Enys Men (2022).
This feels like a fusion of those two, a ghost-ship sea shanty married to a time-travel tale. It’s a head-scratcher that doesn’t easily yield its secrets, but it reeks of atmosphere. And its political punch – even just the shot of a local Post Office replaced by a food bank three decades on – lands with real power. – James Mottram
Exit 8
Based on a 2023 video game, and set almost entirely in the Japanese subway system, Genki Kawamura’s disquieting mystery turns the liminal space of the underground into something truly nightmarish. Having stepped off a packed commuter train, the protagonist – known only as the Lost Man (Kazunari Ninomiya) – takes a call from his ex-girlfriend, who tells him she is pregnant and waiting for him at the hospital.
Does he want to keep the baby? As he tries to decide, he finds himself walking the same never-ending loop of passageway looking for clues to the elusive exit 8. By including hidden details for the viewer to spot, this sometimes feels like an actual game, but with added emotional depth.
Kawamura makes the most of the location’s strip-lit strangeness, throwing in some memorable jump scares along the way. But what really lingers is a deep existential dread at the idea our hero could be trapped in this prosaic purgatory forever. It may be faint praise, but this ranks alongside the very best video game adaptations ever made. – Matt Glasby
Lee Cronin's The Mummy
Despite some gruesome prosthetics and buckets of gore, Lee Cronin’s reimagining of The Mummy is a bit all over the place. After eight years missing, the daughter of journalist Charlie (Jack Reynor) and his wife Larissa (Laia Costa) unexpectedly returns home mute, traumatised and wrapped in bandages.
When she begins to exhibit increasingly disturbing, seemingly supernatural behaviour, Charlie enlists help to uncover exactly what happened to her – with sinister results. Fresh off the back of reinventing another beloved horror franchise with Evil Dead Rise, Cronin nobly aims for a blend of The Exorcist and Bring Her Back, though is unable to reach the heights of either.
While the film has flashes of terror, the heavy-handed, relentless jump scares leave you eye-rolling rather than eye-covering. Tonally, it is uneven, too, often attempting to mix humour with horror, but settling on neither, and the problem is further complicated by some shaky performances.
It’s frustrating, because with a strong concept and some decent imagery, there is potential here. In the end, though, the film delivers nothing that hasn’t been done before, and done better. – Chezelle Bingham
Glenrothan
Brian Cox has earned a reputation as one of the most formidable actors of his generation, so you might expect his first film as director to contain a certain degree of dramatic heft. But Glenrothan – in which Cox stars alongside fellow Scot Alan Cumming – is a decidedly uncinematic affair; a stylistically bland drama that trades almost entirely in treacly sentimentality.
Cumming plays Donal, a jazz bar proprietor in Chicago who hasn’t returned to his Scottish homeland or seen brother Sandy (Cox) in decades. When disaster strikes at his bar, he is convinced by his daughter (Alexandra Shipp) to finally make the voyage home; a trip which swiftly reopens old wounds.
Cox has described the film as a "love letter" to Scotland, but nothing about the depiction of his homeland is textured or specific enough to feel like meaningful homage. Nor does the family feud, which is communicated through cloying flashbacks and stagey confrontation scenes, ring true.
Combined with an overegged score and unconvincing dialogue, it adds up to a plodding drama where virtually every choice is the most basic one. – Patrick Cremona
Rebuilding
Josh O’Connor delivers another brilliantly understated performance in this lovely, lowkey drama from writer-director Max Walker-Silverman (A Love Song). He stars as Dusty, a cowboy whose livelihood is threatened after wildfires ravage his ranch and he is left to take up residence at a temporary trailer camp with other victims of the blaze.
At the same time, he attempts to bond with his adoring young daughter Callie Rose (Lily LaTorre), whose mother (Meaghan Fahy) he is now separated from. Walker-Silverman never reaches for melodrama, favouring a restrained and naturalistic approach that allows the characters and their relationships to feel impressively authentic and heartfelt – with the dynamic between Dusty and Callie Rose especially well judged.
