Category Archives: 4 Star Movies

Enter the Dragon 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

Enter The Dragon is a pretty interesting movie. Right away you’ll be reminded of Mortal Kombat as you’re watching through it. From the tournament to the island itself, it just feels like that one although of course the Mortal Kombat original film is a living legend so this one isn’t quite up to par there. This one definitely gets more violent and incorporates a bunch of rather dark elements. It may pale next to MK but it does deliver on some big fights.

The movie starts off with an agent approaching Lee with a mission. He wants Lee to go to a private island and enter a tournament run by the villainous Han. Han is effectively the leader of an underground criminal enterprise. The issue is that there is no proof of him actually doing any wrongdoing. Effectively it’s an open secret but the guy is technically protected. No weapons are allowed on the island either so your best chance is to be a living weapon.

Lee is one of the most powerful fighters in his Dojo and that is why he has been selected. The leader of the dojo also encourages Lee to go because Han was originally trained here and has brought disgrace to them all. Lee is still reluctant but then the agent takes out his trump card. Han is directly responsible for the death of Lee’s sister. Han ordered a few of his men to take her down and this is something Lee did not know about previously. He agrees to go and sets off to murder them all.

Now while this is a tournament film you don’t actually see any big battles for a while. Most of the film is actually for set up as we meet the other fighters. Each fighter has a backstory. You have Roper who loves gambling but is now super in debt. He needs to win this tournament so he gets a lot of cash again. Then you have Williams who got into a lot of trouble back home and this can help him jump start a new identity. They all have reasons for winning but of course Lee’s is the most personal.

It’s not as widespread with characters as Mortal Kombat though as anyone outside of these main 3 are definitely expendable. The movie does make sure to show that they are all quite skilled in their own right although I don’t think there is ever any doubt that Lee would defeat the other two. Lee is very impressive in the battles so it’s worth the wait once you get to that section. He’s also the most likable member of the main 3. He takes the whole situation very seriously.

I wasn’t a big fan of the other two but they’re okay. Roper can fight well too and gets some quality moments. He isn’t as much of an active participant as Lee but he gets the job done when it’s time to move out. Williams also gets a big role and even has a chance to confront Han directly. That may not have been the best move for him but it was a good fight. Ultimately it’s just hard to beat someone who has a robotic part at the ready.

As for Han himself, well he’s your classic evil villain straight up. The guy runs every kind of criminal business imaginable and seems to enjoy his work quite a bit. The guy is also pretty bold to be hosting a tournament every year, he’s basically calling the other countries out by saying that they can’t touch him here. His robotic arm makes for a pretty good weapon in battle. Without it, it’s safe to say that Lee would dispatch him with ease. The guy has to use every trick in the book to even stand a chance here. Otherwise he would not have lasted for most of the film.

You’ve also got his right hand man O’Hara who can fight reasonably well. He had no shot against Lee though, that’s for sure. Especially once Lee knew that this guy was one of the main people responsible for the murder. The villains also had a fairly strong member of the police who is here to destroy anyone that doesn’t live up to Han’s expectations. There’s not a whole lot to him besides being tough though.

As mentioned, the film doesn’t hold back on the violence. Some times it isn’t quite on screen though as you can tell what is happening with the villain finishing someone off but it’s just out of camera. Other times you do see the blows so it depends, but the movie can be quite savage with these beat downs. This is definitely a martial arts film where anything goes which usually doesn’t bode well for the fighters.

The whole flashback with Lee’s sister is also pretty sad since there was really nobody to help her out. No matter how many blows she landed or opponents she knocked down, it felt like she was not making any headway through the mob. It’s good that she wasn’t captured since the film made it clear that this would not be a good fate. We see the villain’s operations as he gives Roper a tour and it’s quite disturbing.

These are all elements I’d rather have been cut from the film. Keep it focused on the fighting and how Han is someone that needs to be taken out. That’s about all you need. The other elements may serve to try and up the stakes but the film gets almost depressingly dark with how much Han has already gotten away with. The death scenes also look and feel extremely painful. It shows why you do not want to be on this island at all. We don’t need to know about people vanishing or turning up in the river the next day. With a villain mastermind you can already deduce that he is not exactly the nicest guy around so a lot of things are happening behind the scenes.

The film is at its best when it is focusing on Lee running around and finding out intel. The film does well as it gets that espionage angle on point. The music is also pretty solid. Quite a few solid tunes can be found here and they have a nice blend of different sounds. As mentioned, the fights are pretty great as well. You can expect some really solid hand to hand action here without a doubt. The writing is on point as well. I’m not sure if there are going to be a lot of lines you’ll remember specifically but they flow well.

Overall, Enter The Dragon is very much like watching another version of Mortal Kombat. Of course I would recommend watching that film instead but if you just want a lot of good fights these are almost as good. A hand to hand fight is always a lot of fun and the final battle here is quite long. Naturally Han has to use more tricks up his sleeve to make this close so expect a lot of trick mirrors. He knows that he needs these in order to keep things interesting but otherwise it would get dicey for him. The movie has too many things holding it back from being higher but if you don’t mind things getting rather dark and gritty then you can expect a solid martial arts title here.

Overall 4/10

Runaway Review

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Runaway is definitely a film with a pretty interesting premise. In some ways it’s like Mega Man as robots are now a part of normal every day life and there should be no risk since they can’t hurt humans. As always, that also means that if someone hacks them that’s pretty much game over. The fact that there’s even a task force to handle the “Runaways” (Robots which go berserk) is neat. It’s a universe that has a lot of potential even if the film wasn’t all that good.

The movie starts out with Jack, the best agent in the biz having to take on a new partner. Her name is Karen and she’s eager to do her part in fighting off this robots even as Jack says that nothing exciting ever happens here. Naturally this means that the next mission is about to get explosive. A droid goes crazy in a house so Jack has to take him out before the family is injured. That was a pretty effective opening scene to be honest, the robot was not playing around. It was probably more intense than any other scene in the film. Surprisingly the father of the household doesn’t seem very concerned about his family’s safety with the killer robot and dashes off. He ends up going out like a chump either way though and since he’s in on the upcoming scheme…the whole thing makes him look pretty bad.

Our main villain here is a guy named Luther who has basically found a way to remove the safety features out of the robots. He can now make any robot turn into a “Runaway” that wants to just cause a lot of havoc and destruction wherever it goes. Seems like he is doing this to get rich as there’s a big market for this kind of thing. Can Jack and Karen stop him before it’s too late?

