Monthly Archives: February 2022

Fight! Megaman X Review

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Time for a very quick oneshot Megaman X manga. This one’s definitely blasting through the first game at record speeds as it adapts the whole game in under 18 pages. You have to admit that this is quite the impressive feat right? Well, I definitely had fun with it and the art is pretty solid. It’s like a fun little minicomic and since it will take less than 5 minutes to read, why not check it out right?

The basic plot is that Sigma has gone crazy for some reason and launched a war on the world. Mega Man X is the only fighter who can hope to stop him. (Zero doesn’t appear in this story) So Megaman gets to work and makes short work out of each enemy until he also takes Sigma down in a single blow. It turns out that Megaman truly is the ultimate fighter out of all reploids and everyone should fear his abilities. The narrator says that the battles are not over but with Sigma out of the way I think it’s safe to say that they are. Who would dare to rise up against Megaman?

I’m guessing the author is a fan of the fire maverick because he’s the only one who actually beat Megaman the first time. It was good to see that not just everyone would fall to Megaman without a fight. These guys are here to win after all and are used to being the strongest in the land. It goes without saying that they just wouldn’t roll over like this. There’s no time for more than a quick one panel fight for most of the mavericks but it’s still nice to see one put up a fight.

As mentioned, the art is pretty good here too. The pages are very clear and the character designs are on point. You certainly can’t go wrong there and it makes this even easier to read. It works well as a quick cliffnotes version of the first adventure too in case you want to jump right into Megaman X2. You could just read this and you’ll have covered the plot of the first game. Sure, some characters are cut out but you get the general idea which is the important thing.

There’s only so much I can say about 16-18 pages though so this will be a fairly quick review. As a parting note, the story does remind you why the Megaman X series is such a great concept right out of the jump. A future in which mavericks fight using special abilities with the world at stake just sounds awesome no matter how you say it. This story is certainly no exception to this, not by a longshot.

Overall, This is a fun story. There’s a lot you can do with one shots as it gives artists time to practice or you can just see a nice little story with the characters. I’m surprised the story wasn’t more of an original adventure or something but the first game’s plot has aged well so it’ll always end up being fun to read about. I’ve got some more oneshot stories coming up so get ready for those. We’ll see if they’re as solid as this one. As long as Megaman X is taking names I expect we’ll be in good hands though.

Overall 7/10

The Lost Valentine Review

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The Lost Valentine is a very emotional story about how war can certainly turn a romance tragic very quickly. The movie deals with the aftermath of that and makes for a solid emotional story. I wouldn’t say it’s a great one but it should keep your attention from start to finish. There’s also some good detective work at play here so the plot moves quite actively.

The movie starts by introducing us to Caroline whose husband went missing during the war and was presumed dead. Since this wasn’t official, Caroline would go to the train station where they promised they would meet every year on Valentine’s. She would sit there all day and then go home. Rinse and repeat for decades. Well, one channel thinks they can get a good pay day out of this so reporter Susan is put onto the case. Her mission is to get the full story from Caroline. Susan’s not thrilled about this since she finds it boring and has a very bad first impression with Caroline’s grandson as a result. Can she turn this around and get the story or is that game over?

In a lot of ways the film could have been over after the first few minutes when Susan was badmouthing Caroline in front of Lucas. Now, they weren’t direct insults to her but she was criticizing the story and saying that it wasn’t very important. If I’m Lucas I’d shut the whole thing down right there. Hard to forget about insults like that. While of course we learn that Susan ends up finding the whole story very moving and gets into it, if you’re Lucas you would probably have a lot of doubts for a long while. Not until she actually starts doing some detective work would I think that her heart is into this.

Susan’s definitely crafty about how she gets in to get the story though. She basically forces her way into the house and from there it would be awkward for Lucas to throw her out. So you have to give Susan some points there and of course her character arc does end up working out positively. I thought it was a bit iffy how she ran back to her day job once Lucas got upset at her but since she didn’t give up on the assignment, I didn’t dock any major points off of her. Ultimately she may have been judgmental at the beginning but got to be a good character by the end.