Meanwhile Alfonso Herrera Salcedo’s gorgeous cinematography and an Americana-tinged guitar score from Jake Xerxes Fussell and James Elkington give the piece a finely tuned Western sensibility. A quiet film that manages to retain a sense of hope and redemption at its heart while largely keeping platitudes at bay, it offers more compelling evidence that O’Connor is among the finest actors of his generation. – Patrick Cremona
You, Me and Tuscany
Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) and Regé-Jean Page (Netflix's Bridgerton) headline this sweet-but-silly Italian-set romcom. Bailey is Anna, a would-be chef who impulsively travels to Tuscany, cheekily bedding down in the empty villa belonging to the family of Lorenzo (Marco Calvani), an Italian expat she met back home.
When his folks catch her, they mistakenly believe Anna and their prodigal son are engaged – a mix-up further complicated when she develops feelings for Lorenzo’s cousin Michael (Page). With lush locations, blissful Mediterranean weather and gorgeous-looking food – not to mention Page with his shirt off in one sprinkler scene – director Kay Coiro (Marry Me) tantalises the senses, if not the grey matter, with a story that even references its own spiritual predecessor, the Diane Lane-starring Under the Tuscan Sun (2003).
The Italian stereotypes loom large, and there’s a saucy postcard humour to the script, but Bailey’s graceful presence and Page’s spiky lover carry the story through. A sun-kissed charmer, best seen with a Spritz in hand. – James Mottram
Undertone
Paranormal podcast presenter Evy (Nina Kiri) gets the shivers when her co-host shares an anonymous email of spooky audio files in this low-budget frightener that's woefully short on suspense. Piecing together the recordings of a couple singing nursery rhymes in their sleep, she and her colleague (an unseen Adam DiMarco) debate whether the files contain murderous messages when played backwards.
This offers Evy a brief respite from dealing with issues closer to home, including an invalid mother, an unexpected pregnancy, and ongoing struggles with alcoholism. As plots go, it’s frustratingly thin, not helped by pedestrian camera work that rarely ventures from the almost expression-free face of its lead actor.
Whereas box-office hits The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield helped establish the "found footage" chiller as a valid subgenre, the "found audio" variation struggles to make much of an impression. Writer/director Ian Tuason’s lack of pace or incident suggests the story might have been more robust as a half-hour short, rather than stretched out to feature length. – Terry Staunton
The Drama
At what point is a red flag impossible to ignore? That’s the principal question posed in this combustible film from writer/director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) that takes the idea of pre-wedding jitters to wild extremes. Starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as Charlie and Emma, a Boston couple about to tie the knot, the story hinges on an early twist that comes when the pair ask each other about the worst thing they've ever done – and Emma drops a most unexpected bombshell.
This leads to Charlie reconsidering all he knows about his fiancée, but the revelation also swerves the plot into tricky territory with subject matter that demands more sensitivity than Borgli's characteristic mischief-making allows. It's an audacious blend and subversion of both the romcom and marital drama templates, and both stars prove saving graces.
Zendaya skilfully fashions a compelling enigma while Pattinson is genuinely charming as a beleaguered English fop whose life grows increasingly absurd. But by the end, this is far from satisfying; it's a film frustratingly engineered for discourse, not depth. – Max Copeman
The Stranger
A white French national is arrested for fatally wounding a young local at an Algiers beach in this seductive, expertly realised take on Albert Camus’s 1942 existential classic. "I killed an Arab" notes Meursault (Benjamin Voisin) as he arrives in jail, before the film rewinds to events before the act. Meursault’s mother’s funeral, at which he shows little emotion, is followed by his meet-cute with the radiant Marie (Rebecca Marder).
But it’s his encounter with the slimy Sintés (Pierre Lottin) that leads him down a darker path. Adapted by director François Ozon, the script makes subtle adjustments to Camus’s work without ever demystifying its more enigmatic elements. Naming the victim, for example, gives more definition than Camus ever managed.