Unfortunately I wouldn’t say that Jack is a great character. One thing that hurt him right off the bat is how he immediately gets distracted by one of the villains. (Jackie) When she shows up he quickly makes a fool out of himself as he tries to show off by beating a robot 1 on 1. He should be trying to be objective since he’s the best agent in the field but you wouldn’t really know it just based on watching this film. He gets quickly overwhelmed in most of his fights and spends a lot of them running away.

He’s scared of heights but that’s fine since it’s a normal fear. The romance in the movie is also on the weak side. Karen spends a lot of the film flirting with Jack but he doesn’t seem to notice and always ends up letting her down. He’s only interested in Jackie but once she is out of the picture he is very open to being with Karen. Seems a lot like this guy just switched sides at the drop of a hat eh? The romance is way too fast as a result.

Meanwhile Karen’s a decent heroine. She tends to stay on target more than Jack. I do think she takes it a little too personally when he invites her over to focus on work instead of the activities she was hoping for. It is reasonable to do some free overtime to make sure you’re ready for what is to come right? Karen does end up contributing a lot throughout the movie so she does well as the heroine.

As for the villains, you have to give Luther credit for coming up with some cool items. His robotic homing bullet was incredibly handy. It can follow you anywhere and moves at incredible speeds. If anything it’s so good that it’s hard to picture the guy losing. He should have kept on using these super bullets but once we approach the climax he doesn’t take full advantage of this. There’s not a whole lot to the villain besides the fact that he’s evil and wants to be rich but he’s decent enough. He won’t leave a grand impression on you but he gets the job done.

Some of the other villains in this film are not very smart at all though. Jackie definitely got herself into quite a few messes when helping this guy out. When you’ve got tech at this level it’s pretty hard to try and get away with lying to the villain. By the time she thinks about escaping it’s already far too late to be honest.

She’s better than the random henchman from near the beginning though. The guy wants Luther to give him a bigger share of the money than they agreed upon. This is already a huge red flag for any villain but Luther throws him a bone. He tells the henchman what a shame it is that another villain and his family were all wiped out. Pretty tragic eh? Luther’s basically hinting that the guy should drop this subject of a raise right now.

Instead the henchman grins and just says that it was terrible. He misses the obvious clue and doubles down on wanting the money right now or else. You can probably guess how the scene ends for him. I’ll never understand why some minions are so bold around the boss. They have a front row seat to how the guy is always murdering everybody so you’d think that they would have a little more tact in these circumstances.

The special effects are pretty solid here. I’d say that they have aged well. The robots look cool and there are some classic gun fights here. The homing bullet still makes for the most impressive looking scenes but the normal fights are decent as well. The film can get a little violent at times with how the machines blow up in people’s faces or with how Luther goes down. Some films really want to make sure you know that the main villain is down for the count. You certainly don’t have to second guess whether that was the case here or not.

What ends up holding this film back is mainly the characters. If you had a more interesting main character than Jack that would help a lot. The future aspect of the story is cool but at the same time you also wouldn’t say that the world appears to be all that futuristic for the most part. You could easily mistake this for the modern day and it wouldn’t really change anything. The film’s writing is also okay but you may not be very engaged here. The movie does have large chunks of time where there isn’t a whole lot happening.

Overall, Runaway has a pretty unique plot. It’s definitely an interesting look at what could happen if robots decide to take over the world as expected. I do think there are a lot of areas where the movie could improve though and add some more energy into the experience. That being said, the movie shows why you would probably need more than a quick task force. You would never be in enough places at once and all it takes is a quick virus chip to cause a lot of them to go haywire. It also seems inevitable that they would start looking into military applications for these bots. The moral of the movie is that you need to stay focused while going after these robots. Ultimately you can probably find a better sci-fi experience than this one though.

Overall 4/10

Overboard Review

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Whenever a main character has amnesia in an action series it can be pretty annoying since you have to wait a long time for them to gain their old abilities back. In a comedy angle it definitely works a lot better though. There’s a lot of interesting things you can do with the premise but unfortunately Overboard misses the boat on this one. It ends up being fairly mean spirited for a while so by the time the characters are all getting along it just feels a little too late.

The movie starts by introducing us to Joanna who is incredibly rich. She enjoys living the high society life on board her huge yacht. Joanna isn’t a very nice person to be around though and is rude to everybody. One day she hires Dean to put in a new bookcase but then complains about it after he’s done. She even goes as far as saying she will not pay for the job and throws him as well as his toolkit overboard. Dean’s upset but there’s no real way for him to get revenge.

Joanna has that covered though as she sets the roots for her own demise. Late at night she heads back upstairs to grab her ring but slips and falls off the boat. She suffers amnesia as a result and winds up in a hospital. Her husband realizes this but is rather happy at the outcome since he now has riches of his own he can squander in her name. So he heads off to have a bunch of affairs. Dean happens to see a news broadcast of Joanna in the hospital and figures he will have a little fun with this. His master plan is to convince Joanna that they are married and make her do all the chores. Once she has paid him back for the lost tools though this grunt work, he will tell her the truth. Will things really play out like that?

Now this is a comedic romance so this is all portrayed in a rather light manner. Dean’s pretty selfish here but at least you know he’s not a bad guy so things won’t get crazy. My main issue here is really just that he takes the whole prank too far. Is it really still a prank when he is actually making her do everything and making fun of her in the process? He has a blast making her feel pretty bad about her past throughout and doesn’t make her job any easier. Dean also likes to troll her about their sleeping arrangements.

It would have been nice to have seen Dean at least help out a bit. As Joanna gets used to the role and performs more tasks, it feels like Dean does less and less. When his kids are having a tough time in school and flunking, he refuses to help her out and even says it’s none of her business. So he comes close to messing up his own cover story several times and is actively neglecting the kids.

Now, we know Dean has a golf course to work on and has two jobs but you’d think he would at least listen to Joanna a bit. She turned their home from a dump into a rather respectable place. Joanna even got the kids to be a lot more reasonable compared to their opening appearances. The fact of the matter is that even as someone with no memory or practical experience (It’s made clear that she has never cooked or done common chores in her life) she was doing a much better job than Dean ever did. She was really trying hard and he wasn’t supportive.