As for Lucas, well he’s a solid character as well. He does well in his physical therapy job and even had the time to write a book as well. Unfortunately he is the kind of guy who reads too much into a situation and quickly jumps to the wrong conclusions. A romance drama like this will always have that one big misunderstanding moment, but this one felt very forced. (Okay, most of them feel forced) Lucas decides to be rather rude to her as a result which shows that he wasn’t as cool with being “just friends” as he should have been. Additionally, lets say that it wasn’t a misunderstanding…she had hinted that she was together with someone earlier. Even his parents and grandmother knew that but told him to go over to try and win her over. So what’s with the big personality shift here? I thought he was way off base.

With Susan just coming off another relationship so this was a rebound and Lucas being like this, I can tell you that I was not a big fan of this romance. It just didn’t end up working well for me at all. Since it’s a big focus that does hurt the film to an extent. The romance with Caroline was a lot better as she never rebounded and stayed loyal with visiting the train station all these years. She’s definitely the kind of person you’d want to be friends with. Caroline does a lot of volunteering in her spare time as well and just ends up being a very solid character. Her husband was also great as we see him in the flashbacks saving various characters. There were several times where he could have escaped and saved himself but each time he took the high road and did what he could to keep everyone safe. Now that’s what I call drive and determination!

As always you can count on the friends of the main characters to give the worst possible advice at all times though. This is pretty much a staple for the friends to be bad in romances though. You’ve got Susan’s friends telling her to just marry the guy she’s not super interested in because he’s a good guy. I mean…it’s nice that they’re trying to be supportive but you never want to “settle” on someone just because they’re not bad. I don’t think that’s a good way to build a long term relationship. Then you have Lucas’ parents and Caroline saying it doesn’t matter if Susan already has a boyfriend, just assume he’s not the right one and try to win her over. I suppose the game’s not over until she’s married but if someone’s taken then I’d say 9 times out of 10 it’s time to move on and think about someone else. Or just be okay on your own, you can still be quite content that way.

Overall, The Lost Valentine is a good film. I wasn’t a fan of the main romance but the writing is still good and the characters are reasonable. The movie is fairly short so you have to move through things at a fairly rapid pace. That does mean that the romance doesn’t have a lot of time to develop but at the same time you don’t want things to drag out either. I’d say the balance was good enough and you do feel happy for Caroline to have some closure at the end. She had definitely gone through a lot so this way she got to have some happy memories at the end. The flashbacks were also good to give the story more depth, honestly that may have even made for a stronger film if we had stayed in the past the whole time. Would have been a more tragic ending though.

Overall 6/10

Deangelo Vickers vs Barney Ross

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This is a tribute to the third Expendables film. While Barney did not look nearly as good as he did in the first two movies, I would still say that he could take down Vickers here. Deangelo may have done a decent job of leading the team when it came time to make sales in The Office, he has no real weapons at the ready. As a result he would get absolutely crushed here as Barney will not be holding back. Not this time, Barney’s going for the win! Barney Ross wins.

Barney Ross vs Luffy

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This is a tribute to the Episode of Alabasta. Barney may be good with guns but those won’t be very useful against Luffy. In fact, no weapon that Barney has will be of any use here because Luffy’s haki will absolutely be enough to block every move. There’s just no defeating a fighter this powerful and Barney’s about to learn that the hard way. Good luck trying to defeat the man who will become King of the Pirates! Luffy wins.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Review

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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is definitely a really fun film about how a guy is given a lot of money and has to quickly decide how to live his life. It’s always hard to know what to do when you get enough money to last for the rest of your life. My advice is to go by yourself a meal at McDonalds with a cookie and then take that time to think it over. Don’t try to consider everything at once and having a good old fashioned meal will be just the trick to get you in the right frame of mind. With a satisfying ending and a good length to allow for every plot to get a lot of screen time, this film really hits all of the right notes.

The movie starts with Deeds’ rich relative dying so the attorney Cedar and his subordinate Cobb show up to the small town where Deeds lives to let him now what’s up. The opening scenes start off with the right tone as an old man gives them the runaround for a while. Eventually they find Deeds and give him the money but Deeds has to head to New York for it. Once there, everyone wants a piece of his money. You have “relatives” showing up to claim their piece of the pie, random people asking him to join their clubs and pay off debts, etc.

