Fall is usually when we begin to get more dramas, biographical films, and potential award nominees. But there are some likely blockbusters, festival favorites, and long-awaited sequels/prequels, too. Note: we have two movies with almost identical names, both action movies about saving a child. Don’t confuse “The Runner” (Gal Gadot) with “Runner” (Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson) .

Here are some fall 2026 films we are looking forward to most:

September 2

“Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris” The dynamic performer’s appearance in Paris brings you into the arena with more than 60 camera angles so we get a front-row seat to the music, choreography, wild costumes, and stage charisma as Perry explores her earliest hits and newest releases.

“The Runner” Gal Gadot stars in a tense action story about a lawyer out on a morning run who is notified that her son has been kidnapped and to get him back she needs to follow orders, tell no one, and keep running.

September 4

“Mayday” Ryan Reynolds is an American Air Force pilot on a secret missing crashes in the Soviet Union and Kenneth Branagh is a former KGB who wants to help him. (AppleTV+)

“Virginia Woolf’s Night & Day” In 1910 England, as the women’s sufferage movement is gaining momentum and causing controversy and science and technology are taking great leaps forward, a women wants to study astronomy. Stars include Haley Bennet, Lily Allen, and Jack Whitehall.

“By Any Means” In the 1960s a young Black FBI agent (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is sent to Mississippi to investigate a wave of brutal killings targeting civil rights leaders. He finds himself working with notorious mafia hitman Greg Scarpa (Mark Wahlberg). The cast also includes Nicole Beharie, Josh Lucas, Giancarlo Esposito, and David Straithairn.

September 11

“The Fix” Disillusioned by the end of the war in Afghanistan, a group of disgraced, war torn ex-CIA operators set out to Tehran to steal $25 million. The cast includes Liam Neeson and Zachary Levi.

“Practical Magic 2” Time to put the lime in the coconut again — Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are back as the witchy Owens sisters, based on the sequel by Alice Hoffman. Can they finally break the family curse?

“Runner” The life of a little girl is at stake when a former solider (Alan Ritchson) has to make a crucial delivery of a new liver despite some very bad people who want to stop him. Owen Wilson co-stars.

September 18

“The Master and Margarita” Fifty years after it was first released, the savagely satiric cult classic novel about the Soviet Union by Mikhail Bulgakov comes to the screen.

“Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom” Our favorite barnyard crew is back! On Halloween Eve at Mossy Bottom Farm, the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science experiments, but things go wrong when a wild beast appears in the woods.

“The Musical” A middle school principal (Rob Lowe) wants a nice, safe choice for the school musical, so they will make it onto the Southern California Blue Ribbon Schools list. But the school drama teacher, angry because the principal is dating his ex, decides to do something very different.

“The Weight” Ethan Hawke plays a prisoner doing hard time and Russell Crowe plays the warden who offers him a chance at freedom if he can smuggle some gold.

September 25

“Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!” Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi, plays a competitive ballroom dancer who has to start over after the loss of her partner. This gets my vote for the most adorable trailer of the fall. 

“Primetime” Robert Pattinson plays “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hanson, filming sting operations.

“The Incomer” Domhnall Gleeson and John Hannah star in the story of siblings who have been the only occupants of a Scottish island for their whole lives and are now about to be evicted.

“Unabomber” This is based on the true story of Ted Kaczynski, dubbed “UNABOM” by the FBI because the bombs he sent were directed at universities and airlines. Jacob Tremblay plays the promising math student turned recluse and domestic terrorist, Russell Crowe is his Harvard professor, and Shailene Woodley is the FBI agent on his trail.

“The Deputy” William H. Macy plays a sheriff who assigns a rookie to guard a dead body. When the body disappears, he teams up with a deputy (Tiffany Haddish) for an investigation that uncovers some dark secrets.

October 2

“Verity” Colleen Hoover’s novel about a writer hired to finish a book by a disabled author is brought to the screen with Dakota Johnson, Anne Hathaway, and Josh Hartnett, directed by Michael Showalter (“Hello, My Name is Doris,” “The Big Sick”).

“Digger” Tom Cruise in one of his most outrageous roles plays a balding, paunchy zillionaire who is behind an environmental disaster. John Goodman is the US President. This one looks wild.