As brainwashed Joanna, she was a pretty solid character. She did her share of whining but ultimately got the job done. In her normal self she’s certainly not a likable character but you don’t see her in that form for very long. As for Dean…yeah I didn’t like him. Even as a gag, manipulating someone who is currently suffering from amnesia is very sketchy to say the least. He lost more and more points for neglecting the kids as well. Dean even chooses the absolute worst time to try and come clean with Joanna about what’s going on here. It’s like he couldn’t really get a lot right. He’s a good carpenter but that’s about all I could say for him.

As for Billy, he’s Dean’s best friend and gets a decent sized role. He’s usually the voice of reason here and keeps Dean from making any mistakes that are too large to walk back from. I didn’t care for the guy though, he’s not exactly good about keeping his eyes to himself. The only thing I’ll give him credit for is at least not letting Dean self destruct in the climax but that’s about it.

The humor in the film can be decent at times but not nearly as much as you would expect with this being a comedy film. Quite a few of the jokes don’t land nearly as much and any scene with the kids can usually be more on the annoying side. They may get a little better by the end but have a lot of screen time before that as well. For a good supporting character, Joanna’s mother is at least determined. She was the only one who even seemed to care that the heroine was missing and did everything she could to track her down. We do see that the mom is as rude as Joanna (So we know where she got these traits) but I’ll give her credit for actually going on an adventure personally.

Really, fixing this film would be fairly easy. I think you just tone down the extent to which Dean is pranking her. You still keep in the premise of him tricking Joanna and going home with her since that’s the whole point of the movie but have him actually contribute. His cover story is that he wanted her to pay him back for the tools/installation so her doing the dishes, laundry and such is all helping pay this back.

Fine you keep that and then stick with it as the baseline. Dean should still be hanging out with his kids and at least not actively making a mess. Surely he can help out around the house as well. It would give a real reason for a romance to actually develop since they would get along better. Joanna may even like the home environment compared to the yacht and Dean would also see her true character shine through like when she defended the kids. That would make for a much more organic experience.

I haven’t touched on the romance but as you can probably guess, it really doesn’t work. It’s about as shallow as you would expect. Now, I can’t say it comes out of nowhere since they are together for a pretty long time throughout the course of the film but when Joanna inevitably gets her memories back you can’t possibly imagine this working out. Imagine finding out that someone’s been playing you for weeks/months? Nah, that’s definitely not going to end up being a romantic ending no matter how you slice it.

Overall, Overboard has some potential but ultimately doesn’t live up to it. The writing’s okay and the general idea is interesting but the execution should have been handled better. Make the characters more likable and then you’ve really got something here. Dean should have stuck to his goal of just trying to get a fair shake with the money he lost as opposed to just trolling her for the fun of it. He just takes the joke too far to the point where it isn’t a joke anymore. If you want a good comedic experience, you’ve got better options than this one.

Overall 4/10

Fast & Furious Review

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It’s time to continue to the Fast and the Furious series. This time we’re going away from Tokyo and back to the main plot with Dom. You’ll get your share of explosive race scenes here and a pretty good story. The film still holds itself back a bit with its reliance on fanservice but you will get some hype rock songs to keep you in the mix. I don’t think it quite tops Tokyo Drift’s soundtrack but that one still has one of the more iconic film end songs.

The movie starts out with Dom and the gang stealing some more gold as they take down a truck. He feels like it’s all getting a little too dangerous though and decides to put some distance between himself and the rest of the family. Things are quiet for a while but then his friend Letty is murdered by a gang lord. Everyone warns Dom that he shouldn’t pursue this since the guy is an incredibly infamous villain but that’s not going to stop him. You don’t mess with family after all.

Then you have the other main character Brian who has been put back on the task force. He has not had the best track record as of late so this might be his last shot. He barely captures someone after an extended chase scene but he gets some clues. At the same time as Dom, Brian finds out about a big race that is about to happen. The winner gets to transport some of the goods which means that it is the perfect time to find the gang lord. Only one person can win the race though so this is going to get close.

The movie does a good job of contrasting each of the characters’ theme music. In Tokyo Drift the main character had an electronic theme that fit in with the neon atmosphere of Tokyo. Here Dom always gets a fast paced Spanish song and Brian gets an intense rock tune. They’ve all got different ways of handling their business after all even if there are a good amount of similarities. The soundtrack is definitely on point and reaches the intense levels you would expect here.

Fast & Furious doesn’t hold back with the special effects either. It looks good throughout with a lot of fun cars involved. The action scenes are good and the pacing is on point so the film doesn’t drag out. If anything you just wish it could be longer at times since it’s all over in the blink of an eye. The first race doesn’t even happen til almost halfway into the film. It’s cool for setting up the action that is about to happen but it also means that you can’t expect too many different races. The climax has a lot of action though. There’s a lot you can do with cars and that’s really the appeal of these films. Whenever Dom uses the nitro I’m reminded of the various racing games for Gamecube.

On the flip side, as always the movie does tend to dwell on its own fanservice issues a little too much. The characters inevitably go to night clubs and such where everyone is acting really sketchy. One of the villains certainly has a pretty cringe worthy setup going for him before Brian brings in the cops. I could do without those scenes so we could focus more on the action. None of the romances are particularly impressive here either and could really be cut out without any issues.

As for the main characters, I still prefer Dom to Brian. Dom really gets the job done and feels like an experienced veteran when it comes to racing. While Brian did appear to have the edge in the race, Dom always makes up for this with his own creativity on the track. As he is in revenge mode a lot here, you can expect a lot of intense scenes with him breaking into places and taking people down. He’s certainly a strong fighter.

Brian is still a good character too though. He is pretty torn at the moment with his friends and also with upholding the law. His agency looks a lot less reasonable here though as they jump in before he gives the signal and one guy in particular was trying to give him a hard time. Brian didn’t let that slide though and I liked how he landed a pretty good combo right away. He’s no pushover.

Then you have some of the supporting characters like Mia who is still pretty upset at Brian for his choices when they first met. The guy did lead off with a lot of lies and deception so you can see why there would be some sore feelings there. She seems like a good character and will hopefully get to do more soon. Letty doesn’t get to appear for very long before things get dicey for her but she was not someone who would back down from a tough mission. She did her best to the end.

None of the villains are particularly memorable though. You have the guy who took out Letty and he acts as evil and petty as possible. There’s just nothing really making him stand out from any other gangster. You know that he is doomed the moment he messed with Dom’s family. There’s Gisele who seems rather high up in the villain ranks but she doesn’t really get to race here. Hopefully that’ll change soon.