The newspapers want some scandals after him too so the editor sends in his big gun: Louise. If there’s any way to get a story out of Deeds then she can do it. She will have to use a lot of deceptions and wits to get to him. Can she succeed? Deeds better watch out because romance has been the downfall for many main characters in these films and it doesn’t help that Deeds tends to create a lot of attention on his own by picking fights.

The whole situation is tough on Deeds in some respects while easy in others. You may initially expect him to get suckered at every turn but he has a lot of good business sense and puts all of the scams in their place. It was nice to see him talk back to everyone and not just give his money away. Usually it seems like the main character isn’t quite so aware of what is going on so that was a really nice change of pace. I immediately gained a whole lot of respect for that guy. With that out of the way he could actually enjoy his riches a little. Deeds never starts being wasteful or anything like that though.

The tragic part for him is that he does want to help out and make this a better place but everyone he meets tends to be mean and cynical. Even Louise who appears to be nice is stringing him along the whole time even if he doesn’t know it. It takes a while for him to meet really nice people and they are always outnumbered. I was expecting him to start going into charity a little sooner though. It seemed like the natural next step for him so I was surprised when that didn’t happen for a while. You do have to be careful how you give your money away of course but I feel like he didn’t really think about this until the end.

Not that you should be expected to just give your money away but he seemed like someone who would probably be supporting a lot of local charities right from the jump. Perhaps he would have started sooner if he wasn’t kept busy by all of the moochers. By the end he’s certainly doing his best. The only thing I disagreed with him on was staying quiet in court. It’s not just his life on the line there after all, but all of the people he was helping as well. If he were to lose then they all would so I would have liked him to have been a little more firm there.

Ultimately the editor of the magazine comes in clutch near the end. I definitely liked that guy, not saying he’s super heroic or anything but he does seem to have a conscience which is something that the other characters mostly lacked. Even Louise was definitely not the nicest person as she wrote all kinds of mean things about Deeds. It’s hard to say she really turned over a new leaf by the end because she fell for Deeds. Does that not imply that she would have kept on going if she didn’t end up falling in love with him? Because that was my takeaway there. I don’t think that was the film’s implication per say, but she has been in the game for a long time and this was the first time she had any issues with her deceptions so I think it works if you put the pieces together.

As for Cedar, well he’s a sketchy character from the start. Someone who will be a great asset as long as your goals align but he will betray you without a second thought. Cobb was really the standout kind of guy you want on your side because he was actually loyal. He’s not the kind of guy who will betray you and he did his best to help Deeds out. Not always an easy job but he always gets it done. The guy also doesn’t act with any pretenses and just calls it like he sees it.

Now the conclusion was always going to be the deciding factor on just how good this film was. Fortunately it is really good so as a result I would give the whole film a big thumbs up. We have a big court case to end things off where every character gets to appear. It was a nice way to wrap all of the threads in as every scene suddenly became important. The random scene where Deeds got drunk, the people he pushed out of his house, etc. Every act he did, both good and bad would reappear at the end of the film. SO it made the court case feel really grand and I thought the trial was handled really well. The characters were all reasonable and it was fun seeing the evidence pile up as you wondered how Deeds would find a way to make a comeback here.

Overall, This was a fun film. Deeds also makes for a solid main character. I think he did let his guard down a little too easily though like getting super drunk and immediately talking about his past with Louise though. The big rule for conversations like this is to always assume that whatever you tell someone will be public knowledge in a moment. Of course you won’t expect it to quite go into the newspaper but all the same you’d think he would be a little more careful. Things worked out by the end though and it was also a practical look at how you can change so many other lives once you become rich. Whether you choose to do so or not is another matter entirely. The writing is strong throughout and so I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Overall 8/10

One Piece The Movie: Episode of Alabasta: The Desert Princess and the Pirates Review

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Alabasta’s definitely one of the most well known One Piece arcs. For those who don’t answer with Arlong Park, this is the arc where people would say One Piece really got good. We got the first big villain group with a ton of memorable fighters and everyone got some action. I do think it’s an arc that has aged well but one that has been long since surpassed by adventures like Water Seven, Marineford, and Wano. Still, it’ a pretty solid adventure although I would say it’s weaker than the show version in just about every way so that’s the version that you would want to watch instead.