Shot in exquisite black and white, the sweltering feel, especially in the courtroom scenes, lends this a hothouse atmosphere that plays well on screen. Likewise, Voisin (star of Ozon’s 2020 film Summer of ’85) is wonderfully steely, his motivations tantalisingly out of reach. It adds up to a resonant study of historical French-Algerian tensions. – James Mottram
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Nintendo’s video-game icons Mario and Luigi return for this follow-up to 2022’s CG-animated The Super Mario Bros Movie.
In the colourful Mushroom Kingdom, sibling plumbers Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) meet Yoshi (Donald Glover), a green dinosaur-like figure with a rapacious appetite. Together, they must rescue Princess Rosalina (Brie Larson) – sister to the kingdom’s ruler, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) – who has been abducted by their enemy’s son, Bowser Jr (Benny Safdie).
Returning co-directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic keep the energy levels high, with scenes that feel like you’re playing Mario Kart or any one of the myriad platform-style Mario games. There are plenty of Easter eggs, too, including Glen Powell voicing Fox McCloud, the protagonist from Nintendo’s Star Fox series.
Sadly, the humdrum story underwhelms, lacking in fresh elements, and Safdie aside, the vocal performances are as subdued as the script. Younger viewers, though, will delight in the trippy chaos. – James Mottram
The Magic Faraway Tree
Enid Blyton’s titular novels are adapted into this fantastical family film by director Ben Gregor. Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy play a pair of down-on-their-luck parents who, when their debts pile up, move with their three children to a ramshackle home in the countryside.
The youngest child (Billie Gadsdon) comes across a magical tree that is home to a collection of eccentric but mostly affable oddballs. With their help, she is transported to an eclectic array of lands, and eventually persuades her more cynical siblings to join her on this adventure of discovery.
Having previously co-scripted the screenplays for Paddington 2 and Wonka, Simon Farnaby has proven he has a deft hand for updating beloved children’s classics for modern audiences. This doesn’t have quite the same wit or spark, and occasionally strays from pleasantly endearing to mildly irritating.
However, there’s more than enough whimsical appeal to charm younger audiences, and a parade of famous faces from the British comedy scene provide an abundance of amusing moments. One scene featuring Lenny Henry, Michael Palin and Simon Russell Beale as a three-headed "Know-All" is a comedic highlight. – Patrick Cremona
Project Hail Mary
Ryan Gosling’s mild-mannered science teacher heads to the far end of the galaxy in search of a solution to a dying sun that threatens life on Earth in this joyful and engaging sci-fi. The reluctant amateur astronaut negotiates tricky hurdles as his craft journeys through space, eventually teaming up with an alien whose own planet is facing a similar plight – a stone-like creature whom he names Rocky.
Drew Goddard’s screenplay is adapted from a novel by Andy Weir, the same pairing that brought us 2015’s The Martian, and there are obvious parallels to be drawn between Gosling and Matt Damon in the earlier film. However, Project Hail Mary morphs into a buddy movie of sorts with the introduction of Rocky, taking the narrative more towards the family friendly sense of wonderment of Steven Spielberg’s extraterrestrial tales.
Gosling’s boyish charm and charisma hold everything together, never allowing the jeopardy of his character’s predicament to overwhelm a heartwarming yarn with a rich seam of humour. – Terry Staunton
Hoppers
Pixar blends body-swap chaos with a story about empowering environmentalism in this film directed by We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong. Teenage activist Mabel (voiced by Piper Curda) is determined to save a forest glade from being bulldozed by Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm). After uncovering the clandestine experiments of her biology professor (Kathy Najimy), Mabel transfers her consciousness into the body of a lifelike robotic beaver.
She befriends a real beaver, King George (Bobby Moynihan), who calls on the assistance of other animal rulers – including Meryl Streep’s formidable Insect Queen – to protect the glade, before things go horribly wrong. Pixar’s take on beavers is as cute as you’d imagine, and the ferociously principled Mabel makes a fascinating hero.
The sparkling script from Jesse Andrews (Luca, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) boasts a meaty, moderately complicated story that engages without becoming too confusing. It’s not quite up there with the studio’s finest but this is still witty and wonderfully entertaining, with a positive message about coexistence and not judging our fellow humans too harshly. – Emma Simmonds
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