Overall, Fast & Furious is a fun way to bring the cast back. I’d like the films to really start focusing more on the races and less on the nightclub kind of scenes. Once it does that I think we’ll be off to the races so to speak. I do think it beats the first two films in the series though. Does it beat Tokyo Drift? That’s a pretty close one but ultimately I would give it the narrow edge. Due in part to the end stinger but I also liked how much influence it took from the Need for Speed series. Dom is definitely a better main character than the last guy though. We’ll see how the series continues from here because I’m really looking forward to seeing when the series goes really off the rails with the stunts and everything.

Overall 4/10

Wicked Stepmother Review

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When you have a film about a wicked witch who joins the family you know that things are about to get rocky for the whole household. Unfortunately the witch tends to take everyone down pretty quickly so you don’t expect a lot of likable characters. I would say that’s true for this one as well. By the end of the film most of these characters just don’t stay strong. It’s a film that will give you a good amount of laughs but doesn’t overcome its negatives.

The movie starts with Jenny and Steve finally heading to her father’s home. He had been pretty quiet lately so they want to make sure he’s okay. Well, it turns out that he married an old lady named Miranda and she has completely changed him. Sam loves watching TV all day now and has stopped being a vegetarian so he could go back to meat. The two of them seem pretty content but Jenny doesn’t like this one bit. She wants her father back to his old self but to her dismay even her husband Steve is getting along with her just fine. Making matters worse is that Miranda’s daughter Priscilla has shown up as well and may try to break their marriage apart.

I’ll give the movie this, the opening scene is legitimately filmed as if this was a horror title. You have a lot of suspenseful music the whole time as an inspector walks in a house and we learn that the tenants have vanished. Apparently someone has been going around bumping people off across the country. We then find out that the family was shrunk into tiny dolls and nearly died since they could have easily been stepped on. At this point we learn that Miranda really does have super powers so this doesn’t bode well for the heroes.

Now, this is a comedy film so don’t think that the whole movie is going to be suspenseful though. It’s because this is a comedy film that they can effectively use horror scenes like that. It’s a great amount of contrast. There’s probably a name for this kind of scene but it’s a scene that’s so serious you can’t help but find it funny since you know the film as a whole isn’t a horror.

The scene with Inspector MacIntosh trying to find the culprit among a group of old ladies made for a fun scene as well. These ladies were really tough as they were beating people up and did not act their age. On the whole I would say the film had a lot of its best gags in the first half. You also have a scene where an old lady throws Priscilla out of the phone booth since she had dibs on the next call.

There’s a fun scene where Priscilla pretends that she is melting as well before revealing that the Wizard of Oz made that up and it doesn’t work on witches. MacIntosh actually going to a school for wizards was genius as well. Honestly, if I found out that witches were for real then it wouldn’t be a bad idea since all the things that I thought were hogwash would suddenly have some merit. It’s just a shame that he didn’t actually learn anything but I would say he had to be the best character in the film by far.

So we’re off to a good start but once we get to the actual film that’s where it falters. So with an evil step mother throwing a hex onto Sam you already know she is going to try this again. She messes with Steve as well. Honestly you expect that he’s going to cheat on his wife with her early on in the film since even as an old lady Miranda seemed to be flirting with him. With Priscilla around…well Steve never stood a chance. The guy faltered quicker than the poor guy in the Cinnamon Toast Crunch parody commercial. Steve didn’t seem devoted to Jenny for more than a few minutes.

The film plays up the fanservice angle with Priscilla quite a lot. Outside of the affair with Steve she gets a very random dance where she also seduces the private investigator that Jenny hired. So much for will power right? Priscilla is able to dominate any man that she sees in moments since as a witch she also has absolute hypnosis in addition to her other abilities. The heroes have no shot right from the jump.

Let me quickly explain the Miranda and Priscilla situation. So, they are mother and daughter, however they can’t inhabit the same body so one of them always jumps into a cat. The body seems to change around the soul so they still look different. It’s a little odd and you’d think that with their magical abilities Miranda could just make herself look young anyway though. If not for the issue of needing another actress in the first place the plot would have made more sense to just have said that Miranda was shape shifting.

Actually…that would have made more sense anyway. Just say she is constantly shape shifting to make it easier to seduce everyone. It also removes some of the plot holes from later on. Alas, the film didn’t go that route. Neither Miranda or Priscilla are all that likable or even logical. With the kind of abilities they have, there is no reason for them to even go through with the theatrics. They could have taken Sam’s money at any point. They could probably conjure it up, but if that’s not possible just mind control him to sign something giving her the money. With witch abilities this would be easy.

Well, we’ve established why Steve’s a pretty bad character and Sam’s in the same boat. He is mind controlled by Miranda rather easily. That leaves Jenny but I didn’t like her either. She really doesn’t give Miranda a fair chance. Yes, we know that Miranda is the villain from the opening scene but she has no reason to believe anything negative about the old lady. Yet from the start Jenny is antagonistic towards her and acts rather rude. It’s hard to find any scene where Jenny isn’t being mean to her.

The film has a lot of fun at Jenny’s expense that’s for sure. It’s all just done so drastically that she ends up being royally unlikable. I liked the investigator she hired except for when he suddenly fell for Miranda’s tricks. That was a low moment for him. At least he got the last laugh in the end I suppose.

We do actually get a real climax for the film though so that was pretty hype. There’s an actual magical battle filled with a building blowing up and both sides actually using their abilities. I wasn’t really expecting much action at all so I’ll certainly take this. The ending even leaves room for a sequel which would certainly be interesting. There’s always potential with witches and magical attacks, the film just needs to focus more on that and less on the homewrecking aspect next time.

Overall, Wicked Stepmother is a film that really does have a lot of good jokes but it’s not enough to distract you from the unlikable cast. Seeing Miranda/Priscilla seduce all of these guys without effort can be a bit much. Tone down the romance/affairs/fanservice and focus more on the actual comedy part of the film. More scenes with McIntosh would have done wonders for the film since he was actually on top of things. The scene of him quitting was pretty powerful and seeing more supporting characters would have been nice. There’s a lot of potential for interesting dynamics here but none of them ended up appearing. Maybe a reboot would have better luck.