The film starts off with Princess Vivi as a child riding Pell throughout the kingdom of Alabasta. Things were really good back then. She then wakes up in the present aboard the Going Merry. She is with a band of pirates known as the Strawhats and a mysterious guy appears who can assume the form of anyone he has shapeshifted into before. He can add new people by touching their face. One of the faces he used was of King Cobra, Vivi’s father. She is worried that Alabasta is in danger so the crew sets a course for the kingdom immediately. She as not wrong, the terrorist known as Crocodile has set his sights on the land. Can the Strawhats stop him?

Now from the jump you’re assuming that the movie can’t possibly adapt a whole arc in one movie so some concessions are going to have to be made. That’s normal but at the same time it feels like the fights are what loses out most of the time. Some of the fights are practically off screen or we just see the end of them. Take the iconic Zoro vs Mr. 1 fight. It’s so short here that you’re barely able to get into it. I think the film could have focused on more of that and instead cut out the Robin flashback and some of the Alabasta flashbacks. If you’re reliving the arc then odds are that you’re doing so for the fights right?

Each fight just feels so short and you wish they could have been extended more. Even the Luffy vs Crocodile fights are pretty short when you really think about it. Of course they do get a bit more length to them compared to the others though. Things move at a very fast pace at least, you certainly can’t say that the story was dragging or anything like that. While I wish the fights were longer, it is still impressive that the movie went all the way to the end though.

There’s just no reason to choose this over actually watching the anime itself unless you desperately need to save a ton of time. In that sense this could be better as a rewatch or refresher for fans but if you’re a big enough fan to be revisiting an arc then you’ll probably just be watching the episodes again. Considering that this is a movie I kind of expected the animation to be better but I wouldn’t even say that is very impressive. Maybe it’s slightly better than the show?….I may not even go that far.

The animation style seems a bit different like it’s going for the more stretchy style like in Naruto vs Pain except that was stretchy so you could have terrifically fast fight scenes with a lot of energy. You didn’t really have that here so then if the fight’s going to be slower you may as well go with a more detailed style and that would be for the best. I did like the sound effects used when punching the sand though. That part did feel grander than usual.

I feel as though the film just wasn’t particularly high budget though. Maybe that’s why they had to rely on some extra CGI shots and a ton of still shots like this was a manga. Unfortunately those are also reused which ends up hurting the visual experience. So….the visuals didn’t quite live up to what this could have been which is what I’m getting at here. The soundtrack is fun enough though, has that classic One Piece feel to it for sure.

For newcomers it is probably less friendly to jump into than films like One Piece Gold or Strong World but I guess you just have to get on board and try to follow along with what’s going on. The story of Alabasta still hits right. It was a smart plan of Crocodile’s to use shapeshifting to get the country to fight amongst themselves. It certainly would have worked really easily if not for Luffy and the gang stepping in. For once I can’t even blame the civilians because the plan was quite thorough even including whole camps and villages being completely wiped out.

Crocodile works as a very solid villain. He’s smart enough to know when someone is trying to betray him and is also powerful enough to put a stop to that right away. Even now he is one of the more impressive fighters and the ability to turn into sand is really good. Of course haki would eventually wipe out that advantage but at this point in the story it really made him someone who could not go down very easily. His fights with Luffy were definitely a blast.

His group really gets no time to develop though. You won’t find any of them to be particularly memorable as they are taken down in short order. Bon Clay has the biggest role by far since he is the one who really jump starts the adventure by showing up and using his shapeshifting. It’s a good ability to have but mostly in non combat scenarios. Once you’re in a fight though then you need to have something else. Fortunately he does have his kicking abilities which are apparently good enough to even give Sanji a run for his money.

As for the crew, well they show up to take names. Zoro even looks like the Captain when the film first starts as he is in the front and all. He looks very capable throughout the movie and wins his fight with dignity so I’m reminded why he is my favorite Strawhat. Sanji definitely takes his share of Ls here like letting Bon Clay manipulate him during the fight but ultimately comes through for the team. Usopp has one of his best roles here since there’s not a lot of time for his comedic moments with how fast everything is moving. As a result he gets to tank one of the more painful looking hits and keeps on going.