October 9

“The Social Reckoning” Where “The Social Network” left off, “The Social Reckoning” continues the story of Facebook, this time focusing on the whistleblower, with Oscar-winner Mikey Madison as Frances Haugen, who revealed what the company knew and pretended not to know about the damage it was doing. Aaron Sorkin writes and directs and “The Bear’s” Jeremy Allen White plays Mark Zuckerberg.

“Animals” BFFs Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star in the story of a mayoral candidate whose son is kidnapped. Also in the cast: Gillian Anderson and Kerry Washington.

October 9

“Angel and the Badman” A wounded gunman (Zachary Levi) is cared for by a gentle woman, the daughter of a rancher in this remake of a John Wayne western.

“Matchbox: The Movie” Remember Matchbox cars? Jessica Biel and John Cena play childhood friends who learn that their toys are somehow the key to saving the world. Tne amazing cast include many of my favorites: Sam Richardson, Arturo Castro, Teyonah Parris, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp, Golshifteh Farahani and Danai Gurira.

“Tenzing” Most people remember Edmund Hillary as the first to reach the top of Mount Everest. Fewer know the story of the man who got him there, Tenzing Norgay. This is his story, starring Genden Phuntsok in the title role, with Tom Hiddleston as Hillary.

October 16

“Sense and Sensibility” The beloved Jane Austen classic about two devoted sisters, one who is led by her heart, one by her brain, has a new screen adaptation, starring Bodhi Rae Breathnach and Daisy Edgar-Jones.

“California Schemin'” This really happened. Two Scots pretended to be hip-hop artists from California even though they had never been to America. This led to a record deal and then a book and a documentary, and now James McAvoy directs and stars in a movie about it.

“Poetic License” Maude Apatow directs her mother, Leslie Mann, in a film about two friends who fall for an older woman. Co-stars are Cooper Hoffman (“Licorice Pizza”) and Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feelings”).

“The Only Living Pickpocket in New York” John Turturro plays the title character who has to retrieve an item stolen from some very scary bad guys.

“APPOFENIACS” A thriller about deepfakes and the people who explot them. “Appofenia,” by the way, means making connections between things that are unconnected in reality, interpreting random coincidences as something meaningful, usually threatening or foreboding.

“Musk” Oscar-winning documentary director Alex Gibney tells the story of the richest man on earth.

“Double Trouble” Two young sisters visitng Las Vegas get entangled in the robbery of diamond gauntlet being loaned to a pop star.

“Masterplan” Stanley Tucci stars in a heist film involving the Louvre and some family connections.

October 23

“Wildwood” I love LAIKA’s goregous stop-motion animation films and this story of a girl who has to go into the forest to rescue her kidnapped brother looks amazing.

“Klara and the Sun” Taika Waititi co-wrote and directs, based on a book by Nobel Prize-winner Kazuo Ishiguro. Jenna Ortega plays a robot “companion” who changes the lives of a family.

“Wicker” Oscar-winner Olivia Colman plays an unpopular woman in a small 18th century town who asks the local craftsman (Peter Dinklage) to create a husband for her — out of wicker. Alexander Skarsgård and Elizabeth Debicki co-star.

“Wife and Dog” Guy Ritchie directs, and the cast includes James Norton, Rosamund Pike,
Benedict Cumberbatch, and Anthony Hopkins, and Paddy Considine, in a story about a brutal family fight over succession.

“Fatherland” Based on a true story: At the height of the Cold War, the writer Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) and his daughter Erika (Sandra Hüller) take a road trip across a Germany in ruins.

November 6

“The Cat in the Hat” Bill Hader provides the voice in this animated story of the beloved Dr. Seuess character who creates chaos and hilarity wherever he goes.

“Jimmy” One of the biggest movie stars in history was also a hero of WWII and this is the story of his service. Jimmy Stewart is played by A.J. Apa (Archie in “Riverdale”).

November 13

“Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol” Johnny Depp takes on the role of the selfish miser who is visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve, in Charles Dickens’ beloved story. Ian McKellen plays the chain-dragging Marley, “Severence’s” Trammel Tillman plays the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” series) plays Bob Cratchit, and Sam Claflin plays my favorite character, Scrooge’s nephew, Fred.