Overall 4/10

He Ran All The Way Review

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He Ran All The Way here takes a unique perspective with the main character where right off the gate you’re shown that he’s not a good person. It’s clear that he’s the antagonist yet this is so rare that you may put that to one side for a little while. As the film goes on he continues to get more and more unhinged though until you know there’s really no hope for this guy turning over a new leaf.

The movie starts with Nick yelling after oversleeping again and in general being a slob. He’s been dreading this day for a while as he and his partners are going to rob someone again for big bucks. Things go sideways though and he ends up leaving his partner for dead and murdering a police officer. Now the whole city is after him. He convinces a girl named Peg to invite him to her home and then takes her family (Parents, plus little brother) hostage. He doesn’t want anyone to leave until he’s convinced that the coast is clear. Can the family manage to get out of this one?

It’s pretty clear in the movie that Nick is absolutely insane. He’s paranoid that everyone is out to get him and is always flying off the handle. Now if you get past the yelling from the opening scene you might be able to trick yourself into thinking that he’s a decent guy who got mixed up with a bad crowd for a while. This doesn’t track with how he starts acting towards Peg in the pool though.

The guy uses her while she’s necessary and then throws her away which is something that will keep on happening during the film. Nick likes to paint himself as a victim despite holding these people hostage in their own home. There’s a lot of cognitive dissonance going on the whole time but what it equals out to is that Nick was always the villain here. He just doesn’t admit to it the whole time even while committing crimes the entire film and making things difficult on everybody.

There’s just nothing to like about Nick or even any way to sympathize with him. Nick’s just rotten to the core. Then you have the heroine Peg who is really bad. My main issue with her is how much she puts up with when Nick’s around even before he takes out the gun. She overlooks his constant insults, blames herself when he’s the one treating her roughly, etc. Peg just doesn’t act logical at all throughout the film. You don’t see how she could possibly fall for him under these circumstances. It just makes her look desperate and not very smart either. She just keeps on going back to him over and over again. It takes him threating to murder her around 5-6 times before she finally gets the message.

Meanwhile the whole situation is pretty tough on her parents and brother as well. There’s just not a whole lot they can do in this situation since they have to worry about the kids. The father does try to make a move at different points but Tommy messes up one attempt (Which is why the kids get annoying in these things) and the other one is foiled before he can get too far. It’s hard to backseat drive on this one because whenever there are hostages you have to be really careful.

If it was just him I’m sure that the father would have taken out his gun but as it stands, it’s not like he could really risk doing that here. Worst case, they’d all get shot if this turns into a shootout. I doubt that Nick is a great shot to be honest but at close range like this there’s not a whole lot you can do to dodge.

So most of the tension here is just with the characters having to tolerate Nick and just try to get through the day. Each of the characters have different views on how the matter should be handled as well. Tommy’s too young to understand much, the mother wants to tell the cops, and the father wants to play it safe and just wait until Nick leaves. All of the strategies have their ups and downs of course but without hindsight it’s hard to know which to pick. Personally I’m on the side of making a move. Whether you die or not at least it’ll be over pretty quickly.

This film would probably work a lot better without the romance angle because that’s really the weakest part of the film. It’s still mind boggling the whole time and brings both characters down. At least Nick could try playing the sympathy card if he was nicer. Change up the story so he still ended up shooting the cop who was on his tail and takes the family hostage but isn’t pushing them around, threatening, and yelling the whole time. If he was portrayed as someone who was just scared and not sure what to do next, it would have done a lot to help his character. Yes, he would still be the villain here but he wouldn’t be quite as crazy and bad as he is here. The Nick we see here is probably worse than the partner.

Overall, He Ran All The Way definitely has Nick running every mental gymnastic possible in order to try and pin it all on the other characters. The guy keeps on panicking and making things worse for himself. Ultimately everything that happens in the film is directly his fault. The guy should have stayed on the straight and narrow instead of going down such a dark path. If you want to check out a suspense film where everyone is stuck with him then this may be worth checking out since it’s such a specific premise. At the same time I just wouldn’t call it a good movie. The ending is rather solid but the romance has to be one of the weakest I’ve seen in a while.

Overall 4/10

Working Girl 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.

Time for a film about the horrors of the workplace and how Tess can change things. It’s got some good moments and is certainly a lot better than some of the others films that I’ve seen from this group. That being said, Working Girl does have some rather big issues that keep it from being the next big Rom-Com. Effectively it just wasn’t able to coast its way to the ending as easily as it otherwise could have.

The movie starts with Tess needing to be transferred once again after having a falling out with her boss. Unfortunately the environments she goes into all tend to be rather toxic but unfortunately since this has been a trend she is told that this is her last chance. Her boss seems good this time though. Her name is Katharine and she is a very pro-active person who sees an opportunity and grabs it. She has taken Tess under her wing and so the heroine finally feels like she has a chance to speak out and get recognition.

Unfortunately Katharine is involved in a skiing accident and breaks her leg. Tess then finds out that Katharine has been sabotaging her behind her back such as by stealing one of her ideas and presenting it as her own. Tess decides to get back at her by reclaiming control of the idea and working out of Katharine’s office. She has to hurry though as the boss will be returning soon. Can Tess manage to complete the deals before this happened or is she setting herself up for failure?

First off, I do think the film did a good job with making Katharine appear to be quite reasonable at first. She may be rather tough but she does seem like a good boss. The opening slights also feel rather realistic rather than being antagonistic like having Tess serve the guests and such. You wouldn’t expect the boss to do that and it’s the kind of thing that could be fine if it’s on good terms.

Where the red flags start to appear is with stealing the idea. Now this was also a bit of an error in Tess’ spot as you can’t trust anyone in business. She should have submitted the idea as an email since she would then have an electronic receipt of the request. That would have absolutely put her in the driver’s seat here as she could have brought it up later. It’s good that she wanted to help of course but you have to remember that corporate is never your friend. They are always looking out for the bottom line and to help themselves.

Katharine gradually gets more and more extreme as the film goes on though. We learn/it’s heavily implied that she is cheating on her boyfriend and she starts making Tess do everything for her. Throughout the film you’re holding out a little hope that it’s all just some big misunderstanding but eventually it’s clear that this isn’t the case. She is an interesting villain though.