You get the feeling that Usopp isn’t quite as powerful as some of the others but he certainly looks brave here. He came through when it counted. Chopper doesn’t get to do much but seems like a nice support. Nami even wins her fight 1 on 1 which was really critical. She’s not usually someone you have on the front lines so that was really impressive. As for Luffy, well he definitely loses quite a bit here even when everyone’s hopes are resting on him but he comes through in the end which is what counts. It was fun to see the film keep cutting away to everyone saying how Luffy was going to win while he was getting absolutely demolished in the fight.

Robin gets some foreshadowing here as we see a bit of her past but the film doesn’t really end up finishing that plot. Of course that’s what happens when your film just adapts one story arc in the middle of an ongoing. To be fair, it wouldn’t feel like a cliffhanger or anything with how the film ends. On that I can at least say that the film does have a true ending here.

Overall, Episode of Alabasta is a good film, but a weak adaption. I don’t think it’s impossible to adapt the arc into a movie effectively but you need to change up the pacing a bit. The fights absolutely needed to be longer to have really done the story justice. I also think that as a movie this film should have looked a lot better. Mainly the film’s only weaknesses are from when you compare it to the show though. If I saw this as a big One Piece movie in a universe where Alabasta did not exist in the manga, that would probably help it. It’s why I still say it’s a pretty good movie. You’ll have fun with it and it’s a nice way to see the adventure from another angle but of course you’re better off watching the show version so you get all the details.

Overall 7/10

Tender Mercies Review

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Tender Mercies is definitely a film that was better than I expected it to be. The drama isn’t overblown, the characters are realistic, and it’s a movie that doesn’t fumble the bag at the end. You’ll be treated to a complete picture here and that’s always good to see. The movie doesn’t make any big mistakes or anything like that and just makes for a consistent ride from start to finish.

The movie starts by introducing us to Rosa who is managing a gas station operation on her own. Her husband died a long time ago and so she raises her son, Sonny on her own. Well, one day a guy by the name of Mac shows up. He’s broke and has nowhere to go so she hires him on as an assistant. He gradually gives up his drinking problem and marries her. Things are going well but then she discovers that he used to be a really big song writer and now his ex-wife and daughter are nearby. Can Mac really stay away from his old career or is he about to get dragged back in?

At first you figure the movie will go through the usual motions. Mac will end up cheating on Rosa, he’ll fall back into his drinking habits, and then only by the end of the film will he realize that he did all of the wrong things. Well, none of that happens in the movie. It ends up being a much more wholesome experience than you might have suspected at first. The whole thing ends up being a lot more on the pleasant side so while it is fairly low key, you have a good time watching it.

That’s not to say Rosa and Mac don’t have their disagreements but things never get ugly. She takes the whole twist about him being a musician really well. Then you have the group of teenage fans who show up to ask Mac for advice. He doesn’t yell at them to go away, they don’t end up turning out to be crooks or anything like that. It’s just a normal exchange between the characters and then they head off. Everyone appears to be rather decent for the most part.

So in the end I liked Mac. I do think the whole romance angle is a bit weak though. Even with all of the quick time skips the whole thing feels too fast. It’s also always a tricky dynamic to marry your employer like that. It all worked out in the end of course but that was the weakest part of the film and you probably could have done without it. Then you have Rosa who did a good job in raising Sonny. She has a good work ethic and never really complains during the movie. She does her best at all times and while she may not care for Mac’s old family all that much, she still acts nice enough in the end when it counts.

As for Sonny, well I’m not a big fan of the kids in these films but he wasn’t too bad. He seemed a little more mature than most at the very least. He was also able to connect with Mac rather quickly which helped him transition into this lifestyle a lot easier than he could have otherwise. Sonny was also ready to take down the bullies when they got too aggressive. Sonny doesn’t play around with that kind of thing.

For Mac’s old family, well you’ve got his ex-wife Dixie who does not look very good here. The only allowance I’ll grant her here is that apparently Mac was pretty bad back in the day as well. Apparently he even tried to murder her once and so she completely despises him. It’s clear that she never ended up forgiving him. Since we don’t see too much into the past it’s hard to really gauge just how bad the whole situation is. So while I didn’t like Dixie, I cut her a bit of slack there.