“How to Rob a Bank” Bank robbers brag about their heists on social media. Law enforcement is determined to stop them. The cast includes Nicolas Hoult, Zoe Kravitz, Pete Davidson, and Christian Slater. Director and former stuntman David Leitch (“Bullet Train”) so you know this one will have cheeky humor and a lot of action.

“I Play Rocky” A week after we see the story of Jimmy Stewart’s wartime heroism, we have another fact-based story of an actor, this time Sylvester Stallone (Anthony Ippolito) insisting on starring in the title role of his screenplay about an unranked boxer punching sides of beef to prepare for taking on the champ (Stephan James as actor Carl Weathers).

November 18

“Madden” Christian Bale and Nicolas Cage star in the story of legendary football coach (and video game entrepreneur), John Madden, directed by David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”).

November 20

“The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” The next chapter in the prequels to the Hunger Games series stars Ralph Feinnes, Elle Fanning, and Jesse Plemons, Kieran Culkin, and Maya Hawke.

“Paper Tiger” James Gray’s film has had a very positive response in festivals. It stars Adam Driver and his “Marriage Story” co-star Scarlett Johansson, along with Miles Teller, in a tense story about two brothers who get entangled in a dangerous Russian mafia scheme that terrorizes their family.

“Steps” We got the Wicked Witch of the West’s perspective on “The Wizard of Oz,” so why not take another look at Cinderella’s step-sisters? This animated film has a terrific voice cast including Amanda Seyfried, Daniel Radcliffe, Peter Dinklage, Stephanie Hsu, and — perfect choice — Bette Midler as the fairy godmother.

November 25

“Hexed” Disney’s big animated Thanksgiving release is a magical coming of age film about a girl (Hailee Stanfield) with magical powers sent to a magical land. Voices include Rashida Jones, Stephen Fry, and Tracey Ullman.

“Focker In-Law ” The “Meet the Parents” folks are back together to make all of our family gatherings feel normal by comparison. Now it’s Ben Stiller’s chance to show some concerns about his son’s girlfriend, played by Ariana Grande. Robert de Niro, Owen Wilson, and Teri Pollo return, joined by Skyler Gisondo and his “Booksmart” co-star Beanie Feldstein.

“Hershey” The man behind the chocolate bars and aluminum foil-wrapped kisses — who kept every employee on the job through the Depression and built a school for orphaned boys — gets a biopic. Finn Wittrock stars as Milton Hershey, with Alexandra Daddario as his wife, Kitty.

“The Adventures of Cliff Booth” Brad Pitt returns to his Oscar-winning “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” role of stunt man turned assistant to a movie star Cliff Booth in this prequel, with Timothy Olyphant returning to the role of James Stacy. Joining the cast: Elizabeth Debicki, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Pitt’s “Ocean 11” co-star Scott Caan. It’s written by Quentin Tarantino, directed by David Fincher.

One of the most unnerving twists of the year occurs about two-thirds of the way into “The Narcissist’s Playbook,” a documentary about people who are incapable of empathy and, because they do not feel love, compassion, tenderness, or joy, often inflict abuse on others to feel powerful or just to feel anything at all.

It begins with a telling perspective-shifting quote from someone we will spend a lot of time with over the course of the film, Sam Vaknin, the Israeli author of books including Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited. He says that it is not the evil of the narcissist that fools us; it is our own humanity projecting onto everyone else the emotions that feel so essential to us we cannot imagine there is anyone who cannot care about other people.

It is not surprising that director Mark Vicente would be drawn to this subject. He became first an accolyte of NXIVM and its founder, Keith Raniere, and then a whistleblower who helped bring the organization and its leader down, including a criminal trial ending with a 120 year sentence.

Most people think of narcissists as egotists who are consumed with their own status and their own needs. This film uses the term to mean what in non-clinical terms we might call psychopaths or sociopaths or borderline personality disorder, people we think of as doing whatever makes them feel safe or powerful, no matter who gets hurt.

It is structured like a typical documentary, with a lot of talking heads — experts and survivors of relationships with narcissists from seven different countries. But some elements are unusual. Four of the experts are themselves, according to the film’s press materials, “self-confessed, self-aware malignant narcissists.”

Vaknin earns our sympathy and his own credibility right away, confessing that he went to prison for securities fraud, and he is now doing his best to educate others about what narcisissm is and how to protect ourselves.