As for Tess, I’d say she’s a weak lead. A lot of the film is about her getting pushed around by Katharine but part of the problem is that she isn’t really defending herself. She’s putting herself in a spot where she can be easily pushed around and that’s the big issue here. If she had stuck to her guns then she probably would have been able to avoid parts of this. Her ideas on leading the business do work well and she is quite bold. I’ll say those were good ideas though.

She waffles on being with Mick or not though which is a very big issue. Going back a few steps, Mick was Tess’ boyfriend but then she caught him cheating with another girl so they split up. He approaches her during the film to try and get back together. He acts as though his being with another girl wasn’t a big deal and it seems like the film backs that up as well. I don’t see why Tess would even entertain the idea of going back with him. You can clearly never trust the guy again and yet, it seems like she was going to take him back before he reveals that he was going to be getting married soon. That hurts Tess quite a lot.

Make no mistake, Mick’s the worst character in the film. It’s all on him to be sure but you wish the other characters would condemn him for that more. Cyn is Tess’ best friend and even she is saying that Tess should take him back. Why? That would be such a desperate and terrible move to take him back. We see how quickly Mick moved on after that so it really makes no sense. Putting her on the spot for a proposal that she doesn’t even turn down didn’t help either. So Cyn was really not a good friend at all.

The main characters can definitely be a bit suspect at times. Then we have Jack who is the main hero here. He’s ready to help with the contract and such but quickly falls for Tess. Despite Tess saying she was only there for business and nothing was going to happen…they have an affair shortly afterwards. So much for restraint right? Tess was under the influence at the time but that’s no excuse because then she should clearly not be drinking. She knew that she had some pills beforehand as well so there’s no real excuse there.

Jack does give the film a lot of its humor though. He has some pretty good lines which help to shake things up. This film is part comedy after all and some of the scenes definitely work pretty well. It’s not as funny as most comedy films but when you throw enough jokes in some are always bound to land. At the very least it’s why comedy films are usually a good bet since you should have some good moments thrown in throughout and you’ll usually leave on a happy note.

The negatives just outweigh the positives in this case. The film also has an issue with fanservice such as several scenes of Tess changing while the characters are having a conversation. There’s nothing natural about this and it always feels quite forced into the movie. At least put in a divider or something. The romance is extremely weak particularly since it all started because they were drunk. Not the way you want to start the next chapter of your life right? So many of these films would be quite different if the characters drank Pepsi instead of a Budlight.

Overall, Working Girl is a film that has a lot of fun moments but beneath the surface it doesn’t hold up. A lot of the characters are quite suspect to the point where you may have a hard time finding who you should root for. The big boss at the end who shows up is fun but he’s only around for a few minutes. The movie has a bit of a cynical approach to romance with every character cheating on each other. Keep in mind that Jack had a girlfriend already when he had his affair with Tess. Just something to keep in mind….. The film would have benefited greatly from focusing more on the actual workplace and throwing humor in there a la The Office rather than spending the majority of the film outside the office crashing parties. If you’re going to go that route, focus on the negotiation. Those parts of the film were always pretty strong. In the end you’re probably better off with a different title.

Overall 4/10

Scarlet Street Review

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Every now and then you come across a main character who gets suckered so badly that you have a hard time rooting for him. This is the case here. Look, when you decide to start desperately going after someone and allowing yourself to be used, then you’ve already dug a rather big hole. Sunset Street has some fun elements but the lead is just brutal.

The movie starts with Chris getting fired. He had a good run but it just wasn’t in the company’s best interests to keep him. His wife Adele is less than thrilled as she is always reminding Chris about how much better her first husband was. Why did they ever even get married? No clue but I wouldn’t be surprised if Chris was desperate and approached Adele. Either way Chris wants to be a master painter but unfortunately he’s a bit of a perfectionist and never actually takes them down to be appraised. As such, he lives a rather poor life.

One day he manages to save a girl named Kitty who was being mugged on the street. He falls for her at first sight and tries to convince her to be together with him. She has no interest in the prospect but her abusive boyfriend Johnny thinks this is a great idea. Due to some misunderstandings they think Chris is rich so Johnny wants Kitty to get friendly with him while stealing the guy’s paintings and constantly asking for money. Will Chris realize the truth or will he just keep handing her all of his funds?

Chris really shows no sense of self preservation here. It’s great that he stepped in to save Kitty. It’s just every scene after that where he seems suspect. He sees that Johnny is rather suspect but never really questions why the guy is always alone with Kitty when he’s supposed to be together with the friend. (That’s the cover story that Kitty feeds him) Chris is actively cheating on his wife and while their relationship may not be great, it’s still way below the belt to start cheating for any kind of reason. I’m not cutting Chris any kind of slack for that.

Chris really sets himself up for disappointment every step of the way. Kitty also couldn’t make it any more obvious that she didn’t like him with her body language and everything but Chris is so desperate that he ignores the signs. By the time we get to the climax there’s just no way to like the guy.

Scarlet Street certainly ends in a rather intense way though as every characters gets their just desserts. Nobody really has a happy ending here and none of them had been trying to earn one anyway. At the end of the day Johnny was an unrepentant criminal, Kitty was a very willing accomplice, and Chris was morally bankrupt. The three of them had more in common than you’d think.

As for Kitty, I didn’t like her either. She may try telling Johnny that this is a bad idea a whole lot but I never award you points for complaining. At the end of the day she ultimately still went through with this plan to swindle Chris. Additionally, she is constantly defending Johnny and his crazy behavior even when her friend warns her that the whole thing is toxic. Kitty doesn’t have particularly good judgment here and she couldn’t have handled her final scenes any worse.

Johnny? Well, the guy talks like he’s a master planner but he makes every kind of mistake in the book. He was really in a good spot to live rather well by shaving off some money at each end. Instead he gets more and more greedy to the point where it would be impossible to hide his presence. The plan is to sell Chris’ works for big bucks. Okay then, do that plan and just take 10% at the end or even 30%. He wants to take the full 100% but how can you do that without Chris noticing? He constantly visits Kitty in her private apartment even though he knows that Chris has the keys. Think Johnny, Think!

Adele’s certainly not a pleasant character but honestly she would be the best one from these 4 at least. She is constantly complaining and that actually works in Chris’ favor near the end. Nothing is ever good enough for her but she is really a supporting character so you shouldn’t expect to see her for very long.