Then there’s the daughter Sue Ann and she seems nice enough. She ultimately did set out to meet Mac after all these years had passed. Her judgment may not have been the greatest but she seemed like a nice enough person. Too bad things didn’t go very well for her. Finally you have Harry who used to be Mac’s agent but just isn’t super helpful anymore. He’s very dismissive of Mac’s song until he figures that he can get some money out of it. That’s when you see his true colors come out. He makes for an entertaining character but not someone you really want to have in your corner.

Then you have the young band who look to Mac for guidance. They weren’t bad either. I liked their determination here. Apparently they all work multiple jobs in order to have enough time and money to pursue their passion in music. They all give this 100% of their time and it has paid off to an extent. Things start to go well for them here too.

So the main reason why this movie is good is that it’s a rare look at how a lot of people are good. It seems like nowadays the movies always take a very jaded view on humanity where everyone has an angle or is a villain deep down. The characters here may not be saints but for the most part they’re all nice and doing their best to hang in there. Mac certainly had his issues but he overcame them and did the right thing. Rosa works hard in her job and keep a happy personality despite that. The gas station has a lot of visitors but none of them turn out to be thieves or crooks. It’s just a nice change of pace to have everything go fairly well.

The film isn’t without its drama and tragedies though. Bad things do happen to the cast here and they grieve appropriately. It’s not a sad film by any means but there are sad scenes. Still, you never get the feeling that the film is going to be very mean spirited after it’s been on for a while. At first you may suspect that bad things will happen because you’re just so used to it but when the film resists those urges you can’t help but feel like it really ended up being a whole lot better than it could have been.

Overall, Tender Mercies is a good film. You could say that a good reason for this is in what it doesn’t do as opposed to what it does accomplish. Either way, it’s a drama film with a lot of restraint and a film that will leave you feeling good after it’s all over. I certainly enjoyed the music as well. The lyrical songs may not be my thing but the background music is all very fitting the whole time. If you’re up for a rather low key film with a lot of emotional moments then this is the one to check out.

Overall 7/10

The Expendables 3 Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

We have made it to the final Expendables film so far. 3 is a solid title and still beats the first although I wouldn’t say it is quite able to match up to the second film. That one ended up being just a little too good in the end. Still, if you want to see some solid action scenes and a pretty good blend of characters then you have come to the right place. The whole thing feels like it’s over quickly because of how much action is here.

The movie starts with the Expendables going on another mission and clearing it as always. They were able to rescue one of their older members named Doctor Death. Still, it was a tougher one than it would have been and one of their members gets injured. Barney decides to call the whole thing off and tells the Expendables to each go their own way. Age is the official reason for why he calls this off but we know the truth, it’s because the latest villain has him spooked. Conrad is the big bad this time and he used to be one of the most deadly Expendables of all time. Barney knows that the others will be in serious trouble so instead he decides to hire a bunch of newbies. I find it interesting that for the first time the team lives up to the name. These guys all do appear to be truly expendable in Barney’s eyes. Can they really handle this?

Expenedables 3 is definitely not the kind of film that’s going to throw a lot of twists and turns at you. From the moment he starts recruiting you can tell how this is all going to go. It might be because of that but the actual recruitment saga isn’t quite as hype as it usually is. I tend to really enjoy seeing each character get picked up and added to the team but it was hard to take most of them seriously. They just don’t see all that powerful compared to the old guard. I think if you wanted to get this across then you would have had to bring in a bunch of big names for the new team.

Matt Damon, Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, Daniel Craig, etc. If you brought those guys in as the replacement squad then this would have been very interesting. Of course I’m not sure if they would love these roles but then you would have to actually stop and wonder if these guys would end up beating the older fighters. I think it would have taken the film to the next level. Still, I’ll give it props for being a more ambitious plot. It’s almost like you have two different movies here as each team gets their share. Of course if you’re a big fan of Barney’s crew you may be a bit disappointed since they don’t get to do as much here.

Church is gone but now you’ve got a guy named Max instead as the government guy who hands out the missions. He’s not quite as fun as Church but he can still help out in the field as needed. I like how nonchalant he is about the whole thing, Max has a lot of confidence here. Then you also have Trench appearing although his role is also fairly brief here. He gets some good shots in of course but that’s about it. I still like the rivalry dynamic he has but I feel like the end of his plot could have been longer. When Max assembles a team to stop Barney since the guy is going rogue, you expect some fun battles with team against team but they don’t show up until the climax and just end up helping out so it felt like a bait and switch. Yin’s role is also really small once again so he misses out.