We also hear from actress Evan Rachel Wood, who at 18 met punk rocker Marilyn Manson, then in his mid-30s. He quickly persuaded her to move in with him and then, she tells us, he isolated and abused her. It was only when she played a character on the HBO series “Westworld” that she located within herself the courage to leave him. (Manson denies her allegations.)

We learn from the academic experts that what Wood describes is typical of the narcissist, who begins by “love-bombing,” telling victims how special they are, how only he or she really sees and understands them, how much they need each other. It is “fast, intense, magical.” Step 2 is isolating the victim, separating them from their friends and family. Wood says, they want us to know “the only safe place is with them.” Next, they counter all of the building you up by tearing you down, first by devaluing you, destabilizing you so you try to regain that fast, intense, magical, and SAFE feeling again. And, when someone tries to leave or expose them, the accusations start. Non-narcisssist are looking for peace; narcissists live for chaos.

Step 4 will be familiar to anyone who has seen Ingrid Bergman’s Oscar-winning performance in “Gaslight.” You don’t have time to doubt the relationship because this step has you doubting yourself, even your own ability to discern reality. And then comes the discord, drama, distractions, and lies. Another victim describes his marriage, which followed exactly this pattern.

Those who have a hard time understanding people whose underestanding extends only to their own interests tend to look for causes, abusive families, past traumas. Their first impulse may be to try to be reassuring, to feel sorry for narcissists who say they do not know what it feels like to feel love or happiness and want to heal them. But, as one of the experts points out, many people experience abuse and trauma and do not become narcissists. We are told fairly early that a true crime investigative reporter is searching for a particular narcissist who has hurt many women by posing as a therapist, but we do not find out until much later who that person is and what he will do when he is exposed.

Anyone who watches this film will think of people who fit the pattern. And everyone who watches will come away prepared to recognize and block anyone who tries those tactics.

Parents should know that this film includes discussions of physical and emotional abuse and trauma with very strong language.

Family discussion: What did you learn from this film? What should people do to protect themselves from predators?

If you like this, try: the NXIVM documentary, “The Vow”

“Coyote vs. Acme” like its title character, has proved to be unstoppable. This delightful tribute to the madcap and enduringly popular world of Looney Tunes was originally conceived as a humorous New Yorker essay by Ian Frazier in 1990. Frazier was a fan of the publication “American Lawyer” and decided to compose a legal complaint filed on behalf of Coyote against the company that was a serial offender in the categories of safety and effectiveness of consumer products. “Mr. Coyote states that on eighty-five separate occasions he has purchased of the Acme Company (hereinafter, “Defendant”), through that company’s mail-order department, certain products which did cause him bodily injury due to defects in manufacture or improper cautionary labelling.” 

It was optioned for a movie but nothing happened for more than 30 years, when it was filmed by the studio behind the Looney Tunes cartoons, Warner Brothers.

And then Warner CEO David Zaslav did to the movie what Acme’s products did to Coyote: he blew it up, deciding it was better for the balance sheet as a tax write-off than as a theatrical release. Outraged fans protested. The film was picked up for distribution by plucky newcomer Ketchup Entertainment, later joined by Legion M.*

The movie is enormous fun, with deep understanding and affection for Looney Tunes, its characters and its absurd exploration of the eternal struggles of existence. Fudd will never shoot Bugs. Sylvester will never catch Tweety. And perhaps the saga of Coyote and Road Runner is the most existential, stripped down with no dialogue and always set in the spare southwestern desert.

Chuck Jones’ rules for Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are legendary and deceptively simple. Coyote could stop any time, but he is, in today’s terms, obssessed with the Road Runner he will never catch. His failures are always the result of his own efforts, even hubris. Road Runner does nothing but run on the road and say “Beep Beep.” He never tries to outsmart Coyote or harm him in any way, as, for example, Bugs Bunny does to would-be hunter Elmer Fudd. Coyote is failed every time by the company that provides all of his equipment, Acme. The super-magnet. The parachute. The rocket-powered roller skates. Every time, they fail in spectacular fashion, often leaving Coyote falling off a cliff. Sometimes he is briefly suspended in the air before realizing that once again he is about to plummet. We stay at cliff level while he falls until we witness a puff of dust far, far below.