The writing in the film is fairly solid otherwise. The main character may be pretty annoying but you’ve got an interesting premise here. With some smarter villains then Chris would have really been doomed from day 1. The ending comes out of nowhere a bit with how one of the characters cracks. Things certainly escalated but when you’re dealing with someone crazy desperate to have you at the point of losing all their money, then a certain element of danger goes in with that. Johnny and Kitty were playing a dangerous game from the start.

Scarlet Street does a good job of switching up the genres though. There’s also a decent amount of comedy here with all the hijinks of the public trying to find out who the real painter is. They’re given the run around of course but are quite determined in their search. It’s always fun to have them talking about the high concepts of art. It’s certainly not a subject I get all that invested in as my taste in art tends to differ from high society quite a bit. Needless to say, they were not prepared to see through any kind of tricks.

Overall, Scarlet Street isn’t quite up to snuff compared to most noir films. Ultimately I’m used to rather strong main characters in these titles or some kind of big mystery. Technically this one doesn’t have a lot of that and it may even be harder to call this a Noir title than most but it still does feel like one at least with the atmosphere at times. Certainly more low key though as there aren’t any fights or deaths for a while. Chris is just one of the worst main characters I’ve seen in a while. It’s always crucial to remember that if you cheat you’re probably going to end up dying in these things. The best thing to do is walk the straight and narrow path but these main characters have a hard time doing that.

Overall 4/10

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum 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.

Wick returns for another big adventure. The second film had a terrific cliffhanger to lead up to this one and the third film makes sure to capitalize on the concept and even throw in another cliffhanger. Ultimately I would say the 2nd film is still the definitive one because it really got to go all out with Wick taking on all challengers. This one is pretty close though.

So last time a bounty was put on Wick’s head since he ended up taking someone out while at the Continental hotel which is against the rules set by the high table. Now he has to try and survive while the entire planet is after him. The bounty on his head is also rather high so he doesn’t have many people to turn too. He’ll have to try and get the high table to remove the bounty and the only way to get an ally is to use his once in a lifetime contract coin.

Let’s talk about some aspects where the film actually even beast film 2 but also the reasons why it lost. For starters, I would say the fights may have even passed film two’s. It’s close but the highs of this film have to be the best with the ninja fights. Wick taking on the ninja masters at the end was very impressive and made for a lot of hype moments. The fact that the ninjas actually defeated him a few times was also very impressive. It showed that they were above the usual thugs.

The main ninja was also a terrific opponent. He was a fun character as well. Wick certainly hasn’t lost a step that’s for sure and he may very well be the most impressive human fighter in this kind of film. It’s hard to see almost anyone stopping him. At this point John is already very weakened and yet he’s still going around taking out all challengers.

That ties into the aspect that’s weaker than the second film though. We get a lot more non Wick scenes as well. There’s the new heroine who gets to fight, we have ninjas taking out all of the other big factions, and the whole time you’re just waiting to see Wick fight again. The whole desert side quest felt like it was a break from the usual setting of Wick being in New York and taking everyone down.

John Wick 3’s best scenes are at the very beginning as we close up the cliffhanger from the second film and the very ending as he fights off waves of opponents from the table and the ninja. So it’s the middle that feels like it’s more fluff than anything and could have been condensed a bit. It’s a change of scenery but when your backdrop is New York you never really need to leave. Those scenes always look quite incredible with the special effects and atmosphere.

There’s not a whole lot to say about John Wick that I haven’t already gone into during the first two films. He’s a great lead who gets the job done and has a lot of good character development. He goes through a lot and just never goes down. The guy’s resolve is really something else.

Sofia is one of the new characters introduced in the film but I definitely didn’t like her. Her final scene involving a water bottle is just so petty and disgusting. I feel like Wick should have just stolen her truck right then and there. She can fight well and gets some extended fights with her dogs. The film got into some rather dangerous territory by having the dogs around but this time at least the film didn’t make a big mistake. The dog getting shot was still pretty bad but at least he lived and was able to get up and fight afterwards with the jacket.

Wick telling Sofia not to murder the guy was pretty bad advice though considering the entire plot of the first film. Additionally, we then get a long action sequence where they literally murder every minion on the base. At that point you may as well murder the leader too right? Why should he be the only one to survive this ordeal? Either way I’d rather Sofia not return in the sequel but if she does, I’d say Wick will be ready for her. Part of why I hope she doesn’t return is because it’s all too risky as long as she owns those dogs. I don’t want to take a chance on any of them getting injured and if they’re fighting Wick to the death that’ll be tricky. Additionally while their fights are very different, I did not enjoy them nearly as much as the human fights. It’s all portrayed extremely violently as they bite the enemies where it hurts. It’s an effective strategy sure but instead of being hype it makes the fights rather hard to look at.

Winston gets a pretty big role here as the owner of the hotel. He gets to look rather tough the whole time even if he talks a great game despite not actually doing much of anything. The guy definitely likes to stay in the shadows and command from there. Charon is also a really fun character as always. He has a good dynamic with Wick that’s for sure and he actually goes into the field to fight which also raises his character in my eyes.

The Bowery King returns from the last film and he’s still got a lot of confidence here. Perhaps he should have prepared himself more for the fight with the High Table but I guess a King’s folly is often his overconfidence. There’s also a Russian group that shows up here who have a role to play. This film really shows off just how many different villain groups are operating in New York.

Part of the plot here is that the High Table is finally stepping in since there’s so much chaos going on. At the very least you have to say that they’re quite bold since they pick fights with every single faction in the film. Naturally all of these guys try to fight back but they have a group of ninjas led by Zero who are ready for anything. The ninja make short work out of all the groups which is also impressive.

The Adjudicator sent out to make the warnings doesn’t seem like she can fight a whole lot though. You’d think that her confidence would be her downfall but nobody ever bothers actually trying to shoot her which is very fortunate for her safety. The high table makes for a pretty interesting villain so we’ll see how that goes. It’s definitely a dynamic I haven’t seen in a long time where a villain group suddenly shows up cleaning the board of heroes and villains alike.

Zero also has to be the best main villain in the series. He gets a lot of fun dialogue during his battle with Wick. While the guy seems to like Wick as a good rival, the feeling isn’t mutual. It’s hard to blame Wick for being cold though since the guy is actively trying to murder him. Wick had more fun fighting the guy’s two subordinates, perhaps because they really fought cleanly from the start. The whole climax in the mirror world was pretty exciting.