One thing this film did better than the last two was in having the best villain though. Conrad is considerably better than the older villains as he has skills on par with the main characters and can hold his own verbally. There’s a nice scene where he complains about how all of the minions teaming up aren’t doing anything so he decides to show them how to change that. He knocks off two of them in the blink of an eye which was effective. He’s got a very sarcastic kind of demeanor too which works well. You can tell that the guy is super confident about everything that he does. It’s also fair to say that he was fairly deranged from the start to turning evil was always going to happen there.

As always Barney is a fun main character but I did disagree with most of his decisions here. Putting together a team just to presumably have them get wiped out didn’t make a whole lot of sense. If your enemy is the strongest one ever then that’s absolutely when you need your old team at the ready. They all really wanted to help too so it’s not like he was going to have to twist any arms. Just accept the help and keep it moving. That would have absolutely been the right thing to do here. When it comes time to fight then Barney is able to do what he does best and take everyone out of course.

For the old characters, they’re about the same as always. They’re always fun characters and Christmas is the guy who really has Barney’s back. He has a rivalry with Doctor Death since they’re both knife throwers. I was glad with how that plot line ended too and it made for a good way to close the film out. Doctor Death may suffer the most from the original team getting sidelined for most of the movie since this would have been his big chance to get a big role. At least we do see that the guy has not lost any of his skills from the action scenes that we do get though.

As to the new team, well there’s not a whole lot of time to get used to them. You’ve got the tough girl who is always saying how she doesn’t like men because they’re all awful. You’ve got the quick talker who can never be silent but comes through when the team is in a pinch. There’s the tech genius who knows how to handle a more modern operation and finally you have the tough guy who seems to be the leader of the group even when Barney’s around. I think this group could absolutely hold their own film but you just can’t compare them against the originals. They lose in just about every category and it’s hard to forget about the original guys since they’re still here. There’s a scene where the originals come in to intimidate the new ones. To their credit, the new guys don’t back down but you can’t help thinking that they would get absolutely destroyed in a fight.

Overall, The Expendables 3 is a pretty good film but it almost tries to tackle too much. The plot itself is also rather basic. If you just tell someone that this is a revenge film then that’s all you need to know. At the end of the day Barney just wants to take this guy out and fast. The actual villain plans and everything are really secondary. I think a better way to do this would be to have had the rest of the team get captured or something and that forces Barney to get a new team but that would be embarrassing for them. Either way the film’s just a lot of fun though and really breezes y.

Overall 7/10

The Expendables 2 Review

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This review is of the edited TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

Expendables 2 definitely does a good job of taking all the good things from Expendables 1 and then moving that over to the next level. I’d say it’s the better film in just about every area which is really impressive right out of the jump. It’s not every day that you find a film which can do this. The movie is long so everyone has their chance to do something and you won’t have any big complaints by the end.

The movie starts with Barney and the gang pulling off yet another mission with the greatest of ease. These guys are a tough unit to beat after all. Especially now that Gunner’s back with the group and not going crazy. They even have a new member in Billy who has proven to be useful. Billy wants out though and says that the next mission will be his last. He’s not wrong and gets murdered by the new villains on the block. Church effectively forced Barney into this mission so the guy’s upset but he also just wants to avenge Billy no matter what anyone says.

The only lead is the researcher they rescued during this mission, Maggie. She explains that the villains have a box containing a computer with the locations of a bunch of Plutonium. The heroes are going to have to try and find a way to get one step ahead of these guys and then take the win. They’re outnumbered and outgunned, but never out fought so Barney and the gang are ready to win. Can they pull this off?

In the last movie it’s fair to call it the Barney and Christmas show since the rest of the team really didn’t do much of anything until the end. Well, this film makes sure to change that so it feels like a group effort right from the jump. I think that was a good idea because even though I’m a big fan of the main two, I can see how it would be disappointing if you were waiting for the others. The only exception to this is Yin who leaves the team early on and never returns.

The first big improvement here is that Church and Trench actually get onto the front lines here. After all their tough talk, it’s good to see them back it up. If you had any doubts before, you don’t need to have them now because both characters are absolutely locked and loaded here. They aren’t holding back and have a lot of great banter between them. Using each others catchphrases was a fun little thing to do and they really mow down a ton of enemies. One scene even involves dropping a gun under the car they’re driving so the other guy can pick it up. Certainly not something that’s easy to do.