Coyote hires a personal injury law firm headed by Kevin Avery (“SNL” alum Will Forte). Note that the lawyers’ last names are all inspired by Looney Tunes animators. Avery’s specialty is defective products from Acme, and he settles all cases quickly for a few hundred dollars. When a clerk mistakenly files suit for hundreds of purchases instead of just the rocket roller skates, it escalates to the attention of Acme general counsel Buddy Crane (John Cena) and CEO Foghorn Leghorn (Eric Bauza, who, like his predecessor Mel Blanc, provides almost all of the voices). This threat to the company must be extinguished.

A lot of the classic Looney Tunes characters show up, and I won’t spoil which one is called as a witness to discuss Acme’s secret “Project Sisyphus,” the name a sly reference to Coyote’s perpetual inability to achieve his only objective. The integration of the cartoon and real-life characters and environments is seamless, truly impressive. The human characters are bland and underwritten compared to the cartoon characters (Lana Condor and Tone Bell are sadly wasted) and the film would benefit from being a little shorter. But it is colorful and often hilarious and its satire about the state of capitalism is just the kind of insoucient, make-fun-of-the-hand-that-feeds-you humor that the denizens of Termite Terrace specialized in. Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Frank Tashlin and others would love this and be very glad that we never have to say, “That’s All, Folks!” to the antics of Looney Tunes.

*I have a small investment in Legion M, along with tens of thousands of other movie fans.

Parents should know that this movie has a lot of cartoon violence, but, as discussed in the film, all the cartoon immediately bounce back from whatever happens to them. There is some schoolyard language and brief potty humor.

Family discussion: Why did law school classmates Kevin and Buddy have such different careers? What do you think about Foghorn Leghorn’s explanation for Project Sisyphus? How should products be tested? Which is your favorite Looney Tunes character and why?

If you like this, try: “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” and of course the Looney Tunes cartoons

Rebel Wilson’s “Pitch Perfect” experience and love of classic Hollywood shows in her first film as director, “The Deb,” with vibrant, ebullient musical numbers featuring an outstanding cast of young performers. It was released in Wilson’s home country of Australia in 2024 but is just now coming to the US on demand.

The basic plot is a classic city mouse and country mouse with one teenage cousin expelled from a posh private school in Sydney and sent to live with her rancher uncle and cousin in a remote rural community. On the surface it is brash and raunchy — the opening musical number with girls in plaid skirt and navy blazer school uniforms is a song about much they suffer from rich girl problems, with the repeated phrase often abbreviated as “FML.” But it is also heartwarming and refreshingly shrewd about cancel culture and teenage identity struggles. While the characters are exaggerated for comic purposes, the film is sympathetic to everyone.

The city cousin is Maeve (Charlotte MacInnes) and we are introduced to her via her podcast, where she disingenuously pretends that showing herself in a tiny bikini is fighting the patriarchy. It is clear that spouting aphorisms about heteronormativity and claiming to be the feminist voice of her generation are just click-bait expressions of teenage angst. As the school principal, who is also her mother, tells her, “You are not Malala. You don’t want change; you want attention.”

After Maeve rips open her shirt to flash the entire school she is sent to a rural community called Dunburn. She is picked up at the bus stop by her cousin Taylah (Natalie Abbott), via riding mower. Maeve’s uncle is Rick (Shane Jacobson), a widower who loves his daughter but relies on her to do farm chores and considers ramen a suitable dinner. Rick is also Dunburn’s mayor, which mostly means applying to the government for relief after a three-year drought that threatens the town’s economic viability.

The town’s most beloved tradition is The Deb, a throwback coming-out (to society, not out of a closet) gala where the girls wear poofy white dresses and are presented via a giant plaster clamshell. Taylah is looking forward to it. Maeve sees it as a juicy topic for a disdainful podcast about an “antiquated heteronormative s***show from hell…uniquely preserved from rural isolation.”

Wilson plays Janette, the owner of a beauty salon called Curl Up N Dye and the mother of Annabelle (Stevie Jean), leader of the trio of Dunburn mean girls, who perform as the Pixie Cups. Janette is grooming Annabelle to be a pop star and Wilson plays her as over-the-top outrageous, including insulting and being cruelly dismissive to her other daughter, who “identifies as a koala.”