As always the Wick films contain as much violence as they do action though. The characters go down in rather painful ways and the High Table introduces some punishment for most of the characters as well. Characters are forced to lose limbs in service to the high table or get slashed to bits. The poor henchmen don’t stand a chance against the ninja’s blades and of course Wick isn’t holding back either. The body count is massive and the series still has a much more realistic vibe than most so it’s not like this is stylized to avoid the blood.

The fight choreography is still incredibly impressive down to the fact that Wick has to reload his guns and plan things out accordingly. Each fight really holds up. Still, you’ll need a good stomach for violence in these fights. One character goes down rather painfully to a book, but that’s why you shouldn’t try to bend the rules.

The music is quite fun as always. There are a lot of really solid themes throughout the movie that help you feel the intensity of the moment. Again, you really can’t top the opening scene. I wouldn’t say that rain is always good to have around but it’s perfect for tense scenes like the opening where Wick is trying to get away from all of the possible hitmen. Any and everyone can be against him after all so it’s not easy to stay safe. I wouldn’t have minded if that was really the whole film either.

Of course the ending does leave a lot of interesting room for the sequel. I would say some characters definitely made a mistake with how they handled things and Wick is definitely going to make them regret it. 3 films in and people still insist on challenging the guy. I guess some characters never learn.

Overall, John Wick 3 definitely continues the series by reinforcing what everyone likes about it so much. It’s certainly a very interesting journey with a lot of good writing and intense action. It would be so perfect if they could just tone down the violence. You could certainly do that even while keeping the fights realistic by changing camera angles or stylizing things a bit. Hopefully the series continues with having hype cliffhangers at the end because these really hold up in getting you psyched to see what happens next.

Overall 4/10

The Quick and the Dead Review

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

The Wild West genre usually isn’t really my thing. It tends to usually squeeze in some animal violence with the horses and the setting isn’t as exciting as having a lot of cool buildings or things of that nature. A lot of the villains tend to be rather crude as well. This film does a good job of avoiding a lot of those possible errors by making this a tournament setting and the approach works well for the most part. Unfortunately the film stepped in one land mine near the end that shaved a few points off. It’s always rough when you trip right by the finish line.

The movie starts off with Ellen riding into town. She’s just in time for a big tournament that is held here as per tradition. The prize is a lot of money so Ellen enters but is money really all that she wants? Naturally the leader of the town John will be entering as well. His son “The Kid” decides to enter to prove to his father that he really is the best. Then you have Cort, a preacher who has renounced violence but is forced to enter. Then you have a bunch of other guys including the crude Eugene, the immortal Spotted Horse, Ace the bragger, and Clay a mysterious professional. This is one tournament that will involve a lot of fatalities so the heroes better be ready. You either land the first blow or it’s game over.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched a tournament film. Sure I’ve seen some tournaments but it’s rare that they take up the entire film. That was a good idea on the film’s part because who doesn’t like a tournament right? The gun fights are on point so each match is pretty exciting. The countdowns to the draw are dramatic as well. In effect the film managed to capture the most exciting parts of a Western while shedding the weaker elements.

There isn’t enough time to give every competitor a big role but they all stand out in their own ways. Take Ace. The guy brags a whole lot but you know that he is doomed once John reveals the truth of his past. The writing in the film is pretty solid for the most part with a lot of intense dialogue. Clay’s backstory is also intense as he’s a guy mostly wrapped in shadow whose skills are the real deal.

Then you have Spotted Horse who believes himself to be bullet proof. He also is very skilled with a gun so he makes for a powerful antagonist. The worst competitor here is Eugene by far. Unfortunately he wasn’t content to merely be a bad character and did drag the film down with him. He has a small subplot where he is going after a little girl in town throughout. Ellen steps in a few times but unfortunately can’t be everywhere at once and also has to save Cort at times.

Eugene ends up catching the girl and that plot’s just terrible. Eugene is quickly taken care of afterwards but the damage is done both to the film and to the characters in-universe. It’s the kind of dark plot/scene that is completely out of place here. We understand that this guy was a true villain and that the town’s an awful place to live. You don’t have to go out of your way to make things even darker. I would say that single handily took 3 stars off the score.

It’s the kind of scene that immediately destroys any possible replay value as well. It’s a shame because the tournament set up was so good but you really just can’t get past that kind of moment. Eugene should have just been cut out of the film if anything and just throw in a random minion or something for the next fight.

Then we have Cort who is a pacifist but that’s usually an annoying trait in these things. It means that the villains spend all film pushing him around and the guy can never really fight back. By the time he is ready to fight it’s not like he is really in a position to do so anymore. He’s a nice guy but it’s annoying to see him as a sandbag the whole time.

Next is the Kid and he made for a fun character. He’s definitely confident and this is well deserved with how good his gun skills are. In the film he can certainly compete with any of the other fighters. One scene that was a bit much though is when he has a one night stand with the main heroine Ellen. Considering that every scene prior to that was her talking him down or insulting him, it didn’t make any sense that things escalated like this.

It felt like a quick way to cram in some last second romance to check a box off but even then it’s more of an affair than a true romance. I dunno, the scene was just completely out of place and also felt out of character for Ellen. Definitely would have been good to leave that scene on the cutting block. All in all Kid was a charismatic fighter though.

Then there’s John who is the main villain here. This guy was a lot of fun. You can see where Kid gets his confidence from. John’s rules the place with an iron fist and fears nobody. That’s because he knows that he can take out any other fighter if he so desires. That’s the kind of confidence you have at the top and his skills never dulled.

Finally there’s Ellen. She’s a solid heroine who is all business. Ellen has a tough personality and doesn’t even entertain the other fighter’s ideas. She just wants to win the tournament. As you can probably guess it has more to do with her origin than the money. I do think that considering her true goal, she had dozens of opportunities to pull it off though. I suppose most of them would end up with her being dead afterwards but it didn’t seem like she really minded dying in the process. To an extent I suppose this is true for just about all gun films though where you figure they can just shoot the villain at any point.

Overall, The Quick and the Dead is a very different kind of Western film. The fact that there is a tournament at all is just pretty cool. The movie does a good job of juggling all the characters. I suppose the tradeoff is that the bigger the cast, the more likely you are to add one that messes things up which is basically what happened here. If you can get past that one scene and all the dark baggage it brings with it then it could be worth checking out but otherwise check out FF VII Advent Children instead for a movie that lands the ending while also having a large part take place in a wild west environment.

Overall 4/10