Expendables 2 is very much a film where everyone gets their hype and that works out well. As always Barney makes for a very solid main character as well. He doesn’t back down to anyone and just keeps on fighting. I feel like there was even a Rocky reference with the punch combo he landed on the villain. It was probably the most impressive exchange he had in the whole film. The final fight also lives up to the hype of being the last battle and it’s why you always want to have a strong enemy to go up against.

Lee does well in his role too and takes on the other big villain here. He’s still the best guy Barney’s got on the squad and someone he can always count on. I like his confidence and I dare say Lee has more attitude than the rest of the fighters. That’s saying something since each of the heroes has quite a bit of attitude up their sleeve. Lee just outshines them all when it comes down to it.

I’m still not a big fan of Gunner though. I think it’s just hard to come back from what he did in the first film. Being a full on traitor is not just a simple mistake. It’s a huge deal if you ask me. Can’t really get around that personally. Toll and Hale still don’t do much but they have bigger roles than last time so it’s certainly a start. Then you have the new member Billy but he doesn’t last very long. Also, you seriously know exactly how things are going to go for him the instant that he says this is his final mission. You don’t walk away from that.

As for Maggie, she looks good here. She knows how to defend herself and can fire off the gun as needed so she doesn’t hold the team back. Barney was worried about this as the beginning but she was able to put his fears to rest which is good. Then you have the latest guest star Booker. He gets two scenes here that are both pivotal. The guy is clearly an expert fighter and knows how to defend himself even without a team. The fact that he can do so well solo is really impressive and shows why he is not someone that you want to mess with.

As for the villains, they’re an upgrade over the first film’s guys. Both of the main ones can fight. First you have Hector who is the right hand man of the villain leader. The guy is a good fighter and keeps it close with Christmas. This makes for a satisfying end to the fight and the guy was certainly evil but worked well in the role. Meanwhile the main villain was also fun. He could certainly fight really well and was definitely ruthless the whole time. Not quite on the level where I’d call him a really memorable villain or anything but he’s definitely approaching that point.

Expendables 2 really makes sure that you’re at the edge of your seat throughout the film. The action is nonstop and the writing is really good. Every character here is a big shot and talks tough in every scene. That makes for a lot of good banter and the movie is able to balance it out well so that everyone gets their hype. If you’re a villain then you do not want to mess with any of these guys or you end up paying for it. The movie never deviates from the kind of experience you think you’re going to get here and that’s not a bad thing. This isn’t the kind of film to have a lot of twists and everything but to just give you a lot of great action scenes.

I did have just one issue with this one though. In the first film you have the villains taking people hostage and I was glad when the heroes just fired anyway to take the villains out first. In a hostage situation that is the right response in most situations. You don’t just drop your guns because then the villains can quickly shoot you and then shoot the hostage anyway. I don’t see any scenario where dropping your gun is the right option. In this film they lost that character development and dropped their guns…so the villain murdered the hostage. It reminds you of how futile that whole thing was. So the big lesson here is if someone tells you to drop your gun, you’re better off going out in a blaze of glory than actually dropping it. It’s similar to the whole “Don’t get in the car” when the guy with a gun tells you to or anything like that. The situation will only grow worse and worse if you follow those orders to better to make a break for it and at least have a chance to survive.

Overall, Expendables 2 was definitely great. I’d certainly recommend it. I think it’ll be very hard for any film to top this one with the amount of big name action stars running around and taking names. Even though there is a third film, this is the one that you would want to consider the peak. The others just aren’t quite ready to be at this one’s level just yet. If you like action and want to see a lot of characters sizing each other up and getting ready for battle, then this is the title for you!

Overall 8/10

Kano vs Valkyrie

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Suggested by iKnowledge Valkyrie is a strong fighter who has good sword skills and has super strength as well. It wouldn’t be very easy to take her down for the count. Kano has super strength of his own and a solid eye blast but I don’t think any of that would be quite enough to take her out. She still has the overall advantage in combat and he’s just not quick enough to turn the tables here. Valkyrie wins.