Thankfully, the traditional makeover scene is subverted, everyone grows up a little (stay past the beginning of the credits for some reassurance along those lines) and Maeve’s savvy about creating viral content is used for good. What works best in the film are those musical numbers, with a lot of variety from pop to country to hip-hip. The stand-out a duet ballad with Maeve and Taylah singing separately about the impact of a spotlight, brought back later in a reprise. The screenplay is credited to Hannah Reilly, who wrote the play it is based on, with “additional writing by Rebel Wilson,” and it is pretty easy to figure out what Wilson added, mostly for her own character. This makes for some unevenness of tone that makes less accessible for the likely audience most interested in a story of young women trying to establish their identity and direction in a world that has a lot of unrealistic expectations.

Parents should know that this movie has extremely crude humor and very strong language. A character is persuaded by a boy to let him take a picture of her with her shirt off, which he shows off to other boys. There is some teen kissing and a teen who comes out as gay to a parent. There is smoking and teen drinking, and some scuffles (no one badly hurt).

Family discussion: Why is Maeve so angry and impatient? What makes her change her mind about Dunburn? What would you say to Jeanette?

If you like this, try: “Grease,” “Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger,” the “Mean Girls” musical, and the “Pitch Perfect” series

Cool action hero name: Check. Tightly coreographed hand to hand combat in tightly constrained space: Check. Pause in the action to have someone read aloud action hero’s heroic but tragic backstory: Check. Holding on for dear life hanging by one hand: Check. Killing many bad guys with sounds of spurting blood and crunching bone: Check. Beautiful and plucky woman: Check. Saving the biggest of the bad guys for a final extended fight scene with many improvised and unusual but handily placed weapons: Check.

In other words, a very generic Jason Statham movie (he also produced), with a sprinkling of plot to allow us to catch our breath between many many many scenes of people being shot, punched, stabbed, and killed by various other means. Does it make sense? No. I mean, the title is just one word and even that isn’t accurate. At least the director’s previous film, “Plane,” was, actually pretty much about a plane and the various fights on and around it. Special props to the entire sound department for outstanding gunfire, crunching bones, neck-twisting cracks, and blood spatter.

Does that matter? Not to people who just want to see the 58- year-old action star take on the bad guys, which, spoiler alert, he still does extremely well.

The main character might just as well be named Jason Statham, but in this movie he is called Cole Reed, bodyguard to Tibu (Ramon Tikaram), a Thai billionaire, CEO of a vast shipping company that began with just one small boat. While Cole waits for Tibu in the lobby of a skyscraper we see how closely he observes every sound and movement around him.

Tibu and his son Kameron (Chaneil Kular) have just agreed to sell the shipping company. It is a bittersweet moment, but as Tibu explains, the company was his dream. His son Kameron wants him to sell and Tibu wants his son to be able to pursue his own dreams.

Cole is treated like a valued confidante and Tibu calls him part of the family. So we know that’s all about to end. Indeed, when Cole is driving Tibu home after the party celebrating the sale, they are ambushed and Tibu is killed, despite Cole’s best efforts, which include killing all of the attackers. The police are involved in the murder so they cannot be trusted. They blame Cole and have the media put out an alert that he is armed and dangerous.

Cole is determined to find and punish everyone responsible for the attack on Tibu. He grabs an American passport from one of the men he killed, and since they are both lean, bald, white men, that enables him to get on the ship with the people behind the murder, including the ship’s Dutch captain (Roland Moller as Marko).

A last-minute substitute has been added to the crew (Annabelle Wallis). She and Cole independently discover that the ship is transporting people who have been captured to be turned over to enslavers. Most of the rest of the film is different set-ups for fight scenes, which are excellent. Adrian Lester shows some gravitas as a canny US Navy captain who receives the brief distress call. A final scene veers from retribution into vigilantism, which might leave a sour tone. But no one is there for gravitas, canniness, or the fine points of restorative justice; just seeing Statham take on lots of scary bad guys, which he still does very well.

Parents should know that this is a very violent film with many bloody and graphic fight scenes and many characters injured and killed. Characters use strong language.

Family discussion: What will Cole do next? What will Kameron do next?

If you like this, try: “The Transporter” and “Hobbs and Shaw”